Maxim Drozd about filming “Reserve Special Forces”: running, stunts, fights

In the second season of “Reserve Special Forces,” which started airing on NTV, Maxim again tried on the ammunition of environmental inspector Yuri Tarkhanov, who has to conduct almost military operations against poachers in the Baikal National Reserve. A master of sports in boxing, a former paratrooper and actor with an enviable experience of acting in action films, he fit into such a plot almost perfectly and led extreme games in the fresh air.

On the set of the continuation of the series, Maxim and his team again found their love of adventure and willingness to get their feet wet at the most inopportune moment useful. The second season saw the arrival of more serious villains and the expanded powers of Tarzanov’s team.

— In the first season, my hero formed a group and took upon himself the solution to all difficult situations. Now a lot has fallen on the shoulders of Maly, Svyat, Pchela, Maxim, the son of my hero, and Vasilisa,” says Maxim Drozd in an interview with MK. — In the new season, they already have personal storylines, loves, hobbies appear – in general, everything that makes life interesting and complex.

– You are apparently the oldest on the site…

– Yes, and I have already been transferred to my first name and patronymic, I am now Maxim Georgievich. It’s very unusual, at first I even resisted and I’m still a little embarrassed. Fortunately, on other film sets I’m still Max.

— “Reserve Special Forces” probably has the most beautiful scenery that you can imagine: wildlife. Although it’s most likely easier to film on a pavilion, where everything is thought out…

– When everything around you is real, you yourself won’t lie. If suddenly it starts to really rain and it suits the episode, then the artist is in a completely different mood than in the pavilion. You immediately think about how I can get through such a difficult shooting day, and it’s written all over my face. This creates a very right atmosphere.

— During the filming of the first season, you pretty much scared everyone when, during a quick training in riding a motorcycle, you lost control and were injured…

“This is, of course, unpleasant, especially since it took time for rehabilitation. But in general there were a lot of difficulties even without a motorcycle. Running around, stunts, fights, animals in the frame, scenes on the water. And the water in Baikal and the Rybinsk Reservoir is not always warm; we filmed in the fall, its temperature was ten degrees. I had to crawl through swamps, film in smoke and fire, and fight allergies. But in the end it all worked great for the image. This is how it should be in a film where the characters in the story overcome themselves and the prevailing circumstances. And in the end we defeated them.

— You quite often perform your own stunts. Is this your personal initiative or do circumstances just happen?

— It seems to me that by working without doubles, you can shoot faster and with better quality. But I don’t do all the stunt scenes myself. For example, I don’t know how to fight with my feet, I just don’t have such a base. In fights I use boxing technique – at one time I was a professional boxer. I do what I can myself, but when I need to complicate things, people who have certain skills much better than me help.

— During your time working in cinema, you could see more than once that the acting profession is very dependent on simple luck. Can you highlight any films with which you were very lucky?

– In general, I have no luck in life. Everything worked out somehow. But of course there were projects that I consider significant for myself. For example, the series “Stanitsa”, where I worked with colossal partners: Nina Usatova, Pasha Trubiner, Sergei Nikonenko. In “Murka” I played a man who is going crazy before his eyes; such characters are not often offered. The series “Penalty Man” and “Consultant” became iconic for me, where director Alexey Petrovich Rudakov probably first touched on the topic of maniacs, and now everyone is filming about it. Also “Liquidation”, “According to the Laws of Martial Time” – everywhere I worked with amazing people.

— Personally, I see your great luck in the fact that you managed to return to cinema after a long pause, during which you were engaged in business due to the need to provide for your family in a situation where cinema was barely showing signs of life…

“It really was very difficult.” In my opinion, entering the same river twice is against all the laws of the universe. But everything worked out regardless of me. Sergei Vladimirovich Ursulyak’s series “Liquidation” helped me a lot, where I found myself surrounded by Mashkov, Porechenkov, Makovetsky, Lavronenko, Dobronravov. It was probably some kind of decision from above.

— Do you now regret that you left cinema at one time?

“I’m already at that age when feeling sorry is pointless.

— If you have a certain image in the cinema, then in the theater you successfully move away from it…

— Right now, with Dmitry Isaev, we are restoring the play “Emigrants,” which we haven’t played for about a year. At one time it was truly an epoch-making performance. It was made by my teacher Mikhail Dmitrievich Makeev, and the main roles were played by Alexander Feklistov and Roman Kozak. Twenty years later I tried to take a swing at the classics. This is a brilliant play about two people who go from Poland to work in Germany. One is a philosopher and sociologist, the other is a simple hard worker. And on New Year’s Eve they talk about life. I had a lot of fun playing this. Of course, this is a different type of acting. Active one and a half to two hours, and there will be no second take. If you feel that your energy is being lost, then you pull yourself together, change your battle tactics, maintain your distance and begin to dodge and strike. Like in boxing.

— You come from an acting family, and it would be logical for you to pass on this profession by inheritance, as your parents did in their time. You have four children, but if I am correctly informed, then only your son is currently studying to become an actor…

— My middle daughter is studying to become a designer and is already working with me on the same painting as an artist. So she and I meet every day on the set. This is an unusual feeling. A twenty-year-old girl comes up to you and says: “Dad, hello!” I always want to ask: “How did you end up here?” This has been happening for the second month now. Now we are filming together with Evgenia Kryukova, and somehow in a conversation it turned out that my son and her daughter entered the Moscow Art Theater School in the same year. Let’s see what comes of this.

— Did you somehow push your son to make such a decision?

– I never push anyone. I would like to figure it out with myself (laughs).

— What you definitely understand is action films. You are the real expert here…

— By the way, in a new project I play the role of an artist who stars in an action movie. The plot itself is melodramatic, but there are still a lot of stunts and fights. So this genre really doesn’t let me go.