The actress revealed the realities of the Polish film industry, comparing it to the same industry in the USA. It turns out that American actors are taken care of by a large team already at the beginning of preparations for the film. In Poland, artists usually receive the script too late, but still the fee may be different than that agreed at the beginning, because the budget changes during filming and some scenes have to be cut.
“In the United States you have half a year to make a film and during this time Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or another studio gives you money to survive, you have a dietician who brings you food, you have a gym, a personal trainer, psychological support. These are some gigantic spaces. For example, Rami Malek had seven months to create the character of Freddie Mercury and he had a team of people with him: choreography experts, voice impostors, and a psychologist. 20-30 people worked for his Oscar and he received money for seven months, to survive. So if you have such a background, you can obtain bread from stone through pyrogenesis,” confesses the actress.
“We have phenomenal actors who receive the script three months before the film is made, and then the script changes because the budget changes and as a result the scenes have to be shortened. So if someone plays, like my favorite Janusz Gajos or other colleagues who do great roles, they deserve a Polish Oscar for making this film and for making this role When we see great roles in Polish films, we should remember that they were sometimes made overnight or someone had only a week to create such a character or scene,” he adds.
Kurowska also raised the issue of salary disproportions. In the United States, payouts of millions for roles are commonplace, but in Poland it is completely different.
“This difference is gigantic, because it has never happened before that an actor in Poland received a million dollars for a film that took 2.5 months to make. And, for example, the actors from ‘Friends’ received that much for one episode, let’s say it was a week’s work These are terrible disproportions and it is unfair, because we also have phenomenal actors like Janusz Gajos we are so focused on the West, there are such great actors there, but there is a bigger market there, more money goes to cinema – says Joanna Kurowska in an interview for the Newseria agency.
“In Poland, in order to make a living, an actor cannot only focus on one film, which he will make for two months. So, in order not to have a break, he also has a theater, performances outside the city or a series, a radio show or he does dubbing , podcasts,” he confesses.
The actress also draws attention to the psychological burden of working in the Polish film industry. Criticism from the environment, haters or reviewers is a common experience for actors. He emphasizes that outsiders usually only see what the actors want to show them.
Our profession is the most unfair, because judging by the hate, everyone envies actors’ earnings or expensive cars, but these cars are 90% in leasing and you have to pay it back. People on the walls are dressed in branded clothes, but they are rented only for this occasion. And everyone just sees only this shell, he says.
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