How ‘Safe Place’ Director Juraj Lerotić Decided to Play Himself in a Drama About His Brother’s Suicide Attempt (Video)
Writer-director Juraj Lerotić didn’t set out to make “Safe Place” (“Sigurno mjesto”) with the intention of playing the character that he based on himself.
Croatia’s submission for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards navigates 24 hours in the life of Damir (Goran Marković) and his family after he attempts to take his own life.
The drama is inspired by true events in Lerotić’s life, something he found himself struggling with when it came time to cast the role of Damir’s brother Bruno.
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“You know, I tried to cast the role, and I’m sure that there were really great actors, but I think I had a blind spot,” Lerotić told moderator Steve Pond at a virtual screening of “Safe Place” as part of TheWrap’s 2022-2023 Awards Season Screening Series. “I think my experience of that, and my experience of this character [was] too close to me. So I couldn’t accept [the] interpretation of another person, of another actor.”
During casting sessions for Damir, Lerotić would stand in as Bruno. Eventually, he realized that delivering his lines “like a robot” wasn’t helping with scene partners’ performances. After he started “taking care of my own interpretation,” infusing the dialogue with real emotion, his collaborators began to take notice.
“Somehow from that came the decision that I play it,” explained Lerotić. “It was not easy, and not the easiest decision. But I think it was the right decision.”
Marković, who grew up with Lerotić’s brother, was initially hesitant to perform opposite his director, given that Lerotić had never acted before.
“Acting is — especially this kind of part — it’s not a piece of cake. But I knew that he could do it, because [in] the rehearsals, I saw him… and he was always playing the older brother with me,” said Marković. “He changes the intonation of the lines like a real actor. He is one by now,” he corrected himself with a laugh.
Any doubts he may have had were quickly put to rest.
“To act with somebody that has gone through those situations for real, and you know him, it’s a different thing to watch somebody in the eyes,” Marković added. “The whole film… is like on the verge of acting and real life.”
Watch the full interview here.
