When the ball stopped ringing from the hologram and Dražen’s voice fell silent, the song “Za dobra stara vremena” started playing over the public address system, and he stood on the side, under the basket, covered his face and sobbed. Although he was one of the few who knew what was going to happen, Marko Petrović (33), Aca’s son and Dražen’s nephew, could not stop his emotions in those moments.
– That was the most exciting part for me – sighed Marko, and the day after the spectacle for Dražen in the full Arena, he described:
– When the nine national team members from 1992 hugged each other after seeing Dražen… And now they do. It was not in the script, it was spontaneous. And when the song from the public address system stopped, and the audience continued to sing “Kako je dobro”, it “killed me”. During the performance, I must have walked 15 km around the hall, but at that moment it broke me. Well, I was convinced that Grandma Biserka would cry the most, and in the end I cried more than she did.
The moment when Dražen’s hologram appeared was the surprise of the evening. And it worked. Completely. There wasn’t a person in the hall who didn’t cry, if not shed a tear, like Stojko, Franja, Ace…
Zagreb: Gala evening on the occasion of the Memorial Match in memory of Dra&zcaron Petrović |
– It was my idea, since two years ago when I saw a hologram of Tupac at a festival. With the fact that it is easier to do this at a music festival because the audience is only on one side. It is much more demanding in the hall.
Who carried out all this technically?
– One Czech company. It was the most intensive and difficult part of the organization, daily meetings of three to four hours, until they achieved that the face and voice were identical to Draen’s. Which is the biggest hit because in 1993 technology wasn’t quite like it is today and although I sent them all the Dražen interviews I could find, they weren’t recorded in top quality, that’s why they did it. I didn’t like the first two versions, so we spent two weeks refining the color of the voice. I knew we had succeeded when I sent the video to my mom, and she didn’t say anything, she just sobbed… – he told us and then revealed:
Zagreb: Memorial match in memory of Dra&zcaron Petrovi, Croatia 92 |
– I imagined it differently, not in a cube, but to be like a projection, even to burst into the basket. But in that case, due to the viewing angle, only 3,000 people in the hall would have seen him clearly, which was out of the question.
Who even knew about the hologram?
– Ten of us. And it’s great that Aco managed not to tell anyone, haha! Yes, we also told grandma Biserka, but it’s not easy for her to understand what it is until she sees it.
So how much does such a thing cost? How much of the million euro budget was “eaten”?
– I’m not allowed to say how much, but a very large percentage of the budget. Because there is also additional current, meters, that five-ton cube that rises and falls…
Zagreb: Memorial match in memory of Dra&zcaron Petrovi, Croatia 92 |
And who came up with Dražen’s speech?
– I wrote it. They told me that it should last 45 to 50 seconds, I wanted it to be catchy, not pathetic, and to be related to the final of the 1992 Olympic Games, because almost a whole generation came. And when he said that he was happy to be with his teammates again, I saw on their faces that they were “swallowing dumplings”.
Unfortunately, not everyone was on the floor. They were missing Velimir Perasović and Arijan Komazec.
– Peras had club commitments in Russia, and we tried to get to Komazec from 120 countries and he didn’t answer anyone.
Has anyone else declined the invitation or no-showed? Because numerous stars came (Porter, Anderson, Galis, Iannakis, Jamshi, Divac, Paspalj, Bodiroga…), but there was no one from the American Dream Team in 1992 either.
Zagreb: Memorial match in memory of Dra&zcaron Petrovi, Croatia 92 |
– Back on June 15, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton and Chris Mullin confirmed to us that it will come. We also bought them tickets, so that all three would announce three to five days before the event that they could not come. All three because of a death in the family!?
Goran Dragić he didn’t show up, did he Nikola Jokić did you really need to come?
– Yes, but he had urgent sponsorship obligations. I understand him – Marko said conciliatoryly, then emphasized:
– We are very satisfied with the turnout. We managed to bring so many legends, especially the generation of 1992. Some had not seen or talked to each other for 15 or 20 years, so they laughed and had fun at our gala dinner…
Even after the spectacle, everyone was delighted.
– Željko Obradović hugged me, thanked me, as did Vlade Divac, Svetislav Pešić delighted me, Džanan Musa held me in his arms for about 30 seconds saying ‘This is wonderful, thank you for everything’… Such greats came and thanked me.
Zagreb: Memorial match in memory of Dra&zcaron Petrovi, Croatia 92 |
Did Divac and Paspalj resent, mention a few sporadic insults from the audience?
– No, no one mentioned it, everyone is very satisfied with the whole performance. I have never experienced such emotions in two days.
With, at the end, more tears from grandma…
– Well, grandma did it like a dragon! She held herself really well.