"On the set of Red Silk, I learned how to make explosives out of bread."

In the filmography of Serbian actor Milos Bikovic about 60 roles in movies and TV series, but he still considers himself an aspiring artist. Apparently, that's why he is not afraid of neither jumping off a cliff, nor fights, nor chases or even explosions. All this is in the new Russian-Chinese detective action film "Red Silk", which premiered in Moscow on February 18. February 20, the film will be released in wide distribution. In an interview with "Izvestia" Bikovich told why he did not immediately agree to participate in a large-scale international project, and also - about the most dangerous case on the set and work with Chinese colleagues.

"My hero is not a mixture of Bond, Stirlitz and Poirot"

- That "Red Silk" will become an event, it was clear even before its premiere, it is one of the most anticipated films. Do you remember when you started acting in it? What did you think about when you received the script of the historical action-detective?

- Actually, when I read the script, I realized that I was not ready to star in it. It seemed to me then not quite suitable for filming. But I knew the authors of the movie, we had already made "The Balkan Border" with them. So I also knew that they will take into account my wishes, which I immediately shared with them.

Was I fundamentally ready to star in a movie with such a concept? Yes, I liked it. Later they sent me a revised script, it was much better. We talked, agreed and hit it off. Then I realized that we start shooting the movie in February, and in January I have a baby. And that everything will be more complicated now, that I will be away for a long time. I began to refuse again. But the producers insisted, persuaded. In the movie I decided to stay.

Shooting began in late February - early March. On nature. Unfortunately, there was no snow, we long searched for places where it was still lying - near Pskov, near St. Petersburg, somewhere near Vyborg. Then we went to the pavilions where the guys had built the train. Yes, the whole train was filmed in the pavilions! In the summer we finished filming what was happening in China.

- So, in fact, you can be considered one of the co-writers of the script?

- Well, it's unlikely. But I always try to influence the script, to improve the material that comes to me, especially everything that concerns my role. As an actor, I don't want to get to the point on set where I can't handle the role. That happens when the script misses the character's motivation.

- In "Red Silk" you play an intelligence officer, a royal agent. He starts under one political system, then everything changes. You can see that this is a man of an adventurous nature. Did he have any prototypes? Did you look up to anyone?

- No, I didn't. My hero did not become a mixture of James Bond, Stirlitz and Hercule Poirot. No, I did not rewatch all these movies to understand or take something for myself. I created the character based on what Ivan Ilyin calls "creative instinct."

"I never give advice to my colleagues unless they are asked for it."

- Shooting the movie was quite challenging in terms of communication in several languages - Russian, Serbian, Chinese. Apart from that, was there anything else on the set that you had to do for the first time?

- Making explosives out of bread. I had to know the recipe and create it on camera.

- What about stunts and fights? There are a lot of them in the movie.

- And explosions. There were a lot of explosions too.

- Your colleague from China said that she was very impressed when you had to jump off a cliff: eight or ten times. But she said that you did it easily.

- Yes, we jumped off a cliff. And one time our Chinese colleague was driven by inertia towards the cliff so that he hit it. It was very dangerous, but, thank God, there were no serious injuries.

I remember how the director and producers were very pale and went to the restaurant for dinner. They were silent all evening and all night. I tried to loosen them up somehow, but they were very frightened then, of course.

- Zheng Hanyi is an aspiring actress. With Chinese citizenship and mentality, who is studying acting with us according to Stanislavsky's system. How did you work together?

- We used the same movie language on camera, we worked according to the same system. But she has a different take on humor, a different concept of how phrases are constructed. She really struggled with the Russian language, you could see that it was difficult for her. And I understand her very well! It was difficult for her to formulate phrases, to express herself, she chose her words very carefully, but she did a great job. Russian and Chinese are so different that there is not even any associative help. If I want to translate something from Serbian into Russian, it is much easier for me, because we have a lot of common words. Or if I take French or Spanish as an example. I have heard a lot of words already, there are many barbarisms that we use in both Russian and Serbian, I can understand something, I can pick up on something. There is no such thing in Chinese. It's not that there's nothing to grab onto, it's that if you accidentally hit a different intonation, you completely change the meaning of what was said.

But I can't say that we had any difficulties or misunderstandings. There were always consultants nearby, so we existed and worked normally in the frame. Although Hanyi and I didn't overlap much. That is, in many scenes we were together, but our characters did not interact closely, as, for example, the characters of Hanyi and Gleb Kalyuzhny.

- Zheng Hanyi said in an interview that she had already learned something from you. Did you give her any advice on the set? Did you tell her how to play?

- I never give advice unless I'm asked for it. Unless it's about the stage, which is directly related to me. Only in that case I can make some suggestions. But if an actress has her own task, I try not to enter that space. Yes, I remember she once said that she was learning something from me, that she was grateful to me. And that was very nice to hear, because I still look at myself as a novice actor. And at times like this I think: wow, I've already become an example for someone else?

- Milos, have you already seen "Red Silk"?

- Yes, once.

- How many times do you need to see a movie to get an impression of it, to understand whether it worked or not?

- I think that everything is clear from the first time. Although, maybe you need to watch it twice. Because the first time actors always look at themselves. How did I play? What did I do? Why did I play it this way? But I'm getting more and more abstracted and I'm looking at movies more and more as a producer, not as an actor. You know, they say that you'll never know what kind of movie you've made until you watch it with the audience.