ADNAN HASKOVIC’S POINT OF VIEW ON SLAVIC ARTISTS AGENCY

How would you describe the importance of Slavic Artists talent agency?

– First of all, I think it is very important that Slavic Artists Management appeared as an talent agency, because it is an ideal platform that brings together actors and artists from the Balkan region. Having an agency can open a lot of space for mutual cooperation. It opens space for co-productions, space for us to get to know each other better and simply to have a platform that can save us from some kind of an alienation and concentration only on our countries. Slavic Artists agency is kind of ‘The Meeting Point‘ (‘Sabirni centar‘ – Yugoslavian film) in the Balkans.
On the other hand, it is important that Nikola Kojo and Jonathan English started this agency – Jonathan as a director, screenwriter and producer and Nikola as an actor and producer, because they understand the importance and know the essence of this business. Now producers from around the world have the opportunity to get to know the work of everyone else who is not from their country and that’s good for all of us. It is good for the industry and for us as artists. Being a part of a talent agency and having an agent is a western system that has existed for a long time, from England, America and even European countries, so it was necessary for this wave to spread and for the agency to appear in the Balkans.

Adnan Haskovic recently presented his new film ‘Die Before Death’ directed by Ahmed Imamović at the 17th Sarajevo Film Festival. For Kurir, Adnan spoke about his life in America, but also about his desire to finally star in a Serbian series or film. We are presenting you a part of his interview with Ljubomir Radanov.

In Sarajevo, the audience could see your new film in which you play a role of Zlatan Begović, a gynecologist with no moral dilemmas when it tcomes to abortion. However, his life changes when he learns that he is seriously ill. Did you have a dilemma about playing this role?

– I believe that coincidence does not exist – no matter what happens in my life. The movie ‘Die Before Death’ was created spontaneously. The director and I started working on that project together after a chance encounter in Sarajevo. The film must be commercial, but also it has to have a message to send to the audience. We live in a chaotic society that gives us the wrong people as role models, and we have to turn to ourselves, to be a mirror to each other, to improve and make everything better. In this film, I play the master of life and death. He is a little god, but also a caddy and a judge. The only truth in the film is that we are all mortal. Who even talks about death today, and people die every day. Somehow we avoid it as a subject until some great temptation befalls us. Life is fleeting.

What fate awaits the film after the festival?

– The message of the film is that we are not against abortion, and yet every democratic festival from the West has a problem showing it. That is why we turned to the East, Tokyo and Cairo, which do not have these dogmas. We expect the world premiere to be in Tokyo.

In Serbia, you are part of the Slavic Artists Management talent agency, which is run by Nikola Kojo. When will we see you in a TV series or in a movie in Serbia?

– I hope soon. A regional project with Kojo is being prepared. I was supposed to play in the ‘Frust’ series, made by Firefly Productions, but I was shooting a movie in Turkey, so I couldn’t coordinate my dates. I have no doubt that there will be more opportunities. Something better is waiting for me.

You have made a great career in the USA. How did your journey take you across the ocean?

– On my second year af the Academy, I got a role in a French film and then in Italy. Everything happened spontaneously. Somehow I associate everything with fate. God blessed me to play with Penelope Cruz in the movie ‘Twice Born’.

Are you also involved in production?

– In the Balkans, you can’t just be an actor, you have to take matters into your own hands. That’s the only way you can do what you’re interested in, but it’s a difficult path. Bjelogrlić proved that one actor can become a producer and make good movies.

Which of your colleagues from Serbia did you collaborate with?

– I mostly worked with Nikola Djuričko from Serbia, and that was in Hollywood. We filmed the TV series ‘Legend’, where we played Chechens. He was a mobster, and I played a general who later becomes the president of Chechnya. We had an excellent cooperation. Djuričko is endlessly funny. I worked with Isidora Gradjanin in a film in Montenegro called ‘Zaliv’. Also, I worked with Jelena Gavrilović on a short film, and in Austria I played an uncle of Jovana Stojiljković in a short film. I think that at that time she had just finished the Academy and that it was one of her first roles.

To see more of the interview visit the link below:
https://www.kurir.rs/zabava/kultura/4234958/adnan-haskovic-o-zivotu-u-americi-i-nikoli-djuricku