Kamila Urzêdowska defeated 600 other candidates and became Jagna. She wrote about “Chlopy” during her high school final exams

When DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman said that after “Loving Vincent”, which received an Oscar nomination, they would work on the Nobel Prize-winning novel by Władysław Reymont, they knew that it would not be easy to cast Jagna in the film. It is a complex role, and many viewers identify this book character with the praised performance of Emilia Krakowska from the 1973 film and TV series. – We managed to attract excellent actors to the project, such as Mirosław Baka, Ma³gorzata Ko¿uchowska, Ewa Kasprzyk, Andrzej Konopka, Sonia Mietielica, Robert Gulaczyk and Maciej Musiał. However, from the very beginning we knew that casting the role of Jagna would be crucial for the film – says the producer of “Peasants” Sean Bobbitt and adds:

We wanted to have a new face in this role, so we decided to conduct a nationwide casting and we received about 600 recordings from candidates. It was important for us that the role of Jagna was played not only by ‘the most beautiful girl in Lipce’, but also that she had a mixture of girlish carefreeness, sex appeal and feistiness. And this is what we saw in Kamila Urzędowska.

Kamila Urzędowska in the “foursome of rage”

Who is the actress who captivated the creators of “Chłopy”? This is Kamila Urzędowska, now 29. In conversations with journalists as part of the film’s promotion, he also talks about, among others: about running or dance training (she practiced street dancing). Even in high school, she didn’t think about becoming an actress; if she was on stage, she saw herself more as a dancer. However, during a preparatory course for college, she realized that her “heart” was an actress. She graduated from the Wrocław State Theater School. Earlier, however, during her secondary school leaving exam, she wrote about the seasons, among others: in literature, so whether “Chłopi” was a school nightmare for her, she teasingly replied: It was such a nightmare for me that I decided to write my final exam paper about it.

Kamila Urzędowska at the premiere of the film ‘Chłopi’ Dawid Żuchowicz, Agencja Wyborcza.pl/promotional materials Next Film

In the same year (2020), when she graduated from university, acting photos for “Peasants” were shot. Interrupted twice due to COVID, shot largely in a studio against a green screen, they required a lot of commitment and imagination from the actors. Many of the elements we see on the screen were created only when the painters took over the work. 100 painters in Poland, Serbia, Ukraine and Lithuania, frame by frame of “Peasants”. – An important element for us was the naturalness of the acting. We explained to the actors not to exaggerate their emotions, although some of them were worried that they would not be visible under the layer of paint. It turns out that you can see the most subtle emotions, says DK Welchman.

Urzędowska, for whom “Chłopi” is her first cinema film, had to show innocence, seductiveness and fear… Hugh Welchman says:

The ‘peasants’ at the center of the novel have a really good, dramatic plot. There are a lot of side things happening, there is a lot of religion, a lot of discussions about secondary characters, but the main plot is the love quadrangle of Boryna, Antek, Jagna and Hanka. Or rather, passion, jealousy and the quadrangle of rage rather than the quadrangle of love.

He says about “Chłopy”: I understand this world

Previously, Urzędowska could be seen in the series “Żmijowisko” in the role of Sabina, she appeared on the screen, for example, in “How I Became a Gangster. A True Story”. When she recorded the so-called self-tape, which was first watched by the creators of “Peasants”, Urzędowska did not yet know that she was auditioning for the role of Jagna. She found out only during the first stage of the direct casting. She claims in interviews that she immediately felt that this was the role for her.

– I understand this world. I know him and remember him from childhood. I grew up in a small town in the Opole region. My grandparents ran a farm. A lot has changed since the end of the 19th century, but the atmosphere of the Polish countryside has remained the same – Kamila Urzędowska in an interview with “Wysokie Obcasy”. – Currently, work is mechanized, but the problems and choices remain similar. The issue of rejecting people who do not fit into the group’s pattern. I also know the behavioral mechanisms functioning a hundred years ago, described by Reymont, from my childhood. Reluctance towards people with different views on the world. Regardless of time and place, emotions do not change – emphasizes the actress.

Kamila Urzędowska at the festival in Gdynia Photo Bartosz Bańka / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

DK Welchman says the same: The novel’s 900 pages contain a story that is vibrant, relevant and terrifying. This world is about us: about our quarrels, jealousies, loves and our tragedies. “Peasants” is a magnifying glass revealing what we really are. If we look at the “Peasants” from above, thinking that we have gone further, achieved more, become more sophisticated, it will turn out that we have not really changed at all. Their story is our story.

Without complexes and in your own way

I have never had any complexes because of my rural origins. Maybe it’s due to self-esteem? Great awareness of what the countryside has given me? My inner strength?

– in an interview for “Elle”. Where does this strength come from? – It has always been in me, thanks to my mother, a strong woman who kept telling me that I could do it no matter what. And so it is, he says.

– I hope Dorota and I succeeded [Welchman – red.] work out Jagna’s rebellion. She doesn’t accept the world she lives in. Of course, it ends tragically for her, but I had the impression that in Reymont’s book there is not so much of it, and we present Jagna as a person who is more aware of what is happening around her – says Justyna Bryczkowska about her film debut. However, about “Peasants” from the 1970s, and especially about Jagna Emilia Krakowska, Urzędowska told Gazeta.pl that she felt pressure, but tried to get rid of it as quickly as possible to focus on work, and later to “Dziennik” that “she did not drew from that character.” – I didn’t reject it, I accepted that it was the vision of those creators, those artists, and we, together with a given group, i.e. creators, will do it our way, just as we feel – The Welchmans’ film can be seen in cinemas from October 13, 2023. Gazeta.pl is its media patron.