17 years after the incident, a Knoller fan did not expect that actually filming an action scene on television would return him to one of the great upheavals of his life - a diving accident he experienced underwater, during which he was unable to breathe and was convinced he was about to part with the world.
The trigger for the traumatic memory occurred in the filming of the opening episode of "Doubles," the suspense series of Rainbow 12, whose third season ended this week.
The scene in which he participated depicts a chemical attack, during which he and the other characters face a toxic gas that begins to disperse in the room and causes suffocation to the point of loss of consciousness.
"It's funny to talk about it today openly, after years of not telling the story to anyone," he smiles.
"It took me years to realize that there was anything to tell, but in the filming of this scene, where we are poisoned, it all cost me."
Tell about the accident.
"In 2005, in a diving course I did in Eilat, I ran out of oxygen in the tank. It is known that in such cases you do not have to go back above the water, but can use the balloon of the partner you are diving with.
"So I was supposed to take the partner's breathing tube. I put the filter in my mouth, and when I took my first breath water got into the tube. Suddenly I breathe water, at a depth of 30 meters. The instinct, as soon as you put water into the body, is to try to breathe, to take air. But I was in the water, so I swallowed insane amounts of water.
"I tried to go up, but the guide grabbed me and held me tight, prevented me from going up. I did not understand what was happening, I just realized that I was not allowed to go up. Water, and I throw the tube over me and try to breathe without it. At one point I saw on his face that in a second he was giving up. He held me and I struggled with him, and I tell myself that if he gives up - I'm actually dead.
"I knew going up fast was a dangerous action for divers, and I realized I was actually going to die. I have no idea how long it lasted, maybe seconds, but I understand there is no way out. I remember the feeling of complete loss, which I say to myself, okay, it's not in my hands. More".
Sounds completely traumatic.
"Then I remembered that I was supposed to make a spitting motion as soon as I put the filter in my mouth, and that's what gets the water out of the pipe and allows the air to start coming in. In the moment of the general waiver it suddenly came to me - and then I did it and started breathing.
"I admit that this trauma did not really accompany me in life. My clown teacher at Nissan Lane, Boris Svidansky, always said that if you fall from a trapeze you must get on it again immediately, otherwise you will not return to it in life. "He hesitated, and at one point said that I swallowed a lot of water and that it was not good to dive right away again. I saw that he was terribly frightened, so I did not go into the water, and since then I have not dived again."
And you forgot about it until the scene in "Doubles"?
"We were filming, and when I had to play the choke from the gas, I suddenly got the feeling back. In my opinion, you see me looking and asking everyone what the hell is going on here. That's exactly what I felt then, underwater. That's how it was on the set. From 2005 ".
Haven't you had flashbacks from the trauma before?
"As mentioned, it took me a few years until I first talked about it in psychotherapy, and a few more years until I started talking about it with people more openly. Even my ex-wife Noa, who was with me in a course in Eilat at the time, did not know about it. I did not tell anyone. I told her only years after we broke up. "
In the form of the politician in "Doubles".
"A people who are sometimes mistaken," Photo: Courtesy of Spiro Films
Trying to understand charisma
In "Doubles," which follows a group of citizens who suddenly find themselves at the center of a espionage affair, Knoller plays a politician named Shimi Dekel.
"A very smart man, a bit on the ticket of the popular politician, one who is sometimes mistaken," he explains.
Did you get inspired by politicians in the Knesset?
"When I was working on Shimi's character I had a lot of politicians in my head that I looked at. Not to emulate, but to understand their charisma. For example Dudi Amsalem. I looked at him a lot because he is in the genre of the politician from the people, which is most impressive to me. He seems to be talking simple but knows how to put it very well. "
Some would say that Amsalem is transmitting something vulgar and violent.
"I think he's broadcasting something vulgar because it's edited that way. Specific sentences are put out especially. I went through his unedited excerpts, saw his YouTube videos, and realized he's like vulgar - but not really. He's very reasoned, giving long speeches, usually in the media. Take out one sentence from them.
"He is very at eye level, telling jokes. He has the humor and charisma of the friend from the neighborhood, of one of our own. On the other hand, he has weighty arguments. Another politician I looked at was Gideon Saar, who in a sense is the complete opposite of my uncle Amsalem. "Very cold, robotic, calculated. Every word that comes out is well planned, a different direction."
In the past, Knoller served in a semi-political managerial position, as the head of the players' organization Shaham, but do not count on him to really enter the egg of Israeli politics.
"I'm really not aiming for that. There's no way. I do not think my character is suitable for politics. It's true that in managerial positions there should be a bit of a politician, but these are sides I'm less good at. People who work with me are not always aware of that, but I always work from the heart. "Mine is Uber there, and it's not suitable for a politician. If you take everything to heart - politics is not the profession for you. I got to know politicians who take it very seriously, and their lives are not fun, it's a nightmare."
From Spielberg to Germany
He is 45 years old, grew up in Tel Aviv.
"Already at the age of 8, I sang in children's opera choirs established by the Tel Aviv municipality. We sang 'Carmen', 'La Bohemia' and such. Stage and acting were a hobby that slowly became a profession. Very slowly," he recalled.
At the age of 14, he starred alongside his friends at the art school in the youth program "Catching a Head" on television, which aired in the late eighties and early nineties.
From there he went on to Thelma Yellin High School.
In the army he served as a fighter in combat engineering, and was also stationed in southern Lebanon.
When he was released he studied acting at Nissan Lane.
He received his greatest fame thanks to the founding role he played in Eitan Fox's 2002 film, "Yossi and Jagger," alongside Yehuda Levy.
Over the years he has acted in countless plays, series and movies, and among other things he also participated in Steven Spielberg's Hollywood film, "Munich", alongside Ayelet Zorrer.
Along with his acting career, he created (with Shlomo Moshiach and Roni Ninio) the TV series "His Honor", which won remakes around the world, including an American remake (with Brian Cranston).
Now he is also proudly reporting on a German remake.
Today your only son, Peter, who is 14 years old, is following in the footsteps of your mother, your ex-wife Noa Raban, an actress herself.
"Peter started even earlier than me. He appeared in Natalie Portman's Story of Love and Darkness, which I played in 2015. Noa and he played mother and son in a small scene."
Are you in favor of his entry into your not-so-simple profession?
"First of all, who knows if he will really go into this profession. If you ask Peter today he will tell you yes, but who knows what will happen. As for difficulties, at his age it is just fun. It is true that there are not simple things, like a failed audition, but this "Dealing with life in so many other places. Obviously there is an economic side to the game, but it's not something that worries me."
You have not yet played together.
"No. It turned out that we played the same things together, for example in the series 'The Winner', but we did not have common scenes. Too bad, because we are amazing together ... I was very happy to play with him."
With son, Peter.
"I would love to play with him," Photo: From the family album
"I want to go back on stage"
During the time he was married to Rabban (they separated in 2010, after a decade together; MK), the family moved to Dimona, where the two established a theater. Later, in 2016-2012, he served as chairman of the Shaham organization, and in 2019, Just before the outbreak of the corona, he took over as director of the Givatayim Theater.
There, at a time when the world of culture was forcibly closed, he discovered creativity and reinvented himself - and his theater.
"Running a theater is also a consideration of livelihood. But unlike Shaham and the descent to Dimona, I do not do it voluntarily.
At the same time, I am driven by challenges.
For me, money is a secondary part of the story.
The main side is the challenge. "
The Corona period has provided you with quite a few challenges.
"Right. On the one hand I'm an actor in the year when everything closed, and on the other hand I run a new theater that closed. What do you do? I admit there were also places of rupture. Everything was closed, but on the other hand there was a possibility to do things. Coffee opened, but theaters did not. So we opened a cafe inside the theater, and it allowed us to do performances outside. It was lovely.
"The cafe is still run by the theater, and now that we're back to full stage activity, I'm testing who to hand it over to. I'll put out a tender. "Mixed and coming up with ideas, we brought a twist and went in the direction of the 'Fine' gallery. We put art at the center."
The corona has been devastating to many artists, and much has been written about the negligible status it has acquired in the world of culture. And after all, you believe that the cultural situation in Israel is not so serious.
"I have been very involved in the issue in recent years, and I can say that the cultural budgets in the country have increased insanely in the last two decades. What the state invests in culture has risen greatly. It can be argued whether it has risen enough, but still rose sharply To argue with someone whose livelihood is harmed, but in my perception, in life in general, you produce with the tools you have. "
You too have seen the graphs that have put culture in last place.
"Obviously I saw. I too was hurt as an actor, but the Players' Association took care of a lot of people during this period. There are artists who did not survive, which is of course very sad. As the director of a cultural institution, "To find the path for herself. Otherwise it means that something is wrong, and that we have become a little used to comfort. We must not be too comfortable."
As part of his role as director of the Givatayim Theater, Knoller was also responsible for making the place a creative culture house. Along with productions and plays hosted by other theaters in the country, the theater recently produced two new plays.
The first play is "Friendship Club," by Galia Cohen-Younes and directed by Tal Wenig, which deals with the plight of soldiers who were killed while on duty, and whose "status" in the bereavement scene is unclear;
The second play is "Hinges", directed by Adi Gilat, a theatrical event that takes place in a prestigious high-tech office in Tel Aviv, in the presence of only 50 spectators, based on a play by Mike Bartlett, starring Yael Sharoni and Einat Holland.
During the show, the audience wanders between the office rooms, along with the actresses.
"The role of a cultural institution is to produce activity," he concludes.
"I think the new era of cultural institutions is much more hybrid, not one discipline and we're done, but as much as possible. If you want to grow financially you need more options. That's true for any business. I remember reading an interview with billionaire Haim Saban. Ask him when There was a first time he felt like a rich man, and he replied that it happened when he worked as a band organizer.
"This is very true in my eyes in life as well. So we have evenings full of activity at all kinds of sites, in the high-tech office, in the soldier's house and also here, and that's a sense of satisfaction. I want to maintain a continuum of original work. So it will happen slowly - but it will happen. "
Do you have thoughts of returning to play on stage?
"I really wanted to. Before I arrived at the Givatayim Theater, I played in the play 'Letter to Noa,' which came down after the Corona, and I want to return to the stage, maybe even at the Givatayim Theater itself.
"Some voices have been stifled"
Knoller is known as someone who belongs to the right side of the political map in Israel.
In the past he did not shy away from expressing his firm views, even if it sometimes attracted him and marked him among the few right-wing artists who speak without fear.
"My political opinions have never changed, but when I upload a post today - it is not done without hesitation. I am very hesitant, and what you see is after filters. A few years ago they made a docu-film about freedom of expression in the country, and the creator, who I do not remember, He contacted me to interview me, he asked if I thought freedom of expression in the country had deteriorated.
"It was during the time of Miri Regev, who served as Minister of Culture, and the thesis was that freedom of expression in Israel was violated. I told him that in an era when a newspaper like Israel Today is published, freedom of expression is not harmed but probably improves, Think it's obvious that needs to be said.
"There are voices that were stifled and not heard long before censorship of Miri Regev. The media was centralized, so I think there is a trend of improvement here. I am glad that other voices have reached the mainstream. I hope it will continue like this."
And yet the prevailing perception is that most artists belong to the left side of the political map, and you are perceived as something rare.
"I'm much less rare than it looks on the outside. There are some who just don't express themselves."
Why? Afraid to pay a price? That their work will be harmed?
"You should not be afraid, and I do not treat the world like that at all. You should not be afraid that something will happen to you or that you will work less, that is not the point at all. There is simply the thought that says' why do you get involved? In general, open your mouth. "
As an actor, have you ever felt that your work was harmed because of your political views?
"You are not asking the right factor. I do not know the reasons why I am not accepted for the job, and no one in life can say that either. But this thing, which because of opinions are delegitimizing your professionalism, you know it exists. And from the outside it is very easy. See it. "
Connection on a bar mitzvah trip
We meet in a cafe in the center of Tel Aviv, where a knoller armed with checkered hair in blonde shades arrives, remnants of his role as Arik Sharon in the international production "Golda".
This is a film shot in England and will tell the story of the life of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, played by the award-winning British actress Helen Mirren.
The cast also includes Lior Ashkenazi, Dvir Bendek and Rami Weiberger.
Here, at Knoller's home cafe, the new love of his life was born: the high-tech woman Ariela Genin, with whom he has been dating for the past year.
With his partner of the past year, Ariela Genin.
"Yes, I'm in love. I want more children, and she's a stunning girl," Photo: Nir Peking
"Who started with whom? It's controversial," he smiles.
"I guess I started with her, and it's just very current. She's 30, a software engineer at a high-tech company."
The two have yet to unite addresses, but according to Knoller, "It totally goes there. I found someone I really like. I want more kids, and she's a stunning girl. Yeah, I'm in love."
His smile turns to melancholy when we talk about his 80-year-old father, Nissan, who suffers from dementia.
"Following the corona, his condition has finally deteriorated, and for the past year he has been in a charming institution in Jaffa. We are very close to each other, which is difficult. I say I miss him, but he is alive, and he is next to me.
"He kind of recognizes that a loved one is coming to him, but doesn't really talk. I smile at him and he smiles back. On his last birthday I laid his head on him, and he stroked me for a quarter of an hour. Then I put 50s music, country songs, things he himself was Takes a guitar off the attic and plays it for us. We heard the music - and that's it. There was a turn. He's a very smart man I had fun talking to, and that thing is gone.
"On the other hand, next week I am going with Peter to Italy, for a bar mitzvah trip that was postponed for a year because of the corona. One of my strongest memories of my father is from a trip we did together in Spain. Somewhere I feel through my son I will once again connect My".
Maya19.10@gmail.com
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