Soloviev and Drubich love story. Revelations of the loving actress Drubich: “Russia is dead.” Tatyana Drubich in the film "Ten Little Indians"
My own director
Intellectual, encyclopedist, optimist and laugher "SAS" - Sergei Aleksandrovich Solovyov - cult director
Intellectual, encyclopedist, optimist and laugher "SAS" - Sergei Aleksandrovich Solovyov - a cult director who directed such legendary films as "ASSA", "Alien White and Pockmarked", "One Hundred Days After Childhood", "Black Rose - the Emblem of Sadness, Red the rose is the emblem of love", "Tender Age" - has been working on the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina" for more than 10 years. IN leading role, of course, Tatyana Drubich, his permanent Muse. Someday, the paradoxical and beautiful novel of Solovyov and Drubich will certainly be transferred to film: this story is worthy of a film adaptation! ...They met during the filming of the film “One Hundred Days After Childhood,” directed by 28-year-old Soloviev, and 13-year-old Tanya Drubich played the main role. 15 years age difference married man and a schoolgirl, their passionate and tender romance against the backdrop of the decline of the morally observant Soviet Empire. The girl’s parents were in “quiet horror,” but ex-wife Solovyova did not remain silent, she complained about him to the city party committee. Alas, nothing helped: in their life, as in the movies, love won! Today the venerable Sergei Solovyov declares eternal love, and Tatyana Drubich, after divorcing him, in one of her interviews could not resist a bitter remark: “Thank God, it’s all over, I’m free”... But their creative tandem continues: like 30 years ago, Sergei Alexandrovich sees no one else as a performer leading roles in their films, except for Tatiana. His immediate plans include filming ASSU-2. Just be prepared - now it will be a completely different movie!
“I MADE “ASSA” TO SMOOTH OUT THE SHAMEFUL FIGURE IN MEMORY - 5.5 MILLION FROM THE RENTAL OF “ALIENE WHITE AND SPECTED”
- Having heard that you are going to shoot a sequel to "ASSA", I, prizeActually, I was shocked and surprised: after all, it was a film of that time. What will "ASSA-2" be like?
It will be a film called "ASSA-2, or the Second Death of Anna Karenina" - a theatrical novel about how I filmed the film "Anna Karenina". Everyone from the first "ASSA" who survived will participate in it: both Bashirov and Lesha Ivanov... Among the "heroes of our time" will be added Shnur, Bashmet, Zemfira... And believe me, everyone will coexist perfectly together! That’s why we all live together in life, and nothing! It’s just as good, very friendly and loving, everything comes together on the screen.
I will, of course, still think about the name; it’s “working”. You see, I just can’t forget the words of Vladimir Dostal, once the general director of Mosfilm, who always instructed us: “Comrades, I ask you - pay attention to the names of the films!” Recently they brought me a script called “Metastases”. Tell me which one normal people will say to his friend: “Have you seen “Metastases”? Let’s go have a look! Such, they say, interesting “Metastases”!..
Regarding the filming of the second "ASSA": you know, I thought for a long time whether it was worth entering the same river twice? Once Sergei “Afrika” Bugaev brought me a wonderful draft of the script, simply wonderful! Well, really, it would seem: “ASSA-2” - well, what could be better? Everyone, even the policemen on the street, just says to me: “Why are you all driving back and forth pointlessly - it would be better if they made a sequel to “ASSY”!” But at some point I realized: you can’t do this. It is forbidden! After all, how was the first film made? All the stars, all the circumstances, the era, the people just came together, you know?
"ASSA" was filmed for three and a half months, and all this time it was winter in Yalta, and the snow fell and did not melt. As I was later told, this never happened again, either after filming or before, no one will remember. It was some very special significant time...
But on the other hand, thinking about “ASSU-2” almost all the time, I lived in my soul with one of the most vile feelings that life gave me - the feeling of a “cemetery of unrealized ideas”: what I did and what I could do. I will say this: on the one hand, my life is thrown into the trash - nothing has been done. But compared to others, we can consider that everything worked out. (Laughs).
- Is there a film in your filmography that you personally consider a failure?
Of course there is! “Alien White and Pockmarked” is a film that I love very much, which received a big special jury prize in Venice and was generally a great success among intellectuals, but only earned 5.5 million rubles at the box office. I literally went crazy with misfortune then! I remember when I came to the premiere of the film, I saw several trucks with soldiers behind the Udarnik cinema: this made me very wary.
It turned out that the organizers of the premiere decided not to upset me with empty seats in the hall and to introduce soldiers so that I would have a feeling of great success among the audience. I’ll tell you more: I made “ASSU” only in order to smooth out this shameful figure in my own memory - 5.5 million from the rental of “Alien White and Pockmarked”!
Therefore, it’s funny to me to see how today they are making such a fuss because of the 7 million received from the rental of Fyodor Bondarchuk’s “9th Company”! (To be fair, it is worth noting that the mentioned $7 million is the profit of “9th Company” in the first four days of screening! In just one week of release, including in Ukraine, Fyodor Bondarchuk’s film collected $9.8 million. - Auto.).
For example, I personally have a very good attitude towards Fedya, they even say that his picture turned out well (it cannot be otherwise, because he is not from slaves - he is a different person). But if his “9th Company” earned 7 million at the box office, that’s a ridiculous figure! 7 million at the Soviet box office were called nothing more than failure!
Judge for yourself: 460 thousand rubles were spent on the entire production of my two-part film "ASSA". It was released in April 1988, and by the end of the year the film was watched by 27 million viewers. The ticket cost 1 ruble 50 kopecks. Now calculate the final profit from this absolutely not the best box office picture! About 40 million rubles were returned! But next to me, Gaidai has always been a training genius! This is what an “unsuccessful, broken, hopeless” economy is Soviet Union!
Soviet cinematography, which was criticized for its imperfections, for its lazy cinema directors who sat and waited for Gaidai to make a film, and were too lazy to bother with others - in fact, it was a cinematography fantastic in its intelligence and economic calculations, which had as its interlocutor all spectators of the Soviet Union, without exception, of all nationalities, religions and ages. It was a movie for everyone! Andrei Tarkovsky worked for intellectuals, and everyone was waiting for Solaris to come out, and when it came out, there was a line four deep around the cinemas! And the patriots were waiting for Bondarchuk’s new film. And the grandmothers were waiting for the release of Matveev’s film, in the spirit: “Either the party card is on the table, or I love her!” Everyone went and looked at Gaidai! It was cinematography, grandiose in its success, focused on its own people, on dialogue with these people, on ensuring that everyone soviet man throughout the whole space I found my interlocutor in the cinema.
Have you noticed this thing: not a single foreigner even smiles in Gaidai’s paintings? (Screams). They don't understand! They think that we are a bunch of cretins and we have our own cretinous director!... (After a pause, in a low voice). And this is national cinema. But turning into a cretin in jeans with chewing gum in your teeth is a completely different task. Now we are solving it perfectly.
"GAIDAI SIGHED: 'YOU WOULD KNOW HOW FUCKED ALL OF THIS FUCKED ME.' I WANT TO DO SOMETHING PSYCHOLOGICAL! IN THE SPIRIT OF ANTONIONI!..”
- But who forces us to watch American movies?! And why then don’t we also force Americans to watch our films?
Understand: we are all victims of a colossal financial scam associated with American cinema. As a result of this gigantic adventure, Russia's national film distribution was deliberately destroyed. Probably for bribes. (Since I didn’t see who gave them to whom, I can’t say for sure. But I guess that’s exactly what happened). Because such an accident cannot happen, so that suddenly all of Russia - from Pacific Ocean to Baltic Sea- suddenly I started watching only American movies! Today, as a result of fooling several generations of Russian viewers, everyone is talking about the advent of the era of genre cinema - but this is all a perfectly planned adventure!
Once in Cannes I talked with the most important producer in America, Jack Valenti, whom I, being then the chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia, invited to come to Moscow. He says: “I will come if you organize a meeting with Chernomyrdin for me.” I said: "Okay, I'll arrange it!" And he arrived. Chernomyrdin, then prime minister, received us. During the meeting, Valenti had a terribly sad face: “I came to stop this outrage with video piracy! We lose so many millions every year, damn it all!”
In the evening, already slightly tipsy, Valenti said to me: “Congratulations on the beginning of a new era in Russian cinema!” And I said to him: “Why did you sit for so long and none of you twitched when, from the first day of perestroika, cassettes with your films were copied in all our grocery stores!? Why didn’t you worry about being robbed before?” - “Because before it was necessary to fill your market with VCRs. We even had an agreement with the Japanese. How else to saturate your market if you had nothing to watch on video tapes? And you watched us. At that time we needed it, and we allowed you to steal our films..."
That is, they treat us like monkeys. They did and continue to do so! Now we are allowed to have independent cinema, but have their forms, their audience, brought up on blockbusters and popcorn. We must, by this design, become the successors of this standard of American cinema. And they do it brilliantly when they release this “Night Shame” on Channel One. ("Night Watch". - Auto.). This is a completely conscious and planned brainwashing campaign, believe me!
And you wouldn’t want, in defiance of the same “Night Watch,” to create a cult movie for current generation, how did you do it in your time, filming "ASSU"?
I have never made a movie for anyone other than myself and everyone. When I made "Tender Ages" - I did it for myself and for everyone. Because I myself was amazed by what was happening, by this real story, which formed the basis of the film. After all, in reality all this happened to my son Dmitry (son from the marriage of Sergei Solovyov and actress Marianna Kushnirova, who played the main role in his film ("The Station Agent". - Auto.). And moreover... (Suddenly cries). After all, the day before the premiere, this boy, Alexei Dagaev, who played a classmate in the film and played himself, was killed. Some scumbags took him and killed him for his old sins. And on the day of the Moscow premiere of the film, the whole film crew buried him.
So you say “cult cinema”... You see, our cinema is structured differently. Same Matveev: he didn’t specifically single out “his audience” - old women who still believe in Communist Party, - and only then made his films with a focus on this audience. Our That's not how movies are made!
Vasily Shukshin was right when he said: “Tie yourself in a knot, but don’t yell in an empty hall!” I remember one day I met him at the airport when he returned, having received a "Kalina Red" main prize some kind of festival. I have never seen him so happy in my life! In one boot, drunk, drunk and crying. I say: “Vasya, what’s wrong with you? We’ll find the boot!” - “What a boot! You should have seen how they looked at my picture! How they looked at it!!! I was at eight sessions - it was impossible to enter the hall!” He was an absolutely happy man who made non-redneck films taking into account the viewer and the genre.
I’ll tell you more: in Russia there has never been a “genre” in art! Tell me, what genre is "Crime and Punishment"? What genre is "The Inspector General"? Do you really believe Gogol’s signature that this is a comedy? This is the most phantasmagoric and tragic play of the Russian repertoire! There is no concept of genre for the Slavic consciousness! Or what genre are Gaidai’s films - this most complex, almost Ionesque combination? This is our laughter at ourselves, from which the intellectual core has been removed. “Whoever bought a pack of tickets will receive a water pump!” What This?! What genre?
(laughs). One day I was just hysterical. Gaidai and I were installed next to each other at Mosfilm and often sat together in the smoking room during breaks. I was a very young director, and he was already famous. And so, I remember, Gaidai sits with a cigarette and is indignant (parodying in a gloomy philosophical tone):“You would know how much all this sickened me! Since Gaidai means someone’s pants have fallen off! Since Gaidai means someone is covered in green snot! I really want to do something. .. psychological! About unhappy love! Something in the spirit of Antonioni!..” (Laughs to tears).
I recently visited Venice with my daughter Anya and Tanya Drubich. There is, as always, a flood. We drank in some restaurant and returned to the hotel at night: full moon in the sky, all around the water is splashing ankle-deep, we are drunk and barely plodding along... And suddenly Anya (an adult girl, graduating from the Munich Conservatory, 21 years old) says: “Oh, what a pity that Gaidai died!” - "???". - “What a wonderful film he would have made “Death in Venice”!”
"TOGETHER LEO TOLSTOY AND I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO MAKE A RATED FASHION MOVIE"
- Admit it, are Antonioni and Visconti still your favorite directors?
But of course! What could change here? It is not true that films must be watched new, immediately after their release. And the greatest painting for individual viewing of all time was made here - this is “Mirror” by Andrei Tarkovsky. Try watching it with no one, not in a cinema, but alone - it will be a different “Mirror”, and you will understand my words. It is not true that Tarkovsky is not a box-office director! Lies! "Mosfilm" receives 250 thousand dollars in profit every year from the dead Tarkovsky! And all these “cash tapes” - in a year no one will even remember their names. You can't feed on this cheap movie that's on everyone's lips.
According to ratings television, we are a nation of hopeless cretins. But the situation is just the opposite... You know, one American producer, a serious, well-read man, told me: “I’ll give you as much money for Anna Karenina as you say, but I have one and only condition - this The American audience will not accept the ending!” - “Are you sick?!” - I tell him. "What you hear: Anna Karenina is very good novel with a worthless ending!" Well, who is he after this? Who are his people if they don’t understand such an ending? Who should heal whom?
We should let them slowly read Vasil Bykov, Vasily Shukshin, because life consists of other matter, and not from the chewed porridge that they offer us. There are, of course, examples of the opposite, amazing examples. For example, when I met director Peter Bogdanovich, I couldn’t believe that “Paper Moon” and “The Last Picture Show” were directed by this man. I couldn’t bring myself to believe it: well, I couldn’t He take off This!
- What are you working on now?
- (Quiet). Above "Anna Karenina". (And falls silent).
- Can you give more details...
And more details - from Leo Tolstoy! (laughs). Do you want to ask why it’s taking me so long to film it? Yes, because I quarreled to death with the producers who wanted to get a high-rated fashion movie out of my film. And they knew how to do it, but I, together with Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, we did not know. This battle has been going on for the past four months: we have been arguing about everything. In the end, I got tired of it, and I said: “Guys, it seems I didn’t hire myself to be the executor of your plans!” And he left, slamming the door.
This is an absolutely terrible element of today's Russian cinema - the so-called "introduction of producer cinema." Who is a producer in the world? A person who helps the director realize his vision. Who is the producer on the territory? former USSR? This is the same headless boss who, having hired a director, wants to realize his headless plans. And at the same time - under any circumstances - you can also earn money! Not realizing that there are things from which they make money, and there are those in which they invest money and also thank God for it.
That's why I bought the painting. This is a hell of a story: I had to get millions, buy the rights and become the general producer myself. The film is due to be released on February 2, 2007. And in it - alas! - there will be the most predictable ending to the story of Anna Karenina...
Although the options, of course, were different: director Roman Viktyuk once called me and shouted into the phone: “I found this for you! You’ll be stunned! Anna Karenina-2!” She jumped in front of a train, her eye was knocked out, her appendix was cut off, but she remained alive!...". I say: “I don’t need this!” Everything is written in the novel! No more words needed!
- Still, it’s curious why you took up the film adaptation of this famous movie. last word novel?
Because there are only a few books in the world that read like divination... You know, Nabokov, who was always very stingy and strict in his assessments, told his American students at the beginning of the lecture: “Today we will begin to talk about the best novel of Russian literature. .. Actually: about the best novel of world literature! Or Ivan Bunin, who treated the Russian word with the utmost severity, being already a laureate Nobel Prize in literature, suddenly wrote the following entry in his diary: “I re-read Anna Karenina.” God, how wonderful it is! But how terribly this novel is written! All these endless “if only”s are just barbaric! It’s terribly written!.. We’ll have to find time and rewrite everything humanly.”
This is what I’m doing now: I’ve found the time and am rewriting the entire story of Anna Karenina into the language of visual images.
Or, in this regard, I remembered this story: the legendary pianist Leo Oskarovich Arnstam was friends with Dmitry Shostakovich from the time they studied at the conservatory: then they worked together as pianists in a cinema, playing through the session, and in general they were like brothers. And every time Shostakovich wrote a new work, he sent it to Arnstam first. And so the 15th symphony was written, he sent it to Arnstam, and he looked - there was a whole piece from Mahler, note for note... “Mitenka, you probably overworked yourself! What did you send me?” - “Are you talking about Mahler?” - “This is plagiarism!” - “But, Levushka, what a pleasure it was to rewrite this beautiful music: note by note, note by note...”
"AN ACTRESS WHO IS MORE LIKE ANNA KARENINA THAN DRUBICH IS NOT FOUND TODAY"
- Anna Karenina in your film is played, of course, by Tatyana Drubich?
You know, they often ask me: “What were you guided by when you cast Tanya Drubich for the role of Karenina?” I answer: “Similarity!” For example, I really love the previous “Anna Karenina”. Because Tatyana Samoilova looked fantastically like Anna. Looks like it! It was impossible to find a more similar actress than Tatyana Samoilova at that time. Smoktunovsky looked like Hamlet. What can you do here - it looks like that's all! An actress more similar to Anna Karenina than Tatyana Drubich cannot be found today. It was the degree of her similarity that inspired me for this project.
Remember, when the first films about Lenin were made, an actor was cast for the role based on the principle of similarity (and Lenin was played by Shchukin in 1937 for Mikhail Romm in the film “Lenin in October”, and then Strauch in 1938 for Yutkevich). And after the release of the films, the entire Soviet people discussed: “Strauch plays better, but Shchukin is more similar.” As if someone had seen Lenin - no one did! But in order to shoot these films, the directors first of all needed to have an actor similar to Lenin.
When I started filming “One Hundred Days After Childhood,” I met Tanya Drubich at the casting almost immediately, on the third or fifth day. But then I searched for the lead actress for another four months: it seemed to me that “young Irina Kupchenko” was supposed to star there. But Tanya was in no way fit to be a young Kupchenka. And this irritated me, and the fact that the entire film crew constantly shoved Tanya’s photographs into my different pockets so that I would calm down. And I said: “No, look for young Kupchenko for me.” I was looking for a type. And next to me there was already a Personality that I did not want to notice because I was fixated on the type.
"Anna Karenina" is the very case when Tanya is unusually similar to the character. There is an initial “personal identification”. And I took on the film adaptation of the novel only because I already had Anna Karenina.
- Sergei Alexandrovich, why did the filming of this film last for almost a decade?
Indeed, we launched Anna Karenina for the first time in 1994: the most crisis year, the darkest times for cinema. But when I said these two words at Mosfilm - “Anna Karenina”, everyone immediately understood that this is exactly what needs to be filmed now, that this particular picture will give people at least the illusion of cinema. Initially, an agreement was signed to film a five-part television version and a two-part movie. And it was even solemnly proclaimed that this would be the last film to be closed. It was the last one to be closed. I closed it myself because I was then the chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia and did not want to paralyze all film production in the country. This was the time of the “Chubais pruning”, when the entire budget was sequestered. And if I started working on a film with 150 characters, historical settings and costumes, then all the other films around the country would have to be closed.
And now many years have passed since that moment... Suddenly I got a call from Channel One: they say, Konstantin Ernst invites me to talk about the filming of “Karenina”. At first everything went smoothly, amicably. The first casting was as follows: Anna - Tatyana Drubich, Vronsky - Alexander Domogarov, Sergei Garmash - Levin. Only regarding Karenin there was a painful choice between Alexander Abdulov and Oleg Yankovsky.
- And you chose Yankovsky, right?
For the role of Karenin - yes, Yankovsky. Abdulov plays Stiva. I couldn’t give him up completely, because Sasha is one of the most unique actors I’ve ever met, the most genuine! Sometimes people tell me: “Listen, talk to Abdulov so that he doesn’t act in TV series! He’ll ruin himself as an actor!” And I say: “Let him act wherever he wants: it’s not dangerous for him!”
- And who will be Vronsky?
We started filming with Serezha Bezrukov: an absolutely wonderful actor. He and I worked soul to soul, and I didn’t even have any small complaints against Seryozha - nothing except admiring words of surprise. But then circumstances began to develop in such a way that one job was followed by another, and the next by a third. And our schedule has gone wrong reverse side, against. And with very great sadness we parted, and I spent a very difficult time looking for a new Vronsky... And then I found Slava (Yaroslav Boyko. - Auto.) and calmed down!
I'll tell you another story related to this project. I’ve already told it a dozen times, but I’m not afraid to repeat it, it’s too funny. So, on the first day of shooting “Anna Karenina” we are all standing at the Kievsky station: Tanya in makeup, Seryozha Bezrukov in makeup. The police blocked everything off so that random people wouldn't be caught in the frame. And suddenly a man with a microphone on a long stick breaks through (it turned out to be a correspondent for some newspaper, either “Gudok” or “Zheleznodorozhnik”) and, nearly knocking out our Karenina’s eye with his microphone, shouts: “Tanya, tell me , please, do you think it is possible to call Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy a “poet” railways"?"... It was already impossible to film further that day that day: the entire film crew was literally hysterical!
Sergei Alexandrovich Soloviev Those with whom I am... Tatyana Drubich
© Soloviev S.A., 2017
© State Central Cinema Museum. Photo, 2017
© LLC TD "White City", cover design and layout, 2017
From the publisher
It was no coincidence that we started this big project in 2016, announced by the President Russian Federation The year of Russian cinema. The golden fund of Soviet and Russian cinema is one of the key layers in our history and culture. Even in difficult times for Russia, during war or difficult years perestroika, great artists, directors, screenwriters, writers and artists - cultural figures with whom our country is so rich big country, continued to create their works, to create for the benefit of our country.
The publishing house team is interested in ensuring that both modern audiences and our future generation can get acquainted with the life and work of great people who made a significant contribution to Russian culture and art.
One of the brightest representatives of cinematic figures is Sergei Aleksandrovich Solovyov - not only an outstanding screenwriter and film director, whose films have become classics of the national screen, but also a bright educator, TV presenter, and thoughtful teacher. Finally, he is also an original “cinematic writer”, a memorable memoirist. His author’s cycle “Those with whom I…” for the TV channel “Culture” was created with captivating sincerity, it is permeated with a reverent attitude towards the outstanding contemporaries with whom Sergei Solovyov’s fate brought him together on the set and beyond. His verbal portraits outstanding masters of the screen are devoid of banal features, well-known facts, they are warmed by the unique personal intonation of the author, who talks about his colleagues in art (in most cases they are his friends) freely, relaxed, ironically, but also tenderly, with mass bright details and details that are known only to him.
On the pages of each book of this project, we tried to convey the live speech of Sergei Alexandrovich, excerpts from his dialogues with the characters of the programs, his thoughts and memories of the moments spent with them. The books are written brightly and unusually, they seem to be permeated with the voices of the author and his characters, immersing the reader in a full-fledged conversation.
Our compatriots abroad, who due to various circumstances are far from their homeland, also love and remember the wonderful artists whose films they grew up watching and which they still watch. We are confident that this series of books will be in demand among our compatriots, younger generation, living in different countries, which (which is quite possible) can be learned about some cultural and artistic figures for the first time from this project.
The next books in the series will feature more prominent representatives their creative profession: Alexey Batalov, Mikhail Zhvanetsky, Oleg Yankovsky, Yuri Solomin, Isaac Schwartz, Marlen Khutsiev and many, many others.
We hope that these brilliantly written books will preserve the memory of all those living today and those who, unfortunately, have already passed on to another world. The memory of these people is our priceless spiritual heritage and wealth.
Sergei Solovyov about Tatyana Drubich
I compared my life to a string of pearls.
Let it break, because over the years I will weaken and won’t be able to keep my secrets.
Princess Shokushi, second half of the 12th century.
“With a string of pearls... Let it break, because over the years I will weaken, I won’t be able to keep my secrets”... Well, probably, if we talk about the fact that there is such a powerful tradition of composing poems in honor of women, then, I think, it would be more successful than this essay ancient Japanese princess Shokushi, no. You can’t say anything better about Tanya Drubich.
We met her a long time ago, somewhere in the early 70s. I started “One Hundred Days After Childhood,” and our assistant dragged Tanya almost on the third or fourth day to some massive teenage casting for the film. There were hundreds, hundreds of people there. And among these hundreds, such a gloomy girl sat in the corner. It was either winter or autumn - exceptionally nasty weather. And a girl sat in black leggings with her knees stretched out and looked somewhere to the side, as if not at all interested in the casting process. It was her turn. I say: “What is your name?” She says: “I am Tanya Drubich.” I say: “How old are you?” She says, "Well, I'm thirteen now, but I'll be fourteen soon." I say: “Do you want to act in films?” She says: “No, I don’t want to act in films.” This was such an amazing answer, because all these hundreds of kids who were casting really wanted to act in films. I say: “Why don’t you want to act?” She says: “Yes, I’ve already acted in films.” And I say: “Where?” She says: “At Gorky’s studio, with director Inna Tumanyan. I played the main role in the film "Fifteenth Spring". And Tariverdiev wrote the music there.”
This is where our acquaintance with Tanya began, which ended immediately. Firstly, I was very offended that she didn’t want to act in films. Everyone wants it, but she doesn’t want it. I didn't like it. And secondly, when we were still working on the script, I had in mind a very clear female appearance, which I needed in order to make the film “One Hundred Days After Childhood.”
One hundred days after childhood
I needed young Ira Kupchenko. And since I was then completely stunned by Konchalovsky’s film “The Noble Nest,” where Ira Kupchenko, very young, but still not young enough for “One Hundred Days After Childhood,” played Lisa Kalitina. And what she did at Andron’s was full of the unimaginable charm of young femininity. Something I couldn't shake out of my head. And Tanya in no way, well, did not fit this look. But the whole group really liked it. And everyone began to say noisily: “Are you crazy? There she came - Ergolina! Just what we need! Let's take it, take it quickly, grab it! We are closing all castings." I say: “No, no, no, guys... Let fate decide.” As Furikov says there in the film “One Hundred Days After Childhood,” pulling out of a hat who should play whom in the play based on Lermontov’s drama “Masquerade”: “Let fate decide.” And everyone shouted: “How, how? She has already decided. Grab her, grab her, hurry, take her quickly.” But I was a very principled young cinematic author, and I said: “Come on, guys, stop the bazaar. Stop making your life easier by any means. Look for what I said. Look for young Kupchenko.” And this search continued until some crazy times. We have already started filming the film. I, not wanting to do this, approved Tanya, simply succumbing to the persuasion of the film crew and, in particular, thanks to an absolutely wonderful test. It was made without me by the costume designer - a woman of remarkable taste and artistic talent - Mila Kusakova and cameraman Leonid Ivanovich Kalashnikov. They took a sample of Tanya in the wreath. It was all without me, all of it without me. They wanted it to finally make an impression on me.
One hundred days after childhood
But nothing impressed me except Kupchenko in the film “The Noble Nest.” And now we were already filming the film, and Tanya had already arrived in Kaluga with her mother and grandmother. And I didn't take it off. We filmed for a month, but I didn’t film her. I photographed everyone except Tanya. AND moreover, I also came up with a completely hellish thing. We filmed all the episodes very actively. And the picture seemed to be moving on its own. She's already filmed herself. But I never photographed Tanya. Because, of course, at times the profession of a director is a mean one. Because I gave a secret order in parallel with our filming in Kaluga, so that in Moscow my assistants would continue to look for young Kupchenko. And then one day, it was on my birthday - I then turned thirty years old. We went. Everything was already filmed without Tanya. Then it was necessary to film Tanya or stop the film. And in despair I went with Tanya to the decoration of the bathhouse. And on the set of the bathhouse, we began filming the most difficult scene of the film - the final explanation of the heroine Lena Ergolina with the unfortunate Mitya Lopukhin, so sincerely, so devotedly, so tenderly in love with this very Lena Ergolina.
Composer, daughter of actress Tatyana Drubich and director Sergei Solovyov Anna Drubich moved to Los Angeles three years ago. She writes music for Hollywood, raises her daughter in the USA and watches with alarm how the situation in Russia is changing: in its musical, cinematic and public life. Radio Liberty correspondent Roman Super spoke with Anna Drubich and found out how working in Hollywood differs from cooperation with Russian film studios, whether modern Russia is interesting to the American film empire, and why the fate of the heroes of “Assa” - the main film of Anna’s father, Sergei Solovyov - turned out so bizarrely.
– Anya, tell us how and why you ended up in Los Angeles?
– With Los Angeles complicated story it worked out. I was lucky: I wrote my first soundtrack for the film “Anna Karenina” and realized that I had to take music for films seriously. At that moment I was studying performing arts in Munich, playing the piano. And so I started looking at where they teach how to write music for films professionally. I found out that in Russia - nowhere. And in Los Angeles they really teach. I went to Los Angeles and started studying. I really didn't like this city. So much so that I ran away from there, returned to Germany, entered the film music department there, studied for four years, realizing during this time that all roads still lead to Los Angeles.
– Because there is no other place in the world where the film industry would be so developed?
– Yes. I went to a film festival in America, met a teacher-composer, who looked at me and said with surprise and sadness: “Why are you hanging around in Germany? Move to Los Angeles, that’s it.” I moved and re-entered the same faculty from which I had previously escaped. I graduated and stayed here. In Los Angeles they show and explain very clearly how everything can and should be in the profession. They take you to the coolest studios, introduce you to top composers, and give you great master classes. This blows my mind. And gradually you begin to think that it cannot be any other way.
– But then it turned out that things are very different in Los Angeles?
– Yes, sure. Over time, the understanding comes that there are also a lot of fairy tales here, and there are a million naive fools like you here. Everyone came to fight for themselves in the profession. The competition is terrible. And until the moment when you, perhaps, grow to your own studio in Malibu with orchestras of two hundred people who play only you, a whole life must pass.
– Well, you are quite successfully moving towards the orchestra in Malibu. I understand correctly that you are already working hard - it’s scary to say out loud - for Hollywood?
– It’s hard for me to say how successfully I’m moving. But I work for Hollywood, yes. During my studies, I met the famous Hollywood composer Marco Beltrami. He liked my music. And he invited me to work on his team. Now he and I write music for blockbusters and TV series. In addition to this, I have my own independent projects: cinema, animation, and I write a lot of music for Russia.
– Tell me, does Hollywood care about how modern Russia lives? I mean both the film industry and the public political life. In general, does the topic of Russia come up in the world's main film empire?
– No. I would say that Hollywood is a completely separate planet. It's the planet. Nothing matters here: neither nationalities, nor languages, nor accents. There is only one thing that matters here – success. On the one hand, this is a plus, it makes life easier. Before that, I lived in Germany for eight years: there it is very important whether you are German or not, your origin plays a big role. This is not the case in Hollywood at all. Everyone has the same start, the same opportunities. On the other hand, when the only currency is success, then you begin to compare yourself with other composers: if you are not doing as well as they are, then it begins to seem that you are close to collapse. And it keeps you in constant suspense.
– I understand that it’s probably not easy to describe this, but try anyway: how is music written for films? The director gives you the script to read, and you understand at the text level what the mood of the movie should be? Do you catch this mood and translate it into notes? Or what?
– There are two ways. The first way is my favorite, when, even at the planning stage of the film, you start working with the director, discussing the idea for a long time, looking closely at rough storyboards, references, writing demos for not yet existing cinema. This path presupposes your inner freedom. You have your own picture, which may later turn out to be completely different. It's a long process that sometimes turns out to be beautiful and very creative.
“But in Hollywood, this path is probably impossible.” What's the second way?
– The second way is Hollywood. Here you have the editing ready, all the producers have been quarreling with each other for a long time. They send you a version of the film, which is stuffed with someone else's music. You listen to this music and you have to understand what the producers like. Then you start to think about how you can write something original, but similar to what they have already put in the film, so as not to scare them with radically new material. And what is there to love? But this path is the most common: Hollywood films take a long time to shoot and edit, and there is no time left for music.
– Is your father, the great Russian director Sergei Soloviev, jealous of the fact that you are giving your soul not to Russian film studios, but to Hollywood? Have you ever had difficult night conversations about this?
– I can't say that I give everything to Hollywood. Most of my soul belongs to Russian cinema. I've only been in Los Angeles for three years, this is just the beginning of the journey. At the same time, I work a lot for Russia, even more in percentage terms. That's why dad isn't jealous. On the contrary, he believes that I am doing everything correctly and well. Although things didn’t work out with Hollywood myself.
– Was he invited to work in Hollywood?
– Yes, he was invited to Hollywood. But he refused, saying that he would not work in Hollywood.
- Why?
Gere was inspired by this friendship and decided that he should make a presentation for my father in Hollywood
– This is an old story. Dad is very good friends with Richard Gere. From the time when my father was the chairman of the Union of Cinematographers and directed the Moscow Film Festival. One day he invited Richard Gere to the jury, and there they became friends. Gere was inspired by this friendship and decided that it was necessary to make a presentation for my father in Hollywood. Richard gathered all the big producers in the hot summer of Los Angeles and showed them his father's film "Black Rose - Emblem of Sadness, Red Rose - Emblem of Love."
- Strange choice.
– Yes, this film seems strange to many Russians. And for Hollywood...
– Solovyov, apparently, decided to immediately dot all the i’s so that they wouldn’t pester him anymore.
– Possible, but it didn't work. The Americans watched this film carefully, clicked their tongues, shook their hands, and congratulated dad. But still they doubted: was Gere in his right mind and should he be shown to a psychiatrist? Indeed, the choice of film was, as you said, strange. Gere calmly responded to these doubts that he wanted to make a film about Pushkin in Hollywood. And only my dad should take it off. Negotiations began and a budget began to be drawn up. But suddenly one of the savvy Hollywood producers successfully remembered that Pushkin had African roots and suggested Alexander Sergeevich for the role...
– Will Smith?
– Michael Jackson.
– Michael Jackson?
– Michael Jackson.
– Is dad worried?
– Dad realized that he had to get out. So he did not become a Hollywood director.
- Anya, you say that most of You give your souls to Russian cinema. But still, you prefer to do this remotely, from the lair of the world's main competitor. Why? Is it easier for you to create while distancing yourself from a difficult country and difficult times?
– Yes, the whole world is remote now. Who cares where someone is when everything can be written anywhere and sent by email?
– It would make no difference if you were a programmer and wrote not music, but computer programs. But you are an artist, and of course geography matters. It is important to feel the environment and live it.
Over the past few years, the country has been balancing on the brink of all conceivable and unimaginable fouls.
– I think I agree with you. In addition, you always want personal contact with the director, you want to look into the eyes of the person for whom you are working. There are technologies, and there are eyes, yes. But it’s no longer so easy for me to just get out of Los Angeles. My daughter went to school here. My husband Evgeny Tonkha, a cellist, works here, he plays a lot of concerts, he can’t work remotely, you can’t give a concert via Skype. So we're stuck here. But Los Angeles, by the way, does not tolerate betrayal. If you want to make a career here, then you only need to be here. You go somewhere, check in on Facebook - that’s it, the producers have a tick in their heads: the person is not there, the person is not being considered.
– Do you consider yourself an emigrant?
– No, I do not consider myself an emigrant. I don't consider myself a person who has moved forever. And in this sense, it’s psychologically more difficult for me: I understand that I have a rear, I understand that I have a place to return to. When you have nowhere to go back, there is no turning back. It's easier that way.
– Have you become a US citizen?
– No, I didn't. I have a Russian passport. And I often visit Moscow. Every six months. I always look forward to these trips. In Russia, everything is very dear and close, despite the fact that for the last few years the country has been teetering on the brink of all conceivable and unimaginable fouls. When I call Moscow, well-wishers and advisers tell me that it’s not worth returning to Russia now. My friends are very pessimistic. But at the same time, I cannot call Los Angeles my home and a place in which I could live my whole life. Los Angeles is development, experience, industry, the world, but not home.
– Does this Russian melancholy across the ocean somehow affect you? Do you find time for reflection?
– Facebook, Skype, emails do not allow you to lose touch with reality. And then, I am not integrated into American political life, I follow the Russian one. Americans watch the American one, but they care little about the Russian one. They may know who Putin is, but nothing more: the conflict in Ukraine, Syria, Crimea is not the agenda in Los Angeles. There is a self-centered and cynical society here that is only interested in local problems: success, money and Hollywood. Russian information sites are sure that in the United States they only talk about Russia. But this, of course, is not true.
“It’s definitely not the case now.” Now there is Donald Trump.
– And Hillary. The United States is very actively preparing for the elections. In terms of energy, this reminds me of 1996 in Russia.
– Anya, you wrote the music for the series “Red Bracelets” by Natalya Meshchaninova, which is about to be shown on Russian Channel One. This series is about, to put it mildly, not the simplest and most popular topic in Russia - about childhood oncology. Was it emotionally difficult for you to write music for such a project? Or do you need to get down to work as cynically as possible and not smear your tears and snot all over the piano, otherwise nothing will work out?
They may know who Putin is, but nothing more: the conflict in Ukraine, Syria, Crimea is not the agenda in Los Angeles
– It wasn't difficult for me to write music for this project. Because the difficult and difficult topic of childhood oncology is done in this film so delicately, lightly and life-affirmingly! The series has wonderful main characters with human faces and relationships that are rarely seen on Russian television. It is impossible to tear yourself away from this film. And working for him is a pleasure.
– Yours last work is the soundtrack for Leonid Parfenov’s new film “Russian Jews”. I watched this film, and your role in it, in my opinion, is colossal.
– This job has given me a lot. And I took a lot. If you work with Seryozha Nurmamed (director of the film “Russian Jews”), all your juices will be squeezed out, but they will definitely not be squeezed out in vain. This film marked an important period in my life. In my family there was tragic event: my husband’s mother died - a wonderful woman, rare person. Experiencing this, I wrote piece of music– Kaddish (Jewish prayer), recorded it in Sony Studio. I sent this work to Nurmamed, and from this the work on the film “Russian Jews” began. I wrote a lot and densely for this project, twenty-four hours a day for more than four months. The film has complex and very talented editing, the plot changes very quickly, and the music must change along with it. All this was not easy, but I am happy that it was and is now in my life. This project is a great honor for me.
– Why are you so drawn to the Jewish theme? Are you Jewish?
– Yes. My mother is Jewish.
- Dad, definitely not.
– Dad is definitely not Jewish. And I didn’t grow up in a strong tradition. But as I get older, I am more and more interested in this topic, as you say, drawn...
– Do you like your father’s film “Assa”?
– Yes, I do.
– How old were you when this film came out?
– I was one year old when this film was filmed. When I was eight years old, I watched it for the first time.
– Have you ever thought about how bizarre the fates of the main characters of this film turned out? Govorukhin, who played a bandit, eventually joined United Russia, initiates a completely wild laws like the law on swearing. He votes for the “Dima Yakovlev Law” and, in my opinion, in some sense continues to play the role of Krymov in life. The beautiful Bananaan has matured, become an ardent supporter of President Putin and is “drowning” for the annexation of Crimea. And it seems that only Tsoi remained alive, because he died.
– You described quite accurately what happened to the heroes and the country after the release of “Assa”. Have you watched the movie "Assa-2"?
– No, I’m afraid to watch it, because I will involuntarily have to compare it with “Assa”, but this is probably impossible.
Everyone really wanted the changes sung by Tsoi, but they got what they got
– Look. I think this is a very cool movie. It's different. It is important to watch it in order to understand exactly what the “Krymovs” and Govorukhins have become in modern Russia, or, say, my mother. She, too, was a character in “Assa” and then became the heroine of “Assa-2”. And this explains a lot.
Anna Drubich, Sergey Soloviev and Tatyana Drubich– You, Anya, are the daughter of one of the most famous and beloved Russian actresses. Moreover, you are the daughter of one of the most significant Russian directors. You are squeezed on both sides by the burden of responsibility. Does it help you in life or, on the contrary, harm you?
– I am a happy and lucky person. I was born to such people. But there is another side to this. Why don't I live in Russia? Because from the very early age When I first started studying piano, I heard one phrase all the time: “Well, everything is clear with her - the daughter of Drubich and Solovyov.” All my successes, all my concerts in the Great Hall of the Conservatory were explained by my parents. I've been running from this my whole life. At the age of 17, she left to live alone in Germany, where no one knew who Drubich and Soloviev were. I myself entered everywhere, received grants and prizes myself. Outside of Russia, I can do all this more easily. Because in Russia, no matter what happens to me, I will hear this phrase again and again: “Well, everything is clear with her - the daughter of Drubich and Solovyov.”
– But your career didn’t start without your dad’s help?
Well, everything is clear with her - the daughter of Drubich and Solovyov
– Dad's help was enormous. But it was completely random. For as long as I can remember, I have always composed music. One day I was strumming the piano while my dad was finishing work on the film “About Love.” He heard me strumming and said: “Listen, how cool, I just need something like this kind of crap for a movie. Can you come to Mosfilm tomorrow? I’ll play parts of the film for you, and you’ll strum some more.” And so it happened. Then he encouraged me to write music for Anna Karenina, quite for selfish reasons. All the composers with whom he then wanted to work asked for large advances. And so he needed to film the ball scene, he needed a waltz! Composers were racking up royalties and would not undertake to write music without a contract. My father came to me angry: “Listen, well, you’re my musician. You play Chopin. Write me a waltz, huh? What’s it worth to you? You need an easy waltz, Chopin, easily turning into Prokofiev. Well, something like one-two- three, one-two-three." Of course, I twirled my finger at my temple, but I wrote a waltz.
– What did you do before film music?
– She was involved in performing arts. She was a pianist and played concerts. But I was always drawn to inventing music. I once went to visit composer Isaac Schwartz for the summer. We walked through the forest, listened to music, ate ice cream and talked. Schwartz, who by that time had written music for a hundred films, told me in passing: “Anh, get the concept of “film music” out of your head. There is no film music in nature. There is simply music, and it either sounds or is silent.” It was a great time. I'm happy that I ended up in the cinema.
– Let’s imagine that you were ordered music for a film about modern Russia. What will you write? What music starts playing in your head when you think about Russia in 2016?
Modern Russia- it’s such a complex and unpredictable mix of everything you want
– Diverse. Modern Russia is such a complex and unpredictable mix of everything you want. Most likely, it would be experimental music: Karlheinz Stockhausen mixed with Nikolai Baskov and Grigory Leps. But we will, of course, have to look at the person who ordered this soundtrack. I would immediately refuse dull conceptualism. And interesting experiments always make me excited.
– What are you writing these days? Now that we’re done with the interview, what kind of music will be playing in your room?
– Now I’m finishing the music for the film “Ke-Dy” based on the story by Andrei Gelasimov - collaboration with rapper Basta. I’m also working on music for a big historical drama. I'm writing my album of songs. In parallel, there are several animation projects. So there will be a lot of music.
Famous theater and film actress and at the same time a successful endocrinologist Tatyana Lyusenovna Drubich is, without a doubt, an outstanding phenomenon in our cinema. Her bright and extraordinary images and genuine natural beauty still do not leave viewers of different generations indifferent. Being the wife of the famous film director Sergei Aleksandrovich Solovyov, she was and remains his muse for decades. His book, based on the film about Tatyana Drubich from the series “Those with whom I am...” for the TV channel “Culture”, is imbued with a reverent attitude towards the outstanding contemporaries with whom fate brought the author together on the set and beyond. His verbal portraits of outstanding screen masters are devoid of banal features, well-known facts, they are warmed by the unique personal intonation of the author, who talks about his colleagues in art freely, relaxed, ironically, but also tenderly, with a lot of vivid details and details that are known only to him.
On May 31, the Mikhailovsky Theater will host the premiere screening of Sergei SOLOVIEV’s film “Anna Karenina”. At a press conference in ITAR-TASS, the director, together with the leading actress of Anna Karenina, actress Tatyana DRUBICH, spoke about how the film was made.
“I’m not involved in commercial cinema from the commercial end,” said Sergei Solovyov. — “Anna Karenina” is the first novel by a Russian silver age, and not at all a reason for a benefit performance. I hate the “popcorn” aesthetic. When the viewer is mocked with the help of special effects, shooters and farts, this is not art.
When I was making the picture, the shadow of the greatest Russian artist Mikhail Vrubel hovered over me all the time. He made the most brilliant illustrations for Anna Karenina. There are few of them, but this is an infinitely beautiful page of art. Tarkovsky, whom many consider an aesthetic gentleman, also made commercial films. Now his films cost 200 thousand euros.
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Painful losses
The day after the press conference passed away People's Artist USSR Oleg Yankovsky, who played the role of Karenin in the film.
About Yankovsky’s role in the creation of the picture, Solovyov said:
“We started discussing the picture with him ten years ago. Yankovsky was its powerful “engine”. He brilliantly played the charm of Karenin's tragedy.
To the question, what is the main theme of the picture? Soloviev replied:
— The phenomenal image of Karenina, played by Tatyana Samoilova, shone before us all the time. But we were not going to repeat ourselves. Anna played by Drubich is different.
In Tolstoy's novel, the main thing is Anna's love for Vronsky. And the terrible price that was paid for it. Drama. But happy loves doesn't happen. My own life experience only confirms this rule. But, as you can see, Tatyana and I work together.
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Laconic Drubich
Tatyana Drubich said about her attitude towards Karenina:
— I first read the novel at the age of fifteen. The most interesting Anna Karenina is Tolstoy's. She is the most correct and accurate. It is impossible to see from someone how to create this image. Anna Karenina is enough for a long time and for all actresses. Her soul is an abyss. You can only spy on yourself, in your soul. The most difficult thing for me was to love Karenina. For me, the only value in love is to love yourself. In life, I am a romantic, passionate person. I don’t know how to ask and refuse. And I understand how happiness right choice three things: the person nearby, the business and the place where you live.
REFERENCE
There are about thirty film adaptations of Anna Karenina in the world. The main roles were played by Greta Garbo, Vivien Leigh, Alla Tarasova, Tatyana Samoilova, Sophie Marceau.
Vladimir Nabokov called Leo Tolstoy’s work “the best novel in the world.”
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