"I fail to see anything funny in politics. The audience that comes to see me already knows what I think and there is no need for me to further inform them about it. I testify my political position with my life"
In a message, I suggested to him that we talk about this New Year's double issue, stated what our topics would be and added - we won't talk about politics. "How can we talk without talking about the elephant in the room," he replied.
As we probably all know, Nikola Đuričko, theater and film actor, and more recently writer and musician, five years ago he packed up himself and his family and he moved to Los Angeles. It was a brave/risky decision but, as it turned out - the right one because already a few months after arriving in the US he was cast in a popular series Stranger Things of the Drafer brothers, which is one of the most watched on the Internet platform Netflix. "I adore that sleazy Russian, Yuri." It deserves its own series. Like Barry, only Russian", Stephen King wrote about Djuricko and his character on X.
In the fall, he was in Serbia for filming the series Three star hotel, and on tour around the region with his stand-up show Showbiz. The local media reported on it diligently, as well as everything else that has been happening to him since he left.
"WEATHER" It was recently reported that you moved from a small apartment to a two-story house. It's obvious proof that it's there for you, in the white world, more than good. Do we, here, based on your example, we may take courage and follow in your footsteps?
NIKOLA ĐURIČKO: Don't believe the newspapers. That is one confusion that happened, and which our media reported, even some that I thought were not "gossip". We were visiting our friends and since it was my birthday, they bought me a small cake. My wife took a picture of me and posted it on Instagram and added which part of the city we were in. Our media reported that I bought a house in that elite part of the city with expensive furniture. I especially liked this one about expensive furniture. I don't know where they got it from? It's not my house but those of our friends, and it was stupid for me to deny it because no one even asked me anything. The bazaar loves such stories, but the reality is not so exclusive.
What is the director you play in the series Three star hotel? When in Serbia it is said "director", the first association is with a man who does not care about the general interest but his own, who panders to the authorities, who was appointed to that position because of his party card and not because of his expertise and experience...
Yes, in our minds the director has a negative connotation, but this hotel is very specific and so is the director. He never left the building and that gives him a special dimension. He is fighting with all his might so that he and the hotel can survive. Zoran Lisinac, who was one of the creators of the films Montevideo i Thomas he persuaded me to be that crazy director. We were lucky that the talented Ivan Marinović accepted the direction, and his films Needle under the threshold I highly recommend Alive and Healthy. Marko Kažić is the director of photography, so I'm sure there will be unexpected things visually and of course a really interesting and unexpected ensemble of actors, I think we managed to make a very impressive series, more precisely a sitcom.
How do you feel about the region after the recent stand-up tour?? Should we have split up?? The cultural community of the region cooperates and is happy about it, and officials are trying their best to set huge limits. What do you think about all that??
Only "leaders" are comfortable with conflict and tension. This gives them room for manipulation, abuse of history, for creating tensions and imposing feelings of victimhood, they frustrate us so that they can get rich in peace. It only takes one morning to wake up and see reality with our own eyes. We understand each other, we speak almost the same language, we've been through similar things in life, we've seen the same movies, books, comics, we like the same foods and drinks, we know the same songs. It is natural for me to have more in common with someone from Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skopje, Podgorica than with someone from New York, Amsterdam or Moscow.
Those who understand it say that stand-up actors in Serbia fail to comment on all current events in their performances., there are so many. How do you deal with it?? And when we mention the fight: how do you fight freedom of speech? Has anyone told you that it is better to skip some topics and some people in your stand-up shows?
No, no one told me, I think for myself that I am a free man and there is no one to tell me what I can and cannot say. I myself decided to skip politics in my stand-up performances. One of the reasons is that I fail to see anything funny in politics. Secondly, the audience that comes to watch me already knows what I think and there is no need for me to inform them about it. I testify my political position with my life. But, I understand what you are asking me, so I suggest you ask Zoran Kesić if he can play somewhere in Serbia. Because of his humor or political stance, he was denied the right to work.
When you left Belgrade more than five years ago, you said you were going to the center of the movie, to check your market value. And how would you rate yourself now??
Let's say as the best sixth man, to use a basketball term. I'm not used to being on the bench, but you have to fight in the world market. I believe in myself and my experience and I try not to forget why I am here.
How an actor from Serbia lives in Hollywood? Who do you hang out with?? What's your neighborhood like??
Parties all day long... I said this so others would pass it on. Like all actors, I live in Los Angeles. I drive because I have to, I try to eat healthy, to exercise my body and spirit. I play with a band, hang out with good people, learn Spanish, write scripts and shoot castings. I try to be ready when the big opportunity comes. Being prepared, that's all.
You attended the screening of the film Serbian consul in Beverly Hills, to another unsuccessful Serbian Oscar candidate. What are your impressions of the film and the presentation? How a film from Serbia was viewed in Hollywood?
My wife Ljiljana and I were not officially invited, we were invited by producer Gaga Đurković, with whom we worked on several projects while we lived in Belgrade. Interesting that we weren't on the list, isn't it? I also wanted to see Paulina Manov and congratulate her on her successes, and most of all I wanted to see the last role of Žarko Laušević. That's why it was worth coming. Once upon a time there was our Academy of Film and Art and to become a member you had to be active in film for at least ten years and you had to be invited, and to be invited to that elite society was a great honor. Milena Dravić, Gaga Nikolić, Makavejev and such big names once sat there, in that commission. They decided which film would be our proposal for the Oscar. So it used to be that our academy sent a film that was then a candidate for the American Academy. Now the candidate is determined by politics, that is, the ruling party, and that is how it is viewed here, unfortunately, as propaganda.
Will the change of president in the USA affect your life? The local government saw his victory as a good sign for Serbia, even Trump's recent decision to appoint his son's fiancee as ambassador to Greece was met with sympathy, as something close and familiar. What is the atmosphere in Hollywood before his arrival?
I don't have the right to vote, so I didn't worry too much about it. Nothing will change for me personally, the system will continue to function no matter who the president is. California is traditionally Democratic, so Trump's victory here, as far as I've been following, was met with disappointment. It is clear that the majority of Americans voted for some kind of changes, it remains to be seen what kind of changes they will be, in which direction they will go and how they will be felt in the world. I'm not sure I understand the joy of beating anyone, it speaks more to our misunderstanding of how the world works. There are no friends and protection, only interest. And we are really small, so we are of little interest to the Americans.
A common question, but what will I do when it's important: does anyone there know about us? For at least some of what is happening to us? Do they know about Vucic?? Here, the President of Serbia talks about Trump as if they were best friends.
It is a performance for his voters in Serbia, to present himself as an important player. The vast majority of Americans do not follow news from Europe, let alone from Serbia.
He was big last year, if I'm not mistaken the biggest actors' strike in Hollywood over artificial intelligence. I assume you are against it. Is there anyone who is "za"?
It started with a writers' strike, which was joined by actors. The writers didn't want to fix artificially generated scenarios. For example, a producer tells a machine to give him a 100-page script about horses, saxophones and castles. In ten seconds the script is generated, but it's totally stupid, illogical and in some places totally unusable, then they call the writers to fix it. They are paid as assistants and not as writers, and in case the screenplay wins an award, it goes to the owner of the machine. The actors asked to be asked and paid if they were being used by AI, which seemed like a realistic request to me. Therefore, the whole problem arose because the producers did not want to pay the writers and actors, but they wanted the computer to "scratch" everything for them, and they collected prizes and hunted. The untalented want to be creative and see artificial intelligence as their chance. Better to use such technological advances to discover a cure for cancer, reduce pollution or solve traffic jams.
From all kinds of news coming to you from here, which made you think - it's a good thing i'm not there?
My family, friends and colleagues live in Serbia and I cannot distance myself from the bad news. Serbia is still my country and I feel that the problems and sufferings are common, regardless of the fact that I am in Los Angeles.
Students from your FDU have launched a boycott that has spread to other Serbian faculties and have specific demands. You them, like many of your colleagues, you support. President Vučić told them that they no longer have a reason to boycott classes because all their demands have been met, and he also gave them loans for apartments. What do you think about this situation??
I am proud of my young colleagues and colleagues from other faculties, high school students, professors, I am also proud of the citizens and public figures who joined them. Solidarity in difficult times is something that ennobles and gives hope that there are still people who are not broken. It gives us confirmation that we are not alone and that we have someone to share our feelings of sadness and anger with. I fear that difficult days are ahead and that solidarity will be the only thing that will hold us together. The requirements are simple, clear and very precise. Young people demand that the law be respected and lives be more important than corruption, and the ruling party sends its thugs to that end. As usual, the president shows that he does not understand democracy and the three independent branches of government. He does not understand that he is not authorized to open documents and prosecute those responsible. Sam runs in where he doesn't belong. Since he subordinated all power to himself, it would be appropriate for him to bear the greatest responsibility.
Do you believe in the bright future of Serbia symbolized by Expo 2027??
Systemic corruption led to the canopy falling and killing 15 people and injuring two more. Someone bypassed procedures and controls for their own profit and killed those people. Why do you think Expo will be different?
Why do "Johnny Midnight Trio" decided to debut with covers of YU hits? What was your target group?? Diaspora? What will be on the second album?
Thanks for asking me about the band. Yu hits kind of forced themselves and I can't say that I had any major strategy around it. We will be playing at Exit this summer, there will also be songs from the new album we are working on, so this is an invitation for everyone interested. I'm very happy because I was on the commercial as a promoter for the first Exit back in 2000, and now I'm performing with the band.
Act it out, you play, you write children's books, you educate children, you travel there-here, and you are always smiling. How?
Everything you listed makes me happy and I chose to do it myself, so why not do it with a smile. My Ljilja would not agree with you, she claims that I can be stubborn.
Less than two days of blockade - that's how long it took to see how weak and powerless the public media service is, both from the outside and from the inside. At the moment of writing this text, it is the eighth day of the blockade, and the sixth that RTS is not broadcasting its program. They also seem to be facing a strike inside the house. And the essence of blocking RTS is not in what it publishes, but in what it keeps silent
In the months after the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, the flames of rebellion spread throughout Serbia. The first protests started in Novi Sad right after the tragedy. The authorities responded with arrests, police cordons and intimidation, but instead of calming down the protesters, new protests followed.
The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, has been the target of top state officials and regime tabloids for months, who label him as an insidious instigator of student protests, an opportunist, "the face of evil" and "the leader of the criminal octopus." How and why a rector became "state enemy number one"
"I'm standing in the cordon, and my daughter is shouting at me 'aw, aw, killers'. What should I do? If they ordered me - I would throw down my baton and bulletproof vest and stand on the side of my child," a police officer from the south of Serbia, who works as needed in the Belgrade Police Brigade, told "Vreme"
The recent formation of the Đura Macuta government is part of the regime's revenge and cynicism. This can be seen most in the "black troika" of new ministers appointed to deal with the parts of society that are the leaders and symbols of the big rebellion that lasted for several months, the cause of which was the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, which claimed 16 human lives. Education, universities, unsolicited media and parts of the judiciary that refuse to listen to orders, either publicly, with announcements, or hiding behind legal procedures, should be dismantled. Those who will have no problem doing everything they are told, even reinforcing the orders with their own inventions, are chosen for this.
Ministers often call Vučić a class teacher. There is no joy or critical reflection in his classroom. Everyone has to bow their heads over the benches, hum and listen. What this is about, the reader sees on television every day
RTS is blocked, universities do not work, and threats, insults and calls to the prosecutor's office and the police to arrest blockers, rioters and terrorists are pouring out from the top of the government. The Serbian state has turned into a farce
Anyone who condemns the regime's targeting of people from the media, the non-governmental sector, the opposition and universities, must not agree to this targeting of RTS editors and journalists either.
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