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Director Nikolai Kaptan: We'll have to flush a mountain of stereotypes about Makhno down the drain.
Komsomol'skaya Pravda: Kiev | 3 August, 2005 | by Andrei Sokolovsky
| Vladimir Dostal' and Feliks Kleiman, two famous Russian producers acting on behalf of Russian television network NTV, have commissioned a Ukranian team to start work on a television mini-series about bat'ka Makhno. Production is proceeding full steam ahead, day and night, and not only at the Dovzhenko film studios. The film crew is rather mobile:
today there're shooting a scene on the streets of Kiev, tomorrow they're off to capture the feather grass steppe around Zaporozhye. All of this makes it difficult to catch these guys for an interview. Nonetheless, on one fine evening, amid screams of "Motor!", a Komsomolka correspondent was lucky enough to ask the film's director Nikolai Kaptan a few questions. THE BUTYRSKAYA PRISON WILL BE BUILT IN KIEV Komsomol'skaya Pravda (KP): Nikolai Nikolayevich, why did you choose this difficult topic? Are you a civil war history fan? Nikolai Kaptan (NK): Actually, I've never really been interested in this time period before. Didn't even wonder about transpired. But when I started reading the script, I got totally carried away. The thing is that communist ideology, in my opinion, simply didn't know how to fight such an outstanding personality as Nestor Ivanovich. Due to this, the soviet cinematographer ridiculed him consistently and purposefully, carefully crafting the image of a crackpot bandit with exclusively mercantile aims. In reality, Makhno was a rather multifaceted person, a philosopher. KP: What was, in your opinion, the gist of his philosophy? NK: To keep it brief and simply, it was about the idea of "malaya rodina" (little homeland), where everyone lives the good life in peace and is confident about tomorrow. KP: Do you speak of the famous Gulyaipole? NK: Yes, it was precisely the Gulayipol'skaya anarchist republic that became an attempt at turning Makhno's dream into reality. KP: So does this mean that you'll shoot some of the footage in Gulyaipole? NK: A las, no. That scenery in that area's changed too much over the years. It's too modern-looking. Factory smokestacks, electricity lines -- these days it's simply impossible to genuinely reproduce the scenery of long ago. We found some land that looked much more like real thing did back then, just outside of Kiev and Dnepropetrovskaya oblast' (district). Although we are "building" the Butyrskaya prison at the Dovzhenko studios. A "STAR" ACTOR WOULD ONLY GET IN THE WAY KP: Should we assume that this motion picture will be full of stuntman tricks? NK: Ofcourse! It'll include horse-based stunts, sword fighting, gun fights -- all as it should be. After all, it's a war film. KP: What about clothing from the period, costumes? I bet you need a lot of those, since you aim for historical accuracy. NK: We make the clothes ourselves, we sew them. We have specialists who meticulously study each little detail of the task at hand. Furthermore, we're using some authentic objects from the Civil War period. For example, swords, medals and objects from daily life. KP: Are you casting any famous actors? NK: Believe it or not, no. Mostly Ukranian artists, but a few Russian ones as well. Nestor Makhno's played by Pavel Derevyanko, a much sought-after actor in theatrical circles. He himself is from Taganrog, although his roots are Ukranian. Pasha has a lot of theater experience and he has a good feel for the character. In order to play the role of Makho, Pavel turned down several interesting Moscow-based projects and came to Kiev instead. KP: But still, it's kind of strage: a historical drama about such a fascinating person, yet you're not casting even one widely known actor. Are you trying to save money? NK: Everything's much less complicated than that. You see, every "star" comes across as an already established perception by the viewer. For example, I heard that they'd like to invite Gerard Depardieu to play Taras Bool'ba. But I already associate Depardieu with, among others, Obeliks! So while I try getting around to percieving him as our Taras Bool'ba, I'll be 20 minutes into the film. Here we have the most difficult of films, if only because we seem to be the first ones trying to show a screen version of Makhno as he really was! We're going to have to take a lot pile of stereotypes about Makhno and flush it down the toilet. No, a "star" actor will only get in the way of this task. We want to submerge the viewer in the aura of those times, in the aura of Nestor Ivanovich himself. BY THE WAY Viktor Prikhod'ko, the General Director of Dovzhenko film studios, confirmed the "makhnovchina" budget to be, "something around 2 million in American money." The film's expected to debut in April of 2006 [written in August 2005, the film's now late]. Although, we [Ukranians] won't be the first to see it, since, understandbly, those who commissioned the film will see it first, in other words, the viewers of the Russian television network NTV. In the words of [General Director] Prikhod'ko, the mini-series about the life of Makhno will be seen in the Ukraine as well, if some homegrown network decides to purchase it. PERSONAL FILES Nikolai Nikolayevich Kaptan, film director. Born and raised in Kiev. Born in 1964 to a military family. In 1995 he graduated with a Film degree from the Karpenko-Karogo university which specializes in theater. He's filmed tv series like "Love is Blind" (8 episodes) and "Thank you for everything" (12 episodes). Mr. Kaptan is maried with 2 children. |
 Pavel Derevyanko as Makhno. Incidentally, in 1918 bat'ka was only 30 years old.  "Bat'ka Makhno on the streets of Kiev" Front page headline |