Magic Boys

Robert Koltai’s new movie project featuring Michael Madsen

The production team of their future comedy, Magic Boys held its press conference in the Hotel Le Meridien. The event that turned into a standup comedy show here and there was officially opened by Robert Koltai who talked about some eight movies he had done in the past. Those were predominantly the fruit of personal experiences and creativity. Unlike his other old movie, co-produced with Andrew G. Vajna, Out of Order and the current Magic Boys that are basic text book genre movies. The preliminary version of the script was written by Robert Koltai and Denes Orosz, who is the writer-director of the short, Beside You. However, Ivo Maroh the English screen writer is going to be responsible for the final version of the work.

Te director also talked a little about how he had come across the project: “Zoli Furedi buzzed me one day asking whether I would seriously consider helping Csaba Pindroch achieve his life-long dream, which was shooting a movie at the North Pole”. (Zoltan Furedi is the Canadian producer of the 21'st Century DreamQuest Films Ltd., and not to be mistaken with the documentary director by the same name.) “Say no more” was Koltai’s response and off he went without delay to start on his script. The director also detailed his experience with a Croatian Chippendale show that had ultimately inspired him to diss any other ordinary occupations for his characters in the script. This is why his heroes are neither a shoemaker nor a locksmith in the movie. The director openly celebrated his joy over having the opportunity to work with two international celebrities in his movie, namely Michael Madsen and Adrian Paul.

Apart from Zoltan Furedi, the international production team of the movie also includes Gabor Koltai (Filmsziget Ltd) Denes Szekeres (Tivoli Filmprodukcio Ltd) and Abi Sirokh (Sirokh Fenn Ltd). Abi Sirokh and Gabor P. Koltai (the director’s son) have been working together on several projects for about three years now. The idea of the project was brought up to Sirokh a few month ago by the producer from Filmsziget Ltd. “At first I thought we might have a change to make something marketable here- but then I realized Koltai was involved, so it all went down the drain”- added jokingly the British producer.

And just to add to the lighthearted atmosphere of the press conference where stars do not take themselves too seriously, this is how Michael Madsen, a steady sight of any Tarantino work, answered to the question of why he had accepted this movie offer: “Simply. I happened to be out of a job, I needed to pay my bills”. After that of course he explained that he really liked the synopsis and the script. However, he also expressed his dissatisfaction about the fact that he has to play a bad and not even humorous guy even though he clearly remembered signing up for a comedy. When asked the same question, Adrian Paul explained that one of his reasons for committing to the movie was that in fact he had known Robert Koltai and his work for quite a while, plus he found the opportunity of working in Hungary quite intriguing as well.

 

 

Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs

And what character are the two foreign actors actually going to play? Adrian Paul revealed only a little, namely that his character is a Hungarian Englishman. Michael Madsen was less secretive: “I play the bad guy; an ex-hippy junkie. I am fleeing the States to avoid tax fraud charges when these two dummies –pointing at his Hungarian fellow actors- get all involved in my business.” Madsen brought up that only because it seems to him that he spends most of time waltzing up and down in pajamas in the movie, it occurred to him that he should arrive in style and show up to the interview in the same outfit. But in the end he backed off thinking that doing so might scare away the press.

80% of the movie shoot is going to proceed in English which, as proven at the press conference, is going to be a major challenge if anyone, the director himself.

In the end, the director told us that even though the movie is basically a comedy, it is also an “adventure and a love story”. The shoot of Magic Boys (by the way Madsen is strongly rooting for a different title) should be starting in the summer of 2009 and the movie should hit the theatres as soon as early 2010 here at home and internationally as well.