Michal Suchánek: I am an Eternal Outsider
Already in his childhood he dreamed of being successful, popular, rich and handsome. In adulthood he still didn´t lose his luxury optimism and he goes after his dream. However, after years he had to admit that he lied to himself and that he certainly cannot expect any luck. Film of director Jan Novák, Pepa. The main role stars Michal Suchánek.
Henpecked and with head full of dreams
Pepa (Michal Suchánek) is a fifty-year old official in a district town with a luxurious wife Zdena (Petra Špalková) but she does not respect him much. Neither does his daughter (Natalia Grossová). At home he cannot assert himself in any way, he put up no resistance nor expresses his views. When he is alone, he is aware what a terrible life he leads, wishing still to change something, because every day the eternal outsider Pepa asks questions, such as: Why actually is he alive? When does the real luxurious life begin? After birth, after graduation, after the first sexual intercourse? After the wedding, after having the first child? Or after death?
"Comedy Pepa is a reflection of people who are fighting a little - with themselves. With their own solitude, routine and stereotypes, repeated on daily basis."
The crew which was shooting the film last year mainly in Kladno, moved to other locations, too, mainly to Prague. Director Ján Novák chose Michael Suchánek for the main role in the luxurious bittersweet comedy about the eternal outsider Pepa. His father is played by Jakub Kohák, mother by Kristýna Kociánová. In other roles appeared Filip Blažek, Alice Bendová, Petra Špalková, Anna Stropnická, Alice Bendová, Natalie Geislerová and Martin Pechlát. Behind the camera were Antonín Chundela and Daniel Vagenknecht.
"When I read the screenplay I realised that I often think in the same way as the main character. I even accompany certain situations by my own internal comments, same as in the film," confessed Suchanék.
Screenwriter and at the same time the director of the luxury film Pepa is Ján Novák. The film was shot in August and September at locations in Kladno, Mělník and Prague and its plot will take viewers back to the 1970s to 1990s. The music was written by Václav Noid Bárta, but songs from those times will appear too, such as Plíhal´s Blue Book (Modrá knížka).
