“When Edward Gierek came home, he was no longer the first secretary, because his wife became one”

In August 2020, we were on the “Gierek” film set at the Palace of Culture and Science. Producer Janusz Iwanowski then revealed to us that the idea to cast Michał Koterski in the lead role was accidental and came from the actor’s seemingly innocent joke.

Producer about casting Koterski as Gierek: It was a joke at the beginning

At the beginning, the creators wanted to hire Piotr Adamczyk or Krzysztof Stelmaszyk. – My wife and I had a wall at home full of photos of FBI agents’ boards in films when they are chasing murderers – recalled Iwanowski, who also worked with Michał Koterski on the film “Krime Story-Love Story”. It was then that Koterski told the producer about a Latvian company that has a film town with scenery for a Viking settlement, war ruins of the city, a dummy of Petrograd or a piece of Warsaw. Moreover, during the shooting of “Swingers”, Koterski saw how, following his suggestion, the construction of a swimming pool was started on a film set. This made a big impression on Ivanovsky, who recalls how the conversation that started it all happened:

Michał, such miracles are happening in Latvia, talk to them, because we want to do ‘Gierek’ next year. Ask them to build a small Warsaw from the 1970s for us, then we will have no problem with adaptation and scenery. And Michael says: Done. Only I play Gierek!

– And of course then everyone laughed. And my wife and I began to observe Michał more closely. We noticed that he is very similar to Edward Gierek, for example has an appropriate distance between his eyes, a similar posture. He also resembles Gierek in personality. His secretary mentioned to me that Gierek was always the first in the room, he had an extremely loud voice. And Michał is just like that. Another actor would have to work it out, Michał is so loud that you can’t hear anyone else in front of him. There are certain features of Gierek that he also has naturally. He is a good, straightforward man. Even when he argues with someone, it is known that they will soon live in harmony. These are the features of Edward Gierek – explained Mr. Janusz.

“It is Gierek who is to become Michał Koterski”

Koterski did his job very well: he gained 17 kg, learned to speak French and Russian, and he also tried to enter the character during public appearances. His efforts were appreciated by Edward Gierek’s son, professor Adam Gierek. – Michał came over and said ‘Son!’ – they fell into each other’s arms. Adam Gierek’s wife had to stop them, because when the professor starts talking, it is difficult to break through him. Exactly like with Michał – the producer compared the characterological similarity. He also stressed:

Here, Edward Gierek is to become Michał Koterski. And for the character to become identical to his impersonator, we have the first 10-15 minutes: if we succeed, the actor is in the center of the picture.

– We managed this play with Piotr Witkowski, who played Chada in “Procedera”. After all, he is bald throughout the whole movie – Chad was last bald 14 years ago. He had normal hair and he could not afford to lack it, because the bald people were immediately picked up by the police. Fans, however, had no problem with our make-up procedure – described Iwanowski and made it clear that he wanted to avoid a certain trap when making “Gierek”.

– You can’t make one more mistake: an actor cannot pretend to be the voice of a real character. We used the experience of Andrzej Wajda, who allowed Robert Więckiewicz to imitate the voice of Lech Wałęsa in “Man of Hope”. But in the end Walesa did not become this. This could only be seen during the assembly. This is the case with the film, we learn many things only during the editing process. These are not mistakes or lack of talent – he explained.

He also gave another example: – You can see it in the movie “Zenek”. These two actors who play the young and the old Martyniuk (Krzysztof Czeczot and Jakub Zając – editor’s note) practically torment him. The real Zenek is much better. And how they pretend to be him is just terrible. If they were to speak with their own voice, it would be better: after all, viewers are used to the voice of actors, he noted. Global Studio has a way to avoid this potential trap:

That’s why we rehearse: we act out the whole script and record everything with our mobile phone. In this way, we check how it turned out, we also know if someone can cope with a specific role.

We will dispel a lot of myths

Iwanowski made it very clear that the script for the film “Gierek” was being written for three years. It was another year from its completion before any work on the set began. The plot focuses on showing Edward Gierek’s decade in power and two years of his internment, when he was close to death. The creators wanted to highlight his “attempted fight”, the way to live “between the East and the West”. – We do not know a lot about Edward Gierek yet. There is no point in making political films from which we learn nothing new – said Janusz Iwanowski.

He emphasized that the production puts a lot of emphasis on the economic aspect and is to show the source of Gierek’s debts very precisely: – We were told about it by a banker who has a very similar name in the film. I don’t think he would even be offended because we show him in a very positive light. He was very concerned that the Poles found out how Gierek was granted all these loans. Because in fact, Western banks had a greater interest in granting them than Poles in taking them. We will show what really happened with this money – described the producer of the film in more detail.

Although the film is biographical, some changes were needed.

– We had to make some compromises and, for example, put together a figure from three real people to represent them. This is how Marzena, played by Agnieszka Więdłocha, experiences the adventures of a certain professor, his skirmishes with the general or the secret police. It was necessary, otherwise the film would become multi-threaded, which is a common sin in Polish cinema. People want to tell so much that the main character is lost in all of this. And if there is no hero, the viewer does not get involved. There is no movie. Just like in “Procedera”, here we follow the protagonist – Edward Gierek. This is a story about him, so we gave up many things and characters. For example, we have shown the moment when John Paul II was elected pope and the dissatisfaction of party comrades. But Karol Wojtyła already has his films, and Gierek does not. That is why we will not show the Pope – he revealed.

Agnieszka Więdłocha as Marzena ‘Gierek’, dir. M. Węgrzyn, prod. Global Studio (2022) / Promotional materials

– We will debunk many myths and show you where all the rumors came from. And it was not without reason that they appeared in the 1970s. We say here that the stories that Stanisława Gierek went to Paris for shopping are clearly untrue. As a young man, I also believed in it, just as in the fact that they lived in a revolving villa, that they had dollars hidden under the floor – he recalled on a Warsaw film set during an interview with Gazeta.pl.

– We are not erecting a bronze statue here. We will see a man who has flaws, a man who wanted well. Whether it worked out to the end, the viewer has to judge for himself – he noted. – We will also show that Edward Gierek was extremely lonely. His friends were unable to stick to him. In fact, politics already looked like in “House of Cards” – he compared.

The producer also admitted that the production did not contact the production with Edward Gierek’s son, professor Adam, on purpose. To avoid the accusation that it was dictated by the family. – It is known that the professor has been fighting for the good name of his father for years – he recalled. The meeting took place only later.

– Mr. Adam Gierek helped us a lot and told us how his dad was in private – after all, he did not behave like he did at official ceremonies. We know from him that his mother, Stanisława, was quite a dominant person. So she was in charge at home. When Edward Gierek came home, he was no longer the first secretary, because his wife was the first secretary – he initiated us into the family life of the Gierks.

He also mentioned what actress Ewa Ziętek told him after reading the script:

It will be such a movie for people. But about a man. It’s good.

Apart from Małgorzata Kożuchowska and Michał Koterski, the cast also includes, among others, Rafał Zawierucha, who plays Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz, we will also see on the screen: Sebastian Stankiewicz, Antoni Pawlicki, Cezary Żak, Agnieszka Więdłocha, Natalia Lesz, Domnika Gwit, Klaudiê Halejcio, Krzysztof Tyniec, Maciej Zakościelny, Mikołaj Roznerski, Maurycy Popiel, Piotr, Philippe Tłokiński, Damian Bajorek, Kamil Bajorek, Aleks Mackiewicz and Konrad Marszałek. The reliable Cezary Żak will play Leonid Brezhnev – the producer of the film Janusz Iwanowski promises that the shots with the actor of this role will be very funny. The premiere will take place on January 21, 2022.