It all started in the first half of the 1960s, when he decided to adapt Bolesław Prus’s “Pharaoh” to the screens. He started looking for actors who could add splendor to the cast by playing the main characters, but this turned out to be quite a challenge because he had specific expectations not only regarding their skills, but also their appearance.
Brylska got Zelnik a role in the cult “Faron”. She played Kama and he played Rameses
During a party at the student club Hybrydy, the assistant director caught the eye of a 23-year-old student of the Warsaw theater school, . He immediately invited her to a casting, and she accepted the offer, but when she showed up for the auditions, she was stressed and wanted to withdraw. She believed that she was poor compared to other candidates, and even claimed that she was not as beautiful compared to them. Her casting for the role of the Phoenician Priestess, Kama, was ultimately decided by test photos, because she was the only one out of dozens of actresses who felt comfortable standing in a negligee in front of the camera.
The only thing missing to start work on the set was an actor who could play the title role of Rameses. Kawalerowicz had to choose from as many as 50 candidates, including: , who secretly had a crush on Brylska. – I had no chance with her. However, it didn’t stop me from dreaming about her and adoring her – years later. The young actress, even though she was married, at that time silently sighed for him, and the rest was mutual, and it was she who recommended him to the director, who ultimately entrusted him with the role.
Brylska was married when she had an affair with Zelnik. Their relationship ended right after the premiere of “Pharaoh”
When Brylska and Zelnik met on the set, you could immediately feel the growing tension between them. The passion was in full swing and they didn’t even try to hide it.
I am an esthete, he was so utterly beautiful and so incredibly beautifully built. Besides, he’s an intellectual. He impressed everyone
– she spoke about him with delight in the book “Barbara Brylska in the hardest role” by Barbara Rybałtowska.
After shooting scenes together in the atelier, Zelnik went to Egypt and then to the USSR, where he shot subsequent fragments of “Pharaoh” for the next three years. He didn’t hide the fact that she was the one he missed the most. – It was my first full love, a feeling combined with consumption – he confessed years later, admitting that he was not even bothered by the fact that she was still Jan Borowiec’s wife.
It is known that she promised Zelnik that she would divorce her husband, especially since he also committed adultery, but this finally happened only in 1968, less than 3 years after she separated from the cinema lover. At that time, she was more concerned about her marital status than the fact that she had been expelled from the university for participating in “Pharaoh”, as acting students were not allowed to act in films before obtaining a diploma. When the production turned out to be a hit, she was accepted to the Łódź Film School, where she could complete her education. In the meantime, she went to Germany to shoot “White Wolves”, and there she was struck by Slobodan Dimitrijevich, who came from the then Yugoslavia, and it was thanks to this affair that her feelings for Zelnik disappeared forever.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
