'A Generation' wasn't a subject I had chosen.
The book, which at the time was very well known
and had won several state-sponsored prizes, wasn't my favourite book,
but I knew I had to make a film,
and I had the feeling that there was nothing to wait for.
In any case, I had no reason to hope that I would get a second chance like this.
By the time Aleksander Ford decided to entrust the direction of 'A Generation' to me, this screenplay already had a history, namely,
it had been written with the intention of the film being released for the 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland.
This already spelled trouble. The 10th anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland because '45 and '55.
And that's when it was released, which is why it was meant to show how young people had fought
for this People's Republic of Poland which had come into being.
But Aleksander Ford decided that making this kind of film wasn't up his street, this is what I think today.
When he found out it was meant to be this kind of film, of that type,
and he already had another film lined up with a different screenplay,
he was surrounded by people who put all kinds of ideas his way,
although to this day I can't say why he chose me
because he had two other assistants
who worked with him all of the time.
I had only brushed against his...
firstly, a film about Chopin when I was doing my work experience
and then a film he was making called 'Five Boys from Barska Street', when I was finishing film school.
But Ford chose me, he commended this film to me.
From that moment on, he gave me a free hand, being absorbed in his own matters.
I had no idea it was meant to be a film for the 10th anniversary,
I just thought that finally I had the opportunity to make a film, well, a film, cinema.
What did we think cinema was? As I've already said, everything that constituted pre-war cinema simply didn't exist for us.
The first issue was not to employ any actors who'd already performed in pre-war films.
In this way, completely young actors made their appearance.
The cast was young anyway, so it was easy to do this.
First of all, the most talented post-war actor at that time was Tadeusz Janczar.
I think that Tadeusz Janczar knew some kind of secret about how to act in films;
in later years, he tried to act on stage but without success.
In films, however, he was always authentic.
He came closest to those American actors who illustrate nothing,
tell nothing, don't bore the audience with anything but simply exist in the film with a fierce belief
that they are guiding the basic concept of their role.
I think that in his case this was clearest and the character
of Jasio Krone in 'A Generation' is the most beautiful and the strongest.
Tadeusz Łomnicki, on the other hand, was a very experienced actor.
He had graduated from drama school in Kraków where he had written plays for the stage.
Out of all of us, he was the most aware of what this was.
If I learned anything about directing actors from anyone,
it was from Tadeusz Łomnicki, and then I not only observed him very keenly, his acting,
but also I paid attention to what he said about other actors, how he judged them.
He taught me to direct actors.
Polański appeared - kind of crazy.
I had seen him earlier in theatre roles in Kraków at the Teatr Młodego Widza,
and now he appeared here bringing with him all the 'dynamite' he always had within him.
This was his first film and it was an enormous experience for him.
Other actors appeared and, of course, there was Zbyszek Cybulski
who, as we see him now in 'A Generation' doesn't have a very big role,
but he had a few beautiful scenes which were taken out by the censors.
He was the victim of the greatest number of their cuts
which were made so that the film would be less likely to be labelled 'lumpenproletariat'.