Wojciech Żukrowski

Writer and screenwriter

Wojciech Żukrowski (1916–2000) wrote prose, journalism and screenplays. His work includes Z kraju milczenia, Kamienne tablice and children’s literature. Wajda adapted his story Lotna in 1959; Żukrowski also wrote the screenplay for Porwanie w Tiutiurlistanie¹.

Collaboration on The Deluge

The credits identify him as a co-writer with Hoffman and Kersten². Lubelski’s account excerpted by SFP connects his work with selecting the large novel’s essential strands³.

From a six-hour plan to the screen

Culture.pl reports that the original screenplay envisaged a six-hour film. Weather and costs forced further scene deletions⁴. These decisions concern the original production. The much later Potop Redivivus has its own editing history, examined in the film guide.

What does selecting strands mean?

The novel can show events directly or bring them to characters through accounts and messages. Skrzetuski’s account of Ujście in volume I, chapter XI is one example⁵. Adaptation determines what becomes a scene and how much time secondary characters receive. Comparing the screenplay with the novel therefore concerns the placement of events as well as how many survive.