Interview with ELLE: Danila Kozlovsky. Danila Kozlovsky: “I want my road to wind and not turn into a rut. Do you have hopes for a successful career in Hollywood?

The film "SpiritLess 2" is being released - a continuation of one of the most successful Russian films. The first, based on the book of the same name by Sergei Minaev, became in 2012 not just the opening film of the Moscow International Film Festival, but also the highest-grossing Russian feature film of the year.

In addition, the first “SpiritLess” received five nominations for the Golden Eagle Award, and in the end the award was presented to Danila Kozlovsky as the performer of the best male role. But less than three years have passed since the sequel to the film appeared. Moreover, it was not based on a best-selling book. Sergei Minaev’s new novel “Dyxless of the 21st century. Selfie” was released only in 2015, and it is in no way connected with the film “DuhLess 2” or with the script for it.

Perhaps this book by Sergei Minaev will someday be made into a movie, but for now another film will appear in cinemas, where he is just a co-author of the script, in the writing of which Mikhail Idov, Andrei Ryvkin and Fuad Ibragimbekov also took part. However, in the film "SpiritLess 2", both the director is the same - Roman Prygunov, and the main character. The RG columnist spoke with Danila Kozlovsky, and the premiere of the film served as the starting point for the conversation.

In the Maly Drama Theater - Theater of Europe, where you serve under Lev Dodin, the artist Danila Kozlovsky plays serious roles, but in cinema you work on a completely different level. In particular, Max Andreev in the film “Duhless” - how do you switch?

Danila Kozlovsky: I don’t agree that everything is serious for me in the theater, but so-so in the cinema. The material is, of course, different. But it makes no sense to compare Chekhov and Shakespeare with modern authors. Not because it is better or worse, but simply because it is an incorrect comparison. But his approach to work, to the role, to the people who worked on this and other films is no less serious. Therefore, for me, the film “Spiritless” is the same responsible work as performances based on classical works.

The first film “Duhless” was especially loved by the category of viewers, which is sometimes called “office plankton” or “managers” (from the English manager). There are films that are aimed primarily at them. Tell me, could you be such a person in real life? Right now you are wearing a white collar shirt. Could you wear it every day? Go to work at nine in the morning?

Danila Kozlovsky: It’s hard to say. Now, probably not anymore, because I can’t imagine myself in a different life than the one I have. If I didn’t know that there were such professions as actor, director, producer, musician, and there was a certain need, perhaps I could. However, in your question one can already feel, if not disdain, then some kind of condescension towards this world

It's just a joke.

Danila Kozlovsky: But, in fact, this is also an unusual world. And behind all the monotony and sameness of routine and schedule, life also exists. And no less passionate. And this, in particular, is what we tried to talk about in the first film: managers have their own dramas, feelings and relationships.

But now in this life everything is changing. There is such a thing as downshifting - when people quit their office jobs and go to Goa or Bali. Nowadays, downshifters have begun to return to Russia en masse because economic conditions have changed. If previously it was possible for a successful Moscow manager to rent out an apartment and live abroad with that money, now this is unrealistic. Have you felt what it’s like to live somewhere in heaven on earth for your own pleasure?

Danila Kozlovsky: The working title of our film was “Downshifter,” but I don’t think I could live like that. I have no such need, either internal or external. I also want to have time to do something. There are other interests. I feel really good about what I do - I get energy and drive from it. And I want to continue doing this, no matter how difficult it may be, and no matter how much I want to sleep from the constant lack of sleep.

And office workers can get the same thrill and coolness from their lifestyle?

Danila Kozlovsky: Yes, definitely. I think there are people who enjoy it. And they try to go beyond generally accepted standards.

For me, your last name evokes associations with another Kozlovsky - Ivan, a famous Russian and Soviet opera singer. I read that you have a brother - Ivan Kozlovsky. And suddenly I’m driving around the city and I see posters - Kozlovsky will still sing, and it will happen at the Bolshoi Theater. What kind of project?

Danila Kozlovsky: This is the fulfillment of my old dream, which is already nine years old. This musical performance is called “The Big Dream of an Ordinary Man,” and it is based on material that contains songs by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and other most prominent representatives of the jazz-pop era of the 50-60s of the last century. It so happened that I often came across this music in my life, starting from childhood. And when I entered the theater academy and began to seriously engage in the profession that I am doing now, I one day realized that I wanted to do such a concert. But only so that the songs don’t just follow one after another, but that there is some kind of musical performance, a performance in the form of a concert, where I could tell a story.

When I told my friend, the famous pop singer Philip Kirkorov, about this, he replied: “This must be done, and now.” I said, how do you imagine this, an extremely overwhelming thing, no one has ever done this in our country. This is quite difficult from all points of view. This is a very expensive project, it is musically and technically complex. He interrupted me: “Well, with this point of view, you will always find reasons for yourself to postpone and refuse everything.” And he was right. Because, after walking around for a while and thinking, I kept explaining to myself internally why this couldn’t be done, until at some point I realized that it had to be done. And then I called Philip: “Yes, I’m ready.” We promised ourselves that we would take at least a year to work to prepare everything. Because, firstly, this is the choice of musical material, strict selection. Secondly, classes with vocal teachers, there are several of them - wonderful Tatyana Larina and Nina Savitskaya - we have been studying with them for about a year, several hours a day. This is also a live orchestra - “Phonograph” Sergei Zhilina - 43 people. And - a ballet of 12 people, backing vocals, and also - filming at Mosfilm, for which the scenery was specially built. Several short films made in various genres will take us from theatrical reality to the cinematic world. “The Big Dream of an Ordinary Man” is a whole story that will be told on stage using such complex technical elements as cinema, computer graphics, complex scenography - light, sound, and so on.

You say that no one has done anything like this. But we have a singer like Emin, and he also made a program and released a disc containing songs by American performers of the last century.

Danila Kozlovsky: As far as I know, Emin is a singer. Me not. But it is clear that in my project there will not be some kind of amateur-actor singing - I am now doing this professionally. Emin had a concert - he came out and sang songs. And we have a musical performance: a story about a person told in 21 songs.

Bolshoi Theater obliges?

Danila Kozlovsky: Of course! The Bolshoi Theater obliges you to a lot. But the new stage of the Bolshoi Theater - and this is where we will perform - it is more democratic and more designed for this kind of experimentation. And I am very grateful to the director of the Bolshoi Theater Vladimir Georgievich Urin, who agreed and believed in us. Because, of course, to go out and sing on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater is a kind of arrogance and audacity. I also understand that it is necessary for us to make this sound to the extent that we want to sound it, because indeed the level of preparation, our tasks and the bar that we set for ourselves is quite high, believe me.

There is clean-shaven Danila Kozlovsky with a white collar, fit and slender. And there is Danila Kozlovsky: long-haired, overgrown with a beard. We partially saw this in the films “Dubrovsky”, “Spiritless 2” and we will see this in the film “Viking”. When will this work appear, and what will it be?

Danila Kozlovsky: “Viking” is a historical drama about Prince Vladimir. There are three producers in the film: Anatoly Maksimov, Konstantin Ernst and Leonid Vereshchagin. This is a very important role for me - work on the film has been going on for about five years. I first auditioned for this role about four years ago and, after a month of auditioning, I was approved.

In the same company “Cinema Directorate”, and the same director Andrei Kravchuk made the historical film “Admiral” about Kolchak. Your theater partner Liza Boyarskaya also starred in it. What did you think of that movie? I'm asking because it seems to me that these paintings will be somewhat similar

Danila Kozlovsky: I would not now compare “Admiral” and the upcoming work, but I assure you, these will not be similar works.

I know that a new project is being prepared, where you are acting in a new capacity for yourself - a co-producer.

Danila Kozlovsky: Yes. This is the film "Status: Free", my first experience as a producer. We are doing the project together with Sergei Livnev, our famous producer, and with director Pavel Ruminov. This is a lyrical comedy with elements of drama about a breakup, about how a guy was abandoned by a girl, and he is trying to somehow cope with this and move on with his life. Pavel Ruminov is a wonderful person, a wonderful madman-romantic...

So, will there be something crazy romantic in the film?

Danila Kozlovsky: Let's see.

Cardigan, Lanvin; trousers, Tom Ford; shirt, Van Laak; loafers, Giorgio Armani; J12 Chronographe superleggera watch, black matte ceramic, steel, Chanel Horlogerie

Pants, Dolce & Gabbana; shirt, Van Laak; cardigan, Giorgio Armani; loafers, Prada; J12 Chronographe superleggera watch, black matte ceramic, steel, Chanel Horlogerie

ELLE Are you prone to self-criticism? Do you see and remember your own mistakes?

D.K. We have a profession in which, if you make a mistake, it is immediately visible - on the screen, on the stage. Critics, and most importantly, viewers simply will not let you forget about the mistake.

D.K. First of all, this is Lev Abramovich Dodin, my teacher. Valery Nikolaevich Galendeev, a great speech teacher and my teacher. These are Vladimir Menshov, Valery Todorovsky, Oleg Menshikov... All these are people with whom I am connected by much more than just acquaintance.

ELLE You named the names of people who, as they say, work in the mainstream.

D.K. I don’t divide directors and film people in general into mainstream and arthouse. I divide them into those with whom I want to work, and those with whom I may not necessarily work. Whether they are “fashionable” or not is another matter. A similar division exists in the minds of those who deal not with creative, but more with commercial issues. For example, the film “Dubrovsky,” which was generally filmed as a television series, was eventually “painted” in a thousand copies. It was shown in all cinemas, although the film could not be called a blockbuster.

ELLE Do you like Dubrovsky as a hero? Are you more of a rebel by nature, a Robin Hood, or do you exist within the generally accepted framework of decency?

D.K. Imagine, if I say: “Yes, I exist within the given framework,” everyone will shrug their shoulders: “Well, okay.” If I declare: “I am Robin Hood!”, they will answer: “Idiot.” The question is so... difficult. Whichever way you look at it, the answer is quite strange. In some situations I stay within the limits, but in others I allow myself to go beyond all these limits.

ELLE Are you interested in playing classics?

D.K. Certainly. But a lot depends on whose hands it ends up in. When these are the hands of Lev Dodin, I get cosmic pleasure from my work. Now I’m playing “The Cherry Orchard,” and this is a rare case when you regret that the rehearsal is over. Or "Cunning and Love" by Schiller. I told Lev Abramovich that I didn’t like the play, and then, two days after the start of rehearsals, I approached him and apologized for my narrow-minded assessment of the great work. Of course, classics are wonderful, amazing literature. It’s another matter when it is distorted in pursuit of incomprehensible, strange artistic goals; it seems strange and incomprehensible to me. The question arises: for what, exactly?

Shirt, Van Laak; vest, Giorgio Armani; J12 Chronographe superleggera watch, black matte ceramic, steel, Chanel Horlogerie

ELLE What impression did Keira Knightley make on you?

D.K. The most wonderful thing. She is very easy to talk to, a sweet, charming person who is incredibly easy and pleasant to work with.

ELLE What role do smells play in your life?

D.K. Absolutely everything has its own aroma. Childhood, youth, the past in general... Let's say, when I come to Moscow in the spring, this smell hits me - warm, special, and I instantly find myself in childhood. I was recently in Italy and felt the same aroma that I first smelled in 2004 - my course and I came to Italy, it was my first “abroad”. And suddenly, 10 years later, the same smell - and so many memories at once...

ELLE Chanel describes you as a true workaholic. How do you know you're ready for a role?

D.K. This doesn't happen. You can prepare forever, endlessly, and still have the feeling that you haven’t completed something. On the other hand, each role requires its own degree of preparation, depending on the requirements of the director, the time you have, the script and your own internal standards. In Legend No. 17, for example, it was necessary to be good at skating. And I mastered this activity as best I could. Maybe not as good as I would like, but it was enough for the job. And then the doubles, director Kolya Lebedev, special effects, editing helped me...

ELLE Is this such a Western approach - to do everything to “merge” with the hero? American stars lose weight, gain weight, and almost go under the knife for the sake of a role. In your opinion, is it even possible to compare Hollywood with the Russian film industry?

D.K. I wouldn't compare. Russia has a very young industry, it is only 24 years old. I start counting down the time from the collapse of the Soviet Union, when we practically lost the profession as such and began to develop almost from scratch. We have everything ahead, we are growing, I am absolutely convinced of this. The main difficulty of the Russian film industry is not technical “backwardness” or personnel, but a problem with professional culture, ethics and reputation.

ELLE Explain - what does this mean?

D.K. Sometimes people involved in cinema do not value their place or name; they allow themselves, when making mistakes, not to worry too much about this topic. You'll think, well, you made a mistake, that's okay. Even the fear of dismissal is not scary.

Cardigan, Lanvin; trousers, Tom Ford; shirt, Van Laak; loafers, Giorgio Armani; J12 Chronographe superleggera watch, black matte ceramic, steel, Chanel Horlogerie

ELLE In this case, what is a “good movie” for you?

D.K. I will be banal: a good movie is one that is successful with the viewer.

ELLE So the criterion is full cash?

D.K. And that includes the cash register, of course. I won’t flirt, I don’t regret that “Legend No. 17” or “Spiritless” collected money at the box office. But commercial success is not everything. A good movie should touch, excite, awaken something in me.

ELLE Do you have to choose between cinema and theater?

D.K. No. The main thing is to plan everything correctly. I released “The Cherry Orchard”, and now I’m working on a film project, which I produce together with Sergei Livnev and in which I play the main role - this is Pavel Ruminov’s film “Status of Freedom”.

ELLE On the page of this project “VKontakte” there are advertisements from the series: “Looking for a studio”, “Looking for an apartment for filming”, “We need people for extras...” So you haven’t found a sponsor?

D.K. We are trying to make our movie for not very much money. This is a film about love and breakups. Roughly speaking, it’s about how a boy was abandoned by a girl and he’s trying to cope with it all. In general, the film is professional, Liza Boyarskaya and I play in it, but we also bring together volunteers who are interested in this. Pasha told me the story underlying the plot about a year and a half ago. I remember we were sitting in a cafe, and I literally screamed: “Pasha, please, let’s write a script!” I’ll do everything for you - I’ll play, and we’ll find the money, just write.” I hope that “State of Freedom” will be released in theaters by the New Year.

ELLE What is your personal status - do you feel like a free person? Those who can say and do what they want?

D.K. I think this is the wrong definition of freedom - to do and say what you want. You must say and do what your beliefs, culture and upbringing dictate to you; you must be guided by principles, and not by a simple desire to speak out. If you are not afraid to say what you consider necessary when circumstances and yourself require it, then you are truly free.

ELLE And how are you doing?

D.K. It’s better to ask those who communicate with me. For some, I am a person of free views. For some - an ordinary boor. Some people think I’m stupid, uncultured, ill-mannered. But there are people who sincerely love me and value my opinion.

Photo: Maxim Aryukov

This is amazing, Danila: this is the first time we are communicating with you during the day. Previously, to record television programs, they met exclusively at night. So for some reason it fell out. I remember one day the cameraman almost fell asleep behind the camera from fatigue, and I understand him, but you were cheerful and fresh. Is this your cadet training?

More like a work necessity. The Cadet Corps, I think, has nothing to do with it.

You know, it’s hard for me to imagine you in the ranks. Do you ever feel like all this didn’t happen to you?

Certainly. After all, ten years have passed... Although I remember everything quite clearly.

You said that in the cadet corps you were a squad commander. For what merits did you receive the position?

There was simply no one to appoint. Some were expelled, others left on their own, and still others had poor discipline. The method of exclusion was prescribed.

Not because he was an exemplary cadet?

Am I exemplary?! You're kidding... That is, at the very beginning, I unexpectedly tried to become an exemplary one, but this passed pretty quickly, and the rest of the time I was a dissident, one might even say, a dissenter. And before Kronstadt, back in Moscow, my brothers and I generally did God knows what: they broke windows in the entrances, smashed stalls, bullied passers-by, and if they came across foreigners, they did not miss the opportunity to defraud them.

Wow, childish pranks.

Now I understand that these cute pranks were just a stone's throw away from serious crimes.

Were you brought to the police?

Your poor mother...

What mom didn’t go through because of us! At some point, it became clear that something urgently needed to be done with us, otherwise everything would end badly. This is how the cadet corps arose, and for some reason I immediately decided to improve, and not just improve, but become the best. I wanted to please my mother, I probably wanted her to be proud of me, and I pestered my superiors with my zeal. I came, say, to the commander and asked if cleaning was needed. “Let me,” I say, “let me wash the floor in the toilet or the officer’s sweep.” And he: “Kozlovsky, that’s enough already, calm down, go and play football.” This exemplary performance, as I already said, did not last long: after about a year, I began to be tormented by questions that, in general, it is not customary to ask in the system. Neither myself nor my superiors.

I didn’t understand, for example, why go to lunch in formation, and even with a song, if you can just get together and go to the dining room. I didn’t understand why you need to sit down and stand up only on command and not at your own request. I couldn’t find answers to my questions, and I didn’t want to mindlessly participate in all this. Absenteeism, evasion from drills, and AWOL began.

At the same time, your two brothers, the younger and the older, left the cadet corps, but you did not.

They tried very hard to get expelled. They literally did everything for this. I didn't do so well.

Why did you still stay?

Because how much is possible? Before joining the cadet corps, I changed so many schools not of my own free will, as you understand, that it would be completely wrong to add one more to this collection of deductions. Well, I probably regretted wasting my time; after all, I studied for several years.

In general, could it have turned out that you would have become a military man? Your stepfather was a military man, right?

Not the stepfather himself - his father. But when I entered, I didn’t think about anything like that. I was ten years old - what career plans could I make? I first thought about this seriously when I was fifteen, and only because commanders and family began to wonder what military school I was going to. I thought about it and decided that there was no way. Because I won’t be able to walk in formation all my life. And since my mother took me to a theater school quite early and since childhood I liked to sing, read poetry, grimace, grimace...

...then you decided that you would become an actor.

Yes. In addition, my mother is an actress, she graduated from the Shchukin School, worked at the Vakhtangov Theater, at the Mossovet Theater. But then she left the profession and devoted her life to my brothers and me.

You and your mother have a warm relationship, right?

We are friends. We can have a drink together, we can discuss topics that children usually don’t discuss with their parents. I can tell my mom absolutely everything and I know that she will understand.

Has it always been like this?

No. It came with time.

Is it the same with brothers?

We are much friendlier now than when we were children. Then everyone defended their territory, but today there is no need for this: the trilateral non-aggression pact was signed long ago.

What are your brothers doing?

The eldest, Egor, graduated from the Institute of Culture, works in a large company, and recently his daughter was born. Vanka also has a daughter, he and his family live in Vladimir.

I once talked about you with Lev Dodin, the director and your teacher, and he said: “I treat Danila tenderly, he is a little crazy in his enthusiasm.” What kind of madness do you think Dodin had in mind?

It’s probably better to ask Lev Abramovich himself about this. It’s difficult for me to talk about my madness; I don’t notice it in myself.

You once told me that you don’t throw away anything, you even keep all sorts of souvenir wrappers, boxes... Isn’t that crazy?

Maybe yes. But time goes by, I change, and so does my attitude towards some things. What reminded you of happiness a few years ago now makes you sad, and you no longer want to keep it.

What do you mean?

For example, you break up with the woman you loved. She remains a very close person to you, your relationship has not collapsed, but it has become different and will never be the same. And why remind yourself of those former ones?

A few years ago Urszula Malka was next to you - you studied at the theater academy together, then got married...

Yes, we were together, then we broke up. We still play “Warsaw Melody” together. Urshula is amazing, subtle, unlike anyone else. We are close people, but what can we do if life turns out this way?

I’m not exactly a diplomat, but I understand that life is not black and white, everything has different sides, there are many of them. I behave depending on the situation, on what I feel and consider to be true at that moment: sometimes I show patience and flexibility, and sometimes I decisively cut the person out of my life. And the fact that Urshula and I remained close people is her main merit.

Maybe you broke up because you are not yet ready for family life?

I don’t understand what kind of special training we are talking about here, and I don’t believe that someone, having met their person, will immediately begin to think hard about whether he is ready for something or not. At such moments there is no time. You just feel that this is your person, that’s all. No questions. And if they arise, it means something is wrong.

Do you think the experience of previous relationships can protect you from mistakes in the future?

I am convinced that no personal story serves as a textbook for another. Each has its own plot, its own causes and consequences, its own truth.

Tell me, are you in love now?

You know I try to avoid talking about my personal life, so I’ll keep it short: in love. And thanks to this feeling, I am in a completely amazing state.

I congratulate you. Did this feeling happen recently?

Yes. Now I believe in New Year's miracles.

Didn’t you believe it before?

I believed, but in some speculative sense: they probably happen, since they talk so much about it, but if so, then not with me, but somewhere and with someone.

You are playing in the Lev Dodin Theater - this is a closed artistic space, practically a monastery. At the same time, you act in films, your films collect millions - that is, you exist in a completely different world. It turns out to be a split: an inhabitant of a monastery and a face from the cover of a glossy magazine...

The Maly Drama Theater is still not a monastery, although it has its own charter, and quite strict one. This is my native theater, I love it madly, I don’t belong to it entirely, but that doesn’t make my existence in the profession a schizophrenic split. For me, this is a happy opportunity to live and develop diversely, without “either-or”. Lock yourself in the theater and give up cinema? Today I can’t even imagine this.

But parting with the theater for the sake of cinema is also completely impossible for me. I will try my best to preserve this, as you call it, duality, because it is not only interesting to me, but also useful. It’s clear that an actor in theater and cinema has different techniques, but it’s not just about technique: I feel how the experience gained in cinema helps me on stage, and vice versa.

Your career is going well: good roles in both theater and cinema - they are noticeable in different ways, but none of them are accidental or obviously unnecessary. Is it because you are picky and selective?

Not everything is as smooth for me as you say, and there are plenty of professional failures - at least according to my own account. When they happen, I worry terribly, I don’t know how to hide it, I can’t contain my emotions and, probably, at such moments I don’t behave in the best way. But then I somehow manage to cope with myself. After all, all these failures happen on the road, but I chose the road itself correctly, and nothing will make me doubt it.

The film “Legend No. 17” is being released about the famous hockey player Valery Kharlamov with you in the leading role. When playing a real person, and such a famous one at that, did you try to look for similar traits in yourself in order to somehow better understand the character?

I read the script avidly. I instantly fell in love with the story itself and the main character, but just in case, I decided to check with my director exactly what role they were offering me. “Why are you flirting?” - he answered. Then I told myself: I will do everything in my acting power to make the role mine. I’ll hurt myself, but I’ll play Kharlamov.

And yet about character. When you got to know your character better, what interested you most about him?

I saw him as an artist. It seems like everyone else has the same skates, the same stick, and skates the same way, but suddenly a jump on your skates, a clever dribble, and a hockey dance is born before your eyes. While playing on a great hockey team, Kharlamov also performed his own performance. He was a brilliant hockey artist, I’m not the only one talking about this - all his partners say: Mikhailov, Petrov, Tretyak. If even people who have never been interested in sports in life admire your game, it means that there is something special about you, difficult to define. And Kharlamov was admired by millions.

This “something special” is called charisma.

Kharlamov, with his short stature and absolutely non-hockey dimensions, had, of course, powerful charisma, but I think it’s not just that. He lived and raved about hockey, hockey was his main passion, and he didn’t want anything else for himself, although he was wildly greedy for life... I recognized Kharlamov from the stories of his wonderful sister, his children, who don’t remember him very well, because they were completely small when he was gone; I read books, reviewed chronicles, tried to get to know him as best as possible, but this does not mean that I can say: now I know what he was like. Of course not. Kharlamov in the film is the Kharlamov as we saw him, felt him and tried to understand him.

Danya, I have known you for a long time, and sometimes it seems to me that you are a person without skin. Or have you already acquired armor?

It is unlikely that this can be overcome. You can close yourself off, isolate yourself from the world, it happens, but alone with yourself you will still be absolutely defenseless. Even if you learn to cleverly hide it.

Tell me, do you sometimes have a desire to be alone and mope?

Of course, but how? Listen to some snotty music, watch a sentimental movie, or take it and go somewhere alone. Last summer I did just that - I flew to New York and spent a month there.

There must have been a special reason for going to New York for a month like this?

I felt that I was beginning to repeat myself, that the road I was walking on, which had previously been interesting, unpredictable, winding, turning right and left, was stupidly turning into a smooth track. Both in profession and in life. Suddenly I felt like a racer going into his second lap, and then what? Third, fourth?.. In short, I decided to change the space for a while, and at the same time improve my language. The first time in New York did not work out for me. Sometimes it even seemed that I had started all this in vain, that I had wasted a lot of time. I remember sitting at a Broadway musical and convincing myself: “Here you are on Broadway, you’re watching a musical - isn’t it cool? You like it, don’t you?” But in fact, I wasn’t cool at all, I didn’t like anything, everything in New York annoyed me: the bustle of the city, the dirty streets, the rats in Central Park. Why the hell do you think you came here? There was only a week left - and suddenly everything seemed to be transformed. The apartment that I rented for a lot of money in a fashionable area and about which only yesterday I thought that it completely sucked and wasted money, suddenly became awesome. If I went to the theater, the performance seemed phenomenal to me. I quit classes at the language school and just started walking around the city, absorbing its energy.

I wandered around the shops and bars, ordered myself a glass of wine and sat chatting with the bartender. I suddenly began to get a wild buzz from New York, from communicating with different people, from jogging through Central Park with headphones... I returned truly refreshed. It’s clear that if it weren’t for those painful three-week torments and conflicts with myself, there wouldn’t have been the last week, which was so important for me.

Have you returned and started filming again with renewed vigor?

Why?

It's simple: there were no truly interesting offers. They were profitable in a financial sense, but money, although I always need it, I will somehow earn my living, and apart from money, I did not lose anything by refusing those scenarios. True, preparations for a project that was interesting and ambitious in its artistic and technological goals began back in the fall. The most difficult historical film to produce, filming will take about a year. I was approved for the main role. They were going to start filming at the end of summer, but postponed until February. And in May, I hope, filming of the Hollywood film “Blood Sisters” based on the novel by Rachel Mead will begin in Prague.

Is it really the main role too?

What, you're not worthy? Mead has a series called “Vampire Academy”, this is a film adaptation of the first book, and there have already been six of them. They are terribly popular in the West.

Do you have hopes for a successful career in Hollywood?

I have a strong desire and there are tasks that I have set for myself. I make no mistake, I know all the difficulties that foreigners, especially Russians, face in Hollywood. I take this soberly, and then life will tell.

Tell me, have you finally got an apartment in St. Petersburg?

Our family has an apartment in St. Petersburg, I don’t have my own, but I’m still planning to move to Moscow soon, so I’ll buy an apartment here.

Why did you decide to move?

I love Moscow, I was born in it, and besides, a need arose: I began to spend too much energy and nerves on moving in space. I used to find a thrill in it, but now I don’t. It will be easier.

But you work in the St. Petersburg theater.

I am not parting with the city where my loved ones live, and I am not going to leave the theater. It’s just that new important circumstances have appeared in my life.

Are these personal circumstances?

The Listapad International Film Festival starts in Minsk cinemas on November 1. Film critic Anton Kolyago studied the program and chose 10 films that should not be missed.

The current MIFF is a good chance to get out of your comfort zone and discover new names and genres without fuss: all the winners and big hits of class A festivals have already died down in cinemas. When choosing, you can, of course, still focus on festival awards and nominations, but most of their owners will also soon end up in the Minsk box office.

Therefore, it is better to trust our selection of not the most obvious paintings, which you will not find anywhere except “Listapad” in the near future.

"Land of Honey"

Photo: imdb.com

Few people guess, but this modest North Macedonian participant in the documentary competition is one of the most titled films of the year, the absentee leader of the Oscar race in the documentary film category and, accordingly, the main blockbuster of Listapad 2019. Directors Tamara Kotevska and Lubomir Stefanov spent three years in a mountain village, documenting the life of a local resident who cares for her sick mother and quietly makes a living by beekeeping, until the family of a Turkish businessman settles next door, planning to establish commercial honey production.

The authors edit hundreds of hours of footage into a laconic, subtle and sensitive agricultural fantasy, alternating authentic landscape sketches with fragments of the main character’s personal history, the dramatic intensity and clarity of which any screenwriter would envy.

"Painted Bird"

Photo: imdb.com

Every year, the world's largest festivals show at least one film, the further reputation of which will rest on the fact that one half of the audience fled from the premiere in horror, while the second, more resilient one, received an unforgettable cinematic experience and is very pleased. At the last Venice Film Festival, such a picture was “The Painted Bird” by Czech Vaclav Margoul, although its outstanding achievements as an exploitation horror were slightly shaded by the victory of “Joker”. So, if you want to test your nerves and stomach at Listapadze, then this is the place for you.

The plot is based on the scandalous novel of the same name (the writer Jerzy Kosinski was accused of plagiarism and committed suicide due to persecution of journalists) and represents the odyssey of a Jewish boy through all the horrors of World War II. Margoul reproduces on the screen, probably, all types of torture and murder, reducing the very essence of war to just a monstrous and merciless cycle of violence.

"And then we danced"

Photo: imdb.com

The most autumnal film of the festival and this autumn in general: a gentle and thoughtful drama about love in a strict conservative society, shot in sunny orange tones. A young hereditary dancer of the national Georgian ballet meets a hooligan and charismatic newcomer from Tbilisi. This gradually destroys the hopes of the protagonist's family for their son's big dance career.

Even more simply, this movie can be described as “Call Me by Your Name” (the main character in profile even looks very much like the new Hollywood star Timothee Chalamet), which meets “Obsession” in the patriarchal setting of modern Georgia. “And Then We Danced” was also nominated for an Oscar, albeit from Sweden.

"Wild Goose Lake"

Photo: imdb.com

A gang of Chinese criminals is launching some kind of cunning special operation to steal motor scooters. Out of courage, one of the hijackers kills two policemen, confusing them with members of a rival gang. The guy goes on the run with a random acquaintance - a short-haired fatal beauty, figuring out as he goes how to make sure that the reward on his head goes to his wife, with whom they do not have the warmest relationship.

Chinese filmmakers, as is their tradition, deliver on Listapad the most thrillingly poetic noir imaginable. This year's Cannes competitor, with its urban landscapes under flashes of neon, is reminiscent of the work of either Wong Kar Wai or Nicolas Winding Refn, and the central story of a fugitive's torturous journey into the heart of darkness is Godard's classic "Breathless." That is, no matter how you look at it, it is a complete delight for real aesthetes.

"Body of God"

Photo: Bodega Films

After serving his sentence in a youth correctional camp, 20-year-old Daniel decides to become a priest. A criminal record prevents the guy from receiving holy orders, and he goes to get a job as a carpenter in a small town. Along the way, Daniel looks into the local church and, putting on a clerical collar, pretends to be a clergyman. Having made friends with an elderly vicar, the guy sometimes begins to replace him during sermons, looking for prayers on the Internet on the go, and then discovers his talent for improvisation. Soon the young preacher begins to change the life of the area, which is experiencing a terrible tragedy.

Shot in strict, muted tones, the drama by Pole Jan Komasa asks questions about what true faith is and who has the right to closeness to God. The whole dark and contradictory essence of the film is largely revealed here thanks to the performance of the young actor Bartosz Bieleny, a rising star of Polish cinema.

"Striptease and War"

Photo: listapad.com

Perhaps the main Belarusian film of this year, at least in terms of the number of prestigious international festivals attended. Andrei Kutilo's new work, which the documentarian spent four years filming, is about a retired aviation lieutenant colonel and his engineer grandson, who quit his unloved job for the dream of creating an erotic dance theater. The men live in the same apartment near Minsk, and the grandfather every time does not miss the chance to persuade his grandson to return to his usual everyday life. From their funny dialogues and other everyday sketches, a sincere story about the conflict of generations and life contradictions, familiar to everyone, emerges.

"State Funeral"

Photo: 76th Venice International Film Festival

Baranovichi native Sergei Loznitsa set an unusual record last year. The director showed one film at each of the three big three film festivals: Berlin, Cannes and Venice. In 2019, Loznitsa modestly limited himself to only the latter, presenting a new work out of competition, entirely assembled from previously never published footage of Joseph Stalin’s funeral. All scenes in the film are in clear chronological order and are not disrupted by commentary. In fact, the only authorial intervention that Loznitsa allows herself is, in some moments, voiceover music emphasizing the mood. The conceptual director leaves the rest of the grandiose and surreal documentary performance for the viewer to judge as is.

"Caution: children!"

Photo: Norwegian Film Institute

The new full-length work of the former Norwegian librarian and now budding director Dag Johan Haugerud with a plot that is important and relevant for the Belarusian latitudes is a drama about how important it is to listen to your children in order to avoid possible sinister consequences. 13-year-old Lykke gets into an argument with a classmate on the school playground. It all ends with a blow from a backpack and a severe head injury to the boy, from which he dies in the hospital. A difficult situation for schools and parents is turning into an existential battlefield, which is growing every day to almost a national scale.

"The Last Day of This Summer"

Still from the trailer

Another Belarusian film from the festival program, which is worth watching if only because it lasts only about 46 minutes, but promises to give joy from seeing the beauty of everyday life for many hours to come. This is a new film by the winner of the year before last “Listapad” Yulia Shatun and the cameraman of the film “Tomorrow” Nikita Alexandrov, who this time acts as a full-fledged co-director. In the center of the conventional (because, in fact, nothing really happens in the film) plot is Minsk tenth-grader Vadim, who spends the last day of the summer holidays the way all Minsk tenth-graders spend them: watching memes, walking with his friend along Oktyabrskaya and feeding pigeons with fries.

"Baby teeth"

Photo: imdb.com

A teenage girl suffering from a terminal illness begins a relationship with a drug dealer. The heroine's parents are shocked by this turn of events, but decide not to interfere - although strange, their daughter's first love seems to be now the only thing that gives her the strength to live on.

The film by debutant from Australia Shannon Murphy was the main outsider of the Venice competition program, but in the end it left the festival with four, albeit minor, prizes (no one else received it anyway). Murphy divides the film into chapters and miniature stories, building an emotional tragicomedy about growing up in a dysfunctional family, similar to those released every year at the Sundance Film Festival. This is also a film debut for co-star Eliza Scanlen, but you may remember her from her similar role as a 16-year-old brat in last year's Sharp Objects.

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Lyubov Arkus

Before the start. He, but not him

One day, more than ten years ago, a friend and brother brought into my smoky den, where, as always, under a green lampshade, a lot of different people had gathered, either a student or a recent graduate, a very young artist, Danya Kozlovsky. This child was of incredible beauty. But I must say that my taste has been strange since my youth. I believed at a young age that the stamp of years and dramatic (preferably tragic) experiences should mark the appearance of an idol. “Don’t hide my wrinkles, they cost me too much,” the woman said, but it also applied to men. And, even when youth passed irrevocably, preferences remained the same. Relatively speaking, Humphrey Bogart and Jean Gabin - yes, but Alain Delon and Trintignant - no.

Therefore, I rather “forgave” Dana his youth and beauty. After all, she was accompanied by genuine friendliness to the world, openness - qualities that over the years I have learned to appreciate. And also - lightness and sunshine.

“Sunny Boy,” as I called him, became an increasingly famous actor. By the age of thirty, he had already reached the status of a real star - with all the necessary entourage: the covers of fashion magazines, a huge community of fans, box offices provided with his name... He helped me a lot with the creation of the Anton Is Near Center, and therefore we often saw each other just during the period when Legend No. 17, Spy, and Crew were released in a row.

Danila Kozlovsky. Photo: Irina Shtrikh

I was told how at one of the pitchings of the Ministry of Culture, all the producers, taking turns presenting projects, invariably added at the end of the speech: “And we will have Danila Kozlovsky in the main role...”

One of the experts present at the pitching joked: “If you take the information presented on faith, it turns out that Kozlovsky needs to be cloned at least three times so that he has time to work on all the mentioned film sets...”

Everything seemed to be going according to plan, but he... broke out of the plan. Then he decided to sing professionally - and a wonderful musical performance “The Big Dream of a Little Man” arose. Then he decided to produce - and the film “Status: Free” appeared.

Now - his directorial debut.

He, but not him. Not the sunny boy I recognized him as. Not a tattered idol, trying with all his might to maintain, if not his former openness, then at least politeness and calm. A grown man who has done a great job. He hasn't decided yet whether he's happy with the result. But I was ready to share the happiness from the process.

From the transcript, I removed questions that were common. Why football? Why did you decide to become a director? What is this film for you and what is in it about yourself?

Danila Kozlovsky. Photo: Irina Shtrikh

First time. Football equalizes everyone

What is football? This is some kind of universal code for different people, different generations, different nationalities and characters.

I was a passionate fan as a child. My first match was at the Dynamo stadium in Petrovsky Park. I’m 7 years old, I’m walking alone, I see a stadium, I hear yelling. And - I followed the sound. It never occurred to anyone to stop such a little one. He walked and walked and climbed onto the podium. I saw from above: the stadium was not full, people were running around with the ball on the field. I remembered this shot for the rest of my life.

Well, then I learned to run with the ball myself. In 1998, when I watched the World Cup final between Brazil and France, I was 13 years old and I completely fell in love. This was an outstanding match.

Football, if you love it, equalizes everyone.

In England we filmed a real match. I saw fans who watch football just like their fathers, their grandfathers. These people, when they die, bequeath their subscription. They bequeath their passion.

This was not my first football in England. When I was 20, we came here with King Lear. They had just built a new arena with 60 thousand seats, and I decided that I could buy a ticket on the day of the match. I had just started earning money, I had a daily allowance, why not? It’s normal, I can afford it... I arrive by metro, the first inscription: sold out, and suddenly a man comes up to me and offers me a ticket for 250 pounds. Even now £250 is a lot, but back then it was astronomical money for me. I stumbled back, wandered around, and approached someone else. He says: 300 pounds. With trembling hands, I hand him almost all of my travel allowances, and he hands me some small piece of paper. And disappears. I am completely sure that I have been deceived, and I drag myself to the entrance. I put a piece of paper into the turnstile... And it suddenly opens! Of course, I wasn’t able to see much from where I was. But I could hear how football makes 60 thousand people sing in chorus.

Break. Learn in the field

In this film I am the director, leading actor, co-writer and producer. That is, I write, direct, act, organize production and also promote the film. It’s not enough to make a film, you need to find an audience and convince them that the film needs to be seen. Our film, both in terms of budget and ambitions, is not small. And you need to rock it, do everything right.

The best school is when you learn in the field. My first producing experience was the film “Status: Free” with director Pasha Ruminov. It was a good story, right for me. Not only because we earned money, but also because we learned a lot.

For example, this science: if you want to do something well, do it yourself. If you can’t do it yourself, delve into it and control it, don’t leave anything to chance. My partners and I manually adjusted the settings, releasing the picture. I had a good experience.

In that film, we didn’t have many resources, and we had to get out of it all the time... Then there was the second film, “On the Block,” which will be released next year. So “Coach” is already the third production experience.

When it became known that I decided to make a movie, there were some press and rumors. And immediately suggestions started pouring in: “Look at this script, look at that one.” And I suddenly realized that as a director I wanted to make that movie that couldn’t help but appear. Which is clear - it must be removed. And this is exactly the story I have with “Coach” - I couldn’t imagine that this film wouldn’t happen.

Second half. I got lucky with this story

There is a football club called Leicester City. Two years ago he performed a small miracle. The team of a small provincial town with a population of 300 thousand people, whose entire history had been hovering somewhere between the middle and the end of the standings, despite everything, won the English championship. They beat Liverpool and then Manchester United! Even those who are not particularly interested in football learned about them.

Well, what comes to mind first? Some man with a lot of money appeared, bought star players, bought a famous coach... But no, no!

The coach of Leicester was the Italian Claudio Ranieri, who spent his whole life on the sidelines, he was always overtaken. No "bought" players.

The team consisted of people, each of whom - each! - they once said: you are too small, you are too thin, you are too old, you are too slow. Everything was decided for them. You see, everything was decided for them. That they are not formatted. That they are not people, but spoiled toys! And so the coach collects them, and they create a sensation.

It was two years ago.

Wow, how lucky I was with this story! I was already writing a script when I read about them in Kommersant. I was more interested in our Russian football then. I traveled to clubs, lived with the team in Tambov, talked with football players, doctors, administration... And suddenly I read the newspaper and realized: “This film is happening right here and now!” This is my film. And the main thing here is not football, but something else.

This is the story of a dream, the story of broken people, individuals who unite and, contrary to the intended course of things, despite a huge number of circumstances, do something that no one could expect from them. Because it is very important for people to learn and receive confirmation of the most important thing in the world - you can change your life, and you can thereby change the life around you. Because other people who have also been assigned to marriage, to second class status, to outsiders - your experience will be important to them. It will change their lives too.

For me this is an important plot, perhaps the most important. It is directly related to my own experience.

"Trainer". Dir. Danila Kozlovsky. 2018

Additional time. I ran

No, don’t explain to me that I have never been an outsider in the profession. Indeed, he was not. But it was as if everything had been decided for me, too. This does not apply to the theater and to Dodin - this was and is something else. We are talking now about cinema and cinema-related publicity. Please don’t deny that it was as if I was a “project” here. Which was composed for me and without me. Everything was determined there, including the ending. Frames, formats, modules. PR-technologies. I had to, you know, conform. Not to myself and my desires, not to where my drive, my curiosity, my risk-taking and passion for new islands takes me, but to the “image of me” that they created from me, and I am only required to confirm it in each new role , in every new interview or public appearance.

If I was not an outsider, I would certainly have become one if I had obeyed these drawn boundaries. Not a project invented by me called “Danila Kozlovsky”.

I pressed the button Escape. I ran away from this “project”.

And that’s why my plot is so important to me. Football, cinema, and many other areas of our lives have become extremely technological. The factor of personality, human effort, human choice has almost ceased to have any significance. We have already begun to perceive our life as a project. And not composed by us.

But do you feel that lately this well-oiled mechanism is starting to somehow go wrong? I feel it. Some kind of wind breaks into this sealed space. More and more unexpected, unpredictable, uncalculated things are happening - in politics, in public life, and in art...

When I started doing something - singing, filming or producing a film - they were always dictating to me, deciding for me, delineating boundaries. Professional community, Facebook, which I ran away from a few months ago because of Viking.

They pointed out that I did not correspond to something. “Great role! But you played in “Crew”! How will you pronounce the word “ass” after such a role?” Yes, I’ll say it, I’ll say it... I won’t say it yet... I’m not equal to my hero in “The Crew”, I’m different and different, and I want to be different!

Staying inside a certain project, I once realized, is the worst thing. If only because projects tend to become outdated sooner or later. And you risk becoming obsolete along with it. I’m at that age when you need to run headlong, you need to make mistakes, fall, get up, run further...

"Trainer". Dir. Danila Kozlovsky. 2018

Penalty shootout. Was in the frame, was behind the scenes

Samples. Of course, I was very afraid of offending the actors. I was afraid of other people's disappointment. When you say “no” to someone, you directly physically feel this pain, I’ve been in this place myself... You have to be firm, you have to be firm, and even ruthless when it comes to the film. The main thing is the film.

Dzhanik Fayziev came to the shooting and said: “I’m asking you, give yourself pleasure. Enjoy the process." I had a director’s chair, beautiful, like in a picture, the editing director sat there, the supervisor... But I didn’t have time to sit in it. He ran like a Savraska. He was running all the time. Was in the frame, was behind the scenes.

Did I yell? And how! But never in vain. I fought for every shot. And no one was offended at me. Sometimes he took the camera - Fedya Lyass, thank God, allowed him to do this - and filmed it himself. It seemed to me at such moments: while I explain, the energy will go away.

Previously, I didn’t fully understand directors who terribly thanked the group at the premiere or in interviews. It seemed to me that this was politeness, accepted etiquette. And now, after the night block of filming, where there were 13 shifts, a stadium, Krasnodar, five cameras, huge machinery... I know now that my main gratitude is to the group. And my main responsibility is to the group.

And my main fear of failure is also because of the group. My biggest fear is that they won't like it. Because why did they put up with me then, this black plowing? And they believed me and allowed me to be a leader. Artists, make-up artists, football players, camera department...

"Trainer". Dir. Danila Kozlovsky. 2018

After the match

My ideal movie? Listen, I won't be original here. And I won’t tell you anything unexpected. I love different movies. I value in my own way: as a profession, as a skill, projects, again, built on technology - special effects, computer graphics... But this is not mine. I like the way Bennett Miller shoots - Foxcatcher, Moneyball. One of the most impressive recent films is Dunkirk. Or Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge.

But mine, absolutely mine, is classic American cinema. This is all Billy Wilder, for example, my favorite director. This is "The Godfather" and "Once Upon a Time in America". This is done with both the mind and the heart; intended for both the mind and the heart. When reason and feelings are inseparable.