Julia Grevtsova: “A person should be interested in himself, and people who constantly need someone have a hard time”

Little is known about you: you are from Omsk, the first actress in the family, played in the Nikita Mikhalkov Theater and Cinema Center. How would you introduce yourself?

I am an actress from Omsk, I have been playing in the theater since I was 14 years old. At first, the guys from the theater studio and I were not professional actors, and then we learned, became professionals, began to travel to various festivals, from the Golden Mask to foreign ones. Now many actors from my native studio work in Moscow: Yulia Ovcharenko — at the Satyricon Theatre, Rinat Tashimov — playwright at the Yermolova Theatre.

When it’s time to leave — in Omsk, our theater was not state-owned, but private — I decided that I needed to move on and went to Moscow. I was 23 years old, and, as I was told, it’s too late to enter the theater, 23 years old — for the theater is already an “old woman”. (Laughs) But I did anyway. Konstantin Raikin and Evgeniy Kamenkovich did not take me, because I was “very professional”, for which I thank them. And then I found out that Nikita Sergeevich Mikhalkov was taking his first course for professional actors as an advanced training course. I entered him, studied, began to play in his theater. Here is such a way.

I read in an interview that one of your favorite childhood films — “Carnival” with Irina Muravyova. Do you compare yourself to his heroine? In its finale, there is such a piercing dialogue: “Nina, have you become an artist?”.

This is one of my favorite Soviet films, I watched it many times as a child. But I don’t compare myself with Nina either by type or by the structure of life. The film shows a long period of time, and my path to the cinema is just beginning, I don’t know what will happen next. But this film is very talented, Irina Muravyova — gorgeous actress.

You wrote on social networks that you are glad to meet your director, Viktor Shamirov. “Lesser evil” — this is not your first time working with him. And what was your acquaintance like?

I came to audition for the film “Directly Kakha!”, In which I ended up playing a small role. The creative producer Ruslan Khachmamuk was at the audition, I read my text, and he told me that I was very funny. The second samples were already with Shamirov, and for some reason he was very angry. By the way, I was prepared for the fact that he behaves in a peculiar way during the tests.

It seems that my tests went well, but Victor told me: “You’re just organic and charming, that’s all. You didn’t think about the depth of the role.” But, to be honest, I didn’t quite understand how to think about this role, it’s really small, and it seemed to me that you could either get into it or not. It is not clear how to put “all the pain of the Jewish people” into it. And also Shamirov — such a director, according to which it is never clear what he wants, whether he liked you and so on. He’s just a wall! My Titanic was gradually sinking, I remember walking home and crying to my friend about my tests. But Shamirov revealed an important thing for me: I really always counted on my organics during the auditions, without thinking about the role. He pointed me to this moment, and since then I have been working very carefully even on the smallest roles. And besides, it turned out that Shamirov, as the casting director later told me, immediately approved me … But it was very strange.

And then Shamirov wrote to me on the social network, asked for a phone number, and after the conversation they took me to his performance.Ladies night”, into a new composition. But before that, there was still a moment when Shamirov came up to me already on the set of “Kakhi” and asked: “What is your name?”. It was funny! But now I understand that Victor simply does not let everyone near him, and it may seem that he behaves strangely.

Was there a casting for the role of Alice in The Lesser Evil? The question is that you are very organic in her role, when I left the premiere, after which you answered questions, I heard women discussing that you didn’t seem to be out of character.

As Shamirov said after the premiere of the film at the Zimny ​​festival, when he wrote the script together with his co-author Olga Motina-Suponeva, he had in mind me. At the same time, he did not see my range, because in “Kakh” the role was small. It turns out that he relied on intuition in whether I could play Alice or not. When I read the script, I really liked it, I realized that it was definitely mine. At the pair and ensemble auditions, I didn’t see anyone else for the role of Alice, and it seemed to me that everything was clear with me. And then on the “cap” I asked Olga if there were any other contenders for my role, and she said that there were plenty of them! (Laughs)

In general, Shamirov, as a director, clearly knows what he needs. For example, on the samples of “Kakhi” the casting director asked him how much time he needed for each actress, and he answered: “30 seconds.” The girls came in and immediately left, no one could understand how he did it. But Shamirov does not look — he is listening. For him, the truth in his voice is very important.

If we talk not about speech, but about the character of the heroine — Alice and her philosophy of easy life, moving back and forth are close to you?

I wish it was, but no! Let’s move on to astrology — I’m a Capricorn, and it’s really hard for me to move. After the hostel, I moved into an apartment and have been living in it for 8 years. Until I earn my apartment, I will live here. I don’t understand why I need to move, besides, I become attached to a place. I like Alice’s easy attitude to everything that happens, it seems to me that it helps in life. But, unfortunately, I get too tired, sometimes I go into despondency and self-blame. It may seem that I am so light, but no, I have a lot of things! I feel like I’m talking like Alice now… (Laughs)

Plus, I’m an actress. It may be easier for people with a different profession to live, because there is a stable salary, and I live in a state of permanent hysteria: they approved it here, they didn’t approve it there …

Yes, we were well told about this permanent hysteria in the TV series “Actresses”.

The male actors in it are shown accurately. Still, actresses are more flexible, if they don’t have a job, they will get a job anywhere, at least in a bar, and the actors will sit, cry, drink, wait for their role and consider themselves unrecognized geniuses. Very clear!

Back to “The Lesser Evil” — Was your final monologue, very emotional, key to the film, accurately reproduced from Shamirov’s text, or was it your improvisation?

No, this is the exact text of Shamirov, because his improvisation is reduced to zero. He says: “I don’t know what kind of director I am, but I’m a very good screenwriter, so just pronounce the text as it is written.” And it is true! The monologue is written as if musically, in life I will not talk like that. But 70% of Alice’s success as a character — this is the text in which the addition of words is very important. By the way, I only had one take! This text was written long ago, long before all the events that are happening now, but it seems to me that it accurately reflects the time. Marvelous.

By the way, how do you understand these words of your heroine — that a person will always be unhappy in some way, no matter what he chooses? Do you agree with this?

I agree that if you have not made a choice and cannot decide on it, then it is difficult. Throwing between one and the other is tearing people apart, especially creative ones.

Your heroine in the film lists a bunch of bands, there are “Hadn dadn” and “SBHR”. Do you listen to these bands yourself?

Yes, I listened to a lot of bands before filming. I used to know and love “SBHR”, then I listened to “Give me a tank”, shortparis — I fell in love with them very much, even went to the concert. Nikolay Komyagin — space dude, the concert was like a performance, although he is good in clips. I also liked the Electrophoresis group. Well, “Komsomolsk” found out before the film, we met the girls, they are very talented.

What inspires you in life besides music? For example, actors often cite yoga as a way to clear their minds and look at roles differently.

Yes, I do yoga. There are periods when I do not practice, but in general I have been doing hatha and ashtanga for about 9 years. At first, these classes were about the physical condition for me to pump up, but then I realized that it was also about the head. I had a knee injury, they told me that I needed to have an operation, but my mother — she is a surgeon — said that it is better not to do it: the scalpel interferes with the body, and there is no way to return to the original state. And yoga helped me! It’s a long but work process. I also love to run. My brother lost 80 kg by running, I looked at him and also started running to keep fit. I run in both winter and summer.

Travel inspiration! I love Europe, I feel very good there, but I probably would not want to live there. I love going to museums, looking at art, meeting new people. By the way, I like to travel alone and meet new people. Looks like Alice again, but no! (Laughs) It may seem that I am a rather cold and closed person, but when I travel, I am open, so they fill me. In cinema and theater, I give, and I draw energy from trips.

Traveling alone — it’s a whole philosophy, few people understand it.

Yes, I have a friend who does not understand this. But it’s cool: when I’m alone, I go where I want, I don’t have to adapt to anyone. It seems that Tarkovsky said that modern people are afraid to be alone, but loneliness — it’s not scary. A person should be interested in himself … It seems to me that people who constantly need someone have a difficult life.

In addition, you need to get to know yourself in the same way as you would with another person.

Certainly. Many people come to this only towards the end of their lives.

Have you ever had a trip where you learned something unexpected about yourself?

Yes, I had a trip where a man left me — He didn’t die, he just left me! (Laughs) But this experience gave me so much. In that series of circumstances, I felt that I was strong and could do anything. From that moment I realized that lonely travel — it is mine.