Nikolai Fomenko and Pavel Tabakov take apart “Unprincipled in the Village” piece by piece

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Nikolai Fomenko – Pyotr Khadyakov in “Unprincipled in the Village”

I understand that everyone is here because of you, because of your hero, who brought friends to the village for his anniversary?

Everyone is here not because of me, everyone is here because of Danila Sharapov and Olga Filipuk (producers of the project – ed. note). They arranged it all, and we take the rap. (Laughs)

Are you blowing right here?

Well, we haven’t been to a pioneer camp for a long time, which is great. I don’t remember such a cast led by such a director ever getting together. But it’s good, it’s valuable. The most important thing in this business is that we have developed a pleasant deep relationship with each other, downright family. There is not a single superfluous person here. This is a rare story!

For your heroes to be in the village is an adventure. And for the film crew?

Well, look, it’s just a job. There are all sorts of expeditions, including to the North Pole. This is a very comfortable and cool place. It has been known to everyone for many, many years. I am not, but my comrades celebrated the New Year here many times.

Even after the cozy locations of the Patriarch’s Ponds there is no contrast?

I wouldn’t call them cozy. Filming at the Patriarchs is very inconvenient, because there are a huge number of people around. Everyone interferes endlessly, climbing all the time to hug, and this is a whole problem. And here – no one, we do our job productively and quickly. According to the scenario, the general abandoned the usual celebration in Moscow in a large banquet hall and decided to go to nature, to the people.

What happens to the general, why does he suddenly fall into apathy and decide to run away from the city?

People get smarter with age. It doesn’t happen to everyone. It happens that over the years they turn into complete idiots or go crazy. We see this often. And it happens that they get smarter, become kinder, softer, and this suggests that the person is not bad.

Let’s talk about your tandem with Christina Babushkina. Are you so bright and organic on the screen because you feel comfortable working together?

Let’s do it this way: all the great artists are here. In general, the acting school is very important, and in this sense we are close to Christina, she is a great great Russian actress. Come to the Moscow Art Theater and see for yourself. Therefore, of course, it is very good with her.

You filmed together for three seasons, maybe you have some joint rituals, habits, do you already know who drinks what coffee?

Listen, this is already a level 80 lap, no one flies so shallow here. All telepathically. It’s like with a wife. You already know everything, there is nothing to talk about. Depth of damage. Everything is decided at the level of interjections. These are very deep, tender, quivering, friendly relations that have long gone beyond the scope of the film.

Does this happen on all projects?

If we talk about me, then I most often do not participate in projects that are not interesting to me in terms of people. First the script, then the people. Because there is a category of artists who act everywhere, so we don’t know their names very well. And selectivity in our profession helps a lot, and it has been so for many, many years.

Then I appeal to your acting memory: which of the episodes from Season 3 of Unscrupulous did you remember the most? Tricky question.

It won’t come out all at once. First, I haven’t read any of the scripts. Because it doesn’t make much sense.

Are we working on trust?

And what? We have a wonderful Roman Prygunov (director – ed.), who, by the way, as an artist, appeared for the first time not in a film, but in the video of the Secret group for the song Don’t Tell Me Goodbye in 1991. So we have lived such a life with him, you don’t even know what it’s about.

Tell me.

No, I can’t tell you, let our children describe it later in books. It was such a scary, fun, cool life, everything was just beginning, and we managed to do a lot.

Here Tsypkin says that what is written in “Unprincipled” happened or could happen on the Patriarchs. How real does this all seem to you? Have you met similar characters in your life?

You know, this is not my hangout. Roma Prygunov and I had our own Patriarchs, and they were called differently. As they say, they created it, the Third International.

In Moscow?

Of course, in Moscow. I finally moved from St. Petersburg at the end of 1993. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the role of the Patriarchs, whom we laugh at, was played by Rublyovka. Now, as you know, the 5th echelon is already living on Rublyovka, and this is the 5th time these houses have been resold. The people who are now entering them, this is such a very difficult Trans-Urals.

Is there something about your general that you love?

It has the rudiments of humanity, and this is valuable. It’s rare to find humanity in a general. There is something to play here. So, in short.

You also had an anniversary last year. How did you not take your friends to the village?

I don’t celebrate at all, I don’t like this business. Firstly, when there is a lot of attention to you all your life, you don’t want it, you want peace.

So the attention of strangers. And you can also collect your relatives …

What for? We are already together – both yesterday and tomorrow. Why is this an anniversary? They are close because they are with you all the time.

And what, did you celebrate your anniversary on the couch?

Almost yes.

We’ve already asked everyone: no one was ready that “Unscrupulous” would become such a big franchise. You probably do too?

It’s nice that people like our work. That, in fact, is all. I would not throw a tantrum like that, this is not the 1970s, not “Pirates of the 20th Century” with 85 million views in theaters. We don’t have that many viewers right now. If 10 million people have watched it, that’s great. Now is the time, it seems to me, when you do not need to strive for absolute glory, you just need to live in pleasure. Doing your job is fun. And now what happens to us is much more important than the result that we give out. Because the result will be good anyway.

Aren’t you afraid that the image of a general can become your mask, which will interfere with other work?

Why should he interfere? This is a strange approach. Doesn’t it bother the turner that he perfectly sharpened the 3-15 diameter for the toilet drain, and then started 2-47 for the car’s front-wheel drive pulley? In the repertory theater, the artist plays 15 performances a month: Chekhov, Shakespeare, Tsypkin, and all these are different characters. How do you do that? And I studied at the institute for 5 years, my dear friends! I can teach myself. It’s a tough job, you know?

Sometimes you just want to sharpen a detail not for a toilet bowl, but a Faberge egg.

No. It is not true. The fact is that a professional artist does not want anything, believe me. This is a costly story. And this energy must be accumulated, kept in oneself, and given away in very thin portions. Who knows how to do this, he stays in the very top for a long time. Because the viewer feels very subtly when there is no energy. And with age, it is less and less, so you need to love this energy in yourself, keep it neat, not give it away just like that. Therefore, it makes no sense to grab any work, only good scripts.

Pavel Tabakov – Pasha in “Unscrupulous in the Village”

Yulia and Pasha are the most adventurous characters in The Unscrupulous. Do you have an adventurous streak in you?

I have an adventurous streak, but not for the sake of monetary gain, like our characters have. I like to come up with something with friends, to please some kind of story. And money is not so interesting.

Would you climb into the pond for something, like your hero?

If I saw something interesting, I would dive. But this would not be because of the financial component, but because of the very moment that you have to dive.

Which of the adventures shown in “Unprincipled” would you yourself never embark on?

In the third season, when he signed the paperwork to become CEO. With these signatures on legal documents, I don’t really want to embark on adventures. Breaking a finger is bullshit. We now have such a time that many arms and legs are broken, why not break a finger? And with legal cases, jokes are bad – it is not clear how it will turn out later.

In the film “Unprincipled in the Village” the action moves from Moscow to Mandrogi. How ready was your hero for such a change of location?

I think he’s ready, he’s from St. Petersburg. And, probably, he went to his grandmother in some similar village. We are on our own in creating roles, I’ve traveled, so the skills of village life have remained.

Which for example?

I didn’t break the chicken’s neck, thank God. But he milked the goat. Moreover, as a child, I did not like milk and did not really understand why I was doing it. But when you’re 5-6 years old, you don’t really know what you fit into.

How convenient is it for your hero to turn his adventures in the village?

All the blue ones are here. And it is always easier to negotiate with drunk people than with sober ones. Easier to breed.

Here the townsfolk walk around drunk, and the villagers sober.

Yes, but I don’t interact with villagers. And with the city, in three seasons I learned to manage all sorts.

You have a super action scene in the bathhouse in your script…

Not to say that she is “super action”. They just forgot me in the bath. Purely in Russian: planted and forgotten. Moreover, it was not a real bath, and the torture consisted in the fact that some garbage was burned in it for smoke.

Does your character still have some energy left to develop?

Look, we’re not the end of our journey. And then we’ll see. Creators are sitting there, they will say.

What do you think? Would you like to continue playing your character?

This team would like to.

What is unique about her?

Everything about this team is great. In the feature film, our characters finally started interacting with everyone else. Roma and I said, in my opinion, in the second season that we have a problem: each episode is just a collection of short stories, where the characters practically do not intersect with other couples. At least mine and Tarasova’s – for sure. They need to unite.

Now everyone is on the same set, and how are your impressions?

It’s a hurricane! I do not want to leave.