Goran Visnjic is an actor with a great talent. His love for cinematography came through at an early age, and ever since his first onstage appearance at the age of nine, he has never regretted choosing acting as his profession. Famous Hollywood star, Goran Visnjic was born in Croatia, in the small town of Sibenik. He has been living in America along with his family for over 17 years, but he hasn’t forgotten about his heritage. In fact, this proud Croatian takes every opportunity to visit his home country. Recently he has the opportunity to even mix work and pleasure, as part of “Crossing Lines”, where Visnjic plays an important role, was shot on different locations across Europe, including his home Croatia.
- It looks like the set of “Crossing Lines” had a pretty relaxed atmosphere. Does that mean you could alone decide whether to follow with the script or not?
- Yes, and I think that in any self-respecting series that should be the case. You should suppress your ego when you work in television and concentrate on giving the best of yourself. This is teamwork, with open conversation, cooperation, with living, breathing organisms. Thankfully, it is not a dictatorship, laughs Visnjic. If I suggest something good, why wouldn’t the author listen to my idea?
- What is the best part of your US television experience? Was it "ER"?
- The best episodes of "ER" were shot by the authors, which communicated the most with us the actors. Most times I didn’t have any remarks for the script, but sometimes it is a matter of one word in one sentence. Not to say that I know exactly what is wrong and what needs to be changed or added simply by talking with the writers and discussing different options. Same here - I want to do something for the series, to bring some changes but of course for the better. "Crossing Lines" is a special production - filmed in Europe with a European team, and the actors included in this project didn’t specifically belong to any European country. For too long, all that is offered in the genre was against the American landscape, so this show has really been like a breath of fresh air. I am a Croat and I know how much work I have put to learn the language. For some Europeans, it is virtually impossible to deal with the accent. For Swedes and Danes it is very easy. For the French it is very difficult. This is one of the reasons why Swedish actors in America are doing very well.
- Since “Crossing Lines” became popular around the world and it was filmed mainly in Europe, do you think that it could be a pioneer to break stereotypes? Can it be considered as an example of how to do things differently, and without prejudice of the final outcome?
- Among the show cast there is Elizabeth Mitchell who is American, Donald Sutherland who is a Canadian actor, we have German, Italian actresses and the entire action is set in Europe. Many famous series have been shot there, like "Game of Thrones" for example. Things are moving in that direction and that is something worth admiring, concludes Goran Visnjic.
