Director Storozheva spoke about working with Puskepalis in Cipher

Contrary to the rules of the show industry, all three seasons of Cipher are firmly held by the same hands. For director Vera Storozheva, this series has been a job for five years, but under her leadership, it still turns out to be a very exciting detective story.

And this despite the fact that Vera Mikhailovna does not have an impressive experience either in serials or in detective stories. Storozheva is better known as a director of feature films (“The Frenchman”, “Traveling with Pets”, “Sky. Airplane. Girl”) and a great specialist in dramas and melodramas. Nevertheless, the passion with which the famous director took on the multi-part detective story will be the envy of many colleagues.

In a conversation with MK, Vera Mikhailovna discussed old props, modern female faces, non-professionals in the frame and remembered Sergey Puskepalis, for whom the third season of Cipher, unfortunately, was the last.

– As a director, you are already filming the third season of Cipher, and you also participated in each of the seasons as a screenwriter. Probably, the filming process is so debugged for you that there are no special difficulties …

“Now everything is really cool. My film crew does not change, and it turns out that we have been working together for five years. In the break between seasons, I, however, shot the feature film “Maria. Save Moscow”, but then returned to the “Cipher”.

– In your filmography, there are mostly feature films, and there are only two series. What is the reason for such a cautious approach to this format?

– When I started, in the late 90s, TV series against the backdrop of a full meter were slightly despised by young directors. And I gave up a lot. My first series was “Divorce” written by Anna Kozlova, and in the process I got carried away. Now there are more opportunities in a TV movie or series, and I’m interested. Cinema is still handmade. I would even call it a small handmade box.

– “Cipher” is a licensed project that has a British source. What of the British invented remained in your series?

– There are only seven episodes in the original source, we already have forty-eight, so we really didn’t transfer anything from the English series. All dramaturgy is its own. And it is impossible to compare the English women of the post-war era with our women. We rather invented everything anew than adapted. We can say that the basis remained: four very smart, extraordinary women with different abilities, helping to investigate crimes. But ours, of course, has a more dramatic fate.

– Even the most angry critics note that you managed to select actors who are very suitable for their roles. Have you been looking for them for a long time?

– Casting lasted about six months. Each of the four heroines had a separate story. For example, Yana Dubuis, who plays Sophia, managed to marry an Italian and go to Italy from the moment of audition to approval. When I called her with the news that she was approved, she said: “I live in Italy, I quit my profession and go from the doctor who told me that I was pregnant.” And we have six months of filming ahead of us, and we had to somehow get out. Before filming the second season, Yana was already expecting her second child, and we decided that we would marry the heroine and make her pregnant. And just at the end of the second season, the actress became a mother again.

– Many of your colleagues sometimes tell how difficult it is to find faces for a film about another era, because modern cosmetology and dentistry have changed people a lot. Have you encountered such a problem?

“A new breed of girls has indeed emerged. I try to avoid the types that walk around the Patricks. But if there are no pouty lips and constricted cheekbones, then problems are solved. When young modern girls-actresses come to our casting, they pick up makeup and a costume, and they simply transform. Well, you see it in the frame.

– “Cipher” in a visual sense, of course, can also be called a hymn to retro fashion. Are all these clothes recreated according to old patterns or props of those times?

Mostly everything is real. We rented historical costumes in the amount of about a hundred sets from the Czech studio “Barrandov”. We stylize and sew something ourselves, because there are still a lot of characters. But the main characters wear real clothes of that era.

– In the new season of the series, colors seem to have been added due to the many scenes against the backdrop of beautiful nature …

– Or we wiped the glasses (laughs) … Indeed, there is more color. We decided not to hide in the St. Petersburg gateways, where we used to shoot old Moscow, and went to the Caucasian Mineralnye Vody. Naturally, mountains, valleys, springs appeared – in general, we tried to give more air in the frame.

– This season of “Cipher” has become one of the last works of Sergei Puskepalis. You filmed it in several of your projects. How do you remember him?

– We worked with Sergey in six projects – you can say that he is my actor. We first met him on the set in the film “Spring is Coming”. In my opinion, this was his second film work and, as he later said, one of his favorite roles.

We became friends and happily collaborated. Sometimes it happened that I sent him a script and then I could call and ask if he had read it. Sergey usually answered: “Why, we work on trust.” It happened, as in the movie “My Boyfriend an Angel”, he was behind the scenes for the entire film and was present only “voice on the phone”, and then appeared for one episode in the finale. It was a pleasure to work with him, and we all, of course, are deeply saddened by his tragic death.

We filmed in Pyatigorsk, and his house and wife Lena are in Zheleznovodsk, these are neighboring towns. It was autumn, and now with pain and even more love I remember with what pride Seryozha brought fruits and grapes from his own garden for the entire film crew. It doesn’t fit in my head that he is no more. He was waiting for the premiere of Cipher in September. Now this is his last season…

He never had any problems. Glory, fame never influenced him in a bad way – on his attitude to work or communication with any people. The camera team called him “impeccable” for always being ready to work, for his accuracy on the site: “Seryozha, you are our cruiser “Irreproachable” …”

– You are a fairly experienced director, and on the set, probably, no one is capricious and does not “star”. Or does it happen?

– There is a casting and rehearsals, and at this stage I already understand well whether I can find a common language with an actor or actress. In general, here, probably, we are talking about some role-playing games. There is a director and there is an actor. And even if the director is a debutant, and the actor is already a people’s artist or TV star (by the way, there are usually more problems with them than with people), then he still needs someone who will lead on the site. I sometimes watch a movie and understand that the actors on the set did what they wanted or what they could. And no one made comments to them and did not set tasks. This is immediately evident, because the entire ensemble of actors is falling apart.

Of course, I also had difficult adjustments with artists, but it never happened that I wanted one thing, an actor another, and in the end he would not do what I need. Either with a whip or a carrot, but I achieve my goal.

By the way, you also have acting experience. They could, probably, prescribe some role for themselves in “Cipher” …

– We sometimes joked with the cameraman and the artist: we also need to stand in the frame and shoot the three of us. But seriously, I had no such thoughts, despite the fact that about one hundred and twenty new characters are added every season. This is a huge casting, and sometimes I shoot everyone who is nearby. Here is our consultant, lieutenant general, played the district. In Mineralnye Vody, we had the Operetta Theater at our disposal, and amateur actors, watchmen, security guards, and even a helicopter pilot, whom I mistook for a professional actor, starred in the series! It’s not cheap to bring episodic actors from Moscow, so everyone is in business (laughs). Although, of course, I will never let a person into the frame who is not at all suitable for this.

– Probably, with such a large-scale production, there were moments when it seemed that everything was going to waste …

– For my many years of work in the cinema, I understand that absolutely anything can happen. But I trust the circumstances. If something happens, it means that I need to think about the situation and understand how to use it if I cannot change it. For example, the actor with whom we rehearsed could not act. In such cases, I am sure that I will find someone even better, and, as a rule, such circumstances renew the idea and the whole process. When everything goes smoothly, it dampens. And if something is missing, then your imagination and the fantasy of your group begin to work intensively, and the result is usually better. As long as everyone is alive and well, the rest can be fixed. I don’t remember ever canceling a shoot…