When Panagiotis Markezinis talks about Archelaou 5, reality and fantasy lose their boundaries, and you find yourself at the center of a universe full of surreal neighbors and cocktails with… revolutionary taste!
With sardonic humor and disarming honesty, Markezinis (who acts as well as co-wrote the script of the series with Thanos Nasopoulos and Margarita Gerogiannis) guides us through the corridors of the apartment building, where Patras meets Athens, and the comments on TikTok they take on another dimension – full of ingenuity and scathing sarcasm. Get ready for a disruptive dive into the world of the series that loves to break rules!
– Panagiotis, if you had to move to Archelaou 5, which of the characters would you prefer as a neighbor and who would you avoid at all costs?
I would definitely avoid Lamprini and Teos because they are scammers and it is good not to have such people around you, although we have them in Patras, we are familiar with such people! I would definitely want a man like Orpheus as a neighbor because he is a good guy you can rely on.
– You talked about Patras. How many of the characters in the series are based on real people?
All. They all have various elements of people they are either friends with, or have interacted with, with their features distinctly more “drawn”. I admit that some roles are exactly the same as the corresponding people, but no specific person has his “honorary” in this particular series. It’s a lot of elements from various characters.
– Where are elements from you, in whom or which characters? Are there any in the character you play?
There is no element of me in who I play. He has some elements of my character – no matter how bad it sounds – Teo, but of course they are also “pulled”, mainly regarding the part of the achiever. I also believe that Orpheus and Stefanos have some elements of my character and I think that Dora also has some elements.
– If Stefanos’ bar could serve a cocktail inspired by the series, what would it contain and what title would Stefanos give to the “drink of the apartment building”?
Gin because it’s a cool line and because it’s also a -mostly- summer drink. It would definitely have passion fruit for the sweet and sour thing and I would like to add some red color for the revolutionary phase! Now what would they say? I don’t know… But can I say something guys? Let’s call it “Archelaus 5”! Are others who do it better?
– With so many contrasts in characters, if you had to gather them all together for a dinner at your house, what topic of conversation would you choose so that it doesn’t end up in… war?
While as you said the mix is explosive, they are very different characters, I feel like the main thing you can talk about with any character in 2024 is accuracy and accommodation. I don’t think any character would disagree with that. Even those who might be somewhat better off financially would agree that this thing has gotten big and we can’t handle it anymore.
– The series also develops in an area that is one of the most expensive, Pagrati. If this area was a character in the series, what would it be? A cool guy with old glory who hangs around bars or a stressed out guy?
Today’s Pagrati has both good and bad. It could be a guy who is there for appearances, because he suddenly became an “in” area. And there are quite a few such characters. But at the same time, there are also characters in Pagrati who may be excited by the fact that it is an area in the center of Athens that you can walk and see beauty, be in Zappeion in five minutes, go for a walk to Kallimarmaro. There is something “artistic” about this neighborhood, even today when it has become a neighborhood for tourists and for rich “dithenades”.
– If Dora, Orpheus, Kelly, Lydia and Stefanos did group psychoanalysis, what do you think their common “traumatic experience” would be?
I believe that they would have had the typical traumatic experience that I think any 30-year-old living in Greece in ’24 has and has an awareness: Futility of futility, everything is futility! All these children, the characters, more or less are affected by the fact that they grew up in the crisis, in the lids they passed into a dystopia that we had during the covid period and all this has created a climate that is completely uncertain for any 30-year-old living in Greece of ’24. So this uncertainty would be their common trauma.
– Angelopoulos loves Kelly, but his road to success is full of obstacles (and lies!). If he could impress her with just one heroic act, what would it be? Or would he choose something more “dramatic” to get her attention?
He’s a pretty vain character I’d say, but he also has human elements. In last Wednesday’s episode (September 25) when Kelly helped him, he handed her the stick that was “burning” her as a sign of friendship. I think that generosity is an act that would make Kelly feel admiration for any human being. She is a woman who honors great, generous deeds.
– I couldn’t leave your Tik Tok to deal with the hate comments. What do you get every day and how funny is it to sit and answer these comments?
First of all, let me say that because there was a small mess on some sites, it is not something original, it is mostly done in America. Also, all the comments we read were offensive but on a personal note, we didn’t address any comments mentioned in the series at all. And that didn’t happen entirely by accident to be honest. We wanted to respond to comments that are a bit sexist, homophobic… But this was misunderstood by some and they couldn’t understand the sarcasm that was there. It would be good for them to understand and accept the sarcasm and not read the clickbait headlines that too many sites do.
@pmarkezinis We read hate comments. Part 1 #arxelaou5 #greektv ♬ original sound – Panagiotis Markezinis
I enjoy the hate comments very much, but very much and above all I feel that Aristophanes has passed into our DNA. Although we have rage now as citizens, it’s terrible how our minds think, what nonsense that makes it magical!
I have read some hate comments that I want to incorporate into the script. It is unimaginable the thought that exists behind a verbiage to curse a person. I, marginally, admire it! So I laugh at most of it. Some that are more personal, I don’t bother because it’s stupid enough in itself to personally curse someone you don’t know. Honestly though, the ones that break the series and have imagination behind them, I overestimate them, and I will incorporate most of them into the script!
When you expose yourself, because our job is such a job, and you’re going to judge and be judged, you’re going to get comments you like and comments you don’t like. Let the comments you don’t like be full of imagination to laugh!
@pmarkezinis We read hate comments. Part 2 #arxelaou5 #greektv #greekseries ♬ original sound – Panagiotis Markezinis
#Panagiotis #Markezinis #reveals #neighborstraps #revolutionary #cocktails
