“The governor could not play all the roles.” Interview with director Andrey Bogatyrev about “Umalta Gold” Director Bogatyrev: Governor Degtyarev did not star in the movie “Umalta Gold” due to the schedule 03.28.2024, 07:56

— Tell us about your new movie “The Gold of Umalta”: How did this project come to you? How did the idea of ​​filming such an unusual scenario for our cinema arise?

— Initially, the idea came from the governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Mikhail Degtyarev, who wanted to veil the true story of the robbery and loss of gold in the Khabarovsk Territory in 1917. Later, this story was turned into a screenplay by the wonderful writer Olga Pogodina-Kuzmina. I liked the style and decided I could bring this story to life.

— Are you completely satisfied with the final result? If not, why and what are you not completely satisfied with?

“I am almost never completely satisfied with the result.” I understand that we have made a unique and interesting film, but it is up to the viewer to fully evaluate it. As a writer, I can’t appreciate this enough.

closed

one hundred%

Press service of director Andrey Bogatyrev

— How do the events in the film match the real story that happened at the beginning of the 20th century?

– I can say partially. We were doing a kind of work of fiction, most of the characters were invented, so I would call it a film “based on the events of those years”. But I don’t think it’s that important, we just like to put “based on true events” in the credits. But I still insist that this almost never happens in movies.

— Tell us about the casting: How was the casting of the roles in “The Gold of Umalta” like? What do you usually pay attention to when watching casting calls?

— Some roles were already written for specific actors. For example, the role of Chagin was written for Alexey Shevchenkov. I don’t really like casting, I prefer to call artists I’ve worked with before. We worked with Artem Tkachenko on “Vampires of the Central Zone” and it seemed to me that he could represent the image of the arrogant Daletsky.

We worked with Alexander Samoilenko in the movie “For Palych” and the movie opened up a very interesting comedic direction for me. I also managed to work again with Wolfgan Czerny and the wonderful artist duo Ivan Kupreenko and Dmitry Khasis, who work perfectly together; For me they are like the new Shirvindt and Derzhavin of their time. But Sophia Ernst was a discovery for me.

— Shooting took place in the Khabarovsk Territory, what are your impressions of the region?

– These are incredibly beautiful places! It made me happy to review them and I hope that our film will give impetus to tourism in these magnificent places. Now it’s time to discover our huge country. Generally speaking, Russia has almost everything you could need to shoot almost any movie.

— It was originally planned that one of the roles in the film would be played by the governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Mikhail Degtyarev. How did you arrive at this and why wasn’t the idea eventually implemented?

“This idea has almost been implemented, but the governor still has a very difficult schedule and cannot play all the roles. So we decided we should let everyone do what they do best: The actors represent the characters in the movie, and the governor handles the affairs of his district.

— In one of your interviews, you said that you would focus on Soviet adventure films while shooting “Umalta’s Gold”. Which movies inspired you? Can you name your favorite movies in this genre?

— “White Sun of the Desert”, “A Stranger Among Strangers, A Stranger Among a Stranger”, “The Elusive Avengers”, “Slave of Love”. Of course, our film was also influenced by the films of Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone.

closed

one hundred%

Press service of director Andrey Bogatyrev

— Today, many directors are inspired by Soviet films. Why do you think?

— Soviet films almost always turn into a serious conversation with the viewer. This is not a product: it is truly a work of art. In my opinion, all these Western, capitalist expressions do not suit our culture; “product”, “director”… We have a feature film, we have a multi-part feature film, we have a production director. Our culture is still a reflection, not an attraction.

— What other events in Russian history would you like to film?

— I am very interested in the fate of Peter the Great. I have been studying him for many years and one day I would be happy to do something about this great and controversial man. It contains many answers to why we are the way we are. We are currently working on the sequel to the movie “The Red Ghost” – the action will take place in 1812, so now we are studying this period of our history.

— And if you were conditionally offered to direct three classic works of Russian literature, what kind of books would they be?

— I dream of filming Victor Pelevin’s novel “Chapaev and Emptiness”: I have been re-reading the book for many years and clearly imagine how it could be filmed. In my opinion, Mikhail Lermontov’s “A Hero of Our Time” is incredibly cinematic and Tarantino-esque. I would also be interested in doing something from Dovlatov’s work.

— Which films of Russian and world cinema influenced you as a director? Are there any paintings you’re ready to review?

— As a child, I loved two movies: “Lone Wolf McQuaid” starring Chuck Norris and “The Diamond Arm” starring Yuri Nikulin. In terms of number of views, these two movies are at the top of my personal list. I still have a few dozen movies that I watch almost every year. Our favorites are mostly Zakharov’s “That Same Munchausen”, Daneliya’s “Autumn Marathon”, Mikhalkov’s “Kinfolk”, Solovyov’s “Assa”, Balabanov’s “Brother” and “War”. Western films include films by Tarantino, von Trier, the Coen brothers and Roy Andersson. The list could go on, but I’ll list the main ones: “Pulp Fiction”, “Taxi Driver”, “Tootsie”, “Amadeus”, “Scarface”, “Melancholy”.

closed

one hundred%

Open film studio “Lendok”

— Which genres do you particularly like as a director? So is there a genre you would never take on?

– I actually don’t care what genre it is. Every film is an attempt to say something, to experience something, and it can be in any genre. Moreover, there are not many dramatic schemes. Even at first glance, the different Star Wars and Dune are similar in many ways; Even though they are different worlds, the type of hero is the same. I would call the genres that will dress history clothes. There is a human story that is important, and it is not actually that important what kind of “outfit” he will be in.

— What is the most important thing in a script for you as a director?

— The most important thing in a script is what it is written for. I call this the internal plot. For example, when analyzing the movie “Terminator”, we understand that we can look at the external plot, such as who is chasing whom, who is running away. However, the main image of the film is shaped around the question of whether a person can change his destiny, and everything in the film works towards this question in one way or another. Even the Terminator turns into an image of death by pursuing the heroes.

—Which of your directorial works so far would you call your favorite?

— Currently this is the painting “Red Ghost”. He managed to embody many things: there was freedom to create one’s own language, there was inspiration, and there was working with like-minded people. Many things came together in him. You know, for this to work, it’s not enough to be professional and know what you want, or even feel what needs to be done. You also need the stars to align – I call it the God factor! After all, it happens that even excellent directors who absolutely know how to make a great movie still fail at something. Sometimes, on the contrary, everything comes together and the result is a truly great movie.

— What is the job of a director for you? To what extent is the director the creator of a film project? What do you think is its main mission?

— Above all, we love directors who have a worldview and their own perspective on the world. Quentin Tarantino, Woody Allen, Federico Fellini, Nikita Mikhalkov – all these are individuals, not just craftsmen. They don’t just tell stories and entertain, they ask philosophical questions, they make the audience empathize, they create their own world… For me, directing means creating your own film language in which you speak to the audience. The main task of the director is to create this language and draw people into his world through the film.

closed

one hundred%

Open film studio “Lendok”

“There are almost no world premieres left in our cinemas today. However, domestic cinema has become even more active. Do you think that eventually the general repertoire becomes impoverished?

— In some ways, yes, because we lost some Westerns. But on the other hand, maybe we finally have an incredible chance to create our film market, to instill in our audience the tradition of going to our cinema, to respect it again… So, let’s say, to create our own genre. and trends. We make movies no worse than in the US, and in some places even better. I think Soviet and Russian cinema is in the top five in the world. We also had the opportunity to watch films from other countries, which is also very important: Fortunately, there are Chinese and European films, not American ones… We have become better at watching world cinema.

— Among your latest projects is the series “Vampires of the Central Region”. Why do you think viewers loved the series so much?

— When something enters society, into the audience, it almost always means one thing; People get to know themselves there and fall in love with characters that are real to them. On the one hand, the heroes of the film are vampires, and on the other hand, the audience recognizes our time, place and species. This series draws you into its world and enters into a kind of dialogue with reality, as if these vampires live somewhere next to us. In general, I can say that the golden age of our series has now begun. “House Arrest”, “The Child’s Promise”, “An Ordinary Woman”, “The King and the Clown”, “The Monastery” – serious and strong statements that I think will eventually become classics of Russian cinema.

— In an interview, you said that you wanted to make a horror movie with a Russian national flavor. What kind of movie will it be?

— I want to develop such a genre as Slavic horror in Russian cinema. In my opinion, we have an incredibly interesting and comprehensive mythology, and we still use it very superficially. Now it’s time to discover something new or, on the contrary, something old and unexplored. I wrote the script for “The Red Oak Hut”, a mysterious story about a witch, as well as a big fantasy story based on Slavic mythology.

— Five of your films have been released in the last few years. How do you manage to do so many projects in such a short time?

— A few years ago, when I didn’t have much work, I really missed filming, so I’ve had a lot of fun in recent years… I won’t hide, maybe I exaggerated a little, but it was an incredible adventure.