Oleg Menshikov was born almost 40 years ago, on November 8 - the same day as not only Oleg Borisov and Alen Delon, but also Vera Fyodorovna Komissarzhevskaya. He had a happy childhood, strict but kind parents, the reputation of a leader at school and, finally, the aura of a child prodigy, a person, who could do everything without trying hard.
In the interviews he seldom tells things that could help understand what kind of person he is, but still there were several moments of revelation. On April 28, he visited Saint Petersburg to present his two latest films "The Barber Of Siberia" and "East-West". Oleg was dressed modestly, he was talkative, frank and joyful. And surprisingly, he answered the most tricky, intimate questions very honestly…


People around

- You love your work so much, but is there something that can make you give it up?
- Well, what a question, and it's the first one. I think I could give it up. But there must be something really valuable. Now it's hard for me to say what it is, it may be love, or family, or something else, but it exists by all means, I just haven't found that something yet.

- Have you met the woman of your life?
- Not yet.

- What kind of women do you like?
- Well, what can I say, she should be unlike, and I don't mean extraordinary. She should differ from others and be my other half. How to combine it, how to achieve it?..

- What do you value in people?
- I value - and there's nothing new to say - honesty. I value it when people behave according to the concrete situation. When a person starts lying to others, that can be accepted, although it's bad. But when he starts lying to himself, he destroys himself as a personality, because we destroy ourselves with every step, with every word of lie. Unfortunately we don't notice how we do it. So it's honesty, honesty, and then purity, generosity and so on. Because if you are honest with yourself, you will never do anything conflicting with human nature. Because you are that nature.


Attention, parents and roles

- What do you think of a heightened attention that surrounds you? Is it a burden or inspiration for you?
- What do I think? Unfortunately, now I can't imagine my life without it. And it's not because I need it, but because now I can't enter a room and be left unnoticeable. I'd love to, but I just can't. Is it a burden? Sometimes it is. But as you experience it, you build a system of barriers. It all can seem fun for some time but does it become a burden? As far as responsibility concerns, yes. You go onstage and understand perfectly well that 1500 people came to watch you, the way you play, let's say, Chatsky. And this responsibility is, of course, an inspiration. But in this case it is some other sort of attention…

- Do you often meet your parents? Was your career a surprise for them?
- Absolutely. I think they are proud of me deep inside, although we don't discuss these things. I keep silence with my parents more. It may be wrong, it may offend them, they may want to talk to me like any parents. We all are stupid concerning our parents, we will realize what we've lost only when they are not with us any longer. But it's always like this: parents are with us - we are silent, they are not - we talk to them at night…

- You always play tragic roles on screen, don't you miss "sunny" roles of happy people?
- I graduated from the Institute as a comedy actor and I was sure I'd play comic roles. I long to play a crazy comic role where I'd just fly, flit. I don't know how to call that, I'd love it to be something like vaudeville… To tell the truth, I don't want a pure vaudeville, but who could do it, who could write such a role and gather actors who also miss high comedy. Actually it is very hard to make high comedy, that may be why no one does it.


Cookery on stage and in real life

- How is your theatre project "Kitchen"?
- It's in a starting point. If you read all the announcements in newspapers, you may think that all the work is done and the play is almost finished. But the play didn't suit me for a long time, we constantly changed something, and now we cast actors and then we'll begin our work with a costume designer and a production designer. So actually now we are in the very beginning of our work.

- What is your favourite dish and do you like to cook?
- I can't cook at all. Once I tried to make a soup, I phoned all my friends and they told me how to do it, - one said I should put this in it, the other said I should put that… It was the worst thing I'd ever tasted in my life. No, seriously! It was a shame: I can do this, I can do that, so can't I cook something? And I cooked…


Believing in miracles

- What world classics would you like to shoot?
- I don't want to shoot anything. Let's say, my relationship with film-directing is rather cold so far. Today I am not into that at all and I don't even want to try.

- Is there a role among yours that you'd like to re-do?
- No. Absolutely not. Maybe to play it a different way. But to change it completely, no, there's no such a role.

- Oleg, do you believe in miracles?
- Well, of course, I do, everyone does. How can one live not believing in miracles?