Mimi Brănescu, the man behind the success of “Las Fierbinți”, was the special guest on the “Altceva cu Adrian Artene” podcast. The director talked about the connection between the beloved characters in his productions and his childhood.
Mimi Brănescu Photo: Video capture “Altceva cu Adrian Artene”/Youtube
Mimi Brănescu, the creator of Celentano, Dorel, Bobiță or Firicel, told the story of his characters, from their origins to the present day. He experienced success in his career as a screenwriter of the series “Las Fierbinți”, which Pro TV has been broadcasting for several seasons. The Romanian comedy series debuted on March 1, 2012.
The actor and playwright Mimi Brănescu testified that the characters of the series exist in reality and that his childhood was the source of inspiration, the years of his life spent on the streets of Lehliu, Călărași county.
The characters were drawn from his childhood. “In the village there were these, but there were also others… We took the characters from a completely different group“, told Mimi Brănescu on the “Altceva cu Adrian Artene” podcast.
The characters were “enhanced” and became a part of our lives.
“I improved them. I didn’t want to laugh at them. I tried to “save” them. In fact, I tried to understand why they were doing what they were doing, why they were like that. It is not 100% similarity. It’s crazy, but I was trying to understand why a villager would get drunk night after night. For example, the Celentano from my village is not the one from the series. That one doesn’t even drink, he’s not a drunkard. He drinks like everyone else, but I thought it would go like this. Dorel wasn’t part of our gang, but Dorel is everywhere. Two villages away is a Dorel”, said Mimi Brănescu.
The relationship with his characters is a close one, but each one sees his own life. “I have a very fair relationship with the characters. It doesn’t haunt me, neither do I! We need, we rent, we deal with what we need to deal with and I leave them to their world. I don’t walk around with characters in my head.“, he also said.
He wanted to be a footballer and dreamed of a music career
Mimi Brănescu also told how he came to follow his dream of becoming an actor, although his father was against it.
“Dad was a carpenter. He had a workshop. Dad never, until late, wanted me to be an actor. That it’s not a job. You get married, you have children. “Dad is an actor.. what does he do? Is it a monkey?”. He had a rather unclear relationship with what acting meant. And the people… everyone thought it was strange: “Are you an actor?”“, said Mimi Brănescu.
He dreamed of being a footballer, then he dreamed of a music career, but he realized that he was not made for such a thing. “I would have liked to be a football player, because I imagined that I was good at football. I was not good at football. Then I said to start singing. I wasn’t very good at singing either. Then, my life was organized a little by the order of incorporation into the army. I was starting to like doing nothing“, he also said, in the ALTCEVA podcast with Adrian Artene.
The actor and playwright Cornel Mimi Brănescu was born on March 31, 1974 in Lehliu, Călărași county. He studied actor’s art, Olga Tudorache class, at the “ILCaragiale” Theater and Cinematography University – Bucharest, 2000 graduation.
