I have completely non acting background. Nobody from my family practice acting. And I never figured I will be the one with that interest. I was quite serious with sports in my primary school years. I played handball and had much perspective. In high school I had to decide between sports and school and I choose the smartest, school. In my second year my language teacher convinced me for some reason that I should join her drama class. And so I did. I felt good at the very beginning and my love towards acting has grown ever since.
And your first feature film? How was this experience?
My first future film was
Personal Baggage by
Janez Lapajne. I auditioned for the role.
It was also my first audition. This was in my third year on the Academy for film, radio and television in Ljubljana. I got to work with some of the best Slovenian actors. I had some difficult shots with millions of repetitions so I tasted what film is all about. I loved it in a second.
Still from the film Personal Baggage
Tell us about the experience of the huge success of The Trip.
I get to appreciate the experience of The trip more and more with every new year and every new film. It looks like a fairy tail for me now. Four friends decided to make a film with no funds but full of ideas and energy. We had long rehearsing period because we didn΄t have the money for the realization. That fairy tail started. Director`s father lend us 20.ooo euros, we organized small but sufficient group of hard working people and we shot the film in 14 days on Cannon D5 camera with no additional light. We worked 14-16 hours every day in super hot summer and we did it. Later, after we finished the shooting we got some money from our country and we did the smartest thing and put it all in post production. After we payed back the director`s father of course. The resolute was a film which we can all be very proud about. Not just because it is an accurate capture of our zeitgeist and have strong characters, but also because we did it with our own bear hands.
As we can see, you work on cinema with almost the same team (Nejc Gazvoda , Janez Lapajne, in different roles). Is this a common production model in Slovenia?
We are a small country and our cinema production looks like a poor cousin to our theater production. We only make 2-3 film per year. And they are all low budget. You can consider yourself as the luckiest actor if you get called for the audition. I answered my calls and said yes! I don΄t mind with who do I work on the film, because opportunities are so rear. But it is true that every director has his favorite actors and I am proud to say that I am one of Gazvoda΄s.
Jure Henigman in A Trip
In your opinion, is there a Balkan Cinema? Do films produced in the Balkan counties have some common elements?
Balkan cinema has some common elements I think. We are budget limited so we can΄t really make a blockbuster or an action film. We do social dramas where war has often an important role.
Do you believe that there is a language barrier for an actor of Balkan countries to work in an international production?
I think that language barrier isn΄t really a big problem anymore. One of the reasons is that everything is becoming multi cultural, which is very good. And youngsters nowadays learn faster and easier than ever before.
Tell us a few things about your last film, “Dual”, and your future plans.
I cant really talk about the Dual yet. I can say just that its a romantic story about two girls. One slovenian and the other one Danish. I play a friend of the slovenian girl who has relationship issues and is nicely combined in their story.
The re-gathering with Nejc (Gazvoda) and
Nina Rakovec was amazing and I think
you will hear a lot of this film.
What are your expectations after being selected as a Shooting Star?
I learned that the more I expect the less I get, so I don΄t really expect anything from shooting stars. I will just try to have fun!
Thank you very much Jure.