Marilyn Inspires ‘Heidi’ Debut

Cătălin Mitulescu’s latest film, Heidi – which premieres at the Sarajevo Film Festival this week – has nothing to do with the classic children’s novel and is reportedly closer to ‘a Romanian Fargo.’ In an interview for Variety, Mitulesco reveals the unlikely inspiration behind Cătălina Mihai’s breakout performance as Heidi.

“At the beginning, she was more timid, because Gheorghe [Visu] is a well-known actor, and she was a student. I wanted her to play hard as a character: to charm him, and to play like she’s in control. We talked about many movies, like Some Like It Hot. For her it was an inspiration, Marilyn Monroe. She was playing a prostitute on the outskirts of Bucharest, but that thing was very inspiring for me and for her. I wanted to make her shine more, make her sparkle as a character. She’s very generous. She has this glamour, somehow. I wanted that for the character. She got into that with great pleasure.”