Vladimir Epifantsev: "I dream of filming my wife"

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

After the role of Vavilen Tatarsky in the film based on the cult work of Viktor Pelevin "Generation P", Vladimir Epifantsev, without exaggeration, became famous throughout the country. For such a turn of events, the actor, by his own vocation, was not ready. “I still feel uncomfortable when people recognize me and rush to get autographs,” he says. "It seems to me that I have not done anything outstanding yet." The filming and post-production of the picture took 5 years out of his life, therefore, speaking about the long-suffering project of director Viktor Ginzburg, the actor is noticeably nervous and chooses expressions. Nevertheless, the audience liked the picture, and the young actor himself already dreams of a director's chair. “My dream is to shoot my wife,” says Epifantsev. "This is a real talent that has not yet been clearly discerned." Now the two sons of Vladimir Epifantsev and Anastasia Vvedenskaya have already grown up a little, so it's time to implement bold creative plans.

Vladimir, your last role in Generation P eventually became the loudest and most successful in your entire career. More recently, you said that you were sorry that you agreed to this project. After such a success at the box office, has your opinion changed?

Yes, it has changed. And I'm not afraid to talk about it: unlike the others, I got this wonderful nerve called "Generation P", and I was able to reach the end, although the level of passion was sometimes critical and I really wanted to spit on everything. But I starred in a good role, which required effort from me, work of the mind, which became a serious creative challenge for me, because it was not just shooting, it was a creative scam, a leap into the unknown, but in the end it burned out. And I'm glad of that.

Blitz survey "Cleo":

- Are you friends with the Internet?

- Yes.

- What is an unacceptable luxury for you?

- Idleness.

- Which animal do you associate yourself with?

- With a dog.

- Did you have a nickname as a child?

- I don’t remember, most of the nicknames "grew" later, in my youth.

- What turns you on?

- I love good cars, I love speed.

- Are you an owl or a lark?

- Lark, but out of necessity.

What can you say about the book “Generation P” itself, have you read it? What did you think of it?

You know, it's very difficult for me to please. I'm not a fan of Pelevin, I don't like this kind of literature. Not even that I don’t like it, I don’t find anything in it for myself. She doesn't put me in. In general, I am critical of all literary works. I open the book, and everything seems to me somehow banal, very simple. Why should I read about another person's ambitions and experiences? Therefore, I prefer technical literature, analytical. Sometimes books on psychology, sacred works.

I don't think you need to read books "avidly". You can read just a line and draw the necessary conclusions for yourself. Knowledge, it is not in letters, not in texts, but in experience.

So you read a little?

Perhaps, yes. I sometimes feel sorry for this time. I’ll do a better job, I have a big family, and, thank God, there’s a lot of work, I’m not complaining. Sometimes there is no time to sleep and eat, much less read. At the moment, right from the shooting, I came to the “Generation P” autograph session at the Vegas shopping mall to support Misha Efremov and the film's director Viktor Ginzburg, and, by the way, I was very surprised that such a huge number of people lined up for autographs and many people wanted my autograph!

What is so surprising here? You are a famous and successful actor.

I don’t know, for me all this is still strange. Every time in such moments it is hard for me to believe that all these people know me, someone even likes, perhaps, films with my participation. They smile, come up, take autographs, but it seems to me that I have not done anything to make me smile, to take pictures with me. Well, yes, I am an actor, I play in films, I have such a job. We are all people with the same problems, thoughts. Desires. It seems to me that all this is very inflated around actors, stars, as they say …

That is, you don't feel like a star?

No, and I don't want to be. About fame, about being recognized everywhere, talking at every corner, dreaming, it seems to me, are notorious, vain people who need to be realized, to prove something to someone. Some complexes that come from childhood are compensated by the attention of others who point their fingers at you. This makes me feel wildly awkward, on the contrary, I want to bury myself, hide.

But you can't be an actor and not be vain, not dream of conquering the world, playing Hamlet, for example …

- What is your psychological age?

- 26 years.

- Do you have a talisman?

- No.

- How do you relieve stress?

“I’m just talking to myself, my loved ones.

- Where did you spend your last vacation?

- This year we are going on vacation in Montenegro, last year we were there - we liked it very much.

- What melody is on your mobile?

- I often change mobile phones and melodies.

- What is your favorite aphorism?

- I erected a monument to myself not made by hands …

Well, my vanity is probably measured in something else. In money, for example. A good actor gets good fees, and that's why you need to work professionally. And if someone says that I have not matured to something or that I have outgrown something, I don’t care at all, I’m not proud. I don't have such that I want to play something. Is that Jesus Christ. And that's only because I have my own version of this image, so I would love to play this character.

Otherwise, I'm not vain. I have many other interests of my own that satisfy me 100%, and there is no such thing that I would fight for the role.

Your heroes are often villains, scumbags, immoral personalities. Are you not afraid to grow together with such a role?

Well, why, I also had the role of such superheroes, as, for example, in the film "Invincible". I like that almost always I am offered the role of extraordinary, strong physically and mentally people, not squishy. In general, you know, negative characters are always more difficult and interesting to play. Now I'm filming the TV series "Escape" - it's a trash movie where I play a killer who wanted to shoot a man for money. At the same time, my task is to evoke sympathy from the viewer, to make him fall in love with me. This is such a paradox, and this is a damn interesting job. Also, a series called "Forgotten" is now in the works, where I also play a bandit, a murderer who hurts people, but does it very charmingly, and he has his own principles. And in the third project, I play the role of a reckless cop who also knocks people down, judges them according to his own right and law, but some principles of the hero of our time are built on his image. All these people are destructive, immoral, but interesting. And different. And most importantly, the viewer likes to look at these immoral people, to replay situations that have never existed in their lives. It's kind of normal.

What is a creative crisis - you know?

Perhaps not … Firstly, I have not yet had such an intense creative process. Secondly, I think that a creative crisis happens in people who work according to the system. This system limits them, at some point they exhaust themselves and become unable to produce something new. I never limit myself to frames. I start each project from scratch. Of course, I use some groundwork, but this is rather a framework, and the filling comes from the inside, from intuition. I have long dreamed of making a picture with the participation of my wife. She is a talented actress, but it so happened that due to the birth of children, she found herself a little aloof from the profession. But it has great potential, and soon, I think, we will prove it together. I hope my wife will start filming, and I will go to work in the laboratory. This will happen very soon.

Who will take care of the upbringing of the children?

They are independent in terms of education. They themselves will educate whoever you want, even more so. After all, children love to be free, they can easily distinguish what is bad and what is good. Although, for example, my two-year-old son Orpheus likes to consult with us, asking a lot of questions. And the eldest, six-year-old Gordey, prefers deeds to words.

Of course, while the sons are small, the wife is more concerned with them. But they are growing rapidly. They are already becoming personalities, and sometimes it is difficult to restrain yourself so as not to start engaging in parental guidance.

You come across as a very upbeat and positive person. But it happens that you get very tired? Hands down, no strength for anything?

In the modern world, this condition is commonly called stress. We are all under stress now. But stresses are different: just a breakdown and adrenaline stress. In the first case, it is enough just to sleep. In the second - to burn this adrenaline. Then it's either sex or the gym. I do not accept alcohol or cigarettes. And I also try not to bring myself to such a state. Everything comes from the head.

There is an opinion that actors are very impractical people: they always forget something, confuse something

Of course, when you are focused on the role, on the script - things that are important for your work, you miss something. For example, it is no longer possible to fill out an elementary questionnaire. When I make a money transfer, I can get five forms dirty while I figure out all these numbers and diagrams. But I do not scold myself and do not re-educate myself. Creative personality - what can you do …