'Anthropoid' Press Conference at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

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The film [Anthropoid] opened the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Friday night and at a press conference the following morning, two different reporters tried to get something out of Dornan on the ‘Fifty Shades’ sequel, “Fifty Shades Darker.” The 34-year-old actor wasn’t having it as he kindly remarked, “I won’t talk about that project, because I’m not here to talk about that project.”

In “Anthropoid” Dornan plays Jan Kubis, a Czech exile that joined British Special Operations when the Nazis took over his homeland. He returned alongside Josef Gabcík (Cillian Murphy) on a covert mission to assassinate top Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, better known as The Butcher of Prague. Dornan says his decision to take the part in the prestige film wasn’t part of some grand plan he came up with following ‘Fifty Shades.’

“I don’t really view my career in that way that I’ve done this type of film or that I have to do that type of film,” Dornan says. “You’re drawn to the projects for a variety of reasons. Usually the script and a director being sort of key and a character you can relate to or bring something interesting to it. Regardless of what my project had been before ‘Anthropoid’ I would have done it. If I had done another movie about the Second World War just before I still would have done it just because I loved the script. I had just seen [Ellis’ previous film] ‘Metro Manila’ about three weeks before I was sent the script. I was desperate to work with Sean. That is what informed my decision rather than any previous work.”

Reviews for “Anthropoid” have been mixed (this writer gave it a B), and local press had some tough questions for the panel during the presser. At one point Dornan was incredulously asked whether the actions his character takes in the picture could encourage more terrorist-like acts throughout the world.

“The idea that this movie encourages suicide terrorism I think is pretty outlandish and pretty ridiculous to be honest,” Dornan says. “We made a movie about trying to stick to the facts as much as possible. People that were willing to die for their country and that’s something people still hold today in certain conflicts, but in terms of promoting that or glamorizing that I think that’s nonsense.”

Ellis, a British filmmaker who earned an Oscar nomination for his 2004 short “Cashback,” co-wrote the film’s screenplay and spent a good deal of time attempting to include as much historical detail in the storyline as possible. As you’d expect with an event that means so much to an entire country he inevitably found himself having to defend his choices.

“When you are doing a piece based on historical events you’re a detective in some respects and you are getting these key witnesses together and reading different viewpoints of a certain event,” Ellis says. “Obviously, you get different perspectives on that and there were conflicting reports on the operation. I think as someone who is going to author a new version of it you have to go with a feeling of what you feel would be the best representation for a piece of entertainment or a drama, not a documentary. In some respects you say, ‘Well, O.K., that event is kind of interesting but this is a conflicting view.’ So, you decide what avenue you need to take and you make a decision. It’s my version of it in that sense.”

He also tried to provide some perspective on why having a foreigner direct a story of such historical importance to one country can often can end up being a good thing.

“It’s an incredible story and [especially] for the Czech people because it’s part of your culture or history,” Ellis says. “I live in London, but I’ve never been up the Shard or I’ve never been to the British Museum, which is criminal really. But I know when you are in it sometimes you don’t see it or you’re blinded by it. So sometimes it does take an outsider to come in and point something out. For me I was completely in love with this story and was obsessed with it and just wanted to know how these people felt in that time.”

Murphy was notably absent from the proceedings as he’s just begun filming Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” (Ellis joked that Murphy was evacuating British troops from Dunkirk beach as he spoke). Dornan, on the other hand, didn’t seem to mind having the celebrity spotlight to himself.

“I don’t really mind where the fans are from, but the Czech people have been brilliant,” Dornan says. “I felt we got a really impassioned [response] to the movie last night from the Czech audience and I think that thrilled all of us. I am very warmed by the reception the movie has got instead of just me.”

'Anthropoid' Press Conference at Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Full Press Conference

Transcript of Jamie's answers

What attracted you to Anthropoid? 

I think when I first read the script, the fact that I didn’t know about the story – something like that, which had such a massive knock-on effect on an entire nation – I found it kind of mad to have not known about that. The heroism involved, the sacrifice involved...they felt – particularly Jan – like someone you could relate to. Guys who were fighting for something that they truly believed in, but who were normal guys. 

What do you like about the part? 

You always need a drive in everything you do and a reason to tell the story. As an actor, you’ve got to have something that drives you every day on the set. Could there be any stronger drive needed than the opportunity to assassinate someone so horrific. There’s nobody in the world now who can’t see that Heydrich was evil... So to have that, to bring that to work every day, I’m so excited about the idea of having that as my drive.... 

How will you be preparing for the role? 

People have different ways and means of researching characters and getting into the mindset of whoever they’re going to play. Sometimes you do things that you feel are right to embody a character, and sometimes you push limits. The way I prepared to play someone like Spector in The Fall – you take yourself to dark places. You find out a lot about yourself that maybe you don’t always want to find out and it’s quite an interesting process. For this particular project, I don’t think I have to go to those similar kinds of places. I think there are things about Jan that will make sense to me more personally rather than having to really dig too far. He’s a man with a mission to carry out and it’s a mission for the right reasons. It’s not someone like Spector who is murdering people just for no good reason... This is murder in a sense, but it’s for a greater good.

And what’s your view of Jan Kubiš? 

I feel that Jan’s the closest character to myself that I’ve played. And so that means that there’s parts of the research that I’ve done for other characters that don’t need to be done. They don’t make sense just as long as you have a very strong idea of why they are doing what they are doing and the situation at the time. I think that is enough. 

You’ll be playing a Czech national hero. Will you be trying to “humanize” the man behind the myth?

I think you said it there [it’s about] trying to make him someone people can relate to...These were just normal guys who were fighting for something they fiercely believed in. A lot of that work, thankfully, is done for me on the page. All the human flaws and all the things that make him a tangible person, the everyman you can relate to are on the page, which is great. They’re heroes in the sense of what they did, but very much on the page you see that they are flawed, and have very human aspects to them that would hinder trying to carry out an exercise like this. 

Some people say that the Heydrich assassination was pointless. And that it only resulted in horrible reprisals like the Lidice massacre. What’s your take on this? 

I guess it’s not really my place to say. People are going to look at it from both sides. Ultimately, I think it sent a very strong message to show that the Czech people were up for a fight and weren’t willing to be treated in that way. For me, I see it as a very heroic act. I think if I was in that position myself, I probably would have done the same thing. I have a strong understanding of why people see it the other way, based on events afterwards, but for me personally, I think they ultimately had to do what they had to do.