The favorite series of Giorgos Kapoutzidis is coming back to MEGA, from Sunday, February 4 at 22:50.
The protagonists are: Smaragda Karydis (Niki), Konstantina Michael (Froso), Katerina Papoutsaki (Phoebe), Giorgos Kapoutzidis (Christos) and Mariella Savvidou (Stallo).
Case of the series “National Greece”
“Ethniki Hellados” is a rare, funny, touching and sometimes perhaps harsh story of appreciation. It is the adventure of a diverse group of women who decide to completely change the course of their lives. To leave behind the miserable and boring reality and aim for the highest step of the podium chasing the dream. A dream that against all predictions will bring them to the top of Europe.
“National Greece” is a story inspired by what is happening in Greece today. A story that comes out of the Greek neighborhoods and reminds us of all that we should never forget.
At the beginning, Eleni asked Giorgos Kapoutzidis if he has anything new in the works, and he replied: “I have many ideas for various things in the theater and on television, I will write something.”
What everyone remembers is how cold they were on the set, and Mariella Savvidou even revealed that she had discovered heated insoles, so that all the protagonists could wear them on set.
Giorgos Kapoutzidis: “The issues raised by the series are just as important as all of us today”
Afterwards, Giorgos Kapoutzidis described how he assigned the roles: “Director Antonis Angelopoulos thought of Katerina Papoutsakis from the first moment for her role. In Smaragda, when I told her, she said yes immediately, even though her role had been offered to someone else earlier. Mariella was nominated for an audition by the officials of the Cypriot Eurovision team. As for Konstantina Michael, I chose her when we participated in a television music program where she was on for a long time and I saw her tiredness and I said ‘she is a woman tired of life'”.
When Giorgos Kapoutzidis was asked what was the reason for taking up the sport of curling: “Once I heard the rules of the sport being explained on TV and I sat down and watched them. In addition, the virtues of the sport clashed with the needs of the script and I wanted to choose an unpopular sport. The issues that the series touches on are as important as all of us today.”
Did Giorgos Kapoutzidis self-censor by writing the script? “Sometimes I was afraid of the reactions it might cause at that time. But at the same time, I was even more stubborn and said ‘no, I’ll write this too'”.
Is television progressive today?
Mariella Savvidou commented that she finds modern Greek television quite self-referential. Katerina Papoutsaki noted that she believes that gossip has decreased compared to the past. While, Giorgos Kapoutzidis said “I believe that television in the 90s was more forward, as they were looking for new ideas a lot, then we experienced a ‘recession'”. Finally, Smaragda Karydis’ opinion was that television has lost young people.
Giorgos Kapoutzidis: “‘National Greece’ marks my path in a more correct direction”
Afterwards, Giorgos Kapoutzidis wanted to make a separate confession in relation to the series he made for MEGA:
“The series ‘National Greece’ marks both my own change and my course in a more correct direction. In the 3rd episode I have written jokes that are offensive to trans people. When I wrote it I had neither bad intention nor knowledge. When someone pointed out this mistake of mine and I realized it, I tried to fix it all and that’s why in the 10th episode this character comes back. It is right to see our mistake, to admit it, not to hide it and to ask for forgiveness”.