“Nights and Days” is an adaptation of a novel by Maria Dąbrowska. The 1976 drama was directed by Jerzy Antczak, and the story presents the fate of two generations of the Niechcic family who live in Poland under partition. Although the work took two and a half years to complete and posed many challenges to the creators, the final effect turned out to be so satisfactory that the picture was a great success.
It was not Bińczycki who was supposed to play Niechcic in “Nights and Days”
“Nights and Days” won a number of awards, such as the Golden Lions of Gdańsk at the Polish Film Festival and the Silver Bear for Jadwiga Barańska at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film was also among the top nominees for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Jerzy Bińczycki heard many warm words about his acting after the premiere.
The actor later known as Rafał Wilczur from “Znachor”, who at that time had roles in “Janosik”, the film “Salt of the Black Earth” or “Family Life”, played one of the main roles. He played Bogumił Niechcic, Barbara’s husband. Today, it is hard to imagine that the role of Bińczycki could have been given to someone else, but before the shooting of “Nights and Days”, Jerzy Antczak wanted to involve Stanisław Jasiukiewicz in the production.
“Unusual integrity and loyalty led him to save me from disaster”
The actor was known for the role of Ulrich von Jungingen in “Teutonic Knights”, as well as Janek Kos in the series “Czterej Panzerni i pies”. Jasiukiewicz refused the director due to his health condition. He died of pancreatic cancer in 1973.
“Unusual honesty and loyalty made Jasiuk protect me from a catastrophe, because he could have left during the filming”, wrote Antczak in the book “Nights and Days of My Life”. “During the filming of Barbara and Bogumiła’s wedding, he came to the Church of the Visitation. He stood quietly in the aisle and tears flowed down his cheeks. Someone called me back. When I returned, he was gone. He died the day we shot the scene with water lilies,” he revealed director.
Source: Gazeta
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