- Filming a new project with your participation, "Zone of Discomfort", was conducted in the midst of a coronavirus epidemic. How did the work go under these conditions?
- Only two actors are removed in the project: me and Anna Shepeleva. Anya and I did not meet on the set, talked online, the number of people on the set was minimized. Partially, we shot ourselves, but there is a part that the operator still shot. Everyone was masked, in suits, with protection: the cameraman, the director - that’s all.
- You play three roles at once. Why was this decision made? To reduce the number of people on the site?
- Well, the director’s move. I agreed to star in this picture, then the director and producer called, saying: "We have such an offer, how do you feel about this?" I quickly picked it up, because it never happened, it’s interesting - three absolutely diverse roles.
- Was it difficult for you to cope with all your characters, move from one image to another?
- I would not say that it is difficult. Firstly, I was changing externally. It helps a lot. Honestly, I can’t analyze this story, because everything happened so fast with us that I’m now even somewhat worried about the premiere of how it happened.
- Were you comfortable working in conditions of restrictive measures?
- Comfort of work consists of project participants.
To be honest, the movie should be shot on site. A certain atmosphere must be created.
It is wonderful that such ideas and projects were born - that the cinema adapted to these circumstances. But that's enough! We need to return to normal sites and work as before.
- RIA News
- © Ekaterina Chesnokova
- “The zone of discomfort” is not your first project even this year, which goes on a video service. What attracts you to the series that are filmed for the network?
- In projects for online services, scripts are often much more interesting, powerful, and bolder. And the idea is embodied as it was conceived. But what happens on television sometimes happens: the idea is good, and then in the production process everything starts to undercut. Here is complete freedom in the implementation of the plan. That is, as invented - it will be removed.
- The life of the heroes of the "Zone of Discomfort" has changed significantly due to the pandemic. How did she affect your life?
- No way. I don’t want such things to influence me, to be honest. You can’t give in, change your life for some strange situation. Thank God, I also continue to work. And even in these conditions I live a full life as possible. I want everyone to be so.
- In another series with your participation - “Plague” - we are also talking about self-isolation, but already in the Middle Ages. In your opinion, do people from different eras have the same feelings in such conditions?
- I think yes. When all kinds of restrictions suddenly begin to arise, it is always difficult for people. What in the Middle Ages, what in our time.
- How do you choose projects in which you will participate? Are there any criteria?
- Always different. Firstly, depending on who offers it. There are a number of directors, and if one of them calls me, I won’t even read the script, I will give my consent. Let's say Borya Khlebnikov, Sasha Veledinsky, Maxim Sveshnikov, Andrey Dzhunkovsky ... On the fingers of one hand you can count.
Secondly, the story, the script. Thirdly, the team. Who does is always important, because one scenario can be shot in different ways. Suppose Boris Khlebnikov always has a cool team, I remember everyone by name. Everything is just worth its weight in gold. Both as professionals and as people.
Finally, the role itself. Did I play it or not? If I understand what I’ve played, I’m starting to see if it is possible to do it differently. In order not to repeat.
- When you play negative characters (as in "Arrhythmia"), do you try to find an excuse for yourself to their behavior and actions?
“I just don't treat roles like that.” I’m just curious that the characters are not uniquely bad or uniquely good, like people.
And I believe that in Arrhythmia, my hero in this situation still tries to help people ... somewhere in him there is still a person. They surround us. We do not know what they really are. They just live in the framework of the regulations, which they indicated the profession, law or someone else from above. He may be happy to act as a person, but he cannot, because he needs to live in a written way.
Just Bori Khlebnikov all the characters are ambiguous. They are somewhere good, somewhere bad. Different, like any person.
That's why I say that on television, as a rule, we have a scenario model. The main character is very good, right, preferably 25-28 years old, does not smoke, does not drink, and all lives on a string. And there are bad people. Which you can neither drink nor smoke, because this is not shown on the air. But it seems like there is a hint of bad habits and actions.
What is good about stories on platforms: there are real heroes ... and we recognize ourselves in them. This people catches. It seems to me that some of the best things from Soviet cinema still arrived today. This is what artists began to play real people, and not some kind of right fictional, without a hitch.
- That is, everything is back to square one?
- Yes of course. Especially recently. Until recently, there were many uninteresting characters who talked ... well, not like people. And all because it is written clumsily. I had to redo the text for myself on the site. We call this "humanization."
On the issue of comparing television and video platforms: in the case of platforms, I don’t remember when I redid the text before entering the frame. I know all the scenes by heart, because the text is alive, real. Do you understand the difference?
- And when you “humanized” the text, have you ever met resistance from the director?
- If I meet resistance, I just draw conclusions for myself, and I don’t work with these people anymore. If a person sits and is afraid to change the letter, why is he needed? It's just some kind of shepherd, not a director.
I had such an experience. This is hell. But I still always insisted on my own. I think this is correct. The text had to be changed, because people don’t talk so easily. Or are these aliens who somehow ended up in the Russian outback? Then I insist on changes. Professionals will understand.
- You said that you play the drums. Do you still have this hobby?
- Yes, periodically returns. I even performed several times with Sergey Galanin, the SerGa group, to a huge audience. And soon, when all this is over, I will perform with another group, very famous and cool. But which one - I’ll say later, when self-isolation is completed.
This is not even a hobby, but pleasure, one of my favorite things. It really turns me on and charges me up.
Performances are a huge event in my life, because many people become their witnesses. And if I speak with the group that I’m talking to you about now, there can be up to 20 thousand in the audience ...
I will tell you why musicians cannot live without live performances. Online concerts are great, but it’s difficult, probably, to feel the energy of the viewer through the screen. And when energy from 15 thousand people flies into you ... Like at the "Chaif" concert in the "Olympic", where we Sasha Robak sang a song with them. It’s just incomparable pleasure when all this wave flies at you! This is a drug.