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A hodgepodge of geese, people...[1]
Express Gazeta (Express Paper [yep, a tabloid])
16 August, 2005
Russian original: http://www.eg.ru/Publication.mhtml?PubID=7099&Part=62
..in a new series about the tragic life of bat'ko Makhno.
The 12 part historical drama "Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno" went into production just outside of Pereslav-Khmel'nezckiy. Anna Slu, the actress playing one of the main heroines of the series, talks to us from the set.
| WHO'S PLAYING WHO? AS: Our Makhno is Pasha Derevyanko. I play the role of his second wife Galina Kuz'menko. My real life husband, Daniil Belykh, plays Makhno's companion-in-arms Fedos' Shusya. While preparing for the role, I read the memoirs of Galina, Makhno. This woman shook my world. Very strong personality, stronger than Nestor himself. Only a wife like her could hold a grip on this man. She was not merely his spouse, she was his most dedicated friend and comrade-in-arms. For this role I had to change my hair color from a natural blond to a brunette. When I saw myself, I was horrified. The boys were also quite serious about getting ready for the shoot. Danya (short for Daniil) worked out at a gym regularly. I didn't work out and regretted it later when I had to hold a mauser [a type of pistol] in my hands -- it's so heavy! Pasha worked out as well. Plus he studied local speach patterns, developing a Ukranian accent. WHO'S FILMING? AS: We have an incredible director, Nikolai Kaptan. He's easy to work with. We immediately found a common language. On the set, he can explain what he wants from his actors in literally two or three words. Ofcourse, there are some difficulties but with such a "helmsman" one understands that all is surmountable. The second [assistant?] director is his wife Ol'ga. For me these two are an ideal example of the possibility of combining art and family life. HOW IS IT BEING FILMED? We're working with authentic decorations. Homestead utencils, furniture -- all borrowed from the local regional-study museum. Even found a house, that remained in tact from those times. The costumes are also mostly genuine. As far as makeup, the actresses are almost not wearing any. The male actors, on the other hand, the "makhnovzci", receive wrinkles, 5 o'clock shadows, tans. It's a unique occassion when the men take more time than the women. The action takes place on the farmstead and the set designers were able to totally recreate the look and feel of the period. Besides people, the set employs the entire array of barnyard animals -- pigs, cows, chickens, geese. It's impossible to count all the cats and dogs, there're so many. Lots of scenes when we're on horseback. The animals categorically refuse to listen to us! No, they're not aggressive but they walk wherever they feel like. They can easily leave the shot. At the same time, the actors don't want to admit that they're unable to handle them, and they try to pass it off as though they directed the horses themselves. But seriously, Kaptan is trying to make a truthful motion picture about the famous anarchist, without any sharp [ideological] accents, without blaming or flattering anyone. The main idea is to acknowledge that this happened in [our/ukranian] history and to deliver verifiable facts to future generations. Viewers will decide who was right. We'll be able to view the film approximately 1 year from now. |
 ON THE SET OF THE SERIES: the entire population of a local village participates  MAKHNO AND WIFE: genuinely believed that they're fighting for a just cause  BLOODY PAGES OF RUSSIAN HISTORY: shown in the film without "niceties"  SPOUSES/COMPANIONS-IN-ARMS: in this union Galina was the leading and guiding force |
1. a play on a line from a famous 19th century Russian poem, Borodino by Mikhael Yuryevich Lermontov. it describes Russia's fight against Napoleon's invading army and goes [very very roughly] more like "A hodgepodge of horses, people" [please excuse the extremely poor unpoetic translation of this phrase]. The Russian original of the poem is online here as of October 2005: http://lermontov.niv.ru/text/lermontov.pl?86#n6