The role of Stuhr in “Seksmission” was supposed to be played by someone else. Machulski suddenly changed his mind

Exactly today marks 40 years since the premiere of “Seksmission” by Juliusz Machulski. The comedy, shot by a debuting director, quickly became part of the canon of Polish films, and the iconic lines spoken by the main character are remembered to this day. However, there was a close call and the cast of “Seksmisja” included someone completely different instead of Jerzy Stuhr.

Someone else was supposed to play Maks Paradys in “Seksmisja”. It was decided by chance

When preparing to cast actors as the main characters, Juliusz Machulski only knew that he was most interested in showing the contrast between the two characters. He came across the ideal candidates partly by accident: “I knew I wanted to have two different personality types, two archetypes: a sensitive intelligent man and a Polish smartass. I met Ol Łukaszewicz on the set of ‘Lessons of a Dead Language’… I thought he would be good for the role of a wimp.” , because he was an actor who mainly died of tuberculosis and suffered in films,” Machulski explained in an interview with “Newsweek”.

It wasn’t so easy with the actor who played the role of Maks Paradys. Juliusz Machulski, who made his debut as a director 40 years ago and was associated with light cinema, initially thought about collaborating with Jan Englert. However, Jerzy Kawalerowicz advised him to choose a slightly less handsome actor to play the second character. The choice was Jerzy Stuhr, who at that time was at the peak of his fame thanks to his appearances in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s productions. “Coincidence helped me: it turned out that Stuhr, then the star of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s films, dreams of playing in a comedy. And he doesn’t mind the fact that he will star in an almost debutant, who also makes frivolous films, not cinema of moral anxiety” – added Machulski in an interview for “Newsweek”.