Entitled The Battle of Vienna, the film focuses on what historians describe as one of the greatest military successes in Polish history – the relief of the siege of Vienna in 1683 in which the Polish ruler led an army of 70,000 troops against 100,000 Turks. The victory was crucial for halting the advance of the troops of the Ottoman Empire into Christian Europe.
In an interview with Newsweek Polska, Skolimowski said that Sobieski is likely to prove the role of his life. “I don’t want to portray him as a one-dimensional character […] but I’ll be trying to breathe some human features into him,” the director said.
“I think, for instance, that he could smile even when facing grave dangers and so I’ll introduce some humourous elements, hoping that this will not belittle the king’s momentous achievements and will not hurt anyone’s patriotic feelings,” Skolimowski added.
Referring to earlier reports that King Sobieski was to be played by Mel Gibson, Skolimowski told Newsweek Polska, perhaps with tongue-in-cheek, that “had I not accepted the role, we would have been doomed to Mel Gibson. I hope to infuse the film with a Polish spirit.”
Location shooting for The Battle of Vienna is currently ongoing in Romania, some 30 km from the capital, Bucharest.
Later this year, the production team will move to Poland and several other European countries. In addition to the full-length feature, a four-installment television series entitled Marco d’Aviano is in preparation.
The title is taken from one of the central characters of the film, Marco d’Aviano, a wandering preacher for the Capuchin monastic order, who is said to have persuaded King Sobieski to fight in the defence of Christian Europe.
The Battle of Vienna is a joint Italian-Polish-Turkish production, with 14 leading Polish actors in the cast.
Skolimowski, now aged 72, has numerous highly-acclaimed films to his credit, the latest of which – Essential Killing – has won several festival awards. He appeared as a actor in several of his early films (Identification Mark, Barrier, Walkover and Hands Up) but has never played in a historical movie. “I have never sat on horseback,” he admitted in the interview for Newsweek Polska. (mk/jb)