Conflicted with his father, criticized his brother and 8 other facts about Andrei Konchalovsky

Konchalovsky started his career with Andrei Tarkovsky. Then they were talked about as a brilliant tandem. Proof of this is “Rink and Violin”, “Ivan’s Childhood” and “Andrey Rublev”.

Read the full biography of Andrei Konchalovsky on Thevoicemag.ru.

Konchalovsky’s current wife, Yulia Vysotskaya, is 36 years younger than her husband. She had to endure the negative attitude of Andrey’s relatives and friends. But she wasn’t the only woman in the director’s life to be wary of those close to her. According to the director, his relationship with women faded due to the fact that they were not accepted by relatives. Only my mother cordially received all her wives in the house and did not allow herself to criticize them. Later, Andrey found out that about one or another of his girlfriends, his mother said, “Well, this one won’t last long.”

If Nikita Mikhalkov in his memoirs emphasizes in every possible way that he did everything himself and never used his parents’ connections, then Andrei Konchalovsky does not hide the fact that he entered the conservatory because Professor Lev Oborin was his mother’s friend, and at VGIK because his mentor Mikhail Romm was, according to the director, from my mother’s company. In his memoirs, he wrote that he perceived elite life as normal.

Describing the relationship with his brother, Konchalovsky says they are comrades-in-arms in life, but opponents in politics. According to the director, Nikita romances Russia and is nice to her. Andrei himself says that he respects his homeland, but is not happy with what is happening. He points out that he calmly criticizes his brother, despite the fact that Nikita never allows herself to publicly criticize him.

Andrei Konchalovsky, whose biography contains many interesting stories, recalled how in 1943 the phone rang in the apartment and his father was urgently summoned to the Kremlin to see Stalin. Mom started ironing a shirt and cleaning her father’s tunic, and Andrei was given the task of polishing his boots. According to the director, he tried so hard that he even coated the soles with wax. For his work, he received a slap in the back of the head, and his father had to go to the Kremlin in old boots.

In his memoirs, Konchalovsky writes that from the age of 16 his voice became similar to that of his father. He enjoyed it. He called the administrators of the theaters in the capital, introduced himself as a father and asked to leave him some tickets. One day he called the Bolshoi Theater. The administrator handed the phone to Sergei Mikhalkov, who at that time was in his office. According to the director, there was a big scandal. How old Andrei Konchalovsky was at the time of the incident, he did not specify. The teacher also admitted to forging his father’s signature in the school journal.

Konchalovsky writes that his family cannot be called exemplary. The mother was responsible for raising the children. And, according to the director, she was not very successful. She could both punish and caress her sons, but they still lacked attention. Konchalovsky recalled that his mother was constantly absorbed in creativity and writing, and his father hovered somewhere in towering heights and was rarely at home with his family.

Andrei Konchalovsky, whose films are now known far beyond the borders of Russia, recalled that he had problems during the production of the first feature film, The First Teacher (1965). A tape based on Chingiz Aitmatov’s work was filmed in Kyrgyzstan. According to the rules established in Soviet times, he first had to be accepted by the local party authorities. It was only after their approval that the film was sent to Moscow for censorship. The Kyrgyz party leadership did not like the picture. The rulers of the republic got the impression that the local population there is shown savage. Aitmatov had to surrender to the secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Suslov. He already had a letter from Kyrgyzstan stating that Andrei Sergeevich Konchalovsky had made an ideologically vicious image. Suslov told Aitmatov that if the Kyrgyz were not savage there would be no need for a revolution, and he approved of the tape’s release. The film received several prestigious awards at international film festivals.

In 1970, the director released the film “Uncle Vanya”, based on the play of the same name by classical playwright A. Chekhov. The film contains both black and white and color scenes. Some critics considered this an original artistic decision by Konchalovsky. In fact, he started shooting on Kodak film. It unexpectedly ended in the working process, and in the USSR they did not produce color film of suitable quality. And the director had to settle for a black and white Kodak to complete the picture.

Andrey Konchalovsky is a director known for his unconventional approach to filmmaking. He recalled that for the film “The Story of Asya Klyachina, who loved but did not marry” (1967), he decided not to look for professional actors, but for ordinary people. As the director recalled, in Suzdal he held tests for amateur actors. During the selection process, he heard the voice of an electrician who said he could do better. Konchalovsky invited him to show what he was capable of and explained the situation to the electrician: “I owe you three rubles, but I don’t return it to you.” According to the director, the electrician grabbed him by the collar so that he immediately believed in his acting talent. So Gennady Egorychev got the role of Chirkunov.

Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky said he only became close to his father after his mother died. Before that, he says, they often argued. The director recalls that his liberal views often became the basis of discussions with Sergei Mikhalkov.

Read the full biography of Andrei Konchalovsky on Thevoicemag.ru.