Evgeny Banifatov is a Russian theater and film actor. He has a huge number of roles in Russian cinema, but the TV series Molodezhka brought him fame, where he played the captain of the Titan team, striker Igor Drozd. And today the guest of our new issue is the kind and sincere Eugene!
MARIA: The premiere of the film "Look at me" has already taken place, with which I congratulate you! The film is actually very interesting despite the fact that it is very youthful. How do you evaluate this film and your role in it. How close is this image to you?
EUGENE: This is an interesting job.
It is interesting because I know who created it and what ideas and goals were pursued. When I looked at the result, it seemed to me that, yes, it could be. This is the first work of the director and producer - this is their first experience. The film was made for very little money. Let's just say we plunged into the world of cinema without the classic story - sawing money. The main idea of this film is to try to show our simple everyday life.
MARIA: In fact, there are many small characters in the film, but they are key ones and they are really bright. I watched this movie specifically in preparation for the interview. I was interested in your role. Yes, this is the line, so as not to reach the farce. In this sense, I was amazed, how can one become a memorable character in two or three appearances in the frame for thirty seconds ?! Did you have friendly relations with the film crew? Has anything new come into your life?
EUGENE: Nothing new.
We have known most of the team for many years. On the set, we did not intersect, since there were two main characters - these are young and unknown guys who tried their hand at the role for the first time. The guys were very neat and looked good. And we came to the site and left. There were two or three days of shooting. Later, when I watched on the screen, I was surprised that I knew many actors. The director and producer of this project are my good friends. Therefore, I did not have a moment of dating and grinding on the site. We had our own good atmosphere.
MARIA: Since you and I went on new projects, what else is new in your projects?
EUGENE: Just completed work on the Talisman project.
Such a comedy project with Mikhail Bashkatov. He is my partner and we are two operas with him. This is not "Streets of Broken Lanterns", but such a comedic work. We are two such losers, everything doesn’t work out for us, and then magic bursts into our lives - a witch, who for her own reasons helps the opera, my assistant, and we begin to climb the career ladder and reveal interesting cases. There will be ten short episodes in total, which will be released on the Internet platform. When exactly it will come out, I can not say yet.
MARIA: Regarding cinema, I wanted to ask you this question, given that everyone is now going to the Internet, at least fewer people watch TV channels, how do you feel about this and what is your opinion about cinema? Will he switch to Internet platforms or does he still need television?
EUGENE: Television, as for me, is dying in large cities.
It is still strong in the regions. There are official statistics about this. If something is removed, then with a focus on the regions. Since Moscow watches more online cinemas, the Internet is oversaturated with various projects. The viewer has a huge choice and therefore projects for the Internet are invented one more sophisticated than the other. And it really makes me happy. Finally, some kind of rivalry has appeared, because if we upload some ordinary series about cops, then simply no one will watch it. Some new things start to be introduced and rivalry begins. Therefore, by going to the Internet, you can stumble upon some good project. I recently watched the Chiki project. This is a very good and worthy Russian series. I watched it with great pleasure. A huge number of my acquaintances actresses play there: Varya Shmykova, Ira Gorbacheva, and this is a really good project. And what is created for television is all in the old school.
MARIA: In essence, all the series that have been recently: “Youth”, “Zaitsevs”, “Voronins”, “Happy Together” - they are all background. You always get some comedic roles. When did you start on the path of an actor, how do you see yourself?
EUGENE: I am a kind person - this is probably one of my main pluses or minuses, probably such a given.
And pay attention to this fact. John Osborne in the play Look Back in Anger said that kindness is the most difficult feeling, because it takes a lot of strength. This is true and, perhaps, due to the fact that I try to live according to my conscience, not to cross someone's boundaries, to smile, to be friendly, that's how they see me, probably. And accordingly, they give me such roles. Of course I want to play the villain! This is just a pain in my heart! Personal and acting should not be mixed. We basically started with this, that this era of streaming series is finally starting to end. It pleases me! Because you come to the casting, they look at you and immediately say that you are a kind man or a brother of a kind man, and how you play there - good or bad, the main thing is that you fit in height and open your mouth on time. It sort of fell into place like this. It was already such a knurled mechanism. Finally, from those projects that I watched on the Internet, I did not see a single extra actor, I did not see any blogger getting into the engine, because they no longer fit by type. Therefore, the ensembles are so cool that you look and think - this is cool!
MARIA: I agree with you! This is very pleasing! Tell me, how did you decide to become an actor, at what point? Was it a dream or did it happen spontaneously?
EUGENE: This profession has found me.
All my life I have been doing something creative. I'm from volgograd. I am from such an area, and plus there were still 90s, that a normal job is needed for a kid. Dancing is good, but where does the money come from? That's why I chose my profession. I really wanted to become a doctor, namely to be a surgeon. Even though I studied very well, I always gave myself a mindset that if I wasn’t smart enough to go to medical school, then I would go to a pastry chef. Therefore, I did not think about theatrical. Although we have the Volgograd VGIK - this, in my opinion, is a branch of the Moscow VGIK, one of my good friends studied there. I came there to her because I graduated from school as an external student and I had a lot of time. And I began to go to college with her. During the year of my trips there, everyone already knew me, even the teachers. I was just a free listener there, but I participated in some sketches, and it was very appropriate for me to be there. And they told me, you don’t need to go through anything, you come and do it. And I really didn’t need anything, much less go there. I had a friend who studied at the Saratov Theater Institute, where Tabakov and Mironov studied. He arrived and began to invite me to Saratov to his institute! And in my life I have never even left Volgograd anywhere, what kind of Saratov is there! He insisted, he says, let's just go, and then we'll see. I came home, took five hundred rubles from my mother under the pretext that the guys and I were going to the Volga and we needed to fill up the car. She gave me these five hundred rubles, I collected some things there, and we hitchhiked from Volgograd to Saratov. I did! On the same day, when I found out that I was enrolled, I called and told my mother about it, on that day she had a birthday. And then there was Shchukinskoye! I decided to change the situation, see Moscow and bought a one-way ticket. Standing on the platform, waiting for the train, I met my friend, who was also going to Moscow. Every year she tried to enter the theater, but it did not work out. And, getting into the carriage, she tells me that let's stay with me in Moscow, and I will act, otherwise I'm bored alone, and you will walk with me. We start casting, and she says: “This is my most successful year, you are like a talisman for me.” Because she had competitions everywhere and at the same time I also had two competitions in VGIK, in Pike, in GITIS. So I ended up in Pike, went there to become a master, but, as it turned out, I was mistaken as a master, he didn’t deal with us from the word at all, and in the second year he left us. But we were nevertheless raised by a wonderful teacher Pavlenkova Natalia Nikolaevna, and under her guidance we completed our studies.
MARIA: After all this, how did you get into cinema here?
EUGENE: I was already a little scientific and, in principle, I simply skipped some sections at the institute, which, of course, annoyed the teachers, because I was lazy.
I went to auditions, took care of myself and tried to find a good agent.
MARIA: What is your first film work?
EUGENE: The first job happened in the second year.
It was for the NTV channel and this is such a not very pleasant job for me, I don’t like to talk about it. And from my first pleasant works, this is probably the Zaitsevs.
MARIA: Are you currently playing in the theater in Moscow?
EUGENE: Not in the repertoire now.
I'm like a guest artist in a theater in the Southwest. I returned to Gogol, because I love him very much. Just at some point I realized that I was very tired of everything and my work does not bring me pleasure. I was very busy with various projects and probably ran out of steam. I realized that I give a lot of energy to something that is not clear. Very tired mentally. And I put myself before a choice - either I leave the profession, because it starts to bother me, I read roles and I understand that this is complete nonsense, and I need to do this through force in order to earn money, or I think of something else. And I started organizing holidays and events. First as a leader. Then his own small office appeared, he began to win small tenders for holding events. This is what feeds me. So I took a break from acting. And then projects began that were really interesting. My colleague and I came to the premiere of The Gamblers based on Gogol at the theater in the South-West, and I was stunned. For the first time in my life I saw a production based on Gogol, as I imagined it in my head, and I adore Gogol! Because I don't understand when Gogol is considered a classic - he's crazy! After all, a normal person would not write Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka! Gogol - he is a dissident, with devilry! And I come and see this show! Just on a small stage, chamber theater! I was so impressed that I was choking! I went out and thought: how I would like to play in such a production! I just thought that I really want to play in such a production and six months later they call me from this theater with an offer. The same director puts on "Little Tragedies" based on Pushkin. And I ended up playing Amadeus Mozart in Little Tragedies. And after a while, our director approached me with an offer to play in Gogol's "Players". And it was just incredible!
MARIA: I heard a lot of good reviews about this theatre! Many say that they would not exchange this theater for any other, because it is something special!
EUGENE: I think that his main success is intimacy.
All the actors are very good there. When you come and see the work of an actor - it's impressive!
MARIA: What is more valuable in terms of experience for an actor and what is more important for you personally - is it theater or cinema?
EUGENE: I like the theater more.
No matter how paradoxical it may sound, I love cinema no less. But, as it seems to me, an actor can develop only in the theater. Trying to communicate with the director, trying to collect all this is interesting, but in the cinema it's different. There you need to know the laws of cinema very well. In simple words, on the set you have less time for all sorts of experiments. You have to experiment at home and already come to the site with a lot of experience. And in the theater you have the opportunity to talk, discuss, argue and quarrel. In this, some important things are born, from which the viewer takes his breath away.
MARIA: When shooting a film, you have a lot of takes in reserve, but when you go on the stage of the theater, you don’t have this. How exciting is it for you theater actors or do you not feel the audience from the stage, and you are completely in the game?
EUGENE: These are two completely different stories.
The viewer in the cinema is one thing, and the viewer of the theater is another. So that it doesn’t seem that the movie is so easy and simple, because there are duplicates, then this is not so. Cinema in this sense is harder, because in the theater I go on stage and go like clockwork until the end of the performance. And in the cinema you go into the frame and just chaos begins - locations, emotions change, and you do not have time to get used to your hero and feel like him. It's very hard. And you don’t have the opportunity to sit with the director for four hours to discuss all the details, try to play them differently. You have to go out and do it, because the set is very expensive.
MARIA: Which Russian actor comes first for you?
EUGENE: I really like Khabensky.
I like the work of Khabensky. None of his work that I know of was done poorly. I like the way he works and his position in life.
MARIA: And from foreign ones?
EUGENE: I can't say, because I don't really understand their cinematography system.
I don't understand their power consumption. Therefore, I turn into an ordinary viewer, who has only one measure - like or dislike.
MARIA: When you want to watch a film, do you choose foreign films or ours?
EUGENE: Foreign, but with great curiosity and ours.
I like the ones that evoke emotions.
MARIA: I can't help but ask you this question, how did you spend the self-isolation regime? Have you followed this routine? How has this story affected your work?
EUGENE: Yes, I observed it, like everyone else.
As I said earlier, I am an event organizer that requires ideas. Right now, while I have a busy shooting schedule, I don’t have time to sit down and think, come up with something interesting. And during the period of self-isolation, I had plenty of time for this. Therefore, interesting developments were invented, which I am now trying to implement. Didn't sit idle.
MARIA: Many people took online training during this period, did you do anything like that?
EUGENE: I did not receive additional education, let's put it this way.
I have tried to learn a foreign language but have not gotten a good result yet. But it was a good time, I revised my schedule. Of course, plans were broken, I had good projects, cool organizational projects in other countries, but in general, everything is fine.
MARIA: I heard that you are into extreme sports. Do you skydive, do ropejumping, do you still do it now?
EUGENE: Less now.
There's just no time for that right now. And so, every summer I spend jumping. I don't jump because I like heights, no, that's not the point. My extreme it is even mostly safe. Jumping off a bridge is a very safe thing to do if you do it with good company. Doing this, you experience a whole palette of emotions. This is a very cool reboot. I don't know where it comes from, but I like it. We were filming a TV series called Solar Circle, but it hasn't come out yet. This is a story about the 79th year. In this series, I have the role of an aerial gymnast. We filmed half of the series at the Vernadsky circus, and as you know, this is the highest dome in Europe, a seven-story building. For safety reasons, no one can enter the arena at all. I made friends with aerialists and when we were filming I asked them to jump. Of course, everything is forbidden, because one wrong move and you will be very seriously injured! You must land on dead center. You need to feel this moment and let go of your hands in time, then you will not be carried anywhere, and you will fall smoothly into the net. And in the end, I climbed under the dome for the jump, jumping, of course, I experienced incredible sensations.
MARIA: I understand that you like some extreme sensations, but why then did you not participate in any of such projects as: “The Last Hero”, “Fort Boyard” and others?
EUGENE: The fact is that by the time of the filming of all these projects, the level of my media exposure was low.
That is, the level of my popularity did not allow me to be the hero of these projects. I don't mind, but I was at the wrong level at the time. Now there is a casting in "The Last Hero", but I can not participate, because in February I injured my knee very badly. Since I can’t load my knee, I went and unlearned the category “A” for riding a motorcycle.
MARIA: And the last question for you - who and how do you see yourself in 5 years?
EUGENE: Everything is very blurry.
Most likely, I will not be tied to the country. I will work and I will have a corner near the sea where I can ground myself. This is the first thing I imagined. In principle, over the past year, there have been very serious changes. I fly a lot around the world - for work and just for myself. This is how I probe the world. I want to live freely and move freely around the world.
MARIA: Do you admit the idea that you can leave this profession?
EUGENE: Let's just say that moving around the world is not a cheap pleasure. There must be a resource that will support me and my family. I will never leave acting! It will be for the soul, and just a resource for earning and supporting a family. I stopped making money on this story, I don't come to auditions with hungry eyes! I just like it, but for making money I have another resource.
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