The popularity of The Witcher franchise has grown significantly lately. The successful promotion of a series of computer games from CD Project contributed to the popularization of Sapkowski's work. The project was colorful, vibrant and interesting. Despite the fact that the author of the original books reacted to the games at least without significant interest, they to one extent or another contributed to the further promotion of the franchise as a whole and even stimulated the growth of demand for the older project of the Sapkowski universe - the 2001 series The Witcher. The director successfully selected the cast, used the original series of Sapkowski’s books with relentless follow-up as the basis of the script, but outside of Poland the picture did not find a wide response from the audience.
Literary basis of the series
The series "The Witcher" (Poland) of 2001 is based on two parts of the original cycle - "Sword of Destination" and "Last Wish". Initially, it was planned to create several seasons that covered the entire cycle as a whole, but at the time of the project's implementation the collection remained little known in the world and the series did not find the proper response from fans and fans. Before the main series was released, an hour and a half movie “The Witcher” was released, in which the events of the series were present in a compressed and abridged format. “Last Wish” is the first collection on the chronology of books and writing, it introduces the reader to the witcher from Rivia, his companions and brothers.
“The Sword of Destination” is the second collection in the cycle, the plot of which is concentrated around the relationship of Geralt and Tsiri, his Destination. Despite the fact that both collections were a resounding success in Poland, the budget of the film was extremely modest, and therefore the director had to limit herself to only one season.
The plot of the picture
In the center of the plot of both the series and the film is a search by Geralt Tsiri from Cintra. Geralt vowed never to stand in opposition to one of the opponents. Nevertheless, he neglected his principles and promised to return the girl in exchange for a promise, which later became the Destiny of the witcher. Actors of the series The Witcher, despite the already outdated editing and shooting technologies, were able to convey the atmosphere of the original cycle of works. Directly, the main character himself looks like a stern warrior, tirelessly and fearlessly chasing monsters. Some of the characters lack confidence in the camera, but this can be attributed to a young age. Others were distinguished by the naturalness of gestures and facial expressions, among them young dedicated boys, who were to be selected for the clan of witches.
Why didn't the picture find its audience?
The original Sapkowski cycle is still popular as a fantasy classic. The series turned out in a similar style, which predetermined his future fate. The picture was unclaimed. The actors of the series “The Witcher” fully followed the series chosen by the books, but in order to reproduce the full scale of events, including spectacular fights and hunting, werewolf, architecture simply did not have enough money. The result was a picture with an interesting backlog, but a weak implementation. However, fans did not leave the project without attention, and the main audience fell on those who awaited the release of a new collection by Andrzej Sapkowski with trepidation.
Actor play
Actors of the series The Witcher really tried to accurately convey the book variations of their roles. The main character looks natural, he is not confused by individual episodes, the viewer does not see the falsity or implausible game. All this serves as an excellent makings for the successful promotion of the series, but in practice they were let down by the rigid framework of the literary plot. Separate dialogues seem incomprehensible to the viewer, while fans of Sapkovsky’s work considered them an unnecessary explanation of what is happening. Directly, the author of the book series himself noted that he was extremely dissatisfied with the rigid binding of the picture to the “back” and the low-budget approach to filming. The technical side served as a key reason for criticizing the audience.
Geralt of Rivia
The role of the protagonist was played by Mikhail Zhebrovsky. In Poland, he was even nominated for the 2002 Orli Award for Best Actor. The actor himself has repeatedly noted that participation in The Witcher was an excellent experience for him, as the series turned out to be unique. With a low budget, the cast had to make additional efforts to ensure that the series was rich in a characteristic game and interesting dialogues. On the screen, Geralt from Rivia does not look like an actor, but the hero himself, alive, natural and extraordinary. In Poland, the “witcher” Michal Zhebrovsky is a famous actor who participated in the filming of several dozen films.
Yennifer
The role of the sorceress from Novigrad and the beloved witcher was played in The Witcher by Grazhina Volshchak. The image of the sorceress in books is not fully disclosed. This is done intentionally so that the viewer himself determines the attitude to this character. With external stiffness and narcissism, the sorceress is attached to the witcher and worries about him. The actress managed to convey as closely as possible the subtleties of the relationship between the characters. The enchantress looks the same as in the book, in many ways the attitude of the audience to the image is similar to what the fans of the books had.
Buttercup
The role of the fearless companion of the witcher and the ladies man was played by Zbigniew Zamakhovsky. The image turned out to be saturated, peculiar and very accurate in accordance with the prototype of the books. Buttercup is very peculiar and direct in conversations and negotiations. In many ways, the neighborhood with the witcher saves the bard from the reprisals of the offended interlocutors and clients of the musician. The actor was able to convey the unique appeal of Buttercup and somewhat defused the "seriousness" of the series.
Ciri
The role of the heiress to the throne of Cintra was played by baby Marta Bitner. The girl tried her best to look as serious as possible, which ultimately turned out to be a losing position. The book of Ciri is a rebel, tied to the witcher with a craving for adventure. In addition, she belongs to ancient blood, which left a peculiar imprint on the appearance of the girl. Like the images of the other heroes, the character's appearance remained incomplete.
In addition, Olaf Lyubashenko, Jerzy Novak, Anna Dymna and others noted in The Witcher. Most of the actors in the series The Witcher are either debutants or are known mostly to the Polish audience. In the end, the series turned out to be interesting, albeit somewhat poor and crumpled. After a dozen years, his popularity returned to him due to the promotion of computer games and, despite some triviality, the project remains interesting and fascinating.