If taken into account the fact that Hale Soygazi had starred in 20-25 films during the decade before meeting me, while she acted only in six films along the following 25 years, it's evident that I haven't brought her good luck! But I'm not the only one to put the blame on. I think for Hale, with her mesmerising beauty and her resentful eyes veiled under mischief, running between projects, who would sometimes appear as a Byzantine princess, a spoilt wealthy girl or the abused house maid, the first time she came to a standstill was after Zeki Ökten's Bir Demet Menekşe / A Bouquet of Violets, written by Selim İleri. As if the shop assistant she played had whispered her "the promise of a new world". This was followed by the ring selling girl role in Maden / The Mine by Yavuz Özkan. It was the time she started beating the air, so she would have to wait for four years before Bir Yudum Sevgi / A Sip of Love. So it was the cost she paid for choosing, for saying "no". Or maybe the underhand cost paid for having followed the legal cases and supported the cause of Peace Association during the darkest days of the September 12th fascism. We have worked with Hale in two film projects: Küçük Balıklar Üzerine Bir Masal / A Fable on Little Fishes and Sawdust Tales / Usta Beni Öldürsene. The former was shot without any audio recording. She asked me who would dub her. I remember her getting panicking when I said "you, of course". In those days, each cast would have a certain dubber, but I knew that she didn't need one, so we both would see that I was right. She had agreed to be a guess actress in Sawdust Tales shot in Budapest. We had an international cast. One day, my assistant came to me all exited and said: "A star is here". Tensing up, I asked "Who is she? Is she capricious?" First surprised, then figuring out what I meant, my assistant replied hastily: "No, no, she is a Turk, playing Nelly". Then I asked: "How did you know that she's a star?" My assistant shrugged: "Don't know, it just seemed so..." Hale made her decision to be an actress, but not a star. Yet, some people are gifted with this effervescently stellar radiance. I always think to myself, what if she hadn't coyly covered up this radiance, but advertised it... What if she kept on being popular, making money to burn... These are pessimistic thoughts... Dark spots ... You are a lady of a fairy tale... Thank God we have you. Well, we talked enough. "Miss Hale, to the set please!..."
- Barış Pirhasan