Hollywood stories

The former Soviet filmmakers tell about their Hollywood experience in the 80-90s of the last century: director Glory to Tsuckerman, actor Oleg Tydov and others.

Oleg species: Hollywood is the concept of this: it is good to come to Hollywood when you have a film that has just been shown or which came to Oscars. This is the perfect time for the actor to appear in Hollywood, get a job. It happened to me that I got into the interior. It was hard: in the beginning I was offered a role in one film, the main role, but in this role such anger to Russia, completely not justified. In general, I abandoned this role, refused a big chance for myself. My work began, mainly work on the language. Because when you do not have English, of course, you cannot play English. In order to learn to speak the language, you need at least several years.

Igor Pomerantsev: Oleg, did your classic Russian appearance help you in Hollywood?

Oleg species: My classical Russian appearance did not help. Because at that moment, when I arrived, it was still a “cold war”, and the attitude towards Russia was very tense. For many years, mainly stereotypes of Russian characters that developed here were used: a stupid healthy idiot-head, or a bastard Kagashnik, or a complete idiot. These three categories that I have not fitted into. Moreover, they told me that I am not at all like Russian.

Igor Pomerantsev: Oleg, you already have two experiences, cinema - Soviet and American. These are two different experience, in your opinion?

Oleg species: These are two different experience. Firstly, when you shoot in your native language, this is completely different, you are like a fish in water. When you, say, do not really speak the language at the very beginning, it is very difficult. Then a huge competition here. This profession is considered elite, people who come, they are chasing this firebird.

Igor Pomerantsev: Do you like to act in American films?

Oleg species: I like to star in all films. They don’t know you here, so you start literally from scratch, and you must prove that you are a good actor, you are at the level of large actors. But I was very happy when, say, during the shooting, I starred in San Francisco in the film “A Prisoner in Time”, I played a Russian artist, and suddenly I am during the stage, I spend the scene, suddenly the whole group began to applaud-it was my victory, it was a breakthrough.

Remember St. Petersburg Ballet Lovers

“Although the ticket cost 60 kopecks, and 30 kopecks for the morning performance, with my salary about 60 rubles, then 80 rubles, this was significant, provided that I went up to twenty times a month. Ballet is opium. "

“Well, what can I say about Dudinskaya's dance? It seems that she would dance and die now. And I died every performance. Flowers on the stage began to throw fans of Dudinskaya. It was necessary to carry flowers with a risk. They took it to the Komsomol patrol. I visited there. Units were capable of this. Fans of Dudinskaya did this. ”

“We got to the point that they changed two places in the Fokinsky seventh Waltz Chopin! The poster hangs in the lobby: the opening of the 1944-45 season. The war is still going on. City in ruins. See what the repertoire was: two “sleeping”, the first with Dudinskaya, second with rustling. Two "Ivan Susanin." "Chopeniana" and "Giselle" one evening. Ulanova saluted in Gizel. "

“My favorite records” with the producer of the Hutsul musical group “Percalab” Oleg “Moss” with a vast