The audience learned about Ostrochovský’s approach to directing. “I like his energy. He breaks down my acting training. When I had learned the script, he called saying he was rewriting it. When I’d learned the new version, he called again, saying he was doing a rewrite. It was like a voice from some play about the mafia,” said actor Milan Mikulčík, explaining how the director ensures his cast speak naturally. Musician Miroslav Tóth shared a similar experience. “Ivan tasked me with writing music to a story about hare that is sad and goes to the forest, where he meets a bear and is less sad. But he conceived of that meeting of the hare and bear in the style of the 1960s post-avantgarde.”
The major role of a secret policeman is played by the well-known Romanian actor Vlad Ivanov and the director told viewers it was his actual voice on screen. “Originally we wanted to dub him, bu the learned Slovak well, what’s more with a eastern accent, which brought something to the character,” said Ostrochovský. He cast two non-actors as the young seminarians. “I found one at a church. The other is the son of the cinematographer,” the director said.