That year,
America had just entered
World War II. Michael Curtiz filmed his iconic multi-Oscar-winning film Casablanca under most unusual circumstances. During the shoot, he had to battle almost daily with
political censors who wanted to change the film's script. In addition, Curtiz's troubled relationship with his daughter made this period more difficult for him.[3][4]
The 2018
film's producers were Tamás Yvan Topolánszky, Claudia Sümeghy, and Barnabas Hutlassa.[5] The Executive Producer was
Orian Williams, and the screenwriter was Zsuzsanna Bak.[6]
Plot
The film tells the story of the first Hungarian
Academy Award winner, Michael Curtiz (originally known as Mihály Kertész), who won the
Best Director Oscar for Casablanca, a romantic film that
film critics consider to be one of the best in film history.[7] Curtiz, who is credited with nearly 200 films, was a highly controversial, aggressive, womanizing, selfish, violent and crude personality.[8]
The film about him (the original full Hungarian title is Curtiz – A magyar, aki felforgatta Hollywoodot) was originally made as a TV movie.[9] Its story takes place in 1942, during the filming of Casablanca, when the
Japanese had destroyed
Pearl Harbor, the
Germans had already started bombing the
British, and
the United States had just entered World War II. Curtiz, meanwhile, could not decide how to finish Casablanca, rewriting the script over and over again as the shooting neared. To make matters worse, to promote
war propaganda as much as possible, the state authorities appoint a political official to supervise the film in progress, who tries to pressure Curtiz into making changes to the storyline.[10] In defiance of these political interventions, Curtiz is determined to make his film a success, but he also faces serious family tensions during the shoot. The endangerment of his sister, who has stayed in
Hungary, and his troubled relationship with his daughter, who has emerged after a long period of absence, take unexpected turns during the filming of the movie.[11][12]
The story of the film is based on real events, with dramatized elements. The filmmakers have created the film with the help of a wealth of anecdotes and memoirs. Screenwriter Zsuzsanna Bak said that the story of the film covers 85 percent of the original events.[13]