"Brezhnev was a rock star"
Sergei Makovetsky did not immediately agree to the role of Leonid Brezhnev in the REN TV historical detective story Dear Willy. The director of the project, Vladimir Shchegolkov, told Izvestia about this at the Pilot festival in Ivanovo, where the premiere of the first episode took place. The series entered the competition program and became one of the favorites of the audience. It tells about the agreement between the Secretary General of the USSR and the Chancellor of Germany, whose secret alliance prevented a nuclear war. Now Vladimir Shchegolkov is working on a film about the leader of the group "Gaza Strip" Yuri Khoy. The director spoke about this and many other things in an exclusive interview with Izvestia.
"We all remember Brezhnev as a man from jokes"
— When cinematographers take on a historical project, they have to balance between observing historical facts and fiction in order for the plot to catch the viewer. What balance do you think is ideal and what is the ratio in Dear Willy?
— In "Dear Willie" it's just perfect – we have historical events, we didn't lie, we didn't cheat, but we told it in such a way that it was interesting for the audience to watch. There's a lot to worry about and there's a lot to learn.
This is the idea of Igor Prokopenko (writer, TV presenter, general producer of the series "Dear Willy". – Ed.). He developed this story as a documentary filmmaker, knows personally the prototypes of the main characters, communicated with them. He brought this project, and we transferred it to the cinematic plane. There are fewer fictional characters than those who had real-life prototypes. For example, we have a Politburo meeting in the story, and we took out transcripts and built dialogues on them.
A shot from the TV series "Dear Willie"
— I think not every one of our compatriots knows about the connection between Brezhnev and Willy Brandt. Did something surprise you personally, from a historical point of view?
— We all remember Brezhnev as a man from jokes. And it was interesting to learn more about him – he was really an active political figure who achieved something, wanted something. Not even something, but very specific things. We have an absolutely amazing artist playing him – Sergey Vasilyevich Makovetsky. And it was interesting to see how he revives it, how he passes it through himself. It's an amazing transformation.
— I was just going to ask you about it. Brezhnev was played by many artists. From the latter – Yuri Stoyanov in "Games". Before that, Sergey Shakurov. Why do you have Sergey Makovetsky?
— You know, our main task was to do it with measure and taste. In general, it's very difficult to play Brezhnev. He really is such a character in jokes with a certain way – thick eyebrows, a gag. But we wanted it to be intelligent. And it seems to me that Sergey Vasilyevich, with some kind of acting flair, made Brezhnev the way he was exactly at that time. And Brezhnev was such a rock star at a certain time - by the way he met people, how he dressed, how he walked, what he smoked, what he drove. And it's fun. And, of course, we took a lot of photos, looked at what happened then and how. And as such, it was extremely useful and interesting to learn and immerse yourself in history.
A shot from the TV series "Dear Willie"
— So you were trying to portray him as a rock star and get away from the anecdote image?
— We tried to show him as a real person. We didn't have the task of portraying him as a rock star. We were trying to find out what kind of person he was. It also cannot be that an anecdotal character suddenly took over and led the country. Huge, complicated. And that's why we tried to find him, to understand him.
We started thinking about who could play him, and then an idea came up. Sergey Vasilyevich, of course, doubted for a while, we persuaded him. He met with me and discussed it, because, of course, there are a lot of challenges, a lot of difficult and dangerous things that could happen, but I think everything turned out just great.
"Kirill learned a complicated text and played in German"
— The second main character in this story is German Chancellor Willy Brandt, played by Kirill Kyaro. Is it true that he learned German from scratch for this role?
— Yes, I was just telling Kirill that if I ever have any creative evenings, I have something to tell. Kirill is a unique person, he has learned a huge amount of text in German. We plan to use a neural network for translation, that is, one of the actors played in Russian, and then we will translate. Kirill basically learned a huge, complicated text and played in German. Believe me, this is an acting feat. He's a great guy.
— Aren't you afraid that native speakers will criticize the accent? For example, when Americans play Russians, it is often noticeable and sounds comical.
— First of all, we are fearless, we are not afraid of anything. Secondly, we are now very pleased to quote the 1988 film "Red Heat", where Arnold Schwarzenegger distorts the Russian language. So, no. And besides, we're still filming this for our audience.
A shot from the TV series "Dear Willie"
— How did you recreate the Soviet way of life and Germany of that time?
— The filming was divided into two parts. In Moscow, we found streets that retained the spirit of that time – buildings, some interiors. There are places where it has been preserved. And we shot west and east Berlin in the Kaliningrad region. In Chernyakhovsk, we had a fairly large decorative part. We were building Checkpoint Charlie, spreading the square, looking for historic cars.
— Were you lucky with the weather conditions there?
— It didn't go well with us at all. We had the idea that Moscow was snowy and Berlin was rainy. But, unfortunately, there has been no snow in the capital for a year now. It fell out in May, when we had already shot everything. Therefore, we had to completely snow the scenery in the cinema city at the expense of paper. In general, we are struggling with this as much as we can, and now we are adding and finishing the snow.
"Yura Hoya doesn't really have that many mats"
— A year ago, there was information that you would make a film "Hoi" about the leader of the Gaza Strip, but since then there has been no news. What is the fate of the project?
— This is some kind of amazing movie for us. I have been working on this project for five years now, together with the family of Yuri Klinsky. We launched this project on Kion. Then everything stopped due to various reasons. And now we are negotiating with Premier, with David Kocharov, on this project. I hope we will shoot in the summer.
— Who will play the main role? It was reported that Yuri Borisov was being considered.
— No, it won't be Yura Borisov. He's a brilliant actor and can actually play anything. I don't even remember if he refused or was busy.… But we have an amazing actor for the lead role. Surprisingly suitable for everything. Then, when we decide it's time to officially announce it, we'll do it. But the actor is a bomb!
— Not a debutant?
— No, a young actor, an accomplished one. Everyone knows him. Everyone loves him. I think it's the perfect hit for the hero.
"Why him?"
— Klinsky, aka Hoi, is a legendary figure for Russian punk rock. At first, we thought we would look for an actor based on his physical appearance. They conducted tests and found people. And then we came across an actor who is just as punk in spirit.
— Where will the filming take place?
The Gaza Strip Group
— I think that most of the filming will take place in Voronezh, where Khoy was born and lived. And half of them are in Moscow. It's just technologically convenient — there are pavilions and interiors here.
— Will the plot, as previously stated, tell about the last days of Klinsky's life?
— This is not about the last days of Klinsky's life. This is the story of his return home to Voronezh. There will be a lot of music. There will be some really cool Yuri's songs. I think we'll remaster the voice, record the musical parts. But there are scenes in which our actor will probably sing himself.
— And what will you do with the foul language?
— We'll swear (laughs). Yura doesn't really have that many mats. We have those songs where there is no mate. It is known that he swore, but in those songs that you know – "Fog", or "I'm thirty years old", or "Your call" — there is no foul language. And these are his main hits.
— Aren't you afraid of the fans' reaction? I think fans are very sensitive to Hoi's work and his figure. And, for example, when "The King and the Fool" was released, it was different. Some fans didn't appreciate the series.
— I don't know. As it will be, so it will be. The main thing is that we are driven by the most positive bright thoughts, ideas and desires. Not only to make money, but also to tell. Therefore, I think that an adequate part of people will accept this. And we are doing this together as a family — with his daughter Ira, we talked with my mother. They participated in the writing of the script, in the casting. Everything is controlled. There is nothing that we would allow ourselves to be incorrect, as it seems to me.
— Why do you want to make this story?
— The cool thing about Klin is not only that he created a band that had the highest sales of cassettes at that time. And the fact that this is a kind of phenomenon, and not only musical, but social and cultural. After all, the Gaza Strip group appeared right at the break of two eras. When the Soviet Union was already disappearing, there was still no full-fledged new culture of the new country, music, production, marketing, promotion. There was a clear field. And at that moment, there suddenly appears some kid who came from the army, serves as a cop, recorded some of his songs on a cassette, and suddenly it sounded all over the country. It's a very natural process, very real, very natural, without any production schemes. And this suggests that there was some kind of need and there was some kind of cry of absolutely folk Russian culture. It's amazing. Through this, we can not only learn about him, but also look at ourselves.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
