Interview with "Hedgehog" from the movie "Butterfly in My Cabin"!

"Hedgehog" of the film "Butterfly in my Cabin": How Çim Xhepa taught Saureli in the film An interview of 2016 with the actor Bledar Xhani by Dritan Laci (Opinion.al the author of this article) For many, perhaps his name comes as distant, but if I were to remind you of Iriqi's character in the screening "Butterfly in my Cabin", you would surely immediately remember the little boy with the hair standing up like a thorn, who used to make his way with Saurel and Tomas every day. Well, that little boy has become a man today and the thorns on his head are bare, as that humor will describe to us in this his first interview, 28 years after the film. Where exclusively for Opinion.al from South Africa, where he lives and works for 20 years, he brings us the most spicy moments of filming the film with the actors Ndriçim Xhepa and Luiza Xhuvani. How did Çim Xhepa teach Saurel in the movie? Çim's atrocities until Saureli learned and the cost that Kinostudio spent to pay Laçi Park for the injured Saureli. How Artur Gorishti pointed out "Iriqi" and the rejection on the last day of departure. You can read these and other details from the filming of the movie "Butterfly in My Cabin" in the following interview conducted by Opinion.al with the actor Bledar Xhani (2016). Although many years have passed since the release of the film, "Butterfly in My Cabin", continues to maintain the same success as at the beginning. This is not only from the main protagonists but also from the character of "Hedgehog". Actually how did your selection in this film come about. How did you get spotted to be part of the shooting set? I grew up in New Tirana near the Dinamo stadium. Like most children of my generation, I was very mobile, and after school the games started around the neighborhood. One day in front of the building where I lived, Artur Gorishti (assistant/director) was passing by in "Butterflies in my cabin". He was conspicuous by his long hair which was unusual for the time we lived in. For us, he was very well known for his role in "The Warm Hand". Like the miscreants that we were, we started shouting: "The tail of the dog, the tail of the dog remains…". At this moment Turi turns to me and stares at me. I was scared because I thought someone was going to kick my ass. But he laughed and asked me "Do you like to play a movie? And what did you say to him… No, I say, and leave. At that time I was in school at "Emin Duraku" if I am not mistaken in the fifth grade. Turi comes to the school with Mehmet Xhelil, the other assistant director, and they choose 20 pieces. He doesn't choose me, but he comes to the bank and says "Tomorrow we will go to the cinema together". Meanwhile, I was very involved in football and basketball at that age, but I was also involved in competitions between schools that were held in VATSH. So I had "experience" in front of the cameras. Also, my close childhood friend Besnik Leskaj took me several times in some role with the radio dramatizations of "Radio Tirana" since he was always in the roles of pioneers. And how did it continue…? I go to Kinostudio. As if wearing almost the same clothes as the others wasn't enough, Turi had found 15 chunas who looked like each other. The director read us a small part of the script. There we had to imagine someone (Thomas) who was at a far distance and we had to call him. The screams started one by one. When it was my turn, I started… Ejjj Tom… Tom… Then I whistled as much as I had in my head. Vladimir Prifti, the director, apparently liked this, and the next day he auditioned me. I won the role and Turi came home with me. And that's exactly where the story where you refused to go to the shoot is born… Turi came home because he had to get permission from his parents since the shoot lasted 7 months. After receiving the parents' blessing the day he comes to pick me up to stay in Kruja, I tell him I'm not enjoying the movie anymore. He was very upset if he didn't give himself up. How was your first meeting with the actors and how did the filming proceed? When we left for filming, I met Çimi and Liza there. When I didn't have filming, I went to school for a while. During that time, I went to school in Krujë, Lezhë, Shkopet… The school was shabby… In Shkopet, for example, the school had meringue and a blackboard like a big building… One of the most interesting details that you told me during the filming was Tomas' Saureli… Meanwhile, Chimi was learning to give Saureli. Even like the kalama that I was, I also learned the brakes, the gears, the friction. Even coffee and bread. Did Çimi teach Saurrel? Yes, he learned it, but after doing some violence and costing Kinostudio and Laci Park a considerable amount of money… I can even tell you that the scenes inside the cabin were made in the studio on the premises of Kinostudio. Cimi, for example, had a habit of adding his own jokes and scenes from the script. But what can you tell me about the relationship with Luiza, or teacher Flutura? Luiza kept me very close and helped me a lot. Even the "school" lessons. Luiza told everyone in the neighborhood that she had a little brother. But of course the character that stuck in the movie was "Hedgehog"… I kept my hair long for the time and Dashi cut and trimmed it before filming. Don't look at me now that I've fallen. The filming group had about 50 people and I was loved and cared for like the youngest. We didn't do a lot of dubbing because Liza and Çimi rehearsed me before we had a shoot. One of the parts that remains in the memory of the film's followers is the finale, where you look angrily at Toma… In the part where I get angry with Chim, I have to cry. But I didn't care. That day we had to return to Tirana and I was running late. Finally Dashi (Dashamir Turku makeup artist) than something got into my eyes and I started to cry. That scene, to my surprise, was the first scene that I shot, although it was the last in the film…. Of course, there was no shortage of teasing with the completion of filming and the release of the film in cinemas. How did it feel to be suddenly famous? The harassment started after the movie. Most of my friends asked me about the scenes of the film, the filming, the actors… "They raised your hedgehog's thorns"; I heard this sentence every day. There were moments when I was even annoyed by someone bigger, when he acted like a joker, but I felt better that I had become somewhat famous.. I remember when the premiere of the movie came out, Chimi comes and calls me downstairs from the palace. He was riding a bicycle. I get off, he gives me some tickets and says see you at the "Partizani" Cinema. He was very famous but very simple. How was your relationship with the actor Ndriçim Xhepa, did you have sessions with ponchos and frenets? Although we have not seen each other for years, we are friends. Years after the film, he took me as an extra in the film "Rapists" The filming was done at Disco Albania. After the filming, we had long sessions of poncho and furneti.. Of course, all those who are reading this interview, want to know what is the life of "Hedgehog" today? "Hedgehog" today lives in South Africa. I have been living and working here for almost 20 years. I lived in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban. At first I came for a short visit. I liked it and said I'm staying for a year. Every year I say I will stay one more year.. Now I have three daughters. Marina 4 years old. Lena is 3 years old and Izabela is 10 months old. My partner's name is Candice. We are not married, but we will have two more children and then we will see… I have my own business, a night club. Until two months ago, I also had a cafeteria, but the economic crisis made us close it for the moment.. I really like rugby. Here where I live the local team is called The Sharks. While the Springboks are the National Team of South Africa. I often come to Albania. And finally, would you like to get back on the set of a movie? After "Butterflies in my Cabin" I had another opportunity to act in a movie. It was director Spiro Duni who told me, but I did not accept. I dedicated myself to football. I played with the school Spartakiads and Dinamo. I was a failed footballer. Although my heart was with Partizan. But how does he know…. _______________________ Opinion.al / Dritan Laci – 2016 The photos with the logo are taken from a copy of the film "Butterfly in my cabin" Albanian Cinematography – March 2021