Honored Artist of Belarus Vladimir Mishchanchuk - about acting profession, living a role and his dream

Honored Artist of Belarus Vladimir Mishchanchuk is one of those actors who are equally in demand in cinema and in the theater (for many years his home is the Minsk Theatre-Studio of the film actor). The mayor recently celebrated his 80th anniversary, but he is not going to rest: he continues to star in Russian and Belarusian projects and regularly go on stage. We met with Vladimir Andreevich before the play “Fake Note” – a psychological drama based on the play by Didier Caron is given to the artist by the greatest strain of mental strength, but he does not think to refer to age.

Vladimir Andreyevich, for knowledgeable people, it is the work of an actor in the theater that is the most reliable sign of quality: one on one with the audience you can not sly. Moreover, the play is complex, about the crimes of the Second World War.

- Yes, and the audience on "Fake Note" go three, five, eight times. We played it in Moscow at the Dzhigarkhanyan Theater during the Golden Knight Forum, where my stage partner Sergey Lapanitsyn received the prize for the best creative duet. Also for the role of Miller, I won the National Theatre Award. For me, the production is also valuable because my grandson Nikon Mazol appears on the stage. He is a violinist and in the play he goes out and plays Mozart - and plays very well. And he comes out in the outfit of a concentration camp prisoner, then in a civilian suit. It seems like a small role, but it helps us a lot.

- How difficult is it to live on stage, in a movie, the subject of betrayal?

- In the film “Father Minai: Partisan Legend” by Igor Ugolnikov, I play the head of a village salpo. I'm in Father Minai's squad. And then one of the traitors sniffed me out, and I smelled like smoke. And the Germans took me prisoner, and then they took me to the forest to show me where the guerrilla camp was. And I showed you... And then I went to the screenwriter and to Igor Ugolnikov and said: I do not want to stay alive after I betrayed my fellow villagers. Please kill me, please! That wasn't supposed to happen in the script. But I still convinced them, finished a little piece... I don’t know if this episode will be in the movie, but I want to believe it will work out.

- In the “Hunt for Gauleiter”, where you starred with Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, you have a very difficult role – your hero is shot by the Nazis. I was shocked by this scene and shocked by how you played a man a minute before he died.

- My student Marina Denisova, who is now a star of both Russian and Belarusian cinema, also played in this film. And when I was shot, she was on the set. I was insured by stuntmen so that I did not fall on broken glass, wire, stones. We only had one take, we can’t repeat it – the costumes will be ruined. And so the engine, the camera, started -- and the shooting went. I feel a bullet exploded on my chest, blood has already flowed through my body, stuntmen are insured, I fall and lie down. And it's like I'm at the bottom of a lake, voices somewhere far, far away: "Shot ..." Cut... Cut. I come to my senses because tears drip on me - Marina above me: "Vladimir Andreevich, just don't die!" I woke up from her words. I thought I was killed...

- And with Anastasia Zavorotnyuk did you work easily then?

- We had a few scenes and I enjoyed her professionalism. He expressed himself primarily in relation to the case, to the tasks set by the director. She was always ready in advance, always checking her props in advance. And from it came some kind of energy of kindness, warmth. Anastasia created the atmosphere of the frame, I really liked her responsibility and the depth of reading the character.

- You are in demand in Russian cinema, appear in a huge number of projects. What's the freshest thing to remember?

- Caesar on CTC. My friend Alexander Kashperov and I play two grandfathers there, without whom no events in the village can do – and they always comment on them from their point of view. He recently starred in the film “The Beat of Your Heart” with very talented young artists. He should be out by the New Year. There I am a retired engineer, and there is a tragedy with my grandson. I was lucky to work with such iconic directors in Russian cinema as Gennady Poloka, Vladimir Krasnopolsky, Evgeny Matveev, Vladimir Khotinenko and many others. Why do you always say “I” and not “my hero”? Do you live your roles that deep?

- Absolutely. I can't do that. I prepare for each role, I think through everything to the smallest detail, down to the handkerchief.

- What do you think of today's cinema? Come young artists, directors, they are good or you can murmur, what is not enough?

- It's the easiest. It’s harder to experience yourself and try to do something that really draws attention. Not only the aesthetes who watch to criticize, but also the simple spectator who goes to the cinema in order to have some catharsis happen to him. What comes from the heart goes into the heart. Every role is a piece of life.

- No, but I've been told it's over 200: in movies, theater, radio, television.

- I’m going to ask you, is there anything you haven’t played?

- I haven't played much Shakespeare. My dream, but I did not tell Alexander Vasilyevich Efremov, our artistic director, about it: I would like to play Richard III. I remember watching this performance as a student at the Vakhtangov Theatre when Mikhail Ulyanov was playing. And I will never forget the last scene, when he shook his head, the crown fell and rolled down the stairs right to the proscenium. Jin-jin-bang, stopped... And the room froze, and then a thunder of applause. I also remember how Igor Ilyinsky played Tolstoy in the Maly Theatre. He was already sick, barely saw, walked weakly, but I was shocked by how he played the death of Lev Nikolayevich and how it was decided by the director. There was a gate of birch trunks on the stage, and Ilyinsky, a small man, took eight steps from behind the scenes to the middle of the stage, stopped and began his last monologue. And the illuminator made the spotlight beam directed at him smaller and smaller, until only the face remained. At this time, the birch gates were quietly closed. And at the last moment he closes his eyes, this light goes out, the gates are closed. More than 50 years have passed, but such things are unforgettable.

- It is a shame that even bad movies remain, and theatrical productions disappear, many of which we know only from descriptions.

- Of course, it is a pity that our work is momentary, I mean the actor of the theater. Unfortunately, not all performances are recorded, not all can be returned. But what is done remains in the memory of people. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to live and work in this profession. It’s October, my anniversary was in August, and congratulations are still coming. And I am immensely grateful to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus and Minister Marat Markov, the Union of Cinematographers, the Screen Actors Guild, the Union of Theatre Workers, my favorite theater and Alexander Efremov personally, Dmitry Semenov, General Director of the Belarusian Film Studio, for the high appreciation of my work. I have enough awards, but I was awarded a gold medal named after Yuri Tarich for my contribution to the development of Belarusian cinema.

- Planning for the future?

- There is such wisdom: a person has lived a certain number of years. In different ways, everything happened, and ups and downs. And so, to sum it up, we have to look back, take off our hat, and bow low, in our waist, to the Lord God for the opportunity He gave us to experience. Looking ahead, you need to roll up your sleeves and keep working as long as you have the strength.

ovsepyan@sb.by