Simona Hába Zmrzlá: I had fun with the scenes on stage when I got pregnant
In the crime series Badge Vysočina you have one of the main roles. Was it really filmed in Vysočina?
Yes, everything was filmed in the Highlands, even the interior of the police station. It is a new building, which stands right by the river and has a huge glass wall. It was filmed in Ledeč nad Sázavou and we had a beautiful view of Ledeč Castle. He is famous for the fact that fairy tales are often filmed there, because it has a beautiful courtyard and interior.
Did you manage to look at him?
No, when we were there, it was a lockdown.
How did you hear about yourself with the second representative of the investigator, Monika Hilmer?
Very good. I didn’t know any of the team before, not even Monica. But we made a lot of friends. After some time of filming, we were so attuned to each other that we answered someone’s question in words at the same time.
The series addresses societal scandals, whether it’s sexual violence, veterans from Afghanistan, or execution. How did you like the script?
Each episode has some such theme with a social overlap. I liked that from the beginning. And we talked about it at the first meeting, when we met with the director and the producer. These are all topics that are current.
For example, the part where the murdered executor is found. It is not just about hatred of executors, but mainly about how the executor can abuse his position of power.
You play an investigator and she must be able to keep a cool head in times of crisis. Can you do the same?
I haven’t experienced a moment of crisis in a long time. But I think I can keep a cool head at times like this.
He plays an ambitious newcomer of the police team in the series Badge of the Highlands.
Photo: TV Nova
Emotions don’t touch you?
No, just at home. I dare to do it there sometimes.
Recently, a new last name appeared in your name, Haba. You could have been Hábová after the wedding, or you could just be Frozen. There is a lot of female surnames today, why did you choose yours?
From time immemorial to my husband, it was clear to me that I did not want to accept the groom’s last name. It feels like I’m changing my identity from day to day. And I thought, “Mrs. Habova,” I can’t be either.
Because Dana Hábová, my mother-in-law, is a famous translator, icon and persona of simultaneous translation. But I wanted you to see that I was married. So I made a compromise, I chose the variant of Hába Zmrzlá.
How was the wedding?
Absolutely great. My husband asked me for a hand in the summer when I was pregnant, and I agreed. We wanted to make it before the birth, so that it would be calm. Still, because then the crown broke.
We organized the wedding in about a month. We organized it in the neighborhood where we live, in a restaurant run by our friend. And right next to it is Jurkovič’s Villa, an important Brno architectural monument, where the ceremony took place. When we go for a walk in the woods, we often stop for coffee and remember our wedding. It’s romance.
From your previous conversations, I got the impression that you were feminist. How do feminism and marriage go together?
Wedding is not about being a woman under a slipper and listening to her husband. And the opposite is also true. Plus, my husband is a feminist.
How does a male feminist perform?
Normally, he simply thinks and acts in such a way that men and women are equal. So, for example, at home we do everything equally.
Do you mean housework?
Maybe. One of us works harder and the other is more at home. For the last two years, when my son was still tiny, the household has come to me. But that is gradually starting to change as I work harder.
The three months of filming the Vysočina Badge were quite intense for my husband as well, because it was the first time I had moved away from home for a long time. Maybe in a few days.
Simona Hába Zmrzlá
Photo: Milan Malíček, Právo
It’s nice that he can represent you. How did you feel about leaving a small child?
At first I was nervous because I was leaving my son for the first time in his fifteen months. At the same time, I was really looking forward to filming. Basically, I didn’t work in the theater or in front of the camera for two years, and I needed to do something.
Sometimes maternal actresses question their work. Did it happen to you?
No, I had no doubt. I enjoyed motherhood. Now with the second child a little more than with the first. At first I was satisfied, it was fine. Then came the lockdown, so we were all at home together, which suited me and the little kid.
Your husband is from Prague and you are from Brno. How did you solve it?
Like where do we live? Still in Brno. But we plan to move to Prague in the future.
How do you carry him as a Brno patriot?
Do you think that I am a Brno patriot? It’s a fact that I never really pulled my heels out of Brno, which I’m a little sorry about. I was engaged in the Goose on a String Theater for eight years. My husband is a director, so he actually works everywhere. At work, we don’t hold that much in Brno.
Director and actress are frequent connections. Is it an advantage to be from the same profession?
For me yes. When we started dating, we talked a lot, we actually talked in one piece. Whether about relationships or theater.
We recently premiered in Venus in Švehlovka with the Lachende Bestien theater platform. It is a production about social and climate injustice called Kohlhaas. According to Kleist’s short story, it was dramatized by my husband and his friend, director Šimon Spišák. They wrote, directed and they both play there. And me with them. And with all of us, the genius composer Jindřich Čížek.
How do you put up with it when your husband directs you?
It works for us together, which we already found out in Hus on a string then. It was one of the best trials I have ever experienced. Even now I thought it was very nice. In fact, I feel it was fun, not work.
She met Karel Dobrý in the film Hastrman. She played a wild girl, Katynka.
Photo: CinemArt
Don’t you have a husband who tends to direct at home?
What about your music activity, do you have time for them?
Not really. In addition, the coronavirus threw a little at them. Something is still being canceled, so she prefers not to agree on anything. Both bands where I sing are suitable for balls or weddings. You are not planning much ahead now.
So you’re singing in the bathroom?
Just that I don’t sing much. I miss it a little. Although sometimes the whole family sings at home and mostly in the kitchen.
I called my mom that I wasn’t taken to the gym. And she told me, “No, what can be done, you’ll be an actress, well.”
Your mom is a nurse and your dad is a car mechanic. How were you when you were little?
Timid. I still just wanted to be with my mom. I was nervous about going to kindergarten and school. My daughter is living the same way. I went to the piano, but I didn’t really enjoy it. I went to a drama for about two years.
I remember the experience from the first performance, where I played Mr. Bear. I had a terrible tremor and said to myself that I wouldn’t play it and that I certainly wouldn’t remember the lyrics either. But the show took place, and I was proud of myself then.
In the end, you didn’t miss acting. Have you considered other options?
In the ninth grade, I made school entrance, which I didn’t get to. As a second option, I had a gym, where the field was literary-dramatic. I was convinced that I would get to the first school, but then I cried to my mother that they didn’t take me for it. And she told me, “No, what can be done, you’ll be an actress, well.” And indeed at the second gym, acting and theater caught me.
When did you get rid of fear?
The moment I found out I was pregnant. It suddenly occurred to me that things were really more important than theater and my acting. I haven’t had a tremor since.
“A wedding is not about being a woman under a slipper and listening to her husband. And the opposite is also true. In addition, my husband is a feminist, “says Simona.
Photo: Milan Malíček, Právo
What are you currently looking forward to?
The second part of the fairy tale The Princess Cursed in Time will be filmed. I hope it will have similar success as the first part. Perhaps we will see the second series of the Vysočina Badge.
Hastrman, where you played the main female character, probably won’t have a second. How do you remember filming?
Good and happy. Until then, I did not have such an intense experience in front of the camera. There was a great collaboration with director Ondřej Havelka. He appears to the public as a gentleman and he really is. Kind man. Besides, there was a great staff and a good atmosphere on site.
How did you hear about yourself as Karel Dobrý as the main representative of Hastrman?
We thought we became friends during the filming. And so we played well together.
I try to act carefully, sort waste, do not buy useless things. But as a mother, I’m quite confused in this regard
Did you know the novel of the same name by Miloš Urban, which was the model for the film?
I read it for filming. I didn’t know him before. I’m just not surprised that it’s been almost five years.
Hastrman is subtitled Ecological Novel. That, as an avid ecologist, was probably close to you. Are you very organic in everyday life?
try to act as gently as possible, sort waste, do not buy unnecessary. But as the mother of a nine-year-old daughter, I’m quite confused in this regard. I realize how small children are already under the fire of advertising, how they are taught that it is nice to still buy, consume and consume something. Realizing this is the first step, but of course it is not enough on its own.