‘Wanted’: Petr Forejt / ‘Hleda se’: Petr Forejt

Have you seen the movie Wanted yet? Well, you should! Never mind if it has some big stars like Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman or Hugh Jackman –  the most important thing is that it came to life practically because of this one talented Czech guy! Petr Forejt not only did all of the sound mixing for the movie but he was also nominated for the ‘Best Sound Mixing’ at this year’s Academy Awards!!! Although the movie did not get the Oscar at the end, the nomination is just an enormous success for Petr. He also did not expect it at all: “I got a phone call from a Czech journalist and I asked him why they were calling me and they said ‘you were nominated, what can you tell us’?“, says Petr.  Radio Praha made an interview with him and here are the most exciting highlights:

CZ: Uz jste videli film s Angelinou Jolie a Morganem Freemanem pod nazvem Wanted? No tak sup, sup na to! Jestli pry je to dobry film? No, to nevim, ale jiste je jedno: tento film prakticky ozil diky jednomu nadanemu Cechovi. Nenjenze mel Petr Forejt na starost vsechny zvukove efekty, ale take byl na letosnich Oskarech nominovany za ‘Best Sound Mixing’! I kdyz film nakonec Oskara neziskal, je to pro Petra obrovsky uspech, tak mu srdecne gratulujeme. Taky to pry vubec necekal: “Z niceho nic mi zavolal nejaky cesky zurnalista a ze pry jsem nominovany na Oskara a jake pry jsou me prvni pocity..”, rika Petr. Radio Praha s nim nedavno udelalo rozhovor a ja jsem z neho par zajimavych otazek vybrala:


1. What was that moment like, that famous moment, when they read ‘And the winner is…’ ?
“Well, of course you expect that there is a chance that you can win. But when they said something else it was normal… you clap and say congratulations guys, you did it, and maybe it’ll be us next time.”
So, no disappointment?
“No disappointment at all. You have to accept it and if you think about it the guys on Slumdog Millionaire did a really good job. Somebody liked their work more than our soundtrack and that’s all there is to it.”

2. You told one Czech daily that you wanted to say hello to Angelina Jolie, who was in Wanted of course, did you have a chance to talk to her?
“Actually I had little chance to talk to her. I just waved when she passed by with Brad Pitt and later they left the theatre together at the end of the show, so there was no chance to talk to her. But after the Oscars there’s the Governor’s ball which is a really nice dinner with music, so I got a chance to talk to quite a few people there.”

3. You are also ‘responsible’ to the actors, I imagine, because if they get their lines perfectly in a scene and if for some reason you don’t catch it, or the boom operator misses it, it must be a little unpleasant…
“That’s true, especially when you work with stars like Angelina or Morgan Freeman. They expect nothing less than complete professionalism on the set. If you say ‘I didn’t catch it’ or that you didn’t record something perfectly they would say ‘What?!’…”

4. I read that you got your start as a boom operator: how does that job compare to your responsibilities as a sound mixer?
“That’s right, I started as a boom operator almost 20 years ago before making to move to production sound mixer. As the boom operator your only responsibility is to the sound mixer: it’s your job to pick up good sounds with the microphone. But as the sound mixer you are responsible for the final mixed track on the set. So, you are responsible to the director, to the producers, and you have to deal with many people. I would say it is a bit more difficult: you have to know how to operate all the equipment which is not easy these days: everything is digital with hard-drives and all that stuff. You have to keep up with a lot of information, follow the latest style in work approach and so on.”

5. Can you see yourself working further afield in the future, such as in the US?
“I wouldn’t say it was easy to get work in the US: for one thing I am not a member of the union, second, I think there is a great number of good production sound mixers there already. But, you know, the Oscar nomination will give me the opportunity to work in other parts of Europe. I think that will happen.”

For the full interview click here.

Source: http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/113955