"The impressions of visiting Auschwitz helped me in my work on the role"
Talking about the Great Patriotic War in movies is a necessary part of parenting, says Artem Tkachenko, star of the series "Vampires of the Middle Lane." The actor played a major positive role in the historical detective series "Rooks", which will premiere on April 26 on REN TV, although he initially auditioned for the villain. In an exclusive interview with Izvestia, he told how visiting Auschwitz helped him work on the role of militia captain Alexander Ratnikov, why the actor was not ready to sacrifice his family for the sake of his profession, and how he missed a role in the TV series Major.
"I want young people to know about the past not only from school lessons"
— In the historical detective story "Grachi", where you played the main role, the theme of children's concentration camps became an important part of the series. Have you read any special materials about this terrible period of our history in preparation for the role?
Former Auschwitz camp
— Many years ago, I was filming in Poland with the director Waldemar Krzystyk. We worked near the former Nazi camp of Auschwitz. And, of course, we went there. We went and looked at where these people worked, where prisoners were gassed and burned in furnaces. They tried to understand how they lived, what their way of life was like. This is, of course, a very powerful impression that has stayed with me for the rest of my life.
We were there in the summer: green grass, rustling trees — everything looked so pretty. It seems to be a beautiful, peaceful place — and there are carts nearby, already like exhibits on which bodies were once unloaded. This feeling of incongruity has remained with me for the rest of my life. And in a way, it probably helped me in working on this role. Because, it seems to me, a children's concentration camp was hardly fundamentally different from an adult camp.
Later, I read the book "I Survived Auschwitz" by Polish writer Kristina Zyvulska. That is, to what I saw, there was also a historical component. It describes, of course, scary things. For example, there are notes from the wife of the head of the concentration camp — we are talking about the family of Rudolf Hess, the commandant of Auschwitz. She didn't know what her husband was doing. They had a big, luxurious house nearby, in a very picturesque place. She liked living there, although she occasionally saw smoke from the chimneys, but did not understand what was going on. And she wrote: "I like living in this place so much that I would even like to die in it." Meanwhile, her husband was destroying thousands of people, bringing silverware into the house, and giving her clothes taken from those he was killing. So, in a sense, I'm quite knowledgeable about these places.
— The history of children's camps is primarily a history of victims. And "Rooks" is still a detective story. Have you ever worried that the genre might shift its focus from tragedy to intrigue?
— This is rather a question for the director, because it is he who sees the whole picture. I could only judge by the script and what we were shooting. At that time, I had no such doubts. And, to be honest, I haven't watched the whole series yet to appreciate it from the outside. But I'd like to think that nothing important is lost there.
— Initially, you were offered the role of Pavel Vedernikov, aka Gunther Zeiler, the main villain.
— Yes, when they sent me the script, it was about this role. But then, when it came to the samples, they suddenly sent me material on Ratnikov. To be honest, I didn't understand what had happened, and I asked, "How come?" They told me that they had changed their mind and wanted to try me for the role of a hero. As it turned out later, the producers, including Olga Pogodina, decided to do the opposite. I have quite a lot of experience playing negative characters, and it became interesting for them to turn this expectation around.
— Are you upset that a negative character was "taken away" from you?
— At first, of course, I was upset. What to hide is that Zeiler has a very interesting role: a man who lives a double life — an exemplary family man, a loving father, and at the same time a terrible murderer. But then, when I read the script more carefully and started preparing for the auditions, I realized that Ratnikov also had a very large volume and serious internal layering. As a result, I fell in love with this role and absolutely do not regret that I played it.
— Your hero is investigating crimes and at the same time searching for his missing daughter. Which is more important to you in it — the investigator or the father?
— First of all, he is, of course, a father and a man with a crippled fate. For all his inner fragility, Ratnikov does not lose hope of finding his daughter. And that, it seems to me, is the main driving force of the whole story.
— Is it important to return to such subjects today? Or is the viewer already emotionally closed and waiting for entertainment?
— No, of course it's important. This is our story. Our grandfathers and parents went through this. My grandfather went through the whole war, my grandmother was also a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. They are no longer there, but I really want not only adults to remember this.
It is clear that the series has age restrictions. But I still want the younger generation to know about the past not only from school lessons. Of course, we cannot convey to them the life experience of our ancestors, but we are able to tell about important events in the history of the country, at least in the cinema. I think it's a necessary part of parenting.
"It feels like we didn't defeat the Nazis in the Great Patriotic War."
— May 9th is approaching. What does this day mean to you and your family?
— The song "Victory Day" says it very accurately: It's a celebration with tears in your eyes. This is a day of great remembrance and great gratitude. My grandparents met after the war, when they were sent to settle Kaliningrad. It was in 1945. My grandfather went to war at the age of 17, went through it completely, and graduated in Prague. He, like many people, did not like to talk about that time. I know that he drove an American armored car, transferred under Lend-Lease. The car was seriously hit, they got out of the burning vehicle and survived. If they had died then, Tkachenko's last name would not have been there.
The Immortal Regiment Memorial Campaign
— Do you think the language of conversation about the Great Patriotic War is changing today?
— Judging by what is happening in the information space, there is a feeling that the role of the Soviet soldier is gradually being pushed back. It feels strangely like the Nazis were defeated in the Great Patriotic War by anyone but us, the Soviet Army, and the Russian people. To be honest, I don't fully understand how to live, be, and deal with this. Perhaps we are losing in the information field. But what we can definitely do is preserve the memory and pass it on to our children.
— Do you talk about this with your children?
- of course. We talk, we watch war films, and we definitely participate in the Immortal Regiment campaign.
— You said that you haven't had time to watch "The Rooks" yet. Do you actually watch movies with your own participation?
— Yes, I'm trying. Although, to be honest, I haven't reviewed everything. Sometimes it's just scary: you might not like it, and then you'll regret agreeing to the project. But when I watch, I try to do it exactly as a spectator — not to analyze everything from a professional point of view, but to capture a live emotion.
"It's hard to find anything in my filmography that I haven't already played"
— "Vampires of the Middle lane" was included in the hundred most popular TV series, according to Medialogy, for 2025. What does this result mean to you?
— It is, of course, pleasant, it comforts self-esteem. I think it pleases anyone. But this is primarily the merit of the entire team: the director, the cameraman, and all the services. It means that we really did something worthwhile, and not a passing project. That's why he hooked the audience. People fall in love with the story, with the characters, and don't want to part with them—even when it comes to the final season. I watch people write.: "Let's keep doing the prequel, the sequel." It's worth a lot.
— How do you react to negative reviews?
— I read comments on posts on social networks, of course. But everything is usually clear there: if a person has zero subscribers and he writes some kind of filth, it's most likely a chatbot, not very serious. And if this is a reasoned criticism, for example, that the plot has become too twisted or the relationship of the vampire family has faded into the background, then this is already a healthy criticism. And I agree in many ways.
A shot from the series "Vampires of the middle lane"
— Has it ever happened that you turned down a role, and then regretted it when you saw how the film turned out with another artist?
— Yes, there was such a story. Eldar Salavatov and I filmed the Caesar project, where I played a journalist who exposes officials and police officers on the Internet. And at the same time, I was invited to audition for another project. I read the script and realized that it was written like a carbon copy — almost the same story, only the hero is not a journalist, but the son of a general. And I thought: why play the same thing a second time? And then it turned out that it was the "Major" project, which is still thundering successfully. But I think it's pointless to feel sorry. The guys got a good project, and that's the main thing.
— You said that you are interested in different roles. Is there a role that won't be offered?
— Honestly, as you get older, you become a realist and move away from such dreams — to play, for example, King Lear or Hamlet. It may sound immodest, but it's hard to find anything in my filmography that I haven't already played. And, in general, there are not so many plots: there are only seven notes. But it's all the more exciting to try to make a similar story in a new way.
— Do you have any taboos in your profession?
- yes. Everything related to child abuse is an absolute taboo. And for any normal person.
"I don't want to depend on children's matinees on January 1st"
— You mentioned King Lear and Hamlet. Three years ago, in an interview with Izvestia, you said that you have a difficult relationship with the theater. Has something changed?
— During this time, I had several projects that were rehearsed, but for various reasons did not come out. Now I have two performances that I'm playing — in Moscow and in St. Petersburg. This is Chanel No. Stravinsky" directed by Talgat Batalov and Maxim Melamedov's play "Alone in the Universe" based on Woody Allen's play Central Park West.
In addition, Yulia Khlynina and I are rehearsing the play "Deja Vu". And, hopefully, we'll finish what we started. This is a story about the relationships of famous couples: Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofia, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Yoko Ono and John Lennon, Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Lilya Brik.
Artem Tkachenko on the set of the TV series "Rooks"
— Will you play Mayakovsky?
— Rather, all these men. This is a story about a writer who is looking for a form for a book about relationships. And his wife suggests a solution. So they easily and jokingly begin to talk about the lives of all these couples.
— After graduating from the Shchepkin Theater Institute, you were a member of the Shalom Theater troupe for some time. But after that there were only private projects. Is this a conscious choice of acting freedom?
— Indeed, I haven't been in a troupe since "Shalom" and, frankly, I don't want to. I can't say that theater is everything to me. For me, life is my family, my wife and my children. I chose them because I don't want to depend on children's matinees on January 1st. Like my hero, militia captain Alexander Ratnikov in "The Rooks," I am first and foremost a father and choose a family.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
