In the beginning of October, "Theatrical Company 814" is premiering "Gambles" staged by Oleg Menshikov; the performance will be on in the Mossovet theatre's stage "Under the roof". In November, the rehearsals seem to never stop. "Gamblers" has been staged in a record period of time (for "TT814") - 3,5 months: the performance has to be premiered before the end of the year, as in January the shooting of "Councillor Of State" is about to begin.
Oleg answered "Vedomosti's" questions after one of the rehearsals.

- Everyone knows that you don't like to play the same role for a long time and to return to something you had already done before. Ten years ago, you played Ikharev in a London staging of "Gamblers" for the whole season. And now you are rehearsing the same play. Isn't it strange?
- It's true that I don't like to return to something, which was done before. I don't understand it at all how, for example, I could play Nizhinsky now. With "Gamblers" it's a bit harder, because I don't think what was done then was revealed. Therefore, it's not a real comeback, but an attempt to understand the play. After all, the history of the play is rather strange: Gogol began writing it, then he stopped, then began again, then he tore something…
Still, after 20 years, he got back to it and published it as it is now, so he believed it was a final variant.

- Now you chose a role of Uteshitelny [a sort of a 'speaking' name, which means 'comforting']. Isn't it because he is a director of the situation taking place in the play?
- I didn't choose anything and I wasn't going to play anybody at all!

- But you say so about your every project.
- And it is true that I am honestly going to leave the stage and come back all the time. Actually, I didn't want "Theatrical Company 814" to serve Oleg Menshikov's interests. I wanted "TT814" to stage several performances, people to come and offer their plays, and me being a producer or something…
After all, it's not necessary to stage big-budget projects like "Woe From Wit" and "Kitchen". One can stage small-budget performances - and I dream of it! I negotiated with Kazantsev and his centre of new dramatic art, I will help them with pleasure…

- Why did you refuse Andrey Zholdak's "Seagull"? You were the first person who was invited as a producer.
- The point is that if I am a producer and look for money in my name, I must understand completely what I am looking it for. I asked Andrey to tell me distinctly what it was going to be. Apparently, Andrey is a spontaneous, unpredictable person and I didn't hear a distinct answer. On the other hand, Pasha [Pavel Kaplevich - a theatre artist, who worked with Menshikov on "Caligula", "Nizhinsky" and "Woe From Wit"] wanted this to happen and he talked to me about it every day, every second. And the whole situation threatened to ruin our relations with Kaplevich. Therefore, I chose my friendship with Pasha and had to give up this project.

- And you decided to stage "Gamblers"?
- Gogol always interested me, and I suggested this particular play because there are not too many characters in it, all of them are very interesting and it was a chance to gather a good company: I invited director Yuri Odinoky from Kiev - rather famous there and unknown here. We went to the Crimea to rehearse the play, and he began to persuade me to play Uteshitelny. I agreed only because I didn't want to break the company hoping to gather the second cast later.
However, we didn't make it with Yuri. I guess it was my fault from the start, because I suggested the play - something that should be done by the director. The same thing happened with "Nizhinsky". We invited several directors and all of them left the project because it was not their creation in the first place. There is nothing bad in it - people met and parted. It just didn't come out well. Maybe it will come out next time.

- So, you are ready to work with another director, aren't you?
- I am ready. Really. People find me somehow, I meet different directors, but I wait for the one I need as an actor now - of course, if an actor is not dying in me at all yet. I need someone who will turn me absolutely unexpectedly…

- By the way, talking about an unexpected side. The more you do, the more you suppress your comedy gift. It disappears more and more because of your recent character's tragedies. Aren't' you sorry?
- It is terrible. It worries me a lot. I think I have to give up the idea of a musical, but I would act in a comedy with great pleasure.

- Will "Gamblers" be a comedy?
- A comedy. But you know, what kind of a comedy Gogol has… And sometimes I want to act in a very well written situation comedy. I think I can do it. And it is very sad that almost no one knows it and few people saw it.

- Then what's the problem?
- I can't find a pure comedy. Some of them have a sad note, other - a philosophic one. And I want something, which was called vaudeville before - with songs, dances, a dashing modern story…

- Maybe you should order a play like it happened with "Kitchen"?
- Maybe…

- Are you satisfied with "Kitchen", with what came of it? I mean the experiment when a playwright creates a play with the theatre.
- Very much. In my opinion, Maxim Kurochkin has one problem: in the play he wanted to reveal everything he learned by his age of 30. But it can be forgiven - what's bad in it? He has a wonderful language, he created a world of his one and he lives in it. I think he is one of the most talented people in the modern theatre. And he gets many orders for plays now.

- Since 1998 when you released your "Woe From Wit", the attitude towards an entreprise changed a bit in the theatre world. Now it is not always considered a "commercial project", but an alternative to a repertory theatre. But are you satisfied with the organizational side of the matter? Did you consider building a theatre of your own?
- I will say honestly: they came to me and suggested it, but when I imagined all this… I will have to devote myself to it completely! When the first brick is laid, one should say the first phrase to colleagues… No, the entreprise suits me more now. I don't have financial problems - I am afraid to put an evil eye, but to this day, no one refused. I mean it is not a problem for me today to find money for a performance - for example, "Gamblers" sponsor is the Japanese company "OKI". Needless to say, we exist in a rather good financial regime by ourselves.

- Almost all the time you attract very young actors to your projects - isn't it interesting for you with your generation?
- If I see that a young actor is very good for a role, I don't care that no one knows him. There was a day when no one knew us all. But it's not even a point. I offered a role to Eugeny Mironov - we don't see each other often, but when we meet, we always discuss that it would be great to do something together. However, he has a very strict schedule. When people obtain name, recognition, popularity, a certain world is created around them and they live inside of it. Different worlds come in contact very rarely. And it happens more often on the set than in the theatre.

- Your latest film was "East-West", which was out 3 years ago. Actors of your generation and circle act a lot and often. Don't you think that your positioning is rather dangerous? You keep away from the process.
- To tell you the truth, I don't see any process at all.

- How can it be? We have "August of 1944" where Mironov was brilliant, a bit earlier we had "Moscow", "His Wife's Diary"…
- Thank God, we had three or four good films in two years. But I wasn't invited in either "August" or "Moscow", so there is nothing to talk about. I won't participate in series, I can live without them. I don't "keep away from the process", I just want to work with a good director, with a good screenplay - that's all. Maybe, they just don't offer me these good things.

- But you refused to play a leading role in Pavel Lungin's "Oligarch". Or you didn't receive a formal invitation at all?
- No. There were talks among different people that he wanted me to act… But I knew his attitude towards me - I read about it in "Afisha". Why would a director work with an actor he dislikes so much - there is something ill in it, I think.
It just so happened that there was a long pause. But I think there will be "Fandorin" and I will return to the cinema for a year.

- With pleasure?
- With great pleasure. First, I didn't act for a long time. Second, I want to play Fandorin. I have a great respect for Grigory Shalvovich [Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili is the real name of Boris Akunin, the author of "Fandorin"]: he created his world, his Moscow. And if cinema creates its world and its Fandorin based on a novel written by a talented author, it will be great. Not just another historic detective story - who is interested in it now? And the creation process fascinates me very much. Besides, for a long time I haven't acted in clean shirts, in tailcoats, in beautiful interiors, with romantic adventures…

- It is a known fact that while writing a script, Mikhalkov and Chkhartishvily spent much time adjusting their ideology positions, which are very different from each other. Did they try to drag you into the discussion?
- Thank God, no, and thank God, it is not in the script. It would be very boring for me if the script were ideologicalized. That's what I am - this is something I don't care about!

- But you became a member of Beresovsky's political party a year ago.
- Nothing of the kind! I didn't become a member of any party, which by the way was not founded at all. I signed a letter, appealing to President's entourage not to let Russia turn into a country… well, how is this called?

- Totalitarian?
- Exactly. Russia has everything to become such a country. I considered Beresovsky's initiative to be just a concern not to let it happen. A wish to help. I know Boris Abramovich [Beresovsky] - I can't say that we a friends or see each other often, but I know him as a person. It is hard for me to judge him as a politician, if he is one; but I like him as a person very much. He said to me then, "No way I am asking you to enter any party, we won't even discuss this. It is just an appeal to the society - nothing more".

- Not long ago you signed a contract with the Swiss watch company "Longines" and became its ambassador. Why?
- I already explained it. I love watches, I liked people who manage "Longines" now, I liked their motto "Elegance is an attitude". I think the job they offered me quite corresponds with an acting profession.

- So, it wasn't just for money?
- Not at all. This summer I declined a huge Hollywood film, although I could have accept their offer because of money. But I know for sure - it all will hit back. Once I participated in a big project because of big money. Nothing good came of it.

- Are you talking about "Mama"?
- Well, "Mama" too, but now I am talking about a big foreign project I once agreed to participate.

- Which Hollywood project did you decline this time?
- During the latest Moscow Film Festival I made friends with Sean Penn. He offered me a job and I refused because I didn't like it. Penn is a wonderful actor and a great person, but I won't be able to do it if I don't like it. And I want to watch this film when it's done - maybe I just didn't understand something…

- Isn't it interesting for you to try working in Hollywood?
- It's interesting for me when the work is interesting. I don't have an aim to get in Hollywood; I lead a normal life here.

- So, your purely Russian existence is OK for you, isn't it?
- What do you mean by "purely"? I can't say that I am very famous in the West, but there are countries where people know me. I am not secluded here - I travel with pleasure. But I work only if it is interesting. Why would I run? I am not 20 anymore.

- Are you ready to act in a foreign language again?
- It is very hard - it is really a very serious challenge, not even moral, but physical. It is an extremely exhausting work. But if I get an invitation I like from, let's say, Sean Penn or Regis Wargnier, - I am ready.

- What's going on with the project "Burnt By The Sun 2"?
- They write it.

- Do you know any details?
- I know that it takes place during the war. Nikita Sergeevich [Mikhalkov] told me some episodes, but I am not sure I have the right to share them.

- Is the fact that the war theme is popular now important for you? Have you seen latest American films about the war?
- I don't like "Saving Private Ryan". In fact, I don't really like the condition of the world cinema. They say we suffer a crisis. But America suffers a crisis too. Name a film shot in the past 10 years that would be equal to "Deerhunter"! You won't…

- I like "Pulp Fiction".
- I don't like "Pulp Fiction". OK, I admit it will last in decades. But it's obvious that in the days of "Deerhunter" or "Flying Over a Cuckoo's Nest" masterpieces were not such a rarity… Modern American cinema is not very interesting for me. Dutch stories are much more interesting.

- "Dogma"?
- "Dogma". I liked "Dancer in the Dark". It's gloomy, but it is a work of art. I don't understand critique's excitement over films like "Run, Lola, Run!". No one will remember it in a five-year time.

- Well, critique and you have different points of view quite often. But it was you who founded the Theatre Critique Award. Why did you do it?
- Because in the theatre world everybody has awards except for critics. And with that we somehow put the theatre critique aside from the process. But it is wrong. Although critique did a lot to be out aside - the level is very low…

- You say all it like you read everything. But you don't, do you?
- Actually, I don't read newspapers, but I fly, and I take everything in the plane. One can read few articles, hear the intonation and understand that if it's published in a respected newspaper and approved by the editor-in-chief, then it's normal. "Normality" of such intonations and such analysis can be frightening sometimes. And I think that if practicing professionals (the jury consists of 10 people) point out certain directions or at least determinant personalities and magazines, it will be a right thing. You know what they think about critique in the theatre. They shouldn't like a performance, but let's discuss why they don't like it. Maybe it makes sense to think about it and not just be angry - I don't like the performance but people go to see it for some reason. Take, for instance, me - there was no cinema or theatre critique's forecast that came true - no negative one, I mean. Every paper wrote that people wouldn't come to "Woe From Wit" after a month and to "Kitchen" after two weeks. And what happened? Two years after its premiere, we shot "Woe From Wit" with the full house, and "Kitchen" is on for the second year…

- But it means only one thing - no matter how much the public loves The Kommersant newspaper, it loves you more. What is it that you don't like here?
- I like everything. But I choose "elegance as an attitude", I want theatre and critique to have elegant relations. I want theatre critique to become a part of the theatre science. We should realize once and for all: we all do the same thing and we shouldn't argue all the time who is more correct…

- Oleg, I guess I understood everything: you should start teaching. Have you thought about it?
- Yes, I did, and I want to do it. But it is a great responsibility! I am not afraid of it, but one should devote almost all the time to teaching. And I have too many unfinished things yet to be able to teach teenagers. Although there was an idea to gather a course in the Shepkin Drama School, I even wanted to talk with the rector about it.

- But you weren't offered anything of the kind yet?
- In fact, I am not offered many things. "Menshikov?" - "Oh, that's useless, he is busy, he won't accept"…

- But that's the reputation you created yourself! As far as I know the negotiations about Fandorin were carried on with different people for almost a year and a half. And most producers didn't show much enthusiasm when Boris Akunin said that "only Menshikov can be Fandorin". On the contrary… Well, they replied something like "you better kill me right now"…
- And what's the result? I am playing Fandorin anyway! So, is it worth worrying?