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00:00Hi, I'm Anthony D'Alessandro and this is Deadlines, Toronto International Film Festival's studio.
00:17We are here with Maria Bakalova, star of The Apprentice, but also the star and the producer
00:26of Bulgaria's Oscar submission, The Triumph.
00:31So let's start with The Triumph.
00:33First of all, tell us about the story.
00:35This is about, this happened in the early 90s and this psychic led this army personnel
00:44to dig this tunnel toward an extraterrestrial, but I'm just curious, did you hear about this
00:51growing up?
00:52I did.
00:54I think everybody heard about it from my country because it's been something that happened
00:59and our film is inspired by what happened.
01:03It's strange, isn't it?
01:05Like sometimes you realize that real life have even more absurd, interesting, funnier
01:11stories than actually you can fictionalize them.
01:14So when you have something that is so rich in character and things that actually happen,
01:21you want to play with it.
01:23And yeah, it's about Bulgaria back in the 90s trying to find alien intelligence and
01:31something that is going to help the country to be a big power in the world.
01:36And it's funny because it's kind of like a political satire which explores going from,
01:44coming from communism, going through this period of like unknown and trying to get to
01:49the democracy, which is still kind of difficult to achieve.
01:54And we see that as a metaphor with the character of Slava, who I had the chance to play.
02:01And I feel like it's all explored by her and we see it the way that she sees it.
02:06She's the colonel's troubled daughter, but she has a connection with the psychic.
02:10She does.
02:11She does.
02:12So there are all of these people, older people, and this child who just happens to be there.
02:19You know, we all have this desire to belong somewhere.
02:22And we see she meets this lady who actually appears to her like a mother figure who she
02:27doesn't have.
02:29And when she believes in her that she has special abilities, she is ready to do whatever
02:34it takes to prove herself.
02:35But when she is not allowed to do as much as she wants to do, we're going to see a change
02:40in her.
02:42And then does the tunnel really exist?
02:45It exists?
02:47It did exist.
02:49What is it now?
02:55So it used to be a hole, like a big hole in a tunnel, I think somewhere around like 200
03:00feet underground, more, 500 feet, 200 meters underground.
03:05But now it's covered and there is a big rock on top of it, which says the hole, which is
03:12Tsarichina's hole.
03:13Yeah.
03:14I mean, it's interesting.
03:15I do kind of believe in myths and legends that something might have been there.
03:21But what exactly and what's been the motive of people going there, maybe searching for
03:25something that is way more material than something from the other world, more like a treasure
03:34or...
03:35And real quick, just tell us about the filmmakers.
03:38This is part of a trilogy that they did.
03:40Yeah.
03:41So the filmmakers are Petr Volchanov and Kristina Grozova.
03:44And they've been here before with two of their films, Lesson and The Father.
03:51So they try to explore a series of newspaper articles.
03:56One of it is about a schoolteacher who just happens to rob a bank, like sort of.
04:03Second one is a man who finds a lot of money.
04:10Lesson is not part of the trilogy.
04:11I made a mistake.
04:12So we have...
04:16We started with Glory, which is the second film that they've done, feature film.
04:20And it's about this man who finds a lot of money and decides that he's going to do something
04:23good and he's going to return the money.
04:25But he ends up having his watch stolen.
04:29The second one is about a father and a son.
04:31And it's a very beautiful story.
04:33Again, we have a lot of sidekicks, I guess.
04:35A lot of us believe in them in this part of the world.
04:39And the third one is this story about Terechan's Hope, which is something that we all Bulgarians
04:44know and kind of believe in it, kind of didn't believe in it, doubted it.
04:48But a lot of things from real life and yeah, there are a lot of rich stories in real life
04:53that they explore.
04:54They are very talented.
04:56They're incredibly educated and well-known and well-read as well.
05:01And it's been an honor to have a chance to work with them.
05:05Now, talking about The Apprentice, Ivana Trump, I got to see it in Cannes.
05:11Look, you have a lot of pride in playing her.
05:15She was a self-made woman even well before Trump arrived in her life.
05:21But what were the challenges with playing the role?
05:27Thank you so much for talking about her.
05:29I think it's important because we know the name, we know the face, but we don't really
05:33know a lot about her story and how she became who she became.
05:39It's interesting, the more I got to know about her, the more inspired I became by her because
05:43you see that this person has been so outspoken so much ahead of her time, back in the 70s,
05:48back in the 80s, when women have been even more subjugated and not allowed to express
05:53their opinions, express their voices.
05:55And she's been the opposite, which is remarkable.
05:59She's been the brain behind everything that has happened back then.
06:03It's been challenging because I did want to play her with respect and dignity, because
06:08I liked her.
06:09She's been a model to a lot of people, not only a fashion model, not only a fashion queen,
06:14but just a queen with her behavior.
06:16Because even though she's been through a lot of things, whether in this marriage or before
06:23the marriage or after the marriage, she still remained her true self.
06:30They say she's been like her hair, unflappable.
06:33You cannot knock her down.
06:35The reaction to the film, how do you think it's been?
06:37Well, I think people will go with an idea of the film that is going to change tremendously
06:44when they watch it, because the movie explores not just these characters, but the American
06:50system and the desire of power.
06:54What are you capable to do in order to have power and domination?
06:59And I think that's just like a dive into the underbelly of the American system in general.
07:04And this American dream, what is it actually?
07:06What do you have to do?
07:08What does it cost you to achieve it?
07:10Do you think it's a fair portrayal of Donald Trump?
07:14Well, it's not a documentary.
07:17We're never trying to do a documentary.
07:20It's a fictional life story inspired by real people.
07:24We are portraying real people, but we have a director who has a very clear vision of
07:29what he wants to do with this film and how he wants all of us to feel something in this
07:34movie.
07:35And I think that's the most important part.
07:36Whether you like it, whether you hate it, as long as it makes you feel something, that's
07:39the most important part.
07:41What's next?
07:44Next, I'm currently shooting something in Ireland, Galway, with an incredible director
07:50called Rebecca Fortune.
07:51She's done a movie called Just Charlie, which is beautiful and heartbreaking and it's moving.
07:57We're working on a story called Learning to Breathe Underwater.
08:01And it's Rory Kinnear, a little seven years old boy, and me.
08:08And it's a beautiful, intimate story.
08:11Maria Bakalova, star of The Apprentice and star and producer of Bulgaria's Oscar submission,
08:19The Triumph.