After the press conference that lasted 45 minutes, Menshikov gives an exclusive interview to the "Chas". "Haven't I told everything yet", - the star gives a charming smile. Well, OK, your reporter thinks. In this case, I'll tell something myself…

- Oleg Evgenyevich, are you aware that in Riga there exists a narrative written about you?
- I haven't heard of it before!

- Well, now you know about it. It was published in the magazine "Daugava", No.1 in 2000. I will give you a copy. The author is Sofia Apter, a 28-year old Riga girl. It's entitled "Cronus and Grasshopper". I am sorry to say that to you, but Grasshopper is you, when you staged "Woe From Wit" in Riga in 1998… Are you surprised?
- Yes, of course… It's the first time when I find myself in a fiction literature. When someone writes his memoirs, that's quite a different thing…

- Aren't you tired of your fame? During the press conference, you said you'd love to work with some great modern directors, but they are too busy to pay attention to you… What if they are afraid to work with you, as your star brilliance will outshine everything?
- Not at all! There are bigger stars than I am, and directors work with them, and everything's alright. Am I tired? Sometimes I imagine: what if this had never happened! Certainly, sometimes I wish it had never happened. But it didn't appear in a blink of an eye, I got used to it bit by bit… If I'd waked up one day and it'd all begun at once, then, of course, it could… have screwed my head off.

- Does fame make life harder?
- Certainly, because it is constant attention. You are deprived of common human joys… Well, no, I've said it wrong; it is not "deprived"… It's hard to always be in the centre of attention, to stand on the top of a hill.

- Can you go to the countryside by a suburban train and tan somewhere near a lake?
- I can, of course, but you understand it that they won't let me go by train or tan. I loved to go to a bathhouse, but at some point, it became impossible for me to go there. Other people come there to relax - but so do I! Why do I have to talk to everybody? Now I go a separate one.

- About stars. In "Woe From Wit" you had some rather famous actors. But there are no such actors in "Kitchen"… Why is that?
- Well, Katya Vasiljeva was the only known actress in "Woe From Wit". Who else? As for "Kitchen", we have Alexey Gorbunov, people may not know his name, but he acts in many films. We have Galya Petrova, who acted in many films as well; Oxana Mysina. These stars are not as bright as Katya Vasiljeva is yet… It all formed very naturally. I'd be happy if there was a role for Ekaterina Vasiljeva, but there is no such a role.

- People may think you surrounded yourself with unknown actors on purpose…
- People won't think about it at all! A couple of angry colleagues can… People don't care about it. We invite actors on the principle of their necessity. Some of our guys came up onstage for the first time. And that was one of our Company programs - to give young actors opportunity to act.

- You revealed a secret that the rumours about your participation in the Mexican series are false. Will you appear in "Burnt By The Sun II" Mikhalkov is about to shoot? After all, your character died!
- Kotov was killed too! Everyone was killed there.

- Will they be raised from the dead?
- Well, Mikhalkov said, I was resuscitated… Frankly speaking, I have no idea how they are going to wiggle out. I guess it'll be something like - "three years later, it turned out everybody was alive".

- Are you ready to play a detective Fandorin in Mikhalkov's film, which he also plans to shoot?
- With pleasure!

- What do you think about this sort of literature and Akunin?
- Very good. This is a high level detective fiction. Akunin is a very smart man of encyclopedic knowledge. He knows two languages so well that he can translate into Russian. He is widely-read and well-educated. If it's a good film with good directing, I'll do it with great pleasure!

- But you've just said it yourself - "detective fiction". And this is the "lowest" genre…
- I don't agree. Yes, that's detective fiction, but have you ever read Agatha Christie? It's impossible to turn away from her books. Masters of detective genre, like all writers, create their own world. You start reading - and you plunge into it… Akunin created a world of his own. He told me he had written a version of the screenplay where there would be china-town. I asked, "Was china-town in Moscow at that time?" He said, "No! But that's my Moscow, I made it up". Now he has this right. He created a character the whole country fell in love with. He wrote book the whole country read. I am sure this is not a bad literature.

- What do you prefer reading in general?
- I don't prefer. I just take a book - that catches my eye - from a shelf in a shop and start reading it. If it goes okay, I read it; if not, then I don't… I never constrain myself in this case. Someone said once that one could read only Pushkin during the whole life and understand everything. And I agree it will be enough.

- Riga is your first tour with "Kitchen". Are you nervous?
- I always get nervous in Moscow too. However, there is always some percent of deviation on tour. Because of a different stage, different audience. I always feel a bit sorry after tours because it is always a bit different. Here one of the main wishes of the audience is to see (excuse my immodesty) me onstage. In Moscow we play every Monday, so there is no such thing there. People come to see the performance. But when you arrive in a new town - they go to attend some cultural event, not the performance. And the performance always suffers a bit. But - it can't be helped…