The final days of filming have wrapped in Prague on Lone Wolf (Osamělý vlk), a hybrid docudrama recounting the remarkable life and wartime exploits of Czech RAF pilot Josef František. Directed by Ondřej Veverka, the feature blends dramatized scenes with documentary elements to bring the story of one of the Battle of Britain’s most successful fighter aces to the screen.
Speaking to reporters during the last shoot at the Kbely military airfield in Prague, Veverka said the production will now enter several months of post-production, with an eye toward a July 2026 theatrical release. Television audiences are expected to see the film on Oct. 28, 2026, a date chosen to coincide with Czechia’s Independence Day.
The project highlights both František’s daring wartime career and the technical ambition of the filmmakers, who used rare vintage aircraft and authentic settings to recreate 1940s air battles. Veverka described the film as a tribute to courage and camaraderie, aimed at making history resonate with younger viewers.
Recreating a hero’s wartime world
František was one of the standout pilots of the Battle of Britain. Flying with a Polish RAF squadron rather than joining his Czechoslovak compatriots, he achieved 17 confirmed kills in just 28 days before his death in a crash in October 1940 at the age of 26. His lone-wolf combat style—often breaking formation to hunt enemy aircraft on his own—earned him the nickname that gives the film its title.
To depict these events, the crew filmed at Prague’s Kbely military airfield, which was transformed to resemble Britain’s Northolt base and other RAF stations. The production secured the use of a rare Hawker Hurricane fighter, the same model František flew in combat. According to Veverka, only about 14 Hurricanes remain in flying condition worldwide, and the shoot also featured a 1920s biplane and other period aircraft borrowed from the Military History Institute and Točná Airport.
“Fortunately, nothing happened to these planes during filming,” Veverka said, noting that the team may be the first to use such aircraft in this way. Upcoming post-production work will add computer-generated imagery to recreate dogfights and aerial maneuvers impossible to capture in live action.
Cast and creative team
Actor Tadeáš Moravec leads the cast as František, joined by Kryštof Grygar, Josef Trojan, Viktor Zavadil, Jan Nedbal, Miroslav Hanuš, Jan Budař, and Polish actor Piotr Trojan, a winner of Poland’s Eagle film award. Veverka said the film is intended not only as a historical account but also as a deeply felt story of young pilots facing extraordinary danger.
“My greatest ambition is for audiences to experience what those young men went through,” the director said, describing Lone Wolf as both a memorial to František and a reminder of the resilience required during wartime. He hopes the blend of authentic locations, real aircraft, and immersive storytelling will connect with viewers who may know little of the pilot’s legacy.
With production complete, Lone Wolf enters a critical stage of editing and effects work. If the schedule holds, Czech audiences will be among the first to see the film in cinemas next summer, more than 85 years after František’s final flight.
