Sofia International Film Festival

Sport is a form of pure art, an individualistic form of art. Even collective sports like football are art in themselves. Yes, sport is definitely an art – water jumps are so beautiful, archery as well. There is something else as well – collective sports like football, volleyball, basketball create a feeling of togetherness, commitment, family. Individual sports such as running, on the other hand, inspire you to challenge yourself every day. The goal off course is not to win at any cost. You have to find a balance between winning and losing and this is an art as well.
 
Unfortunately nowadays people have forgotten this side of the sport.

Nowadays people have forgotten everything in their pursuit of acquiring finances, or competing with each other. Sport is becoming more and more means of becoming famous and winning a lot of money.
 
Chariots of Fire is set in mid 20s. What is your personal opinion of this historical period?
 

In England, because my film is about England, those are the years after the First World War and the first postwar generation of men, whose fathers and brothers died in this war. I can’t say that I was particularly interested in this historical period before we started shooting, but the work on the film provoked my interest. 
 
You are working now on a film based on Orwel’s ‘Homage to Catalonia’. It is set in a different time and place. Tell us more about this project which is based on one of the great although not very well known books by George Orwel. 
 

It is a very difficult film to make. ‘Homage to Catalonia’ is not a novel and that is why it is not as popular as ‘Animal Farm’ or ‘1984’. It follows his personal story of a war reporter, who becomes a fighter, risks his own life, risks the life of his wife, because she joins him in Spain. This puts their marriage on the rocks, and still their marriage survives the huge pressure. ‘Homage to Catalonia’ is a shocking political story of left-wingers and right-wingers but it is also his personal story. I have been working on this project for years. We had this idea Colin Firth to play the part of Orwel but now that he’s already 50, we’ll have to look for a younger actor, because Orwel was 29 when he went to Spain.
 
 

Read the whole interview on SIFF's website.