Profile of Jerzy Skolimowski on Famous Like Me

Jerzy Skolimowski (b. May 5, 1938 in Lodz, Poland) is a Polish film director, scriptwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious Polish Film School in Lodz, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films in and outside of Poland since his 1960 debut Oko wykol (The Menacing Eye). Jerzy Skolimowski is a distinguished accomplished director, writer and actor. He is now living in Los Angeles for some years where he paints in a figurative, expressionist mode and acts occasionally in films.

Childhood

Skolimowski often recognized inclinations in his work to a childhood ineradicably scarred by the War. As a small child he witnessed the brutalities of war, even rescued from the rubble of a bombed out house in Warsaw. His father, a member of the Polish Resistance, was executed by the Nazis. His mother hid a Jewish family in the house and Skolimowski recalls being required to take candy from the Nazis to maintain appearances.

Education

Skolimowski was considered as a trouble maker at school as he was the origin of many harmless jokes which angered the authorities. At college he studied ethnography, history and literature and took up boxing, which was also the subject of a feature-length documentary, his first significant film. Skolimowski's interest in jazz and association with composer Krzysztof Komeda brought him into contact with actor Zbigniew Cybulski, directors Andrzej Munk, and Roman Polanski.

Writer and Actor

In his early twenties Skolimowski was already a credentialed writer with several published books of poems, short stories and a play. Soon he met Andrzej Wajda, the leading director of the then dominant 'Polish school' and twelve years Skolimowski's senior, who has showed him a script for a film about youth written by Jerzy Andrzejewski, the author of the novel Ashes and Diamonds. Skolimowski was not impressed and dismissed the script however in response to a challenge by Wajda, he produced his own version which became a basis for the finished film, The Innocent Sorcerers (1960), directed by Wajda with Skolimowski playing a boxer. Skolimowski enrolled in the Lódz Film School with the intention of avoiding the long apprenticeship required before graduating to feature film direction. He used the film stock available to him for student exercises and with initial advice from Andrzej Munk, he filmed over several years in such a way that the sequences cut together into a feature. While scoring poorly in course work Skolimowski had a finished feature by the end of the course.

Into the Movie Arena

Skolimowsi then team up with Polanski, writing the dialogue for the script of Knife in the Water (1962) and Barrier (1966), Le Départ (1967), Hands Up! (completed 1967, released 1981) followed.

Autobiographical Movies

Between 1964 and 1984 he completed six semi-autobiographical features Rysopis, Walkover, Barrier, Hands Up!, Moonlighting and Success is the Best Revenge, a segment in Dialóg and two other features Le Départ and Deep End based on his original screenplays.

International Scene

While living and working in as many countries, however, he also completed another six relatively big budget productions, including four international co-productions, between 1970 and 1992 (The Adventures of Gerard, King, Queen, Knave, The Shout, The Lightship, Torrents of Spring and Ferdydurke), all the movies distinctly bore Skolimowski’s signature.

Film as life

After Barrier he left Poland to make Le Départ in Belgium in French. According to him Le Départ was a light film rather than a comedy, “does not have the serious layers that I like in my work”. Skolimowski returned to Poland to make Hands Up!, the third film of the Andrzej trilogy and the fourth of his Polish sextet. Between Hands Up! and his next feature Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Gerard (1970), Skolimowski contributed a story to a Czech-produced portmanteau film, Dialóg 20-40-60 (1968), in which three different directors (with Zbynek Brynych and Peter Solan) each devised their own story using identical dialogue even though the central characters are separated in age from those in the other stories by twenty years. Skolimowski's segment, titled The Twenty Year Olds, would seem to be an extension of Le Départ with Leaud playing opposite Skolimowski's wife Joanna Szcerbic. Deep End (1970) was Skolimowski's second non-Polish feature to be based on his own original screenplay. The movie with a coming of age storyline bears distinctive thematic similarities to Le Départ. Deep End was a promising film yet it was poorly handled by the studio. His films The Shout (1978) and Moonlighting (1982) became critical success, Moonlighting, the fifth of his Polish sextet and critically and commercially his most successful film.

Coming to America

The Lightship, Skolimowski’s first US production, is adapted from a novella by the German writer Siegfried Lenz. Set on a US coastguard ship it was filmed in the North Sea. It is suspended between psychological duel with a doppelganger theme and a pure performance piece within the stage-like confines of the lightship. However, even with receiving the best film award at the Venice Film Festival, The Lightship had only a very limited release. With Torrents of Spring (1989), adapted from a semi-autobiographical novella by the Russian Ivan Turgenev, was a big budget European co-production starring Timothy Hutton, Nastassja Kinski and Valeria Golino could be considered as Skolimowski’s most impersonal 'generic' film, the only real departure from his expressed interest in making films only to please himself.

Actor

Jerzy Skolimowski is also a brilliant actor. His portrayal of Colonel Chaikov, a ruthless yet composed KGB colonel, in White Nights (1985) affirm Skolimowski’s high caliber as an actor.

Trivia

• Skolimowski has said that he makes films to please himself.
• He was expelled from school more than once.
• Accomplished jazz drummer
• Skolimowski described his friend Andrzej Munk as his "patron"
• Skolimowski’s film Hands Up! (Rece do gory, 1967) was banned from distribution. It appeared as a surprise special event at the Cannes Festival in 1981.
• Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987

Quotes

• As a poet my mind is trained along the path of poetic associations—I'm not afraid to wander away from direct narrative—I feel safe with a story that tempts you to believe or disbelieve.

Selected Filmography

• America (2006)
• Ferdydurke (1991) also known as 30 Door Key
• Torrents of Spring (1989) ... also known as Acque di primavera (Italy). Eaux printanières, Les (French dubbed version)
• The Lightship (1985) also known as Killers at Sea (TV title in US)
• Success Is the Best Revenge (1984) also known as Succès à tout prix, Le (France)
• Moonlighting (1982) also known as Schwarzarbeit (West Germany)
• Rece do góry (1981) also known as Hands Up!
• The Shout (1978)
• King, Queen, Knave (1972) also known as Herzbube, König, Dame, Bube (West Germany)
• Deep End (1971) also known as Deep End (West Germany) Na samym dnie (Poland)
• The Adventures of Gerard (1970) also known as Adventures of Brigadier Gérard,

Avventure di Gerard, Le (Italy)

• Dialóg 20-40-60 (1968) (segment "The Twenty-Year-Olds") also known as Dialogue (International: English title)
• Départ, Le (1967)
• Bariera (1966) also known as Barrier (USA)
• Walkower (1965) also known as Walkover (USA)
• Rysopis (1964) also known as Identification Marks: None
• Akt (1962) also known as The Nude
• Boks (1961) also known as Boxing (International: English title)
• Pieniadze albo zycie (1961) also known as Your Money Or Your Life (International: English title)
• Erotyk (1960) also known as Erotique (International: English title)
• Hamles (1960) also known as Little Hamlet (International: English title)
• Oko wykol (1960) also known as The Menacing Eye (International: English title)

As Actor

• Before Night Falls (2000) also known as Antes que anochezca (USA: Spanish title)
• L.A. Without a Map (1998) also known as I Love L.A. (France), Los Angeles Without a Map
• Mars Attacks! (1996)
• Torrents of Spring (1989) also known as Acque di primavera (Italy) Eaux printanières, Les (French dubbed version). Skolimowski as Victor Victorovich
• Big Shots (1987) Skolimowski as Doc
• White Nights (1985) Skolimowski as KGB Colonel Chaiko
• Fälschung, Die (1981) also known as Circle of Deceit, False Witness, Faussaire, Le (France). Skolimowski as Hoffmann.
• Rece do góry (1981) also known as Hands Up! Skolimowski as Andrzej Leszczyc
• Deep End (1971) also known as Deep End (West Germany), Na samym dnie (Poland)
• Sposob bycia (1966) as Leopold. Also known as A Frame of Mind
• Walkower (1965) also known as Walkover (USA). Skolimowski as Andrzej Leszczyc.
• Rysopis (1964) also known as Identification Marks: None. Skolimowski as Andrzej Leszczyc
• Boks (1961) also known as Boxing (International: English title)
• Niewinni czarodzieje (1960) also known as Innocent Sorcerers (International: English title: literal title). Skolimowski’s first role as a Boxer, uncredited.

External Links

• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• Jerzy Skolimowski at the Internet Movie Database

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