An Interview with Miroslav Petkov, Director and Star of Whispers

by Mike Haberfelner

February 2026

Miroslav Petkov on (re)Search my Trash

Your new movie Whispers - in a few words, what's it about?

Whispers is the culmination of independent hard work movie making in Bulgaria, if that make sense. It's my first full length movie, and it's a supernatural horror about missing people in a park. Close friends and relatives of said people are out looking for them.

From what I know, Whispers is somehow linked to your earlier shorts The Whisper and The Whisper 2: Natural Connection - now in what way are these three movies actually connected, and is Whispers in any which way a continuation of your earlier films?

Yes, Whispers is a direct sequel to The Whisper 2: Natural Connection. It all started in 2023 when we made The Whisper, and one year later I made The Whisper 2, which is set chronologically during the same time as the first movie. The Whisper 2 expands on from the first movie - the lore, the park, we see that there have been missing people for quite some time. And then Whispers just adds revelations to the story.

(Other) sources of inspiration when writing Whispers?

I can't think of any, to be honest. Originally Whispers was going to be "The Whisper 3" - another short movie, and final one. It had a few long scenes and that was about it. It has Maggie's brother entering the building. And I wanted to shoot them back-to-back, but Simona Rose (my star and co-producer) suggested we don't do them back-to-back, and I was ok with that. And while the time passed by I kept writing and writing and suddenly we had a 40+ pages long script.

Whispers jumps back and forth in time, between perspectives and even between different levels of reality - so what were the challenges of telling a story that way, and how easy or hard was it to not (literally) lose one's plot in the process?

I thought that this was the best approach for such a movie. You have a few different (main) characters, and if we made it chronologically - no jumping back and forth - it would've been another basic supernatural haunted-house-type movie. That way we managed to pull off some of the twists in the movie.

Do talk about your movie's approach to horror!

The movie is a supernatural horror, in parts being a haunted house type of story, in parts being a tragedy. While I'm a "show everything on screen" type of person, there was this "tell-then-show" approach with this movie.

A few words about your overall directorial approach to your story at hand?

I had a specific vision for the main character - Alex, Nick, Caine and Gwen. You have Alex, this drunk Bulgarian guy, who has lost his whole world. Then Nick, Sophie's boyfriend, who tries to do all he can to find her. Then there is Caine, who is this shady person, "the town's freakshow", with his own agenda. And, of course, Gwen - who did something horrible in the past and lost her friendship with Maggie, wanting to find her, probably in an act of redemption to Maggie. Those are all characters with different approach to them.

You also play one of the leads in Whispers - so what can you tell us about your character, what did you draw upon to bring him to life, and have you written him with yourself in mind from the get-go?

When I was writing Alex - the brother of Simona's Maggie character - I was aware that it's a character with a lot of screentime. And the fact that I have this siblinghood relationship with Simona in real life it was a no-brainer when we discussed it - I was playing Alex in the movie.

Do talk about the rest of Whispers' cast, and why exactly these people?

Most of the people in the cast were people that I wanted and had in mind. We did a casting for the roles of "Gwen" and "Nick" though, while the actor who plays "Caine" was cast by Simona. But the characters played by Morrigan Milam and Kevin Duffy specifically were written with them in mind, and I was happy when they accepted the roles.

You also have to talk about Whispers' main location, that abandoned warehouse, for a bit, and what was it like filming there?

Yes, this is a real abandoned building. We shot the first Whisper there back in mid 2023. There was a funny story back then. On our first day of filming, it was in the middle of the summer, and while we were filming the ending of the movie, there was a sudden smell and we noticed that there was a wild fire approaching us, being 1 mile away or something. And then Slavin Boshnakov, the co-producer, was like "Come on! Let's film it!" and it was such a rush, even the camera got glitched. It was a wild experience. We managed to film it all.

What can you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

The pre-production for Whispers was early on. We had time to organize the people. We had people from Sofia, which is the capital of Bulgaria and it's at the other end of the country of where we were filming. We spread the filming, since it was December 2024 and it was too cold for some exterior scenes. Then we resumed in April 2025 for the remaining of the shoot.

The $64-question of course, where cn Whispers be seen?

Whispers will be released by Blood Pact Films in the States, with an expected date around late March/early April. It will be available on physical media and then on streaming.

Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Whispers?

The people that have seen it seem to enjoy it. Even before release I kind of knew which scenes would be the highlights for the audience, and they did enjoyed them.

From what I've read, a sequel to Whispers is already in planning - so what have you in store for us there, and any schedule for that one in mind yet? And any other future projects you'd like to share?

The next Whispers movie is called Whispers: Tales from Bonnivar Park, and it's more like a spin-off movie. It's an anthology movie focusing on the missing people in the park. It has different segments, directed by different people. In the timeline it's set after The Whisper 1 & 2, but before the ending of Whispers. The ending of Whispers is the end of the timeline ... for now. We plan at least two additional feature length Whispers movies, so you may see what happens after the ending of Whispers.

We have the feature movie Exit #6 what we recently wrapped up filming. It's a full length sequel to my short movies Room #4 and Floor #5. It's written by Denis Metev, and he plays the main villain in it.

We also have Recorded 2 releasing in a couple of months. It's the second movie of my found footage franchise called Recorded. It stars Denis Metev in what's probably his only role where he plays a decent and normal human being.

There's also The Knock, a short home invasion horror movie, written by me and being Denis Metev's debut as a director. I star alongside Alice Kutskova in it. It's a homage to the The Strangers movies.

 I also have a role in James Dean's giallo movie My Blade is Your Salvation, which I'm excited to film

What got you into the filmworld in the first place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject?

No, all my training comes from interviews and behind the scenes material that I have watched and read. I always wanted to be involved in the filmworld. I started doing skits way back in 2012, and I rebooted the idea in 2022 and decided that doing short movies was a natural progress.

When it comes to filmmaking, you seem as comfortable in front of the camera as behind it - so which side of the camera do you actually prefer, and why?

I don't mind both. As you see I did a lot of work on projects being both a director and main star or co-lead, so I'm really leaning into doing one of the two things in the future. It's not easy to doing both in the same time.

What can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Whispers, in whatever position?

Outside of the skits that I did, I was an extra in a few movies and TV shows, shot here in Bulgaria.

How would you describe yourself as an actor, and how as a director?

As a director I'm a "no-bs" person and would go in a verbal fight with someone from the crew whenever needed. I take opinions and suggestions all the time, but being the director and producer (and editor) it's my call. We can argue for 2-3-5 minutes, but in the end I come on top.

When I'm an actor, wether it's a production of mine or someone else, it's the complete opposite. I just take orders and do what I'm told. Like, I'm only an actor, you tell me what you want exactly, I do my best to deliver, but at the end it's not my project. I'm just a hired gun doing my job.

Filmmakers, actors, whoever else who inspire you?

My favorite director is Sam Raimi, and I try to put some samraiminess in my movies whenever I have the chance. There is a moment in Whispers (as seen in the trailer) when Nick is in the building and the possessed Maggie is behind him. When she approaches she does this body glitch that a lot of Raimi characters do in his movies.

My second favorite director is M. Night Shyamalan. I absolutely love twists in movies. My scripts pretty much always have some kind of a twist. So, yes, the twists in Whispers are inspired by the movies of M. Night Shyamalan.

Your favourite movies?

Oh, that's a hard one. If we talk about horror movies, Halloween, Scream, Evil Dead, Friday the 13th. If we talk about any genre, Terminator 2 and Universal Soldier (1992) are my most rewatched movies ever. But my most favourite movie has to be Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002).

... and of course, films you really deplore?

Midsommar by Ari Aster. I only saw the extended cut of the movie, and I was so displeased with it. I truly believe that this movie, along with Get Out and It Follows, are the reason for the whole elevated horror wave that we got. I'm simply not a fan.

Your/your movie's website, social media, whatever else?

Yes, my socials are:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EnigmaMovieProductions

Instagram: ://www.instagram.com/petkovmiroslav/" target="_blank"> https://www.instagram.com/petkovmiroslav/

Facebook: ://www.facebook.com/miroslav.petkov.95/" target="_blank"> https://www.facebook.com/miroslav.petkov.95/

IMDb: ://www.imdb.com/name/nm11115955/" target="_blank"> https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11115955/

Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?

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Thanks for the interview!

Thanks for having me.

© by Mike Haberfelner

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