Raindance Film Festival 2018: Interview with Branko Tomovic ("Luna's Revenge")
Among the fantastic line-up of the 26th Raindance Film Festival is the exciting German thriller "Luna's Revenge". We caught up for a chat with Branko Tomovic (24: Live Another Day, Dogs of Berlin, Deus) who stars as the dangerous and scary undercover agent Victor.
"Luna's Revenge", directed by Khaled Kaissar, also features Bibiana Beglau (The Legend of Rita), Rainer Bock (The White Ribbon), Benjamin Sadler (Luther), Carlo Ljubek (The Wilhelm Tell Legend), Annika Blendl (Rabbit Without Ears), Alexander Beyer (Deutschland 86), Genija Rykova (Tatort) and Lisa Vicari (Dark) in the title role.
The film tells the story of Luna, who is spending her summer vacation in an idyllic mountain chalet with her family, when their holiday harmony suddenly becomes a nightmare: Foreign men take the family hostage and kill her parents and little sister. Luna only barely manages to escape, chased by the killers. Soon she has to find out they all were living a lie: Her dad was a Russian secret agent, their wholesome family was just his cover.
How did your acting career start?
I saw David Lynch’s ‘Blue Velvet’ when I was around 13, probably a bit too young to be watching such a movie. I remember that I felt absolutely mesmerised. It was so different, beautiful, mysterious, haunting, surreal and twisted. And that’s when I knew that I wanted to work in film. I got a place at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York and the first thing I did after drama school was a Yugoslavian war film in Los Angeles called ‘Remote Control’, a graduation film from the American Film Institute which went on to screen at the Sundance Channel and was also nominated for a Student Academy Award.
How did you get involved in the project?
I got the script through my agent, it was actually a different version from what the film is now. I really enjoyed it, I thought it was a really good thriller. And genre films are very rare in Germany, so I absolutely wanted to be part of this. The fact, that it's based on a true story made it even more appealing, it's still a very current theme. They flew me in to Munich for an audition, which was more of a chemistry test with some other actors. We worked on a couple of scenes from the script. And usually, you can wait for ever until you hear back after an audition and they make up their mind. But in this case they told me right away that evening that I got the part which was very nice, so we all went out, got drunk and celebrated.
Congrats on getting selected for Raindance Film Festival. Are you excited that Luna will be seen by an international audience?
Very! We had the German premiere at Film Fest Munich and the reception was really great. I think this is definitely a film with universal appeal and I am personally very excited about Raindance as London is my hometown. I have been attending their festival ever since I moved to London 13 years ago, they always show really exciting films and I love gritty and unique independent films. So it's very thrilling for me now to be on the other side and present a film there.
You have worked with highly acclaimed directors such as Ken Loach, Paul Greengrass, Pete Travis and David Ayer. How was it working with Khaled Kaissar on this?
I was very lucky to have worked as an actor with these great filmmakers. They are all very different in their approach and the way they work, but what they all do have in common is that endless passion and enthusiasm for filmmaking and a very unique strong vision. And that I think is the most important thing for a director to have. This was Khaled's feature directing debut and I think he did an amazing job, the quality of the film speaks for itself. I enjoyed working with Khaled immensely, he was wonderful to work with. It was truly a very lovely collaboration and I always trusted him as a director.
Your role Victor is a very frightening guy. How was it to play such a scary character?
Victor's reason for being so cruel is of course that he just needs to protect his own family. Luna has become a liability so he must get rid of her. It’s so much more fun to play the cruel and bad guys, you get to do all that crazy stuff. I mostly play these really mean, eccentric or brutal guys. They couldn't be further away from what I am in real life. Privately, I am absolutely anti-gun, anti-violence and all that, obviously. But there is such a thing called ‘typecasting’ and I guess through my parents' gene pool I wasn't necessarily blessed to star in a romantic comedy. With the way I look I play many Euro-villains and I really enjoy it. I have always been drawn more to the darker side of one’s personality. I love complex and unconventional characters, outsiders who don’t necessarily get a voice in the real world. I love character work, weird and eccentric stuff. I have always been fascinated by the human mind, psychology and different personalities. I think that’s why I chose to become an actor in the first place – to live many lives.
"Luna's Revenge" will screen at the Raindance Film Festival on Wed 3rd Oct and Thu 4th Oct. Branko Tomovic, Lisa Vicari and director Khaled Kaissar will attend the premiere screening, followed by a Q&A.
