Dilan Çiçek Deniz stepped into Deadline’s studio at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and gave us the low-down on her film, TV and theater career and move into filmmaking.
The Turkish actress has starred in streaming dramas such as Persona, Netflix original movie One-Way To Tomorrow, feature film Season Of Love, and regular TV series such as The Pit and Crossroads. She is also playing Constance, wife of the composer Mozart, in a long-running stage production of Amadeus. “Everything feeds each other,” Çiçek Deniz said. “I have to do everything at the same time.”
The mix of small-screen, big-screen, and stage each has a different dynamic as a performer, she explained: “Mainstream TV series are so technical, while in movies you can have more time to prepare a movie, and you can dive into character.”
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She elaborated on the impact of playing to packed house with her theater work. “There are 2,000 people every night, and when I go on the stage it feels like an open wound. And every time, when the [audience] clap at end of the play, I feel like I’m healed. There’s a therapeutic side in acting also, but doing it with the audience, feeling their energy, I can’t even put that into words.”
One area the Turkish star said she wants to dive into more deeply is making films. Çiçek Deniz has made two shorts including We Need To Talk About Dilan, which was at the recent Cairo Film Festival. “I want to do this more, I want to produce more, and maybe a movie,” she said.