Before his 40th anniversary the main character tries to sum up the past years. But he is let down. Nothing brings him comfort and happiness - neither loving wife, nor young girl-friend, nor friends, nor job…

...And the part in "Flights In Dreams and In Reality" at first appeared rather occasionally.
"Nikita Mikhalkov should've played the leading part in the film", says Roman Balayan. "And Viktor Merezhko's screenplay was aimed at him. Nikita Sergeyevich knew that shooting would begin in August… And in a second I betrayed my friend Mikhalkov.
Everything happened in a single unexpected moment. I saw Tatiana Lioznova's film on TV "We, The Undersigned…" with Oleg Yankovsky. I was unable to take my eyes from him slicing a lemon. Simply slicing a lemon… I didn't know the plot of the film: I started to watch from somewhere in the middle. But I saw some ambiguity in such a simple actions of the actor. I felt that there was something complicated behind the character, this man was double-faced, uncertain.
Before I've seen Oleg Yankovsky only once in Mark Zakharov's production "That Very Munchausen". He played a romantic hero and didn't remain in my memory. But the night I saw "We, The Undersigned…" I knew for sure that Oleg Yankovsky will play the leading part in "Flights In Dreams and In Reality".
But on the other hand I like to shoot those who I love and trust. I took a liking to Oleg Menshikov at our first work together. In "Flights…" there seemed no role for him! When everything was settled with Yankovsky, I thought that it was a good idea to shoot Menshikov by his side. And thus appeared a young fellow in an episode where the main character Sergey Makarov and his girlfriend Alisa come to the famous sculptor's studio.
Menshikov's part was, as we say, "straight" - no nuances or shades. Deep-laid meanings seemed unnecessary both for this fellow and beautiful Alisa. Sergey Makarov's drama was enough. And the fellow and Alisa are simple creatures without a burden of morality - opposed to "60ers" and "70ers", the usual Yankovsky's characters.
All our ideas and improvisations started from the main character. Obviously from the very beginning I was looking for Makarov's opponent. The one who will humiliate him in front of Alisa and others. It was a young man, without a hint of infantilism, despising Makarov for his infantilism so ridiculous in a 40-year-old man.
I happened to read later that Oleg Menshikov played impenetrable cruelty which strikes in his character. I can't accept it. Oleg then was a tender poetical boy with slight, thin and almost childish mustache, touching, embarrassing… There was no cruelty in him that is written about - I mean the actor himself. May be he played not so much cruelty as the desire to declare himself somehow. He played precisely, showing professionalism even in his young years. On the one hand, he can be clay in sculptor's hands, if we speak about sculptor-director. On the other hand, he must be surely convinced in the rightness of director's decision and then able to speak out his own ideas. Otherwise…
Menshikov is one of the rare artists who you can talk to. It happens not too often… You can talk to him not only about his part. He is intelligent, educated, and well-read. He has his own ironical view of things. Of course at the "Flights…" time he was more pliable in directors' hands than now. Actually he has the right for it, because there's a director's nature in him.
I intentionally started to speak about refusing Mikhalkov for Yankovsky. They are both wonderful actors. But Oleg Yankovsky in his nature, in his type (and this, I think, is the most important in cinema) turned out to be more essential for our film. The same happened to Oleg Menshikov, and his type precisely suited the episode role which he made larger. Made it notable and harmonious in the film".
(from the book by Elga Lyndina "Oleg Menshikov", Moscow - Panorama, 1999)



Video

• The Dance at the party
  
• The Picnic scene