Director Rudolf Noelte was able to give Kafka’s The Castle an evocative cinematic form when he began adapting it in the late 1960s. The image of the terrifying dimension of power, applied with the help of bureaucracy and hierarchical order, is included in The Wish to Be a Red Indian: Kafka and Cinema section. The screening at Čas Cinema was introduced by Iva Janžurová, who played the role of Olga. And right away, she revealed to the audience how she got the role – and how she almost lost it.
“The director saw Coach to Vienna somewhere at the festival. When they offered me a role in a West German film, I thought my international career had finally begun. First, they took me to Austria, where the filming was supposed to take place. I met the lead actor, Maximilian Schell, who taught me how to behave like a real star. For example, he opened letters from his fans in front of me and threw them into the fire. Then they told me there would be scenes in the film where I’d have to be naked. I told them I wasn’t a cheap girl who would strip for money and that I was going home. Three weeks later they called to inform me that they would hire a double for the nude scenes. But then one of the Austrian actors pointed out to me that I had made a mistake, because the double didn’t have such nice breasts,” Iva Janžurová told the audience.
She also added the story of how she travelled to Cannes in May 1968 to present the film. “I flew there just when the festival was cancelled due to strikes, so I spent two days there just walking around.”
