the actor talks about the first Polish series Netflix

Maciej Musiał is at the top now. The young actor is one of the stars of 1983, the first Polish series Netflix Original. We told him about this role.

The acting career of Maciej Musiał is gaining momentum thanks to Netfliks. It will appear in The Witcher as Sir Lazlo, but before the story of Geralt of Rivia comes out on the screens, viewers will see his performance in another production of the world's largest streaming website.

Maciej Musiał played one of the leading roles in 1983, the Polish series of Netflix website.

The actor plays Kajetan, a young and naive law student. He does not remember what Poland looked like before the terrorist attacks by which he lost his parents. He was raised by his grandmother and the state of oppression is the only one he knows. He believes in the system until the day he embarks on the conspiracy path.

Before the first of the 1983 series, I had talked to the actor about the difference between working for Netfliks and what he was doing before. Maciej Musiał also explained how he saw his character and explained what exactly we could expect from Kajetan.

Maciej Musiał on the role of Kajetan in 1983 in Spider's Web Entertainment

Warning! The text contains spoilers for the 1983 series.

Piotr Grabiec: How did you cooperate with Netfliks?

Maciej MusiałWe co-created this project with Josh, he writes. At one point we gave it to Netfliks and Agnieszka Holland. The project was implemented and she decided to play Kajetan.

How was Netfliks' work different from soap opera shooting for conventional television?

There was a Coca-Cola on a bus, there was a coffee machine … [śmiech] We have American working models that we do not have, including a showrunner who is such a drummer. This gives the rhythm of any creative work. There was always someone from the Kennedy / Marshall Company, including Robert Zotnowski, one of our producers. Of course, we had a creative base.

We sometimes received an e-mail in which we had to record both ends of the scene and we did not know which one to use. For an actor who leads his character in a specific direction, he is an unknown. You do not know how the action will develop in quite important moments. Sometimes it works in the United States. Agnieszka Holland worked like that – the actors and the director do not know who killed them. You play a little without knowing. In Belfra, it was the same.

For this, the involvement of people. Everyone wanted the best. Sets, costumes, makeup … everyone gave 200%.

So the level higher than on our plot?

You know it will be produced for Netflix, so everyone wanted and gave even more. It works differently. Our morality was at a very high level.

What was the preparation for that role like – did you read books about the 80s, did you read magazines from that period, did you talk to people?

The title is 1983, but the action takes place in 2003. This world, which does not exist, was not and will not be. My preparations were not based so much on reading documents from the time of the LRP, but rather on determining what a customer is, why it is so, and not another, why it works and think that way. And basically, why not think. Kajetan has, speaking familiarly, a washed head, it is a product of the party. So we wondered when this perfect world would be broken.

What was the biggest surprise when working on the set, and what is the biggest challenge?

It was difficult to hold back and keep the boyfriend of the party. The seventh episode was interesting, in which his world breaks, and Kajetan begins to understand. Agnieszka Smoczyńska has made several strong emotional scenes.

A beautiful relationship with Zosia Wichłacz was a surprise. We had a nice couple, we got along superficially on screen and off screen.

Who is Kajetan when we get to know him and what should we know about him?

Kajetan is a boy who lost his parents when he was very young and does not remember him completely. Everything in his head was put there by his grandmother, a communist. He is raised by the state and has become a symbol of assassinations. The series features a picture of flowers on the grave of parents – it has become a testimony of these events.

He is a state celebrity. I think that in the future he wants to have a state position. He is aware that he lives in a police state, but he thinks it's good because everyone is safe.

He believes in this system, is his lawyer?

Yes. He believes that if you leave your wallet in the middle of Piłsudzki Square, you can come back in two days and he will still be there.

However, it seems that something will burst, that something will change. How does your character mature during the eight hours of the show – what's changing in his approach to the world, to history?

I think his apostle of the truth is the figure of Anatol, who entrusts him with other tasks. Effy – Ophelia, his childhood friend fighting in the resistance movement, has even more influence. It's she who shows her the rotting world hidden under this beautiful crystal blanket.

Kajetan is raised in a party spirit, but did not the vision presented in 1983 please you? Freedom took us a bit, but Poland is more powerful in 2003, it counts more on the international scene than it really is …

There is something attractive, almost sexy in it. In the very appearance of buildings and architecture, in uniforms that are beautiful. There is something about this fascist … I had some interesting feelings when shooting the second episode. In the end, we felt this world.

A choir of 50 young boys sang a communist song, three hundred state representatives entered the great hall and we suddenly felt that we were in this world. And he's demonic, horrible.

By the way the policy we have previously touched must be approached with openness, without any assumptions, political or otherwise. The visions of the world presented may interest or dislike the left or right side. This is an interesting world-view series, which can change the optics, but without a pre-imposed thesis.

And as far as the message is concerned, is 1983 more a story of struggle for freedom, or an attempt to show the dirty reality of politics behind closed doors?

The history of the struggle for freedom and the price we can pay. How can we fight for her? Finally, about what is freedom – freedom of speech, thought or freedom understood by well-being.

If you were to encourage watching 1983 by comparing it to other works of pop culture, which would you say to be similar in terms of subject, climate, message?

This is the combination of House of Cards, Mr Robot and … nice evening of October in Warsaw.

Is it more than an 8-hour film, or rather a series in which each episode has its beginning and end?

The names of episodes are taken from American politics. This means some political tricks, used in camera, but the whole plot runs smoothly.

The real world and the 1983 world are different from each other, but how are they really different from the 2003 we know?

Architecture. There is a lot of glass, concrete and modernity. Clandestinity is no longer trade unionists, but young pirates who want to seize machine guns and start firing. There is an excellent public transport network: when Kajetan receives a gift from Karolinka, there is a map of the Warsaw Metro in the background, which has about 15 lines.

Yes, I have been paying attention to this card myself.

Well, public transportation is at a high level, schools are free and people generally live well. It is only in this pyramid of needs that the tip is completely cut.

We are talking about 1983, but, seizing the opportunity, I can not ask at least one question about The Witcher: where did you participate in The Witcher? He was still shooting until 1983 or after them? Who is Sir Lazlo?

I can not say anything about the story, but there were some castings. I know that they have taken place in many places, mainly in London, but also in Warsaw.

And who is Sir Lazlo?

I can not tell you anything about it. And I would like it.