Jacques Feyder, director of
La Atlántida (1921), wrote about her, "Miss
Napierkowska was an extraordinary dancer. I had seen her at a dance
festival where she, as slim as a flower stalk, had been
enthusiastically applauded by a crowd of Parisian admirers. A year
later, having to choose actors for "L'Atlantide", I proposed her for
the leading part of Antinea and the producer agreed. So, on a cold
December afternoon, she was in my office, all wrapped in a fur coat, to
sign the contract. I thought I did not remember so plump a face but my
doubt vanished in a moment because I was too happy for having her in my
film, and she left the office without having put off her coat. The
first costume rehearsal was an ugly surprise for me: during last year
she had gained 30 pounds of weight at least. Of course there was
nothing to do but hoping that hard work and the burning sun of [the] Sahara
could get my Antinea a little less fat. It happened just the opposite:
the air of the desert whetted her appetite more and more. The dresser
complained [about] having to enlarge the costumes almost every day. Our
headquarters were at Touggourt, in a hotel where the food was simply
delicious, and because of it my most important occupations were to take
away as much bread as possible from her table and tell her dreadful
tales about the terrible effects of cream pastry when eaten under the
tropical sun".
