Cesur ve Guzel ❖ Interview ❖ Tamer Levent ❖ Tahsin Korludag ❖

KTNA Live interviewed Turkish Actor Tamer Levent, the infamous Tahsin Korludag in Cesur ve Guzel.

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Tamer bey first of all I would like to thank you for giving us your precious time.

-Happy Eid Mubarak! (Turkish holiday)
-Happy Eid Mubarak!

On behalf of myself and Kivanc Tatlitug North America group, we are grateful.

First, I would like to give you are brief explanation about the administrators and the group overall.

We are a fan based group with approximately sixty-five thousand members,

and we have ten administrators overseeing different responsibilities to run the group. I am one of them, and I am responsible for translations.

We are a not-for-profit group, we do not seek any income.

Our goal is to support actors like you who pursue acting with passion.

We want to accurately deliver your message to our fans in North America.

Our work consists around that basically.

Now....

the North American audience knows you from your role in Cesur ve Güzel--

as the infamous Tahsin Korludag character.

We loved watching you, and we were honored to witness your outstanding acting skills.

Now, I have some questions about the show:

First of all, the American audience is wondering,

--I also tried answer to this question as Turkish person--

They are wondering why the episodes are approximately two and a half hours long,

and they wonder how you feel about these working conditions?

How is it affecting you as an actor?

The answer is very simple actually.

Filling up the time slots.

I mean, right after the main 8 o'clock news,

all night, until midnight.

People are watching these TV shows until they go to bed.

They get four long commercial breaks, and

for that reason, they don't watch any other show.

And the commercials are big profit makers.

That's why the channels prefer it this way.

But this creates hard working conditions for the cast and the crew.

Even difficult for the audience.

Filming one episode--

as an audience, we see the shows as two and a half hours long.

How long does it take to film it? Like one week?

Takes about five days, maximum six days.

How many hours do you work each day?

We work around sixteen to seventeen hours a day.

These are very heavy and hard working conditions by American standards.

I know.

I was a committee member in World Federation of Actors.

For that reason, I know.

In the United States, there is an American Actors Union.

They also pay a lot of attention to those rules and regulations that you mentioned.

That union works really well.

But unfortunately, those rules are not imposed in Turkey.

Ok. Another question:

do you receive your script daily, or weekly?

Or do you receive the entire script for the show all at once?

Do screenwriters write the episodes weekly and then give them to you for each episode?

It is written weekly.

Then you don't know about the next episode.

-Do they give you the script on the beginning of each week?
-Yes.

Yes.

We are wondering how much time you get to memorize the script.

We memorize the script really fast.

Now, an actor in the United States

receives the script for the whole year, or for the entire show.

Therefore, he reads the entire story,

and they stock up at least two or three episodes before the show goes live,

or maybe even complete the entire show.

Therefore, by the time the show is on TV, the same actor may be already working on another project.

And,

because the show is not showing, that is a long and relaxed working period for the actor.

I mean, they film one episode in one month...

Like a movie.

But for us, that's not the case...

We film the two and a half hour long episode, which is longer than a movie, in six days.

So if you think, an average movie is recorded in one month, how can this be filmed in six days? Is it possible?

Yes, that's exactly what we are wondering.

Especially myself, as an American audience.

About the working conditions.

Do you have a union to protect your rights?

Yes, there is, but due to copyrights,

we are not able to claim our rights.

We can not force those rights that we should automatically have.

Because,

acting as a job

is not defined clearly enough in the Labor Laws.

Its definition is vague-- not clear.

And it's not clear for those who work in this industry as well.

What are the given rights, those are not clear.

For example,

an actor in the United States could be performing in a very few projects,

but in return,

due to well established copyright laws, can continue to receive income from those projects.

But that's not the case here in Turkey.

An actor could be playing in many movies, because there is no copyright law,

they sell the movie with the rights and the actor does not receive any benefits from the future showings.

From all those additional showings

since there is no copyrights,

we call that "tying rights" or "neighbor rights"

since they don't purchase this rights.

During the early Yesilcam era (early years of movies in Turkey), hundreds of actors lived in poverty and died miserably.

Very true, sadly enough.

Now, I would like to get into this specific topic--

Specifically in Turkish shows, the main theme is love and...

betrayal ... How do you say betrayal in Turkish ??

"Ihanet"

Yeah!!

Almost all characters, whether the lead or co-stars

seems like all actors really try to live their character, and to portray him as if they are real emotions.

For North American audiences, this particular quality is the chief characteristic of a "Turkish Drama."

Maybe you don't know this exists.

In English, there is a term "Drama Queen."

And there is also a new term among the audience now saying, "Don't give me Turkish drama."

Ohhhh really???

Because nowadays people are well familiar with Turkish TV shows,

and now this is part of the lexicon.

Very interesting!!

Really, it's actually pretty important. It's an honor.

This is a reason I wanted to meet you to explain this in person.

I mean, there is a serious attachment to Turkish series by the American audience.

In another question, they asked,

outside of Turkey

among the other world cultures,

why do you think Turkish TV shows resonate with other cultures?

Do you think love is the universal language, or our cultural resemblances--

our traditions, cultural values for example--

I find the Mexican culture and traditions very similar to Turkish ones.

They always have strong family ties.

Why do you think the Turkish shows make such a deep impact and have become so popular? What do you think are the main reasons?

I believe this is due to resemblances among the people around the world.

I mean,

when we did not have

any shows on Turkish TV,

my wife, who is also a producer with the Turkish TV and Radio Association,

started the first shows on TV.

Those first shows were written based on historical novels,

Turkish novels, and true events.

And then "Ferhunde Hanim ve Her Daughters"

yes.. your wife wrote that script?

Yes, she did.

Like in that show,

it shows the every day events in a family.

But, when screenwriting became more commercialized

to make money, the formats changed in the TV show business.

A young actor, a star...

a young actress, a star...

and their love....

These type of scenarios were appealing to young people.

In addition, there has to be a mother and father in the story.

They either have to be divorced or not getting along,

or there has to be a side living an extravagant lifestyle,

where the girl's parents are very rich, on the other hand, the boy's family is very poor.

Or vice-versa.

So when things like this come along...

At one point, the Brazilian shows were very famous in Turkey too, if you remember.

Those shows had almost the same themes.

Yes.

I mean, they either cheat on each other,

or, the intellectual level of the people are at certain level during certain eras.

Now for example, people do not like those plots anymore. Why?

I attribute this to the Internet, social media.

When those came into our lives, it changed many things.

And people's TV watching habits have also changed.

The fact that young people become more intellectual due to the internet,

then they started seeing these shows as nonsense.

For example,

now, instead of having only one star as the lead actor, now all the cast consists of top actors and actresses.

Yes, true.

Because, a lead actor or actress alone is not able to carry an entire show.

Yes, you are right on that.

Now I would like to move on to Cesur ve Guzel.

North American audiences know you from your Tahsin Korludag character.

They admired your performance.

We all loved watching you.

Can you describe Tahsin Korludag from your point of view?

Tahsin Korludag, was an interesting character.

He knew how to take advantage of the weaknesses of the community around him.

By having his own people around him,

who could pressure others,

who constantly made money,

and who made him look important,

who could even be elected,

who also had his hands in the police department.

Actually, what we witness in political corruptions around the world is going on in his town.

Tahsin Korludag is a prime example of today's politicians who make themselves look innocent, but who are not that innocent in reality.

Yes, very true.

Isn't he?

In my opinion, Tahsin Korludag may be even more innocent than the others we see today.

Besides that, even if he may use his power on people,

if he may cause some people to disappear,

he doesn't do this himself.

Instead, he uses his people to do it.

Therefore, he is never found guilty.

No matter how much Cesur was trying to prove that he was...

Yes, he is not guilty. As hard as Cesur tried.

But on the other hand, he is a loving person.

He is very fond of his daughter.

He took his daughter to school and back when she was young--

we know that because it was mentioned throughout the story.

He finds his son talentless, and for that reason he is always angry with him.

He finds his daughter talented.

After losing his wife,

he became involved with Nihan (Adalet).

Because...

when she was staying in an orphanage, the principal was trying to rape her.

He rescues her, but...

the other kid, Riza, has a a major role as well.

For instance, the show ended early.

If it hadn't, we may have seen what Riza would end up doing.

We were also wondering about that.

We also noticed that there was a major flow change in the second half of the series.

According to our research, we found out the writers changed.

We, as an American audience, sensed the changes.

In other words, the flow of the show changed from being captivating to monotonous.

This is a two-part question:

As an actor,

can you express your opinion about the script?

Are you at liberty to say, "This is not logical. If it was written this way or that way, it would have been better," or things like that?

Do you have any control over the flow of the script?

Not much.

Because, for example, on this show, the first writer was Ece Yörenç, and she did it alone.

And she wrote really interesting storylines for this show.

First we started the show with that story in mind,

but I think after the 16th episode, the writers changed, and another group of writers took over.

Of course, Ece had plotted out the story in her head in a certain way.

The new group was not able to know what was in her mind.

Therefore, they created their own story.

They tried to follow the same rhythm, but it caused a change in the flow of the story.

For example, in my opinion, my role--

But we can not intervene,

because writing a scenario is a very difficult task.

Think about it. The show will be watched for months and years by the people,

but they only have a few days to write the script.

True.

For example, Tahsin's right-hand man shouldn't have been killed.

Salih.

Because, Salih was like a black box, he retained a lot of information regarding the past.

Tahsin's wife Nihan should not have been killed as well, because she had unfinished business with Riza.

What happened between her and Riza?

We never found that out.

If they had worked on those storylines, the plot would have evolved in a much different way.

Yes, maybe the show would have been continued and had new seasons.

We as an audience always wonder about those things.

During the writing stage, we do not have much interference with writing.

While filming on set, we may sometimes make suggestions.

But it is impossible to make changes over 5 to 15 pages, or the entire script.

One other question is,

--not only during Cesur ve Güzel, but for other shows as well--

when filming the show,

based on your experiences, are the scenes filmed in chronological order,

or are they sometimes filmed out of order?

For example, if you don't have a role in one episode, do you not come to the set at all?

Do you film all your parts at once and then take a few days off?

Or whomever is on that specific episode, are those the only people showing up for filming?

Now...

what we call the main cast, who are the leading actors and actresses,

there is no episode without those lead roles.

If we didn't have a role that week, that means we have no income that week.

Because

all of the rights are being sold to the producers in Turkey according to contracts.

In my opinion, actors should have the rights over the production as well.

Actors

could itemize this in their contract.

They can require that there will not be an episode without their role.

That's the first thing.

The second one is,

for having a part in every episode,

it does not work like that, it goes like this... For example,

in the beginning, when you turn the first page on the script,

just because you see Tahsin on the first page

doesn't mean you'll start filming with Tahsin.

You could start right in the middle. We start according to location.

Because we start filming on Mondays,

if the scene needs to be filmed in the office, the space needs to be rented on Monday.

That office may not be available on Monday,

but if it can be rented Sunday, then we may have to film on a Sunday.

The Mansion may be rented for Monday.

On Tuesday, we may have rented the farmhouse.

On Wednesday, we need to vacate the city center, and the show's props are removed.

Then what happens is,

the last scene could be filmed in the beginning, the first scene may be filmed in the end.

The scenes are not filmed in chronological order, but will later be edited and put in order.

All right then, you memorize the script...

OK, I pretty much know the answer to this question, but it has been asked by the members.

But during the filming, do you improvise the lines at all?

Do you add any additional lines, or change any lines based on your mood that day?

Now, as you know, a knowledge that come from memorization is worthless in life.

Isn't it?

For example in old American movies,

let's say a new lieutenant who recently graduated from military school is stationed on a submarine,

and he gives orders as he memorized in school.

But, the soldiers who are already know how things work on the submarine

don't take him seriously.

There's a saying, "chirping lieutenant" in Turkish.

And the lieutenant gets really angry with the soldiers, and there's a disagreement among them.

But, during a battle when the soldiers prove to be right,

the lieutenant tells the soldiers that they were right, and they come to an agreement.

We experience this in real life as well.

People

during their career, they have to prove their effectiveness.

They don't react to events with memorized responses.

When you memorize something, you can't understand the role you are playing.

You can memorize your role without understanding.

However, if you understand the role properly, if you know why this person is behaving certain way,

how this character would act, how he would behave,

how he would yell,

how he would laugh--

when you consider all of those, it is no longer memorization of the role,

and the script could be written in the form of a novel.

And when you, as an actor, can adapt yourself to talking in the style of your character,

you are able to make your character unforgettable.

Another question--

as you play your character

throughout the filming of the show,

do you feel influenced by your character in your daily life?

No!

You snap out of your character as soon as the filming is over?

Some of those actors who claim to 'live their characters' say it for attention.

Hmm...

There are some of those actors acting like experts claiming this...

even in the United States, well-known actors claim this.

For example one of them says, I act my part even on the street, so that I can see the reactions of the people--

he says, I try my role outside....

And the person who interviews asks, "Is this how you act at home as well?"

He replies back, "Well, we won't talk about that."

As if he must act like that all the time.

But a good actor

is like a good human scientist.

Like a psychologist...

Like a sociologist ...

On top of that, if he is able to evolve himself,

he can generate his role in his mind easily.

He does not need to enact it outside and get sick of it.

Otherwise, every actor would get sick of it after each project.

Or it would change his personality.

I don't find this to be a good practice or even creative.

OK, I would like to come back to Cesur ve Güzel again.

During the filming of Cesur ve Güzel,

can you tell us about a funny memory or experience?

It could be with Kivanc, or with Tuba.

Any funny scene with those actors that you have experienced--

an accident or a joke?

We experienced that all the time.

For example, Tahsin Korludag has a tough personality, but also has a very soft side.

For example, the other day I was talking to a Turkish couple who had watched the show.

He said, "I really liked Tahsin Korludag."

I asked, "Why? Do you have a tough personality as well?"

He said, "No, I don't.

And in my opinion, Tahsin Korludag did not either."

I asked, "Is that how you perceived Tahsin?"

He said "Yes. He may have some attitude problems, but he was an OK guy."

I said, "How was he an OK guy?"

So, this is how people perceive characters.

In my opinion, Tahsin Korludag

acts tough sometimes, and sometimes like a fatherly individual.

So one day, when I was acting Tahsin

--I am coming back to your question--

Erkan Avci, who was acting as my son,

in one scene...

Tahsin says, "Hand me the bread, bottomless cowboy." (as in no underwear)

I remember that part! "Bottomless cowboy!"

Because he got tricked by the other woman.

She got him drunk, drugged him,

and then got him naked.

And when he woke up, he thought they really did get intimate, but nothing happened in reality.

And the father, both laughing at him and making fun of him...

So I said that phrase very naturally and spontaneously,

and we all laughed about that scene.

We had many scenes like that with Kivanc as well.

In the real script there was no such phrase as "bottomless Cowboy" then?

No. Ece wrote that actually, but she was expecting it to be expressed differently.

For example, if I had said it with more of a straight tone, no one would have laughed...

But, what did I do?

I looked at him and said it with a condescending tone, just like how Tahsin would say..."give me the bread bottomless cowboy!!"

See? Even now I laugh when I hear it, because I remember that scene!

Because, Sometimes

actors,

even if it is written in a certain way,

they can exaggerate, and could underline it by emphasizing it.

Then they lose the humor behind it.

But when a father says, "Hand me the bread, bottomless cowboy!"

it becomes funnier...then the son gets mad.

If he says it with straight face and tone, then it would not work.

Would not give the same taste.

We call moments like that "unexpected acting" or "spontaneous acting."

Erkan actually has his name for it, "opposite corner acting"

or "a-tonal acting."

And then I said, one day a-tonal acting will become a tonal acting.

I see.

Because,

an actor should be able to do surprises like that,

but he should be able to do it, without underlining.

It should be natural.

That's how we are in real life.

We had that in the Korludag family too.

Ece wrote that, but we did not use it much.

Some, especially the older people go like this...

Meaning like, 'give me the glass'

without saying "give me the glass."

And you look at him wondering what he is asking.

And you go, "Oh, you want the glass?"

He is too lazy to talk.

We have those kinds of people too.

We could act that way, because we see that daily.

Unfortunately, when actors act, viewers often believe that is the actor's true personality in real life.

But when you think about it, we do a lot of unusual behaviors in our daily life.

When those unusual behaviors are adapted to the characters that we play, then it becomes very enjoyable.

But to carry this out, you need to know the people really well.

But many of us who are actors,

when we play in a movie or series,

in order not to make a mistake,

we act like we're molded in a cliche frame.

We act with memorization.

That becomes, just like I mentioned earlier,

the lieutenant in submarine story who said things from memorization, not expressing by living.

Do you have any memories with Kivanc

during the filming of Cesur and Güzel?

Of course, we have lots of memories...

I can't think of one right now but,

when he first met me,

in our first scene together,

he said to me, "Tamer Abi, my eyes are on you,

because, you can wear many hats at the same time."

Kivanc is also one of those guys whom I really like--

who has a strong personality.

And one time he approached me and said,

"Tamer Abi, if you see that I am doing something wrong, please let me know."

I do that too!

Since I have years of experience, they all work with a level of respect.

On the other hand, I can go to young actor and ask,

--especially when I do a pretentious role, --

I ask how it was perceived.

What do you think? Does it work or not?

Because they have the outside observant eyes.

They look objectively.

Without criticizing you.

Hah! Without criticizing, they express what they think.

Yes, we called that "constructive criticism" in English.

Yes, you express what you think in a constructive way.

Yes... Yes...

Let me look at the questions again, so that I don't miss anything.

I would like to conclude with "Sanata Evet".

But before that....

Regarding the Cesur and Guzel series...

Is there anything you wish or think that the audience should know about Cesur ve Guzel?

Anything that the audience does not know about the show,

but is a very interesting fact about the show?

The Cesur and Güzel series,

there was a Hollywood movie called 'Long Hot Summer' (1958) ...the story was inspired from that movie.

Let me look it up for a minute--

the plots were taken from that movie.

who was it....

Orson Welles was in the cast, Paul Newman was the lead actor.

Tahsin's role was played by Orson Welles,

and Cesur's role was performed by

Paul Newman.

Although it was similar, the story is not exactly the same.

Indeed, after a certain point, the plot took a completely different direction as we said.

And this adaptation gives a global appeal to the production.

We see here that, people behave in similar ways.

I mean,

even if it's a Brazilian show, it's being watched in Turkey.

People love watching those exaggerated love stories.

In Turkey, women can't get up from the TV screen.

It was the same in Europe.

In the United States, when daytime TV series started, there was a major implementation of copyright rules .

So now we see the same implementation on Turkish movies and TV shows.

Therefore,

for example, Cesur ve Güzel aired in Georgia,

in Colombia, there is also a fan club, and now showing where you guys are.

For this reason,

I mean,

the story,

while it is similar to an American movie,

it takes place in Turkey...

Therefore, a person from America, Colombia, or Georgia can find similarities in them...

Yes.

So, lastly.....

You have a well-known message called "Sanata Evet," which means "Yes To Art."

Those who follow you in social media are well aware of this.

You told us, "Art is not a product, it's a process." Can to elaborate on that a little?

Can you expand on that little more?

Sure, gladly...

Now, the century that we are living in, the 21st century,

we are hoping that all things will change for better.

For example, it was speculated that if the computers stopped (YK2), then life would stop too.

But it didn't.

Life continued.

But, if it stopped, it was said, a new century would start anyway.

But although it did not, a new century started regardless.

In my opinion, this is a threat in a way, that people are becoming like robots.

For example, Jack Baugh claims that this can be prevented by involving people in art.

But when we say art, it includes drawing, sculpture, drawing, photography, theater, cinema, architecture,

and now sports is included.

Maybe later on cooking will be included too, who knows.

Is art going to be creating a product from these vessels,

or will it be by evolving ourselves as human beings...and creating the process of art?

If the concept of art comes only from drawing, music, sculpture, theater, etc.

if it has a code name, then we don't need to call it by name.

Drawing is a talent, an expression of a craft.

But art is the process of THINKING how the person is going to create that craft.

That is why I say, when people realize that process,

they will also realize that THEY are the masterpiece themselves.

Therefore, I can master anything...

As soon as they realize that, they will be ready to expand their knowledge and evolve.

Then, everyone will live with their right brain for art, and their left brain for analytical thinking.

The cerebellum is the place that combines the two parts.

And all humans

--from the most primitive to the most developed human--

have this capability.

The most important thing is for humans to understand this ability and use it.

Again, in this century,

we need to make our lives a form of art.

I call it directing our thoughts in a positive way.

I named it "Sanata Evet" (Yes to art),

and we are seeing this expanding around the world.

I sometimes wish we could have sort of an non-governmental entity, Global Government, where people are ruled by the Sanata Evet (Yes To Art) vision.

Where people use their creativity for art, instead of war, death, hunger, and

concepts like injustice.

Where people could produce more positive answers.

I expressed this message as my dream, but there is a big movement on this message.

Yes, of course you sharing your message from social media has made big impact.

It comes out of me, and that's OK.

But it doesn't have to be identified with my name.

I wish the whole world would adapt to this message.

Humanity could benefit from this direction,

just like those people who were able to deliver their messages in history,

we could do the same.

Now, another reason I wanted to talk to you was to get your permission first.

We wanted to work on your "Sanata Evet" campaign. In English, it would go by Say Yes To Art.

Let's call it "Yes To Art."

"Yes To Art," OK.

From now on, we would like to create your Sanata Evet and YesToArt message as hashtags on our social media platforms.

Of course we can only do this with your permission.

Very important!! Very!! Please also do comment about it, not just a hashtag.

When you see something being done nicely, explain how that concept can be connected with #SanataEvet #YesToArt.

And we will share this message with all of our members..