A risky idea made “The Ranch” such a unique series. And Żak got a double branch

Viewers saw the first episode on March 5, 2006. Initially, no one predicted such a success for him, but at the peak of his popularity, his viewership reached even ten million viewers. Moreover, after a few seasons it was proclaimed “the series of all time” at the Polish Television Series Festival. In addition, “Ranch” also received three Telekamers for the best comedy series and the best fictional series, as well as the Golden Telekamera for the best feature series. Interestingly, it was originally intended to last only four seasons, but viewers were so eager to watch the production that eventually ten series and a feature film were made.

The “ranch” might have looked completely different

Several different elements contributed to the “Rancza” phenomenon. First of all, this is of course the script that Robert Brutter and Jerzy Niemuczk wrote for the first six seasons, and then Brutter himself. Viewers fell in love with how warmly he was able to show the life of the Polish countryside in a clash with the “big world”. As director Wojciech Adamczyk emphasized in one of the interviews, Brutter had “a special quality of synthesizing our present day, presenting it metaphorically and dressing it in idyllic and rural costumes”.

Secondly, the same team worked on the production from the very beginning in an almost unchanged composition. In addition to the writer and director, the same production team and, of course, the cast also worked for ten seasons. Let us add that before the shooting of “Rancza” began, Adamczyk knew well Cezary Żak and Artur Barcis – they recorded the series “Honey Years” together for years. Nevertheless, when Cezary Żak was offered to participate in “Rancz”, it was not at all obvious that he would play the twins. As he recently revealed in an interview with the Sports Channel:

At the beginning I was supposed to play only a priest, that is Piotr Kozioł. But later the authors came up with the idea that they were twins. And found out that I would play both. It was an acting challenge for me.

The challenge may have been big, but it was great. He was so empathetic to each of these characters and played them so differently that, apparently, the editor sometimes thought that he was editing shots with two different actors, and the viewers had similar feelings. Żak, in an interview for “Twój Styl”, said many years ago – “At meetings in Poland, I am surprised by the question of whether I really play this and that. How is it possible that we are together” on TV “.

Wojciech Adamczyk recounted in an interview – “For all these years we looked at him with admiration. An energetic, crude and flashy guy with a mustache left the set and in about 25 minutes another one came in. Smooth-shaven, focused, calm, in control of emotions. was it possible that such a transformation took place in such a short time? Watching Cezary Żak enter the roles has always been a great pleasure for us and such a child’s fascination that you can change so much. “

In an interview with Przegląd, Żak emphasized in turn:

I got phenomenal material from scriptwriters, which gave me a field to show off to build these characters. In the first season, I wanted to diversify them. I knew it would be interesting for me to play and for the viewers to watch. I waited for the next fate of these heroes and was grateful to the writers, first two, then one, for developing these characters like this.

Help Ukraine, join the collection. You deposit money on the website

Let us also add that the “third” twin also worked on the set. Robert Ostolski played, like Cezary Żak, both the mayor of Paweł Kozioł and the parish priest Piotr Kozioł, but … with his back. He also worked on the show from the very beginning. Together with the director, they also worked out a whole method of recording their double scenes – before each episode they sat down together and reviewed the scripts. Żak talked about how he would like to play particular lines and how he planned to do it. The rule was that when one wore a cassock, the other was the mayor, and then they exchanged. Although Ostolski always stood with his back during these scenes, let us add that the viewers saw his face – he showed it when he played the character of Winiecki.