The uncrowned king of Czech filmography, Zdeňek Troška (73) has countless cult films to his credit. During his career, he met and worked with many famous personalities and revealed the true face of some of them for the editorial office.
He got to know the Russian actress Inna Čuriková a little personally. Most people know her as Marfuša from the fairy tale Mrázik. The actress died on January 14, 2023 at the age of 79. “She definitely consulted the best actresses in general. We met at a film festival in St. Petersburg. In the hotel where we were both staying, we happened to meet during breakfast,” he recalled their first meeting.
“My friend from the embassy in Moscow befriended her. She was sitting in the dining room with her back to the room, wearing a big hat and sunglasses. When she went to pour the juice and passed our table, she sat down with us and we had a debate over breakfast. She was truly a wonderful, classy, educated and intelligent lady“, he described the actress who enchanted him.
Inna was proud of her role as Marfuša and liked to talk about it. However, that could not be said about the actress Jiřina Jirásková († 81), who played the head teacher Václavka Hubičková in the film Sun, hay….
“Inna was, as I said, a classy, intelligent lady, while Mrs. Jirásková was just playing lady. They say that the dead are only good, but I always stand for the truth. Mrs. Jirásková was a bad woman. Bad. In my entire life, I have never had an actress in a movie with such a bad character as her. Unfortunately,” he didn’t put the napkin in front of Troško’s mouth.
When Zdeněk cast Jiřina in this role, the film studio Barrandov had clear reservations. They stated that Jirásková had had enough and checked it off. “When I told her, she threw herself around my neck and cried a lot. They say she did nothing wrong and blamed it on the communists. I sent her to Jiřina Švorcová, who was the head of the union of dramatic artists, but she didn’t want it,” he revealed.
In the end, he chose the head of the union of dramatic artists himself. “And Švorcová tells me with a smile that Jirásková has no ban. When I wondered, she explained to me that they all repay her for the way she once treated them. I was just watching. Out of respect for her husband, director Podskalský, I finally got her into the filmTroška said.
Jirásková reproached him that, despite the fact that she played in many films and plays, people recognized her only as Hubičková. According to him, she even said that she was ashamed of acting in Sun, Hay.
Despite everything, Troška was the only person from the industry to come to her funeral. “It’s fair to admit that about two or three weeks before her death, Jiřina phoned me and apologized. I’m not supposed to be angry. Imagine, she realized how she harmed me. She literally said she knew how she hurt me,” he added.
