Karel Roden conquered Hollywood. He was trampled by a famous movie mobster

What kind of soldier is he – Captain Tůma (1987)

He made himself known for the first time in the movie Copak je tot za zójka, where he portrayed Captain Tůma. As his colleague Jiří Langmajer (56), who played Private Kouba in the film, revealed to him, Roden does not really agree with this comedy from a military background. “I don’t want to dig into it unnecessarily, but he doesn’t really remember playing in it… But he did. On the contrary, I enjoyed it. Thanks to this film, I gained immense popularity and we also experienced incredible things there. They rode in bullocks, played soldiers for a few crowns and ended the evening in a pub drinking beer,” revealed Langmajer in the program 7 falls of Honza Dędek.

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15 minutes – murdering psychopath Emil Slovák (2000)

This is the first foreign film in which he appeared. After a demanding audition for the role of a beastly criminal of Czech nationality, he was allegedly chosen by Robert de Niro (79), the representative of the main role. Other films followed: Blade 2, Bulletproof Monk, Hellboy, The Bourne Myth, Mr. Ben’s Holidays and many others. The sales of the last mentioned comedy with Rowan Atkinson (68) amounted to more than 200 million dollars. Roden broke through in Hollywood and left his mark.

Guard No. 47 – railway guard Josef Douša (2008)

The character of the protagonist represented an extraordinary acting chance for him. He handled it brilliantly, but suffered his own injuries during filming. The weather did not favor the filmmakers. Almost all of the outdoor scenes that were shot in the fall had rain, and then in the winter came the great frosts and a meter of snow. “In the fields behind Beroun, where we shot scenes from the Galician front just before Christmas, there was literally a cold snap, which was the worst of all. But thanks to the care of the production, I didn’t even catch a cold. Although I still don’t understand it to this day,” explained Karel Roden in an interview for MF DNES, which you can now listen to watch prima+ in the new Czech comedy film Indian.

Lidice – František Šíma (2011)

Karel Roden’s story itself had a great impact. “Of course I knew and read a lot. But when I arrived in Lidice and talked for a long time with the administrator of the monument, it had a terrible effect on me. There is a strange energy there – as if the souls of the dead are still not allowed to leave their bodies. Maybe, maybe the film will free them,” the actor described to the newspaper Právo at the time of filming. The character he represented really existed. Man the Lydian apocalypse he survived only because he was imprisoned at the time of the massacre. He accidentally killed his son in an argument – and as if he was sentenced to life as a punishment… Roden met his granddaughter and great-granddaughter before filming.

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Photographer – Jan Saudek (2015)

He was initially hesitant to accept the role for several reasons. “I’m not too similar to him, and anything can throw me off when I’m playing. At times like this I start to feel ashamed and feel how wrong it all is. I’m not a completely extroverted person, but on the other hand, something attracted me,” he confided in an interview with Czech Radio. In the end, he liked the contradiction of the character of the famous Czech photographer. A personal meeting with Jan Saudek (87) helped a lot. “You won’t get much out of him. The whole show he creates around himself may just be a cover-up for a much deeper problem. There is pain in him somewhere and no one knows what kind,” said the actor.

Masaryk – Jan Masaryk (2016)

While in the two-part series Crime in Polná he portrayed the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigua Masaryk, here he played his son Jan. “I only had a general knowledge of them, but this material went into more detail,” said Karel Roden at the press conference for the filming. As he further mentioned, the son was closer to him than the father. The biographical drama, which earned 40 million crowns, won numerous awards. For example, the Czech Lion for the best film, direction, screenplay and actor in the main role.