They’re the kind of people whose egos shrink as their names grow. When you meet Eylül, she charms you with her energy and her bright blue eyes. Yiğit has all the qualities you’d expect from a leading man. Bir Ömrün Sonbaharı is their first time partnering up, and their first feature film experience. They’re excited to see themselves on the big screen. And then they start telling their story…
◊ How would you describe your film Bir Ömrün Sonbaharı, which will be released on February 7?
Yiğit Koçak: In this film, we’ll watch two sweet young people trying to heal each other’s wounds.
Eylül Tumbar: The film shows us both the positive and the melancholic side of love. After Zeynep falls in love, her character changes. It also shows how love can take you from one place to a completely different place.
◊ Does love change you?
Eylül Tumbar: Of course it does. You know me—when I fall in love, I become someone who gives a lot and also receives a lot. Everything looks more beautiful, smells more beautiful. Love lifts me up so much. It could also be love for your work or even for an object, but I think life doesn’t have much meaning without love.
◊ Can and Zeynep fall in love at first sight. Do you believe in love at first sight?
Eylül Tumbar: I do.
◊ You’ve been with your co-star from your previous project, Enes Koçak, for a while now. Was it love at first sight with him too?
Eylül Tumbar: “Enes and I cared deeply for each other,but it took us a long time to realize it was love. We were already close friends and got along really well. When we found ourselves spending time together even after the set, we said, ‘I guess we should be together.”
◊ Do you think love at first sight exists?
Yiğit Koçak: I don’t believe in love at first sight. Love runs parallel with trust; I can’t fall in love before I earn that feeling of trust.
◊ Did your love for Lizge Cömert begin with trust?
Yiğit Koçak: We had known each other for many years, and then we fell in love.
◊ In the film, Zeynep meets Can and learns that he has a terminal illness. Do you think love can heal everything?
Eylül Tumbar: It can heal a lot of things, but not everything.
◊ The film’s promo says, “The characters question the power of true love and the value of life.” So what do you question in life?
Eylül Tumbar: Being a young actress doesn’t give me an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to questioning life. What do I feel, what do I want to do, what will I do, do I really want to be here… I think we question what we do, like everyone else.
Yiğit Koçak: After getting into acting, I keep myself busy with questions like how I can become a better person, what I’m serving, what I’m contributing to. I might be looking at it from a philosophical angle, like, “What is my purpose in life?”
“I HAVE A TIC—MOST LIKELY IT CAME FROM TRAUMA”
◊ Zeynep has a fear of loss and childhood traumas because she lost her father. Did you have any childhood traumas?
Eylül Tumbar : Because it’s something Zeynep and I share, I can say this: I grew up in Çeşme, and I love the sea. As a child, I would run away from home and go to the sea. One day, when I went alone, I almost drowned. There are places where the sea pulls you in without you realizing it, and I got caught in one of those—but I survived. For a while, it left me afraid of the sea. Zeynep is also afraid of the sea and the rain, and that experience really fed into my performance while playing the role.
Yiğit Koçak: I have a rocking tic, and it most likely came from trauma.
◊ It started when you were little, rocking along to Athena songs, right?
Yiğit Koçak: Yes. My mother says it started like that when I was four. But the first time I remember it was in first grade. Most likely, because I was alone, I got really stressed and tried to calm myself down that way, and then it just stayed.
◊ Does it still happen? What do you do on set?
Yiğit Koçak: Yes, it still happens. On set, once they say “rolling,” it goes away.
◊ What are you most afraid of losing?
Eylül Tumbar: I’m afraid of losing my family and my dog.
Yiğit Koçak: Career, money, fame—You can somehow regain those. But when you’ve lost a family member, you learn that no amount of wealth can bring someone back. That’s the real fear: losing them.
◊ It started when you were little, rocking along to Athena songs, right?
Yiğit Koçak: Yes. My mother says it started like that when I was four. But the first time I remember it was in first grade. Most likely, because I was alone, I got really stressed and tried to calm myself down that way, and then it just stayed.
◊ Does it still happen? What do you do on set?
Yiğit Koçak: Yes, it still happens. On set, once they say “rolling,” it goes away.
◊ What are you most afraid of losing?
Eylül Tumbar: I’m afraid of losing my family and my dog.
Yiğit Koçak: Career, money, fame—You can somehow regain those. But when you’ve lost a family member, you learn that no amount of wealth can bring someone back. That’s the real fear: losing them.
“WHEN I’M TALKING WITH FRIENDS, MY ACCENT CAN SLIP OUT”
◊ Eylül, you’re from the Aegean—you grew up in Çeşme. Yiğit, you’re from the Black Sea region. The warmth of the Aegean, the waves of the Black Sea… How did the places you were born affect you?
Eylül Tumbar: I grew up very comfortably as a child. That good feeling of truly living life, those memories—I think they were good for me.
Yiğit Koçak: I have all the traits of the Black Sea region. Getting angry in an instant and then forgetting it… And I drink pot after pot of tea. When I’m talking with friends, my accent can slip out.
◊ What emotion do you experience most impulsively?
Eylül Tumbar: For me, it might be sadness.
Yiğit Koçak: Anger.
◊ What makes you angry?
Yiğit Koçak: Disrespect, someone being treated badly, rudeness…
◊ We can guess what fame brings you—what does it take away?
Eylül Tumbar: I wish I could spend more time with my family, but I’m so busy that I spend less time with the people I love. I can’t go everywhere. I used to be freer in that sense, and now it’s a bit more restricted.
Yiğit Koçak: I’m not someone who travels a lot, so I don’t really have an issue with not going places. Other than that, my family is already in Samsun, and I couldn’t see them very often anyway. It doesn’t take anything away from me—I continue my life as it is.
◊ If you weren’t an actor right now, where would you be and what would you be doing?
Yiğit Koçak: My father would somehow make me finish economics, and then I’d probably be working at a bank.
Eylül Tumbar: I wanted to study medicine, so maybe I’d be a doctor.
“EVERY FLAW OF MINE STOOD OUT”
◊ Both of you made your names known in the last 4–5 years. What were the hardest things for you in this field?
Eylül Tumbar: Sometimes the industry can be very ruthless. As a person, you’re looking for value, and you attach meaning to everything, and sometimes you can’t get what you want in return. You sometimes lose the magic of acting because they make you feel like “there are too many options.”
Yiğit Koçak: Popularity and talent are getting mixed up, and that bothers me a lot. There’s this idea that if something is popular, it must be very good or beautiful—but I don’t think that’s true. They’re independent things. I think hard work and talent should always matter more.
◊ If you had the right to give yourselves one professional warning, what would you say?
Eylül Tumbar: My projects started two years ago, and I was still living however I wanted. I’m someone who always does what she thinks is right—if I weren’t like that, I’d say, “Live however you want.”
Yiğit Koçak: I told myself, “Don’t get spoiled.” I’d say, “You’re still that kid in Samsun drinking tea in the neighborhood—no matter how much fame and money you gain, that’s your essence.”
◊ Did you like being famous?
Eylül Tumbar: I think it’s something you see from the outside—you don’t really realize it yourself. Some celebrities still feel very magical to me, but when it’s you, you don’t feel anything. I don’t think anything changes in your life.
Yiğit Koçak: I got a taste of fame after the series Kardeşlerim. But maybe because of my role there, I became like “the family’s kid.” I could sit and drink tea with the people I met. They approached me like “Son” or “Brother,” so it was a very sweet experience for me.
◊ You both have a lot of followers on social media. Everything you share gets a lot of engagement. Have you experienced cancel culture too?
Eylül Tumbar: Incredibly.
Yiğit Koçak: Have you been dragged a lot?
Eylül Tumbar: Of course. In my first job, my character didn’t have a name, and people around her called her “Bambi” because she was a pretty girl. I got dragged for that. Every flaw of mine stood out—people were saying, “This is pretty?”
“IF YOU DON’T HAVE TALENT, YOU’LL CRACK SOMEWHERE”
◊ If you could say something to young people who dream of acting and want to be in your place, what would it be?
Yiğit Koçak: It’s not how it looks—you have to work really hard…
Eylül Tumbar: Don’t give up. There are so many points where you want to quit. In acting, there are periods when you wait, and times when you go into auditions—those are the moments where you shouldn’t give up.
◊ Do you ever feel your hope break?
Eylül Tumbar: Of course, about everything. But somewhere along the way, you need to be able to pull yourself back together.
◊ In your opinion, how much of being here is luck, how much is talent, and how much is looks?
Eylül Tumbar: I think all of them play a role.
Yiğit Koçak: One alone doesn’t work. Even if you’re very lucky, if you don’t have talent, you’ll crack somewhere. Luck needs to help you, and you need to work very hard too. All the parameters have to align properly for you to make it somewhere.
“I DON’T UNDERSTAND CLOTHES AT ALL”
◊ Are you more successful in love or in work?
Eylül Tumbar: Work.
Yiğit Koçak: Work.
◊ Both of your partners are actors. You’re with people who are chasing the same dream. Is that a good thing, or does it have challenging sides?
Eylül Tumbar: Walking the same path makes us more understanding, because I don’t think someone who isn’t an actor can truly understand an actor’s life. Those intense schedules, endless hours, a life that eventually becomes script-focused… The negative side is this: when you’re both working intensely, you end up not seeing each other, and you both have very different lives. It’s very important to rebuild that understanding again.
Yiğit Koçak: For me, chasing the same dream feels more logical and safer, because it means: if I go up, I pull you up too; if you go up, you pull me up too.
◊ It’s said your girlfriend Lizge has a say in what you wear. Do you ever step in like that with each other—do you influence each other’s choices?
Yiğit Koçak: She does, but for this reason: I don’t understand clothes at all. So she’s actually helping me.
Eylül Tumbar: We don’t interfere with each other much, but we do share our opinions.
“WE FOUND A COMMON LANGUAGE”
◊ This is both of your first feature film. When you compare the working conditions of film and TV series, which one attracted you more?
Eylül Tumbar: I’m a film person. Even as a viewer, I prefer watching movies first. The comfort of a film set, knowing the script from beginning to end, understanding the character well, and having everything clear in your mind—it makes film feel more comfortable.
Yiğit Koçak: Yes, with a film shoot, you know what happens at the beginning and the end. But I also love the series marathon—the pace, the chaos.
◊ What kind of duo do you think you became?
Yiğit Koçak: I think we became a very good pair and made something sweet. We found a common language too.
Eylül Tumbar: We were very in sync on set. We managed working well without stepping on each other’s space.
◊ How would you describe each other?
Yiğit Koçak: Eylül is a bit distant, but that also changes depending on the time of day. For example, in the mornings…
Eylül Tumbar: I wasn’t answering his “good mornings,” that’s why you’re saying that (laughs).
Yiğit Koçak: But then she opens up, starts adapting to life, and turns into a very fun person.
Eylül Tumbar: Yiğit is also distant—he has his own space and he likes living in that space. Sometimes you can enter that space.
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