“I want to make a movie that millions watch”: Dmitry Suvorov about the film “One”, ratings and BadComedian

- The script of the film "One" is based on the real events of a plane crash in 1981, and Larisa Savitskaya, who survived in it, acted as a consultant on the set.

But why is there fiction in the picture?

Here's a tiger...

- The whole story that Larisa told us was more focused on emotions, since much more experiences happened inside.

“There was a collision, I survived in the taiga for three days, they found me and took me away by helicopter,” outwardly, in fact, this is a short film.

Accordingly, I had to look for some artistic metaphors, images.

Let's say when she fell, there was a collision with the ground, she said that she lost consciousness for five hours.

And of course, as an author, as a director, it was interesting for me to figure out what was happening inside these five hours, how the whole life of the past flashed before my eyes.

And this emotion in the film: a hallucination in front of a mirror, and she (Larisa. - 

) as if she brought herself back to consciousness, woke her up.

That is, some such things, the same tiger, here as a kind of metaphor, an image of death that haunts her and says all the time: “Give up.”

We wanted to add some artistic techniques, emotionally convey (events. - 

).

It’s not just documentary to tell - for this, by the way, we made a documentary film “Eight minutes to the ground”, where Larisa also told the whole story in the first person.

We still made feature films.

How did you film the scenes with the tiger?

Was it a green background and a computer model, or a trained animal?

- No, this is Shakira, a trained tiger.

Naturally, it was difficult - for the first time she got into her natural habitat, and anything could happen there.

Before that, she lived at home, in human conditions, and then she was brought to the real taiga.

The shooting took place under the supervision of professionals, there were trainers who tried for a long time to ensure that all the shots turned out to be alive.

Somewhere on the graphics, the cable was rubbing when the tiger was on it, but all the scenes were filmed for real.

- You said that the disaster scene was rehearsed for several weeks, and the shooting took ten days and took place in the pavilion.

What was the most difficult part of working on this episode?

- It was difficult, because no one had really done such a scene before.

In fact, we have a long one-dimensional history, when we fly through the entire flight from a collision in the air to the ground with the heroine, live, repeat her movements.

And it was difficult to figure out how to implement it technically and visually, so that there would be complicity, so that the viewer would feel like in a falling plane, in order to convey the horror and all the incredible air crash.

There was an idea to build the plane in the pavilion, and shoot the final part of the scene in a real fragment of the plane.

On a hitch with a helicopter, we lifted it about 500 meters and dropped it into the real taiga.

This is the final scene.

And the scene itself was filmed for a long time - each take takes time.

There was, for example, a rupture of the fuselage, stuntmen flew out.

To shoot the second take, you need to restore this wall, the fuselage.

• Frame from the film "One"

• © Press service of "SSB-kino"

- Some viewers try to compare your picture with disaster films, tapes about survival, for example, with Crew or Survivor.

How do you personally feel about this?

“Yes, I don’t really care.

How should I deal with this?

We worked with Larisa's real material, and all our work, all metaphors, techniques were inspired by history, both visual and scenario.

We drew all the inspiration from reality itself, from Larisa's story.

- You said that at the stage of working out the script, a polygraph was involved at the suggestion of Larisa.

How would you rate your experience with this innovation?

“So it happened by coincidence.

Larisa is a psychophysiologist now, and her husband Timofey is engaged in the development of polygraphs.

She proposed an experiment where she told her story to our editor, and they saw by parameters, by sensors, which episodes, which moments from Larisa's real life evoke the greatest emotional response from the listener.

- Did you feel any change in attitude on the part of the viewer after the release of the film "One"?

Maybe the number of messages from people who watched the movie has increased?

- A lot of strangers wrote.

Some even said: "We also lost a loved one, and your film helped to survive, to cope with this loss."

We, as authors, creators, were, of course, pleased that the film resonates in the hearts.

• Director Dmitry Suvorov and Larisa Savitskaya

• © Press service of "SSB-kino"

- You worked mainly on comedies before filming the film "One".

What genres do you intend to work in in the future?

Or, conversely, what genre of films would you never want to make?

- There is no such thing, probably, that I would never want to.

Rather, I want to look for unique emotional human stories, and this can be in the thriller or drama genre.

There was a desire to explore more serious topics, stories, to try to film them.

Are there specific projects that you are already working on?

— Another story based on real events is in the process.

So far, I would not like to reveal the secret, because we have not yet agreed with the real participant in these events.

But also a unique story, it is not very famous, but incredible.

Let's agree, then we'll make some kind of announcement.

- You are a creative person, a filmmaker, and often creative people are vulnerable.

Do you somehow care about the rating of your paintings on aggregators or do you try to distance yourself from this information?

- Of course, to step back, because this is a subjective issue.

When some story comes up, for example, BadComedian will say something, and immediately crowds of people run from him to put ones, it’s better to step back and do what your soul lies in, what you want to tell.

It doesn’t always work out, because you need to earn money, but you want to do what your heart is closer to.

— Let's talk a little about your old works.

The film "Classmates" was generally coolly received by both critics and viewers.

Do you think, already from the height of current experience, were such assessments deserved?

— Similar story.

BadComedian reviewed this film and the crowds of its fans went to bet one.

And when they fill up with units, such a rating is obtained.

It was a purely commercial story, I'm there as a guest director, it's not really my film.

It was work.

- At the same time, the sequel to Odnoklassnits was better received than the debut picture.

Do you think this story has the potential for another sequel?

— I don't think so, because this is already an outdated story, not very relevant.

And I want to do some more serious things, and this is a comedy.

• Director Dmitry Suvorov

• © Press service of "SSB-kino"

- You also had the film Superbad, which created a feeling of homage to the works of Guy Ritchie and even Tarantino in places.

What do you think prevented the mass audience from tasting the picture?

- It seems to me that it is much more interesting than Odnoklassnitsy, because it is more hooligan, loose.

Many said that if they filmed in America with American actors, this story would go there.

She was born from a short film.

In 2012, we filmed “Whore” - a short film, in 2014 we worked on a short film “Valentine's Day”, and then the black crime comedy “Superbads” was born from this story.

- Now we live in conditions when the West is actually closed, and many believe that this situation can open the way for Russian authors.

Do you think a new golden age of cinematography is possible in Russia?

— I hope that it is possible, because there are certain advantages.

For example, that there is less competition in cinemas.

But on the other hand, to fill the volume that has left, much more funding is needed, more time.

If we consider the film "One", we approached it quite voluminously, on a large scale both in terms of preparation and in terms of filming, it took us more than two years.

Accordingly, in order to make up for the entire volume that has gone (of Western films. - 

), you need to make three times as many films and even more time.

— Do you follow modern Russian cinema?

And if so, what domestic films would you call competitive in the international arena?

- There are directors who do good work, I watch them with pleasure.

This is Alexander Khant, Alexei Nuzhny.

Klim Shipenko is making the film "Challenge", the big film "Woland" will be released on New Year's Eve.

That is, some big pictures are being made, but they are few.

If Hollywood routinely gave out a major film every month, then we need time and funding for this.

Most likely, there will be some kind of slack, lack, then, perhaps, it will be possible to catch up in quantity and scale.

— Do you have any plans to participate in festivals?

And in general, festival cinema is close to you?

- I'm rather not close, I want to make spectator films, because the festival is watched by a maximum of 100 thousand people.

I want to make movies that millions see.

— Speaking of markets, the West is closed to us.

But we are building up ties with the East, with China.

Do you have any plans to try moving in this direction?

- We have already bought the film Latin America, Germany, Spain - for release at home.

Negotiations are also underway with China, but they have a complex system.

They support their production very strongly, and there is a quota for foreign projects.

It would also be great to cooperate - the Chinese market is the largest both in terms of cinema and in terms of everything else.

- You said that some countries bought the film "One".

Do you have any statistics on how the film was received?

- There are only planned releases in the near future.

We have now shipped the sound, film, trailers to them.

So far there have been releases in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Russia.

- Do you think there is a global difference between the domestic audience, Western and Asian?

- Of course.

Of our films, only one or two were successful in China, because there is a specific viewer who has formed his own images.

Here you need to dive in, study in more detail what they watch, what they have successfully in terms of collections.

To be honest, I haven't dived deep into it yet.

- With which of the Russian actors would you like to work in the future?

Maybe you have a dream team?

- With whom we wanted, we worked with those.

There is nothing that we really wanted, but it didn't work out.

- And what do you think, are you a tyrant director on the set or a director who tries to soften the corners in his work as much as possible?

- It depends on situation.

When I see that someone is hacking, I am tough to the point of obscenities and rude actions.

And when you see that people are trying, you try in the same way to give out as much energy as possible to make a union, a tandem.