Director Eva Toulová exclusively: I am a childless single thirty-something. I made a film based on my own life struggles.
At the end of February and March, a new film Superwoman will appear in cinemas, portraying that the life of people in their thirties these days is not at all simple. Preparations for the film were really demanding and nothing was straightforward. The crew faced a number of difficulties, and there were even accidents. One of the actresses was injured in a car accident and the director experienced an unfortunate mishap with a lamp in a bathtub, followed by an unsuccessful fall while skiing. On the other hand, Natalie Grossova, who appeared in the role of a bride, had calmer moments. Director Eva Toulova shared several humorous and challenging experiences from shooting with the LP-Life.cz editorial team.
Director Eva Toulová experienced a series of complications while filming a romantic comedy, the most serious of which was a traffic accident that took place during filming. Pavla Tomicová and singer Dáša Zázvůrková were hit by a woman in a car near the National Theater in May 2022, which forced the creators to urgently look for a replacement for the main star of the series Pavla Tomicová. Eventually, the role of the main character's mother was given to Jitka Sedláčková. Eva Toulová, who unusually also had a role in front of the camera in this film, experienced a shocking moment at the beginning of filming when a turned-on lamp fell into her bath.
However, she managed to avert disaster at the last moment. While trying to shoot ski scenes on Dolní Morava without a stuntman, scriptwriter Eva Toulová fell several times unsuccessfully, which was recorded from different angles using drones and cameras. Her failures on the slope attracted so much attention from people around her that passersby urged her to leave the slope if she did not have control over skiing. But she did not give up and decided that she would continue filming. The actual shooting took the crew over two years to capture all seasons. At the same time, viewers can look forward to various locations from almost all corners of the republic. For example, shooting took place in Dolní Morava, Prague, Červený Kostelec, Štramberk, Mladá Boleslav, and even part of the film was shot underwater.
Natálka Grosová tried out a mock wedding
In this film, which is a typical romantic comedy, there appear several wedding dresses, some of which even get destroyed. The director of the film, who symbolically tore three pairs of dresses as a gesture of breaking up with her great love, decided that she would not destroy everything that comes her way, despite her original plans. Natalie Grossová appeared in the film in the role of the main character's sister and wore one of these dresses, which were originally supposed to meet their end. Her real mother, Šárka Grossová, played the role of the wedding hostess and during emotionally charged scenes, she could imagine what her own daughter's future wedding might look like.
"The main character Maja, as a single childless woman in her thirties, does not meet the expectations of others when she does not desire a dazzling career or starting a family. She struggles with daily pressures until one day she finally succumbs and decides to be a perfect superwoman in all respects as the world asks of her," presents the movie its director Eva Toulová, who also played a role in it this time. Her acting partner was the popular actor Matouš Ruml. The star-studded cast was supplemented by other well-known names such as Natálie Grossová, Igor Bareš, Jitka Sedláčková, Olga Lounová, or Adéla Elbel. And what else did the director reveal about this film?
What was the impetus for this film? Is there, for example, a real story or personal theme behind it?
My professor at FAMU, Věra Chytilová, taught us to create themes that personally trouble us. And as a childless woman in her thirties, I really felt an unpleasant pressure from society in this respect, that I don't have (as the only one from our small town) children, I am not married... so I decided to deal with it in such a way that I created the film Superwoman (and as part of personal identification with the character, I also played in the film this time)
How challenging was the shooting itself - the very first choice of who to cast in the movie, the frequency of shooting.
The film really took a long time to create - 39 months - we authentically needed to capture all seasons, we were shooting in most of the republic (Prague, Hrádecký, South Moravian, Moravian-Silesian region) and even under water - we filmed underwater scenes in an 8 m deep diving pit in Aqua Palace. Regarding the cast - I have already filmed Casting for Love with Jitka Sedláčková and Igor Bareš, so they were an obvious choice. As for N. Grossová - you won't find such a talented actress in that age category just like that, so Natálka was an obvious choice and I'm most delighted by Matouš Ruml, who plays my partner - we didn't know each other at all, but it worked out beautifully
If Superwoman catches on, do you have plans for similar projects?
After Superwoman, I have a comedy called 'Love to Order' "in the queue", which is set to premiere on June 6 - Bontonfilm with Martin Kraus, Jiří Krampol, Vašek Vydra, V. Zawadska, I. Bareš, J. Noske and other actors. I am finishing a documentary about folklore and in May I should start shooting another feature film, this time based on true events, so after Superwoman, I plan to rather have different projects. However, if there is a demand, I would happily start a similar project.
Sources: own questioning, LP-Life editorial office, original work
