Jakub Gierszał likes to play villains. "There's something liberating about it"

PAP Life: It's hard to list in one breath all the Polish productions you've recently starred in. What's more, you also work regularly in Germany. A lot, really.

Jakub Gierszał: In the life of an actor, it works out that sometimes there is no work, and sometimes there is everything at once. It is true that there is a lot of it now. Of course, there are moments of break between projects, so you have to use them well to prepare for the next film.

PAP Life: In "Langer" you play the title character, Piotr Langer, a psychopath, a serial killer. How did you prepare for this role? Was the script enough for you?

JG: Working on a role is rarely limited to reading the script. In the case of Langer, I watched a few films about psychopaths, but they were more true crime films, which are often available on streaming, than feature films. Łukasz (Łukasz Palkowski, director of "Langer" - ed.) and I created the character of Langer six years ago, when we were making "Chyłka". At that time, we spent a lot of time to somehow bring him to life and distinguish him from the literary original. But in "Chyłka", our hero only sometimes came in, messed something up and left. In "Langer", on the other hand, he is the main character. So here we had to look behind the scenes of his life, to place the accents differently.

PAP Life: I have the impression that you have drawn Langer with a slightly bolder line. He is supposedly scary, he does terrible things, but somehow we are not afraid of him.

JG: I think it's an added value, because if we tried to do it completely seriously, then maybe it would be unbearable in its literalness. We're playing with a certain convention, we're winking at the viewer a little.

Jakub Gierszał on playing villains

PAP Life: You've played both good and bad characters. Is playing bad characters liberating in some way?

JG: There's something about it being a kind of fun in pushing boundaries. You can allow yourself to be a little bit carefree, because these are characters who don't stick to any moral codes. There's something liberating about it.

PAP Life: Sam Langer claims that we are fascinated by people who push boundaries because they do what we are afraid to do.

JG: Maybe because there's some mystery to them? I wonder about that myself, I also caught myself when I watched "Batman" and was fascinated by the evil Joker and I was rooting for him. I wondered: why is he like that, why does he act like that. Well, sex and violence are generally subjects that are filmed well and sell well. We like to follow the fates of heroes who behave in a way that we would never allow ourselves to.

PAP Life: We also like to be scared in real life. We watch thrillers, horrors, some go to escape rooms. What are you afraid of in real life?

JG: These are quite mundane things, for example I have a certain fear of small, enclosed spaces. But I try not to let fears rule my life. I have the feeling that they are also there to try to confront them and overcome them or tame them.

PAP Life: When you started your acting career, were you worried about whether you would find your place in the profession or, to put it colloquially, whether people would want you?

JG: Whether they will want me is not my train of thought. However, the question definitely arises: whether we will manage. And I think that is always with us. And at the same time, other questions arise: how to motivate yourself, how to maintain discipline, etc. Uncertainty in this profession is something obvious. We are constantly exposing ourselves to evaluation, because the characters we play take on our form, have our face, our voice. Stress is simply built into acting.

I always wanted to work in film and I'm glad I have the opportunity. I never had the feeling that once I'd done something, I could stop, I was just looking for the next challenge, the next project. In that respect, nothing has changed for me. So I approach my profession as a kind of journey or adventure.

PAP Life: Can you sometimes say "no"? Because we started our conversation by saying that one could get the impression that you are at work all the time?

JG: Contrary to appearances, I often pass on various offers. I don't feel like I'm working too hard, because most people work in such a way that they go to work every day and have three or four weeks of vacation. Actors who are full-time in the theater also work all year round. I consciously gave up the theater to act more in films. A film set is really the only place where I can learn something or develop in my profession, because I can't make a step forward sitting at home.

It's important to me to test myself in different genres and in different fields. Whether it's voice work, because I record radio plays, or in a series or film - if I have the opportunity, it's in German. These are things that simply help me improve my craft. I understood this very quickly, while I was still in drama school, when I made my first film "All That I Love". Two months spent on a film set developed me more than two or three years in drama school. On a film set, you're thrown into the deep end and you can't ask a professor if it's okay. In this profession, the only thing that counts is credibility, whether someone will believe you, and you have to get to that point.

PAP Life: Have you developed any methods for quickly getting into character and then getting out of it?

JG: When I'm shooting, I live very much in the project. But when we finish shooting the film, I try to close the chapter as quickly as possible and move on.

PAP Life: So you don't dream about Langer at night?

JG: No, I'm not dreaming (laughter).

PAP Life: Actors often say that they don't have to like their characters, but they have to understand them. Do you feel the same way?

JG: A lot depends on the project. Empathy is the starting point for working on a role - how much we are able to empathize with the character. But there are different methods of acting, everyone develops them for themselves. Isabelle Huppert, a wonderful French actress, once said that she doesn't have to understand the psychology of a character, she just sees them in some color and that inspires her to play. That's also a way. A few years ago I decided that it's worth trying different methods. And you can't understand Langer anyway (laughter).

PAP Life: Is there anything you like about him? Langer looks great, he has a beautiful apartment…

JG: He's well dressed, he's got cool gadgets. But do I like that about him? I think he's clearly a negative character. And if I were to use that color association, Langer would be in shades of black. Although I understand that he can evoke some positive emotions in viewers. Because this character sells a certain fantasy.

Interviewed by Iza Komendołowicz

Jakub Gierszał was born in Kraków, when he was a few months old he left with his parents to Hamburg, and at the age of 11 he returned to Poland and settled in Toruń, his mother's hometown. He graduated from the Kraków Theatre School. He made his debut in the film "Wszystko, co kocham" (Everything That I Love) (2009) by Jacek Borcuch. He became popular with the film "Sala samobójców", for which he received the Zbyszek Cybulski Award. Later he appeared in such films as "Najlepszy", "Pokot", "Pomiędzy słów", "Doppelgänger. Sobowtór", "Biała odwaga", "Simona Kossak", "Kolory złe, Czerwień" and in the series "Chyłka". The films "Pojedynek" and "Za ścianą" are waiting for their premiere. He regularly plays in German productions (including the series "Stralsund"). On May 22, the series "Langer" (SkyShowtime) debuted, in which he plays the title role. He is 37 years old.