"I get tired physically and emotionally, but there is no burnout"
— "Darling, I won't call you back anymore" is not just a comedy about life and death, it is a film about the scourge of the millennial generation, the delayed life syndrome. Tell us how you got into this project and what attracted you to this story?
— I got into this movie, like everyone else, through casting. We had already worked with director and screenwriter Sasha Fomin on "Karamor" before, but there were no undercover games, direct offers or anything else. They invited me to audition, I came with my ideas, Sasha dumped a lot of his on me. It seemed to me that everything had worked out, and the next day they wrote to me that yes, we would work. Besides the fact that I was attracted to this story by its director and screenwriter, there was also the cast. Nikita Efremov and Mila Yershova are old friends, so it was a great pleasure to work together. It was fun on set.
And, of course, the story itself. I think she talks with a very light, elegant, neat humor about those difficult things that we all think about, but sometimes it's just inconvenient to talk about it. About what awaits us after our earthly stay. And in this vein, I was very curious to talk about serious topics.
— So you yourself are subject to existential reasoning?
— I can't say that I often do this. But, of course, death scares me. It scares me more and more with finding a family. There is more responsibility for yourself, for your life, for your health. I'm not alone anymore. I didn't think anything could happen to me before, and even if something did, it wouldn't be a big deal. Now I don't want anything to happen at all, because it's just scary.
— So you're not running to perform stunts on set now?
— No, professionally, I'm just trying to develop and do everything myself as much as possible. Thank God, my profession is not about life and death.
— In the movie you play an infernal bartender. Did you learn how to mix cocktails for this role?
— I am grateful to my profession that it allows me to discover a lot of new things and learn something. But just here the task was not to do filigree bartending tricks. If the director had said it was necessary, he would have gone, of course. But here the characters drink ordinary water, flavored with phantom flavors and their memories. And cooking water is not so difficult (laughs).
— In one interview you said that you entered the acting profession out of boredom. You can go anywhere out of boredom, but you chose the road to the cinema...
— Yes, that's right. But not cinema and not acting. I chose the Institute of Culture in Khabarovsk, the department of directing theatrical performances and celebrations.
— But now you are in the cinema. Then why is it here, and why do you love it?
— By the will of fate and, apparently, in gratitude for my hard work and the ability not to give up when it's hard. That's probably why I'm working a lot in movies and theater right now. And I love him just because I'm not bored anymore. Yes, I came into this profession as an escape from boredom. She's saving me.
Everyday issues come next: this profession also feeds and clothes me. But the most precious thing about it is the opportunity to go out to the audience in the theater every evening and talk about something with them. And the value of this profession in my eyes increases even more when I receive feedback that I have somehow suddenly influenced, even helped someone.
— And now you are one of the busy and in-demand artists. This year alone, I have already counted five premieres with your participation.
— And there should be seven of them!
— Don't you really feel burnout with such a schedule and rhythm of life? Fatigue?
— There is no burnout. I get tired physically and emotionally, but I have no desire to give up everything. Sometimes there are moments when I clearly understand that I am now at that level of emotional and physical fulfillment when I need to take a break, take a break, otherwise no one will feel good. And I myself will suffer, trying to give the maximum, and he is simply impossible in this state. Yes, this happens, but rarely. My family saves me, it saves me that they are waiting at home, and I am happy to return there.
— At what point did you feel the peak of your demand or popularity?
— Actually, I think it's still ahead.
— But are they already actively finding out on the street?
— Now yes.
"With the role of Oleg Volkov, I was not afraid of any stigma"
— "Karamora", "Major Thunder", "Prometheus", "The Wizard of Oz", "Chelyuskin. The first ones", "Dear, I won't call you back" — all your roles in these projects are completely different, you don't have the same role. Is this your conscious way to diversify your acting life so much? How do you choose your characters?
— I choose interesting and voluminous characters that are interesting to follow while reading the script. Characters who are not a crutch for the story and just help the plot move functionally, but in which I can lay something down and try to create a deep but understandable character for the viewer, who will be interesting to follow, whom you can empathize with or, conversely, dislike. The main thing is that he is alive.
And yes, I try to come up with a new character every time. It's not easy, but it seems to me that so far I've managed to make them unique, just like any other person. Even two seemingly identical twins are still unique. I always see a field for creating such characters, and I want to do it. I don't want anyone to say that I'm playing the same thing.
- When you joined Major Thunder as Oleg Volkov, weren't you afraid that you might still be the guy from the comic book movies in people's minds? There are many such cases in the Western experience.
A shot from the movie "Major Thunder"
— I disagree with this thesis. Because Mark Ruffalo doesn't remain the Hulk, and Robert Downey Jr. isn't Tony Stark in the first place. It seems to me that it was more dangerous for him to remain Sherlock Holmes for everyone. But he's just a great and good actor, and we'll be able to list his roles for a long time.
Yes, for a very large number of people, Ruffalo will be the Hulk, Downey will be Iron Man, and I will be Oleg Volkov. And there's nothing wrong with that, because these people love him, they follow this hero. And this is also my audience, for whom I'm trying to create the Oleg Volkov that they will follow.
No, I wasn't afraid that it would be some kind of stigma or burden that I would carry all my life. I've already had a lot of projects since Major Thunder, and even before it. Not many, but there were some. Therefore, I have no fears in this regard.
— The fanbase of this franchise in Russia is powerful. I read that when "Major Thunder: The Game" was shown, people went to the cinema 60 times to see this movie.
— Yes, the fan community is very supportive of us. And I can only be grateful for that. It is only with their support and feedback that we find the strength to continue doing this. And I would like this to reach the all-Russian level. Because when you see such a reaction from thousands of fans, and then you look at the fees ("Major Thunder: The Game" collected 557 million rubles at the Russian box office. — Ed.), I want it to be balanced.
And I want the audience not to be afraid to watch our comic book movies. I would like to tell you more that comics are not just funny pictures for children, there are a lot of universal meanings encrypted there. I am glad that we continued to do this, that we are developing the industry, and this is really moving it forward.
— In the last part, Oleg Volkov's fate ended ambiguously, in the comics it is even more ambiguous. There will be a whole spin-off about your other hero, Urfin Djusa. Are you waiting for such a story with Oleg Volkov?
— I just recorded the audiobook "Wolves", it just came out the other day. It was also a great experience, because the book tells about not the most famous moments of his biography. I myself was curious to get to know my character from a different angle. And would I like a spin-off about Oleg Volkov? Of course! Who doesn't want a separate movie about their character?
— And if we return to the role of Urfin Jus from The Wizard of Oz, then this franchise, judging by the plans, will last for years. Don't you think that because of the dominance of fairy tales in our cinema, we have begun to feel a lack of genre diversity?
— As we can see, every fairy tale has its own audience, people are coming. As the saying goes, "if the stars are lit, then someone needs it." I am all for the continuation of the exploration of our fairy tales. It is ours, because there is an untilled field of material there, even some of our Slavic legends.
We grew up on completely different fairy tales, if a modern child looks at them now, he will have questions, why is no one flying there, what about the graphics? But it had its own way, its own experience, it was amazing. This is our legacy, so why not continue, only with new capacities?
Fairy tales is a space where the industry and its capacities are tested: the quality of graphics, the scale of shooting, the production of scenery, costumes, actors, budgets. Using this example, we already understand that if you make a blockbuster, not necessarily a fairy tale, we already have all the power to create a good audience movie.
— What other fairy tale would you like to star in?
— I don't have any specific dreams. Besides, now I'm Urfin Jus, I don't know if I can claim another fabulous image. But I really enjoyed filming The Wizard of Oz, it was fabulous, so I would love to star in a similar project.
— Did the kids watch? How did you rate it?
— My daughter looked. We have been preparing for this very much. When I was approved for the role, I told her that I would be Urfin Jus. She said that now she needs to read all the books. We combined business with pleasure then: I read books to her and prepared myself additionally, remembering this story.
— Your daughter is still very young, but she has already published a book of fairy tales.
— She is six years old, she has published the book "Ivan's Fairy Tales". These are small, short fairy tales that she composed until she was three years old. I see it as a little person's desire to understand what is happening in the world, to understand those feelings and emotions that are only new to her — relationships with friends and with the world.
All these experiences resulted in fairy tales that she composed and told me before going to bed. I'd tell her one story, and she'd tell me one of her own. I decided to write them down, and then she and her drawing teacher made illustrations for them. Without knowing it. And three years later, we released this book in an edition of 2,000 copies. She even had autograph sessions in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
— When you are born into a family of two artists, is your fate predetermined?
— Of course not. It is clear that when a child sees us cooking, sorting, and reading every day, she gets into it. She recently had a screen test, for example, because she wanted to try. She did not pass them, but realized that she needed to learn something else, to prepare better.
We devoted one day to these experiences, and then she continued to study drawing, music, and ballet. There is no such thing that she fanatically wants to become an artist. We'll see what happens next, but the main thing is that whatever she wants, she'll do.
"Theater as a phenomenon has not gone away from my life"
— You have been associated with the Stanislavsky Theater for a long time. And so they left him. Something happened?
— I left after 14 years. But everything is very prosaic — there just isn't enough time. That's why we parted for love, wished each other good luck. And I even went back there, I played two performances. But I just took away my work from there, because I can't put the theater on the back burner while I'm officially working there, I'm on duty.
I've had a lot of schedule conflicts with theater and cinema lately, and sometimes we couldn't come to an agreement. And I realized that this was already going to the detriment of everything, because, as you yourself have already noticed, I have a lot of work to do. Of course, I am grateful to God, the universe, and the people who invite me to work for her. I want to say, "Thank you very much, don't stop, I'll try not to let you down."
But the theater as a phenomenon has not left my life. I play plays at the Theater of Nations, and at the Stanislavsky Theater I play something else. I have a solo performance at the Melnikov Theater, the former Viktyuk Theater. There are two independent projects that are played as an enterprise. There are a lot of offers from different theaters, but just a month ago I turned down two very cool performances with very cool roles in a good theater. Because I don't want to deceive anyone, make impossible promises, and I can't keep people waiting for me. Why should they wait for me if there are so many other great artists?
— What is the current situation in the former Viktyuk Theater after Konstantin Bogomolov's appointment there?
— I do not know. I have a performance there from the Voices of the Country project under the direction of Konstantin Bogomolov. He just moved there and decided to play there. In fact, I don't cross paths with anyone in the theater itself. Was there any commotion?
— They wrote about the removal of cult productions from the repertoire, the troupe was worried that everything Viktyukovsky would leave with the arrival of Konstantin Yurievich.
— Of course, people always worry about this, but in my opinion, nothing has gone away there. When I worked at the Stanislavsky Theater, I had three artistic directors. And, of course, with each new one, we were very worried. Deep down, we always hoped for something good, but we also prepared for the worst. Thank God, everyone is working, and the theaters are alive.
As I understand it, in addition to Roman Viktyuk's performances, new ones are currently being staged at the theater, and some of the performances with Bronnaya are likely to move there too. And I think that a new community will be formed, because there is a very good, well-mannered and trained troupe, there is a very good legacy there. And they have their own audience too. All that remains is for this audience to love the new things that will be done there. But it seems to me that this is a completely normal process.
When Boris Yuryevich Yukhananov came to us, he removed the entire repertoire altogether. We just rehearsed "Bluebird" for a year and a half and didn't play anything. He dismantled the stage, rebuilt the entire theater. It seems to me that 90% of our regular viewers, having come to a completely new theater to see productions by modern foreign directors, simply fell off. They realized that this was not the Stanislavsky Theater they had always gone to. And in the Melnikov theater-stage, due to the fact that some of the audience has been preserved due to the remaining performances of Roman Viktyuk, this process of habituation will be less painful.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
