VINNY's Meets Besir Zeciri
BECOMING FREE
Three minutes will tell you quite a bit about Besir Zeciri. Just not everything.
We met the Copenhagen actor for tea and ended up talking about getting older, raising kids, his mother’s work ethic, Rolexes and Casios, cooking, acting, uncertainty and the increasingly liberating exercise of listening to yourself.
Somewhere along the way, we talked about rebellion too.
HOW WOULD YOUR FRIENDS DESCRIBE YOU?
I think I’m the funniest one of my friends. But maybe also very annoying sometimes.
My brain works too fast and I want to solve things that I should sometimes just let go. I want to solve my friends’ problems. I’m learning that sometimes I should leave things alone and let them take care of it themselves.
HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN COMFORTABLE BEING YOURSELF?
Yeah, I think so. It’s weird to say, but it feels almost like a superpower. It’s something I’ve always had.
WHEN DID YOU REALISE YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO DO WHAT PEOPLE EXPECTED OF YOU?
When I started to listen to my gut feeling.
If you are true to yourself and you always go from your own personal view of life and work, nobody can fuck with that. That’s what’s unique about you.
We all have things where we think, I wish I was taller, I wish I had a smaller nose. But if you start saying, I’m like this and that’s good enough, then I think you’re just smoother in the world.
DO YOU CARE WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT YOU?
Yeah, I do. But it’s so good to get older because I’ve stopped caring as much.
There’s been a shift. When I was younger, I wanted attention from girls and wanted to get approved. Now I want to get the attention from home.
It sounds very, “angelic” but it’s really like that. I want to be cool in my son’s eyes. When he says, “Wow, I love this jacket on you,” then I’m like, okay, this is it.
I love structure. I view my work as an actor, and film generally, almost like mathematics.
YOU SAY YOU DON’T TAKE MONEY THAT SERIOUSLY. WHY?
Because I’ve tried having no money and I’ve tried having a lot of money - or what’s a lot for me - and it doesn’t make the big difference.
I had a Rolex for five years. When you buy something, that feeling of “wow, I bought this” usually disappears. But with the Rolex it lasted maybe five years before I was like, I don’t need this anymore.
So I bought a Casio instead. And I really, really love this. I don’t care. It’s just nice.
YOUR MOTHER COMES UP A FEW TIMES WHEN WE TALK. WHAT DID YOU GET FROM HER?
My mom never went to school. She worked three jobs for maybe 15 years. She would work from five in the morning until nine in the evening, come home, cook and go back to work.
She always said, “I never want to be poor again.”
It gave me discipline. When it comes to work, I have crazy discipline. When people say, “Oh, I’m tired” - especially now that I have kids - going to work is like, whoa, vacation.
Of course work can be hard. Sometimes there’s a complex scene, everything is fucking chaotic, you don’t have time and you have one take.
But I also love that pressure.
YOU TALK ABOUT ACTING ALMOST LIKE A CRAFT. HOW DO YOU APPROACH IT?
I love structure. I view my work as an actor, and film generally, almost like mathematics.
You can start with the ending of a film on the first day, so you need to understand everything that happened to your character before that.
But I’ve started letting go more. I don’t prepare as much as I did before. Sometimes I prepare a lot, sometimes I don’t. You have to ask: what does the film want from you? What does the character need from you?
I think in acting we have to forget about ourselves.
AND AWAY FROM ACTING, YOU FIND THAT CRAFT IN COOKING?
Yeah. Life for me is so much about using your mind, and what I do can be very subjective.
With cooking, I can touch things. Grab the garlic. Smell it, feel it. It’s tangible.
There’s nothing better after a long day than cooking for my family, cutting some onions. It’s very simple. You make everything ready and then you start cooking.
If I have time and can drink a glass of red wine, I love making Ossobuco.
Sometimes in life you need to go through something, and you need to rebel to get somewhere.
WHAT ARE YOU REBELLING AGAINST THESE DAYS?
My career. What’s meant to be, what the business wants me to do and what I want to do. Again, it’s about listening to myself.
Something I struggle with is the feeling of not knowing what I’ll do next. If it’s more than three or four months and I don’t have anything in the pipeline, I start thinking, oh shit.
But what if I could just be at home and enjoy the time?
When you’re in it with your kids, sometimes you think, fuck. Then afterwards you realise this time will never come back.
Suddenly my son says, “Hey, I want to hang out with Otto.” And I’m like, wow, you’re fucking four years old. And I miss him.
WHAT DOES REBELLION MEAN TO YOU?
For me, rebellion means listening to your heart and going against what somebody else wants you to do. Being true to yourself and standing by yourself.
It’s not compromising with your happiness.
Sometimes in life you need to go through something, and you need to rebel to get somewhere.
REBELLION IS…
Becoming free.
ARE YOU A REBEL?
I’m a big fucking rebel.
