The day before the "Kitchen" premiere famous Russian actor and director of the performance Oleg Menshikov talked to the Latvian journalists.
The plane with "the barber of Siberia" on board hadn't landed yet, but the Latvian media already had three versions of Menshikov's cinema plans. On arrival, Oleg Evgenyevich confirmed only two of them. He will really act in a film based on Boris Akunin's novel. In addition, we will really see him in the sequel of "Burnt By The Sun". As for Mexican series based on a Russian rock-opera, it will never happen.


Burnt by the sun

Latvian journalists saw Menshikov wearing a jean jacket (that's a new image of his) and a wide smile on the suntanned face.
- It is not true that I don't give interviews. I give them, but not too often. And I get angry only when they poke at my nose with their dictaphones. Besides, it is very hard for me to get into contact with people I don't know. It is much easier for me to play "Woe From Wit" four times in a row than to find a common language with a stranger. That's probably why I never hold master classes.


East is not West

However, as it turned out, Menshikov tries hard to get rid of his bad habits. He gave up smoking. He went in for sports. And he learns English diligently. This fact evokes thoughts about Hollywood. But in Hollywood and Western Europe they either make bad films about Russia or don't make them at all. That's why a reporter from "Vesti Segodnya" asked the actor this question:

- After watching the film "East-West" Vladimir Menshov [a Russian director] said, "If a Russian director made a film where all the French were collaborationists, France would sue him". Oleg, don't you think that the authors of "East-West" - rephrasing a famous saying - drove at Stalinism, but hit Russia?
- I am not acquainted with Menshov and haven't read the things he said about the film. But I am saying straight away that I don't think this film is against Russia. I know Wargnier; I know the filming process. And I know that this director treats Russia with respect. Certainly, Wargnier could not have been accurate historically at least because he is French. However, I personally was not offended with the film "East- West". Neither were my parents and relatives. ,br.

Woe from "Kitchen"

Unlike Wargnier's film, Menshikov's theatre project "Kitchen" - which is on in Riga now - doesn't touch off any arguments. Despite expensive tickets, the performances are sold out.

- Yes, the tickets are not cheap, - agrees the director. - But nowadays actors of Moscow theatres have scanty salary. And working in my entreprise, they gain good money.

Oleg Menshikov also confessed that it was very hard to act and stage a performance simultaneously. Especially in the very beginning. No wonder, Oleg visits his own kitchen quite rarely, he's too busy.


Love guards at the Pokrovskie Gate [an extract from a song]…

Anyway, the most unexpected thing during the press conference was that Oleg Menshikov broke the taboo he had placed on his personal life.

- Women in my life? I understood long ago that a big love was a rarity. I mean, it exists, of course. And there are happy people who meet each other and understand everything from the first sight. It's like - bah! - and everything is clear. Nothing like that has ever happened to me. The other thing is that one should know how to love, should learn to love. Yes, today there is a woman in my life and for this woman I learn this feeling. No, there is no big love. But we, at least, try to honestly reach out towards each other…

In the end, "Vesti Segodnya" decided to ask the director of "Kitchen":

- Kostik from "The Pokrovskie Gate" promised, "Wait. I will become a grown-up; I will become serious. Oh, how serious I will be". Almost 20 years passed. Do you consider yourself an adult and "oh, how serious"?
- Certainly, I am an adult… Have I completely grown up? No. Not exactly. It's better to say that I try to be serious in certain situations. 20 years passed. And I changed. Now I think about life and death quite often. I accept the thought that the end is not really the end, but passing to another world. Obviously, during the filming of "The Pokrovskie Gate" I didn't think about God and that world…