[on why he was removed from directing
L'imperatore della città d'oro (1952)]: "We started filming at a time when
Jan Werich was performing daily at the Karlín Theatre in 'The Finnian's Rainbow'. An actor who has such a busy schedule has such a rhythm that when he returns home after a performance, he naturally can't fall asleep right away and falls asleep long after midnight. But we started filming at nine o'clock, which meant waking Werich up at half past five so he could be in the make-up room at six. By nine Werich was on the set, masked but internally asleep. We started shooting and Werich said, 'Listen, Krejcik, isn't this stupid?' 'What do you suggest, Mr Werich?' He patted me on the shoulder and said, 'Think it over,' and went into the dressing room to snore. In the afternoon he came back to life, we shot the footage, but still half the day was lost. And the plan started to go awry. The second negative influence Werich's daily theatrical appearances had on our film was in the form of Werich's speech. He was used to broad gestures from the theatre, but for the film you need a more subtle expression. I tried to subdue Werich, but he was worried if I would drag him into civilism, he wouldn't be funny. At this stage of our communication, during the scene of Rudolf taking a bath, he cut his leg, and that was the end of it. I was removed from the film and
Martin Fric, who was known to be able to get along with Werich as he already directed him several times, got it after me."
