The Director Of The Week: Tolga Örnek: “I told the story of unsung heroes who paid the price.

After “Kaybedenler Kulübü/Losers’ Club”, this time, Tolga Örnek returns with a riveting action-thriller that takes place in Frankfurt, İstanbul, and Mardin. We talked with the director about the argument and intention of his soon to be released film, “Labirent/Labyrinth”.

“Labirent/Labyrinth”, unlike your previous film “Kaybedenler Kulübü/Losers’ Club” has more locations, and it is a faster movie. Can you do a comparison between both films’ sentiment?

Action is a very different style. It has many more components that need to be paid attention. I was mostly focused on the actors’ performances in “Kaybedenler Kulübü/Losers’ Club”. Here on the other hand, next to performances, special effects and choreography entered into the picture. It was necessary to adapt to the locations fast… But if we look at it as the sentiment of the film the intelligibility of the story, its dramatic structure, and dynamics were the same, since I tell a human story. Another difference is, it has too many side characters with intertwined stories.

Side characters were also strong in “Kaybedenler Kulübü/Losers’ Club”. It seems, for you, they are just as important as the main characters.

I am happy that you noticed. In the words of another director—cannot recall his name right now—there is no small character/actor in a film. An actor can change the entire course of the film with a simple glance in a scene. I like side characters having stories even it is itty-bitty.  We want them to exist as characters not as typecasting.

You love telling a story?

Yes, I do. Even it is called the auteur cinema I think the real owner of the story is the scriptwriter. The director just takes it into another sphere. The owner of the story, the characters, and the subject is of the scriptwriter. And frankly, I do not want to shoot a story that I cannot own. There was not any occasion that I had to shoot someone else’s story, I did not encounter such a case, but if I do it one day, I have to own it in some way.

In a sense, “Kaybedenler Kulübü/Losers’ Club” was a period film. It was a film that was a myth in its own time and later it turned to be a urban cult film. What can you say for “Labirent/Labyrinth”.

It describes the current status of Turkey. Many intelligence organizations operate in Turkey. There is no other country other than Turkey that fights with Middle East and terrorist organizations and pays a price for it. Even Israel is behind us in that matter. I have not seen any international film done by us that shows sacrifices, struggles, and losses of our people. There are pressure on us both in terms of governments and organizations. I wanted to tell the situation of Turkey through people. In fact, they are unsung heroes who paid the price.

What is the main objective of the film?

It is the film of nameless heroes. It is the story of people who cannot exist in the world of security intelligence with their own identity and people who never get a reward for their efforts.

Why did you want to tell such a story?

I have a special keen interest in intelligence and espionage stories; however my starting point was the explosion in HSBC building and an attack on British Embassy. Both of these attacks are already forgotten. As more and more books began to be published in Al Qaida operations, I realized no one mentions or discusses those attacks or lives lost.

Representation of eastern countries such as Turkey in the west just a statistic bothers me a lot. This is why, a dialogue that takes place between the character played by Timuçin Esen and a British intelligence agent as follows: “We can only be your friends when we are your loyal servants. When we began to guard our own interest you see us as enemy.” As long as we do what they want us to do Turkey is an ally. Right after the HSBC explosion there was a soccer game with England, and they said, “We will not come due to security issues”. They talk about cooperation against global terrorism but they instantly leave Turkey alone. No one gave such statements after the explosions in England. Life in London went on as normal. The West double standard toward Turkey irritated me a lot.

We have shown as apprentices of foreign intelligence services in films, we will show the truth for the first time.

The way Turkey is shown in films with a call to prayer always in the background. In a sense, do you aim to destroy this Eastern and dark image?

Of course, both in terms of characters we chose, Istanbul we showed, and in terms of technology we used. You see Sultanahmet in foreign film shot in Turkey; we tried to show the modern Turkey in the film. In a chase scene that goes from İstiklal to Kartal, the viewers will see different and diverse faces of Istanbul…

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