Turkish actress Gizem Erdogan nailed the role of Denise in the hit series Love & Anarchy on Netflix Turkey. The series, which stars Mert Fırat and İlker Aksum, tells the story of two young boys, both raised in different surroundings, who grew up to become enemies in the streets of Istanbul. Their paths cross one night when they’re arrested by police officers near Taksim Square during a peaceful protest against the Turkish government. Gizem Erdogan Nails the Role of Denise in Love & Anarchy
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Who is Gizem?
Actress Gizem Erdogan is best known for playing a role in TV series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which was filmed and aired by Turkish channel Show TV. She’s been active on television for about 7 years, appearing mostly on comedy shows. Her filmography includes such titles as Seven Days, Suckers and Ahh… A Special Thing. She currently stars as Ayse in Ahmet Kural’s leading family drama series Kabadayi on Fox Turkey.
Her journey so far
From earning a masters degree at Stockholm University’s Institute for Turkish Studies to acting for director Fatih Akin, who would later cast her in his second feature Soul Kitchen, Gizem Erdogan has certainly had a successful journey so far. The film – which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at both the European Film Awards and Academy Awards – saw Gizem play Fatih’s girlfriend Bozkurter.
Speaking about that role to Time Out Istanbul back in 2010, she said It is thanks to Fatih that I gained a lot of confidence and started believing that I could be an actress. Since then she’s not only featured in Believer by Bahman Ghobadi but also graduated from Marmara University with a degree on acting.
Her involvement with Love & Anarchy
Gizem plays one of two central roles, as does another star on our list: Deniz Yıldırım. The cast and crew have a lot riding on their shoulders—there are almost no Turkish comedies and those that do exist have not been well received. Gizem and Deniz are both powerful players in Turkey’s television industry; if they can make a successful comedy, it could open up doors for other actors to pursue comedy as a career. On top of being talented actresses, it’s exciting to see them take roles that put them front-and-center in such an important project!
The role she played in the show
A young Turkish woman named Deniz, who along with her three best friends are engaged in a seemingly harmless plot to kill a public official. Their plot goes awry when one of their friends turns out to be an undercover police officer. This character was both intelligent and stubborn; brave but frightened. She and her fellow co-conspirators were ruthlessly punished for their crime, giving viewers a hard time relating or empathizing with them. Some have criticized Gülsen Balaban’s portrayal of Deniz as shallow and underdeveloped, while others feel she successfully portrayed her as conflicted, innocent, yet fatally flawed by youthful arrogance. What do you think? Was Gülsen Balaban successful in playing Deniz?
Her attitude towards acting and acting schools
As for her attitude towards acting and acting schools, she’s very happy with her experience. The way Gizem looks at it, if you know nothing about something that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try it. You might not like it now but who knows? Maybe you will one day. There are a lot of things she doesn’t like to do, though. She hates art galleries because they all look alike to her and makes her yawn but she loves museums even though she has no idea what half of them are supposed to be representing.
How her character came about
Gizem Eregen is a Turkish actress who played a leading role in all 30 episodes of Yaprak Dokumu (2010). In 2011, she appeared on Seksenler as Ayşe and Karadayı as Beyza. She played Arzu on Vatanım Sensin (2012). Gizem was one of three lead actresses to appear on Sonsuz Kavak Yelleri (2013) where she played an attorney named Katia Tarkin. Her character spoke Russian, Arabic, French and English with ease.
Character development was a team effort!
Character development wasn’t just a collaborative effort between lead writer Aleksandar Hemon and director Luka (Stupica) Arnautovic, it was also a team effort on set! Gizem Erdogan revealed that she learned more about her character during filming than any other role she’s played. She explained that the level of improvisation they had during shooting taught me how to truly connect with my character, because I couldn’t read off lines. Gizem said she was so impressed by what Stupica and Hemon did that if she were to take another film class, she would want it to be directed by them.
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What she plans to do next
Turkey’s first female director Gülsüm Kabakçıoğlu is to start shooting her second feature film next year. She plans to complete Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım and shoot it in 2017. In addition, Kabakçıoğlu will teach at Bahçeşehir University’s cinema department and her novel Titrer, which she wrote before she made her debut movie, will be translated into English as Stranger. The book was published for Turkish readers on Oct 15 by Dost Kitabevi publishers.
