Jan Kraus, actor and commentator

What did you want to be when you were a kid?
An adult.

What are your favorite fictional characters?
D’Artagnan, Jean Valjean, Gary Cooper in High Noon, and similar romantics.

Your reason for living?
To enjoy life.

What truth would you like people to know about you?
That I’m truthful. And decent, whenever possible.

How do you get up in the morning?
When I don’t have to, with pleasure. When I have to, with disgust.

What is your favorite activity during the day?
Relaxing between responsibilities.

How do you imagine your ideal day?
Excellent weather, good news, good moods and beautiful women.

What’s the best place to make love?
The place doesn’t matter at all; there are no bad places.

What’s your favorite insult?
It changes. I follow the trends.

With whom do people confuse you?
With all possible bastards.

Your favorite saying?
“Poverty is no reproach.” Complete fluff.

What do you like in a man and what do you despise?
A sense of humor, stories about unsuccessful attempts with women, and remembering failure in general.

What do you like in women and what do you despise?
Being successful with them, and being unsuccessful with them.

If you were organizing a dinner to which you could invite five people from any place and any era, whom would you invite?
Although I would like to adhere to all these criteria, it would just be people from my family.

If you won the lottery, and no longer had to work to earn a living, what occupation or vocation would you pursue?
I would just ponder on what to do, and perhaps I would stay with that.

Do you need to love to make love or do you need to make love in order to love?
I am able to fall in love in an instant. As well as fall out of it. This has influence on making love as well.

Do you think it’s better to say everything or not to know everything?
I don’t recommend not knowing everything as well as not saying everything. Something in between. But when you know a lot and you don’t say it anywhere, what good is that?

In connection with the fashionable wave of musicals, are you preparing one yourself?
I have one idea for a title – Klaus in the Mountains. It should be a musical in which mainly politicians sing. As I know them, they would never get involved.

Are you an ecologist? If yes, in what way?
Within reason. I don’t intend to look for a trash can all day.

Would you go on a trip to space?
No. I would be liquified with fear.

Can you imagine a situation, reason or condition under which you would appear in an advertisement?
Yes. For a high-quality product of a good kind (hygienic pads are out of the question), and for an exorbitant fee. That said, I did make a statement for Johnny Walker for sentimental reasons. I have a very tender relationship with Scotch whiskey, because it has helped me many times in life.

Do you consult a personal stylist about your image?
Such professions make me laugh. You have a partner to do that. And I don’t feel even the smallest need to be something some stylist would like me to be.

Does the role of “enfant terrible” in Czech society fit you? Do you work on it intentionally?
What I used to be at home and at school I am now throughout the country. Perhaps one day I will achieve this regard throughout the entire planet. But it was never my intention, either at home or at school, or anywhere else. I have often used the argument that the “proper” children of Czech society are frequently much bigger pigs than I am…from all points of view.