Alexey Balabanov: “My actors are not actors”

The director of the film "Stoker" told Elena Mukhametshina that the best era to display in cinema is from the mid-80s to the late 90s

What kind of audience reaction to "Stoker" do you expect?

I don't expect anything. It's nice when people like it, because I make films for people. If people like it, then I made a film, if they don’t like it, then it didn’t work out.

Is this film a test for the viewer?

No, it's such a quiet movie. Not scandalous at all.

The other day, Pavel Lungin said that Russian actors began to play very badly. Do you agree with him?

It depends on the director. He chooses artists for himself. If my actor plays badly, it means that I was mistaken. I know many good actors who did well in one film and badly in another.

That is, if an actor plays badly in someone else's film, you can still invite him?

I will, if he is suitable for the role that I have written. But I mostly don't shoot actors. There are only two actors in "Stoker". And in other films, mostly not actors. What, Seryozha Bodrov is an actor? No actor.

Is it true that Selyanov did not want to launch Kochegar?

Because the script was weak. I then rewrote it, and he launched it. He said the film would be short. But I know how long the film will be. And he doesn't know, because music can't be written into a script. “A man walked across the yard,” the script says. And who, besides me, knows what image, what music will be behind this.

You made films that took place in the Russian Empire, the USSR, and Russia. What time is closer to you?

I'm interested in many times. I can say that the brightest time for cinema is from Gorbachev to the end of Yeltsin's rule, when everything broke down. It's like Chicago in the 1920s. A bright and expressive time when everything broke and nothing was built.

Would you like to make a film about the 2000s?

No.