Director Yegor Konchalovsky spoke about the filming of the series “Big House”

The idea of ​​a series about confronting crime in besieged Leningrad came to the producers about ten years ago. But as the archives opened up access to criminal cases of that time, the project acquired new details. The plot centers on the confrontation between a KGB colonel and a saboteur who was thrown into Leningrad in 1942 and, more than twenty years later, was again seen on the streets of the city. Added to the throughline of the two main characters are four documentary crime cases that have left their mark through the decades.

The film crew was faced with a very ambitious task of recreating two eras and film adaptation of historical documents that are usually very stingy with emotions. And taking into account the fact that the genre of “The Big House” was both a historical and political detective story, various secrets and riddles should have appeared in the plot.

Yegor Konchalovsky is a director with almost twenty-five years of film experience, but, oddly enough, he has not worked on TV series before. And its eight-episode debut may be one of the most exciting projects of the season in this genre. “MK” discussed with Yegor the forties and sixties, St. Petersburg weather, funny incidents on the set and the influence of his famous father on the director.

— “The Big House” was your first serial project. We must admit that you have stayed away from this very popular format in recent years for quite some time…

— It’s true that I shot mostly feature-length films. But I can’t say that these are very different forms of film art. It didn’t work out with the series, but it was more a coincidence of circumstances than my reluctance to film them. And so it happened. I have always been interested in the theme of the Great Patriotic War and the theme of the siege of Leningrad, in fact a biblical episode in the series of events of those times. This is a serious, poignant and extremely important topic for our country, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to film such a series.

— Many films and TV series are devoted to the Siege of Leningrad, and sometimes it even seems as if this topic is covered in quite some detail. But it turns out there are many more stories. Few people knew about the Zig Zag gang…

— The script for “The Big House” is based on several criminal cases, and all of them were only recently declassified. It turns out that the facts about the terrible crimes in besieged Leningrad were not known, because they were hidden until a certain moment. People really only learned about the Zig Zag gang a year or two ago.

— This topic interested several screenwriters and producers at once. In parallel with the screening of “The Big House,” the premiere of the series “Zig Zag” took place on another channel. Did you know you have some sort of competition?

— I was aware and I think that my colleagues turned out to be a good film, especially considering the artists who starred in it. But as far as I know, another series is dedicated only to the confrontation with the Zig Zag gang. For us, this is only one of four criminal cases that were included in the script. That is, we take a broader view and want to take an honest look at the work of the KGB and NKVD during the war. These people shared all the hardships of the Leningraders during the blockade. They also suffered, lost loved ones, died, nevertheless, they did the most dangerous work every day. When a country fights in such a terrible war, evil awakens in the rear, which was less noticeable before. And the rear is incredibly important for the front.

— There are two time layers in the series, which, of course, is not easy from a production point of view. Which era was easier for you to work on: the war era or the sixties?

— In cinema it’s easier to create an era that no one remembers. Few people know what D’Artagnan or Richard the Lionheart wore there. Our series ends on December 31, 1965. And on January 15, 1966, I was born and a few years later, one might say, I began to immerse myself in that era. Faces, hairstyles, interiors, cars. By the way, it’s easier to mess with the recent past; many people remember it because they lived during that time. There are fewer and fewer people who remember the blockade well.

— Your colleagues sometimes complain that among modern, especially young, actors it is quite difficult to find faces that would suit the middle of the last century. Do you agree with this?

— People now really live completely differently than in the times when our series takes place. Lifestyle and environment influence both human physics and chemistry. Those who won the war were raised by the Soviet regime, so then real heroes appeared, obsessed with fighting for their country. Modern people have different faces, different eyes, and finding actors who could look reliably in the scenery of another era is, of course, not easy. On the other hand, the modern viewer better perceives those faces that are familiar to him. This also needs to be taken into account. I think the more serious difficulty is that popular artists are quite in demand here. Assembling a serious group of actors and creating a schedule for them is a real challenge, so compromises often have to be made.

— Recently, directors and producers have clearly been inspired by old Soviet detective stories, and a similar aesthetic permeates many projects in this genre. Are you happy with this fashion?

— I think that from time to time certain eras or genres in cinema become especially popular. A successful fantasy film appears, and many people try to make something in this spirit. A good film about sports has been released, and interest in the genre immediately arises. This doesn’t make me happy or sad, it’s about fashion, which changes all the time. In any era and any genre, you can find problems that interest you and try to solve them.

— In the near future, many will probably want to make another “The Boy’s Word”…

— By the way, at one time I was negotiating about this series, they offered me to film it. But for me this scenario was not very interesting. In my filmography there are the films “Antikiller” or “Canned Food”, and one can say that I already explored the topic of street crime in the early 2000s. I somehow didn’t want to step into the same water again. But I admit that “The Boy’s Word” turned out to be very loud. Well done.

— There is a truly indestructible journalistic cliche about funny incidents on the set. Apparently, the aura of the film process greatly awakens active interest in its behind the scenes…

— I hate funny incidents on the set. I love it when things are boring and it shows that you are well prepared. Unfortunately, today not all artists consider rehearsals or script readings necessary. But quality preparation is very important. Hard to learn, easy to fight. Filming needs to be planned like a military operation, that is, very carefully. Of course, it is more difficult to prepare for St. Petersburg weather. November and December are not the most gentle times there. And we still have night shifts, filming children… In St. Petersburg, minus ten is felt like minus twenty-five here in Moscow.

— Your father’s active directorial career began in the sixties. Can we say that Andrei Konchalovsky had a serious influence on you as a director?

— At first I was involved in commercials, it’s more of a business than a movie, but the tools are the same as the brush that both the artist and the painter use. It seems to me that I learned little from my father’s films, not because they are not interesting, I really like many of his films, I’m just a different person. We practically didn’t talk to him about cinematography, acting or any nuances. So it’s unlikely that my father greatly influenced what I filmed and am filming. Another thing is the lifestyle and environment where everyone is connected with cinema. When Eduard Artemyev, Marcello Mastroianni, Sergei Bondarchuk, Chingiz Aitmatov sit at the same table and talk about cinema. It was something of an unappreciated privilege. After all, the real privilege is not when the traffic police inspector lets you go because you have a famous name, but communication with incredible people. But in our teenage years we didn’t understand this, and we were interested in girls and motorcycles.