Leonid YARMOLNIK:

“YAVLINSKY IS ENDLESSLY SIMPLE TO ME”

Leonid YARMOLNIK:

We met Leonid Yarmolnik at Sheremetyevo-2 international airport, from where he was supposed to take a flight to Prague in half an hour. In this regard, my first question was:

— Leonid, why are you flying to Prague?

— Then, to star in Alexei German’s new film “It’s Hard to Be a God” based on the story by the Strugatsky brothers. I play the main role of Rumata.

— Have you ever filmed with Herman before?

- No, never, although we have been friends for many years.

— How did you become an actor?

— Graduated from the Shchukin School.

— When did you make your acting debut?

— It depends on what you mean by opening. If the first appearance on stage, then it happened in the elementary grades of school. I acted out pantomimes after watching Leonid Yengibarov. More professionally, I had to engage in artistic craft in the people's theater-studio named after the Lenin Komsomol in Lvov (not to be confused with the Moscow Lenkom). This theater was located at the club of trade workers, but the proximity of the trade workers to the temple of art did not have any negative impact. The Lenin Komsomol Theater, along with the famous Ozerov Theater, was the best theater in Lviv. There, my first theater teacher was the actor and director Efim Romanovich Landa, a wonderful person who went through the war.

Further theater school was in Moscow, where I came in 1971 to enter the Shchukin School. Here my main teacher was Yuri Vasilyevich Katin-Yartsev, an excellent actor, director and teacher. But in general there were a lot of fellow teachers in Shchukinsky. One of them is Alexander Shirvindt, with whom I am still friends. The other is Alexey Kuznetsov from the Vakhtangov Theater. Among the Vakhtangov students I would also mention Yuri Yakovlev and Mikhail Ulyanov, who helped me a lot with their experience. I have never met Charlie Chaplin, but the great comedian helped me a lot in mastering the secrets of our profession. I must especially say about Leonid Engibarov. I managed to meet him only once, since Engibarov died in 1972, a year after my arrival in Moscow. But I had the opportunity to see him on the circus stage many times, and I took a lot from his manner of performance.

—What do you think is the meaning of art?

— When I was young, I thought more about an artistic career, success and popularity. But over the years, we all begin to think more about the meaning of what we do on stage. No matter how much I want success, no matter what I do in cinema and television, I want to ensure that people remain human, so that they know how to appreciate such enduring values as kindness, dignity, honor, so that they know how to rejoice and do not forget how to smile . Everything I do is done sincerely, with love. I really hope that after my performances the audience wants to wake up in the morning, start working, building, creating. Art should make people's lives at least a little better.

— How do you assess the current state of culture in Russia?

— Despite the fact that Russia is going through difficult times, and has always been through difficult times, through thorns, through impossibility, through an eternal lack of money, something is always happening in Russian culture. Despite economic and political difficulties, we have constantly proven to the world that Russia is capable of producing great talents.

It seems to me that our media attract the attention of readers mainly by disseminating information about difficulties and problems. Therefore, it seems that everything in our country is absolutely worse than in others. Of course, our problems are serious. But in fact, all countries in the world have problems. Not everything is so smooth in Europe and America, but there it is not customary to shout about it at every turn.

— Traditional question: what are you working on now?

— Now I am busy mainly on television. My “Hotel” is launching on RTR in a new version. The first issue was timed to coincide with International Women's Day. It is dedicated to the enormous success of the musical "Metro". Further, it is planned to air it as a special project: once every two to three months, when a worthy occasion arises - a holiday or some date. “Blue Light” and “Around Laughter” were previously made using this principle.

The next project will be dedicated to the team of people who make Russian Radio. It will tentatively be released on RTR in May.

Then there will be a big program about “The Time Machine”. And, of course, every Friday my “Garage” - a television family game - comes out.

— Are you acting in films now? Or maybe you film it yourself? You turned out to be a very successful producer of the Russian-Italian film “Moscow Holidays”, where you also played the main role. The film was a great success with audiences, and you were deservedly awarded the Golden Aries prize as the best producer of the year.

— Now I’m only filming with Herman in “It’s Hard to Be a God.” I have an exclusive contract with Alexey for the entire year 2000. I no longer have the right to appear in any films.

— Don’t you feel drawn back to the theater?

- Honestly, no. After I left Taganka - after the forced emigration of Yuri Lyubimov - where I worked for seven years together with Vladimir Vysotsky, Leonid Filatov, Alla Demidova, I was somehow not drawn to other theaters. Yes, in fact, the Taganka Theater died already then, after the departure of Yuri Lyubimov. When the father in a family is exiled, the children will never have a stepfather to replace him. Efros is a wonderful director, but he should have stayed in his theater. The circumstances here are not aesthetic, but moral.

— How do you assess the current political situation in Russia and the unfolding presidential election campaign?

“I’m tired of politics in our country. Our political situation is extremely changeable. Many people want to implement their ideas, spend time, effort and money on this, but suddenly the situation changes dramatically, new elections are held, and all undertakings go to waste. If only some politicians could practice in other countries and give us ready-made results! We are all inevitably forced to feel like participants in some grand experiment. I always have this feeling myself. Our laws and rules of the game change all the time. I never know what I can do and what I can't do. All the time you have to go through shocks, depend on the upcoming strategy of the state, on future stupidities, and not on your own talent, experience and professionalism.

— Which of the participants in today’s election race do you understand better?

- Perhaps Yavlinsky. Although Yavlinsky and I are fellow countrymen, both Lviv residents...

- By the way, you both have officer fathers...

- Yes. But our life paths have never crossed and we do not know each other personally. By the way, I never parodied him. Therefore, I can only share my most general impression of Grigory Alekseevich. I am proud that my city has produced ten to fifteen people who play an outstanding role in modern Russian life, each in their own industry. There are also in the acting workshop. Yavlinsky is one of the most prominent political figures of our time, with his own program, with his own position. I am infinitely sympathetic to him as a principled, competent person who speaks clearly and clearly about complex things. I am attracted by the fact that Yavlinsky firmly holds his line and does not change it even in the stormiest weather. His Yabloko faction also demonstrates the stability of its position in the Duma. Here is Zhirinovsky, he changes his positions with extraordinary ease. Now he is with these, now with these. If the LDPR is football, then Yabloko is chess.

At that moment, a group of pretty girls water polo players who were flying to a competition in Greece approached us. They wanted to take a photo with Leonid as a souvenir. After a minute pause caused by filming, I asked my interlocutor one last question:

— What are your literary preferences?

- Bulgakov, Gogol, Andrei Bitov, Yuz Aleshkovsky. Yuz was with me just two days ago. He always stays with Makarevich and me in Moscow. My favorite works by Bulgakov are “The Master and Margarita” and “Heart of a Dog”.

— Bulgakov is my favorite writer, I even wrote the Bulgakov Encyclopedia. What do you like most about his works?

- Bulgakov has that fiction that is stronger than the truth. Because he is a poet. This is a very high rank. Only a few prose writers in the world can claim to be poets. Bulgakov is among them, and also Gogol. No wonder he has a poem “Dead Souls”.

Then the plane was boarded. I wished Leonid a safe journey.

Boris SOKOLOV
Doctor of Philology

Photos used in the material: Alexander BASALAEV, Lev SHERSTENNIKOV