
Klara Issova plays Marie Curie, the only person to win the Nobel Prize in both Chemistry and Physics, in National Geographic and Ron Howards’s new TV series, GENIUS. The award winning actress who has been in over 60 films spoke with me regarding her role as Curie, Curie’s influence she had on Einstein and gave one of the best answers to my space pirate question I’ve ever heard.
Geek Nerdery: Thank you for speaking with me and Geek Nerdery. I know you worked with National Geographic in the past, what drew you to this project with National Geographic?

Klara Issova: Well I worked with National Geographic on Killing Jesus two years ago and that was great and interesting and so happy they have made so many great feature TV series and movies about strong characters and this was another one and also the second thing is that the whole thing was filmed in Prague and I cooperate with people who worked on another TV series I worked on called Legend starring Sean Bean and it was nice to work with the same crew and showrunner from Prague and the same team working on another great project.
GN: And you are from Prague so you got to work close to home.
KI: Yes, that was really nice so I didn’t have to travel around and got to stay in my own apartment so it was really lovely.
GN: Before you prepared for your role as Marie Curie, were you aware that she had such an influence on Albert Einstein’s life and work?

KI: I wasn’t aware of this specific information that they were quite close friends but I read and did research on the role I’m going to play and this it was really special and she is very famous around Europe because she is Polish and Poland is our neighbor and she is an Icon here for people and around the world and of course I read some books about her life and from her childhodd and it wasn’t easy and there were so many challenges in her way but I didn’t know about Einstein and her relationship before, it was suprising for me as well and new information that people will get known from this TV series.
GN: Especially the way Einstien worked with his wife and how influential she was with the relationship with her husband and the fact Pierre Curie wouldn’t accept the Nobel unless Marie was listed on it.
GN: What do you think Marie Curie would think of the modern woman?
KI; (laughs) That is a great question! I would like to add something about what you mentioned about the beautiful contradiction regarding the TV series which I totally love and where you can follow Einstein and his wife and on the otherhand you can follow Marie Curie and Pierre Curie’s life and quite similar destiny but both marriages ended in very different ways and that was very interesting to me but (laughs) What would she think? I think tell them we are so lucky to live in this time period with all the equipment and internet and everything and everyone has the possibilities and can do anything almost and follow your dreams and women don’t lose this opportunity and to do what you really want to do.
GN: I agree, excellent answer, excellent answer.
KI: Thank you
GN: What do you think geeks will like about this movie?
KI: I think what really is wonderful showing strong characters they have so many obstacles and they fight and they fail and they follow and they try again and again and have to be so patient and so strong and it is crazy to see all the obstacles they had in their way and still stay on their journey and you do the best that you can and with Marie Curie she was really poor and when she was young, when she came to Paris, she starved and she didn’t have any food and kind of things like this, she was cold and hungry and she had permanent obstacles in her way and she stayed on her course and finished school, she studied she became a scientist etc. etc. etc. so I would say it is very inspirational to people and people will see they had positive things in their life and they are heros, Einstein is a hero and Marie Curie is a hero and I don’t know they also had shadows and black moments in their life and people will see they were normal people everybody trying to do their best and so much information about their peronal life this will show. People will see what other people did for us and learn from the history and be thankful and to be so lucky that we don’t have to go thru what they did. We have almost everything and they didn’t.
GN: Yeah at the end of the day Einstein was a man and Marie Curie a woman and dealing with all of the problems that people deal with every day.
GN: I don’t know if this will translate but do you know what a space priate is?
KI: A what?
GN: A space pirate, a popular example would be Han Solo in Star Wars.
KI: Oh okay. I don’t know who that is.
GN: Who would be your favorite space pirate?
KI: Ohhhhhh, my favorite? I don’t know if he is a pirate but for me it, would ET count? I would say ET. I was in love with ET when I was really young and always wanted to be his friend and it was a beautiful movie always liked ET and I would say him.
GN: Technically, yes ET would count as a space pirate because he not only stole Reeses Pieces, he also stole our hearts so yes he would count and kudos to you for being the first person in history to define his as a space pirate. Well done.
KI: (laughs) Thank you
GENIUS airs Tuesdays on the National Geographic Channel, check your local lisitngs. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/videos/genius-teaser-trailer/