Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia, it means that both Slovak and Czech movies (as well as joint projects) were released under the name of Czechoslovakia. Very often Slovak actors and crew members participated in Czech filmes and vice versa. Czechoslovakia had very strong travel restrictions, so only several refugees were able to pursue their showbiz careers in the West. For example, the  Slovak actor Juraj Kukura became famous in Germany, and the Czech director Milos Forman made it in Hollywood.

Do you know more film projects related to Slovakia? Please let us know. pat@slovensko.com

Back to Investor Homepage

Dragonheart (1996)
Medieval fantasy adventure, starring Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis and Sean Connery (as Draco's voice). The striking hills and spectacular ruins of Spis Castle (Spissky hrad) in Slovakia provide a stunning visual background to the action. Other parts were made in Bratislava Koliba Studios and Devin Castle (in 1994). Slovaks were also in cast and crew.

Dragonheart is chiefly memorable for the wonderful character of Draco, the 18 foot high, 43 foot long talking dragon, the screen's first entirely computer generated character, complete with its own personality which has been brought vividly to life by the same sophisticated and elaborate computer wizardry (of Industrial Light and Magic) that recreated long extinct dinosaurs for Jurassic Park. Draco, brought to life by the vocal talent of Sean Connery, has been carefully created to match many of Connery's own facial mannerisms, and although Connery himself is never seen, his commanding presence resonates throughout the movie.

Dragonheart II: A new Beginning (2000)
Recording was done in Bratislava with participation of  renowned Slovak musician and conductor Peter Breiner. Living in Canada since 1992, Breiner owns and manages a Toronto-based symphonic music recording company called Sympho Fun Inc.

Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996)
Actiona sci-fi starring Christopher Lambert and Natasha Henstridge.
From James Berardinelli's review: "I have no idea how this film got its title, or why the word adrenaline is misspelled. (Actually, the fact that the movie was made in Slovakia probably has something to do with the error.)"

No James, you can believe me, some Slovaks can speak English, or at least use a dictionary, but they do not decide under what name an American movie is released in the USA. Adrenalin (without -e) is a U.S. trademark of epinephrine that is also (mostly in Europe) called adrenaline (with -e in English). I do not know why they used this TM either... (Editor)

In fact, not only is the supposedly Viennese car chase actually staged in the old town section of the city, but the climax of the chase, glimpsed briefly in the coming-attractions trailer, was filmed almost directly in front of the American Embassy and ornate Slovak National Theater there. And the final sequence, in which Devoe and Kelly must defuse the nuclear warhead in a cathedral, is supposedly set in Manhattan but was actually shot in the breathtaking St. Martin's Cathedral, hard on the banks of the Danube in Bratislava (the exterior can be glimpsed briefly in an establishing shot, with the Manhattan skyline digitally added around it). Bratislava even stands in for Sarajevo at one point, as a CNN live report is filmed in front of Komenius University. Leslie Dilley's production design already has everyone believing Vienna and Sarajevo were actual locations.

Kull the Conqueror (1997)
Universal Pictures' fantasy action starring Kevin Sorbo (TV series Hercules) and Tia Carrere. Kull was filmed at Studio Koliba in Bratislava, Slovakia, and on many of the same locations that also the Dragonheart crew utilized. No wonder, a couple of seasons back, the producer Rafaella de Laurentiis shot Dragonheart in those areas, hence was familiar with all locales, crews and services. Sea sequences were shot in the Adriatic resort of Croatia.

After her extremely positive experience making
Dragonheart in Slovakia, de Laurentiis chose to return there to film Kull The Conqueror. "I was so pleased with how things went on Dragonheart, I changed the script for Kull to adapt it for Slovakian locations", de Laurentiis explains. "Originally, Valusia was set on a sea, but I changed the location to a river so that we could shoot in Bratislava. I also knew the castles were excellent backdrops for this type of genre. We went to Croatia to film the sea journey scenes and were the first American production to film there since the end of the war."

Based primarily at Koliba Studios in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, most interiors of the film were shot there, while the exterior scenes are a combination of Slovak and Croatian landscapes. The first three weeks were shot at locations just outside Bratislava, including Devin Castle and Cerveny Kamen, before moving 300 km northeast to the Tatra Mountains for a week. Located about 10 km from Bratislava, Devin Castle is situated on a precipitous rock overlooking the merging of the Danube and Morava rivers. According to legend, this place has been built upon for at least 5,000 years and first mentioned in the record books of the Old Slovak kingdom (later erroneously called Great Moravia) during the 9th Century. The present fortress dates from the 13th Century, rebuilt in the 16th Century, and almost completely destroyed by Napoleon's troops in 1809.

Cerveny Kamen is a Renaissance castle located about 45 km northwest of Bratislava in the small Carpathians, a strip of limestone hills known for their excellent wine-growing properties. Currently, the castle is open to the public and houses a museum that exhibits a medieval torture chamber and 17th Century apothecary.

Moving to the Tatra Mountains, the company shot exteriors at Spis Castle, one of Slovakia's most photographed castles. Chalk white ruins on a bleak hill, the castle was built on an extremely strategic spot that has been inhabited since the Stone Age. The caste, one of the largest in Europe, was several times destroyed by fire and wars, and rebuilt. Today the ruins accomodate a museum.

Behind Enemy Lines (2000)
Based on the book Return with Honour by Scott O’Grady and Jeff Coplon, Behind Enemy Lines is a fictional story about a pilot (Gabriel Macht) and a naval flight officer (Owen Wilson) who are shot down while flying their F/A-18 Super Hornet on a combat mission over Bosnia. In the movie, Macht and Wilson are attached to the aircraft squadron VFA-163 deployed on board USS Carl Vinson. Gene Hackman plays the part of Rear Admiral Reigart, commander of the Carl Vinson Battle Group, who is intent on rescuing the downed aviators despite political pressure from NATO. David Keith plays the role of Master Chief O’Malley, Carl Vinson’s command master chief and the admiral’s right-hand man.

The 20th Century Fox’s movie, the feature film debut of commercial director John Moore, is scheduled for release on October 5 2001. Some scenes were shot onboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson while the ship was engaged in exercises off the coast of Southern California, with about 200 sailors working as extras. Other scenes were filmed on sets the film crew designed and built on an abandoned sound stage constructed by Soviets in Slovakia.

Merlin (1992)
The story of Merlin and his struggle to save the world from chaos is once again told, but this time with a modern twist. Reporter Christy Lake is sent on assignment to Lansdown, a small town in northern California, where she meets several people to whom she feels a strange connection. One is John Pope,
a geologist who is trying to warn the people of the town that re-opening a mine is very dangerous...

This movie was filmed in Slovakia, in Bratislava and in an old castle.

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)

One of the most famous Dracula movies (the story and names of the characters were changed for copyright reasons) was filmed in Slovakia. The Orava Castle served as Count Orlok's domicile, the High Tatras landscape (e.g. Stary Smokovec) was used in the film too. The newer movie Shadow of the Vampire (2000) with John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe is actually about the filming of Nosferatu in Slovakia.