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Yeva Serebrennikova about her role in the TV series “Mistakes of Youth”: The story of my heroine teaches forgiveness

8 March 2021
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Soon the premiere of the 4-episode melodrama “Mistakes of Youth”, produced by the Film Company “Kyivtelefilm”, will air on the TV channel “Ukraine”.

One of the main roles in this picture is played by the famous actress Yeva Serebrennikova. According to the script, her heroine Iryna, who grew up in an orphanage, is betrayed by her closest people: her friend Nina and the young man Andrii. The news of this becomes a crushing blow to her. As a result, unable to curb emotions, she commits a series of actions dictated by resentment, which led to irreparable dramatic consequences.

Our journalists managed to meet with the actress and talk with her about filming a new project, professional priorities, and meanings that she broadcasts through her character.

All details are further in the material.

“Eva, what is the value of the project ‘The Mistakes of Youth’ for you, in which you played one of the key roles?”

“This project is valuable for me, first of all, because I played a heroine in it at her completely different stages of life: at the age of nineteen and forty. So it is two ages at once. This is a huge gift for every actor.

Also, my character Iryna has a difficult, but very interesting story. This is an orphan girl who had no one dearer than a friend and a young man. However, at a certain moment, disagreements occur between them, due to which she commits several rash, emotionally dictated actions that divided their lives into “before” and “after”.

And the fact that for her these people were not just friends, but practically a family, complicates the course of events taking place in the future with them and the very picture of the role. I have not yet played a character for whom a friend would be such a significant person in life. And so it is dear to me as an actress”.

“What, in your opinion, teaches the story written by the scriptwriters of the picture?”

“In my opinion, she teaches love and that family is the most important thing in the life of every person. Also, it has a very important meaning in the value of forgiveness. And, what is very important for me, this is broadcasted by my character, whose history, by the way, is tied to the title of the film. Leading the viewer through her, I show them that, without learning to forgive, a person will not find what they dream of and what is life-affirming for them. They will not be happy. I think this is a very good message”.

“When preparing for filming, actors often specifically watch alike films, read suitable literature, or create separate playlists that tune them to the desired emotional wave. How did this process take place for you?”

“When I studied at the institute, they joked about me: “Serebrennikova intentionally drinks a lot of water during the break, so that there is something to cry on solo frames (Smiles, – Ed.). It happened that my destiny is quite complex and eventful. And in my life, there were many difficult situations. So, I did not have to search and draw something from the outside. All this was inside me. And this is by no means a reason for pride. It’s just a fact”.

“What scene did you remember most of all filming and why?”

“Perhaps it was the scene on the bridge when my heroine decides to commit suicide. And I remember it, oddly enough, as a completely stupid thing. To shoot this episode, it was necessary not only to convey the difficult state in which my character is but also to take into account some technical issues. In particular, the heroine had to climb over a metal fence on the bridge. This trick was done by my stuntman. But when I saw how she did it, I realized that I could have done it myself just as well, since I have very good sports training. Later I even told the producer about it. He replied that if he knew that I was not afraid, he would definitely allow me to perform the trick on my own (Laughs – Ed.)”.

“As far as I know, you did parkour and, in general, this skill could also come in handy when filming an episode when your heroine is hit by a car. However, it was decided to use a professional stuntman to carry it out…”

“Yes, in this scene I also had a stuntman, since this is a rather complex trick with a clear execution technology. And it was simply impossible to do without a professional stuntman. To realize it, a person had to jump at a precisely defined moment when the car approached, fall on the windshield, on which the camera is focused, and then roll down the hood onto the asphalt. That is, this is a pure stunt work. I think even if I were in a gear, with a high degree of probability I would still have suffered. I’m not afraid of pain, but such outcome of events could disrupt the shift and negatively affect the filming process as a whole”.

“There is also an episode in the script where your heroine arranges a real mayhem in a store. How was it filmed and how technically difficult was this process, given that you had to not only fight there but also break the shop window?”

“As I said, I have very good athletic training. So, I am confident in myself when I am faced with the task of striking at a certain place. I know it will be an accurate hit, even if at that moment I play a panic attack or an affective state. Another thing is that I am not always confident in my partners, because they can go on the wrong trajectory. And this, of course, caused me a certain excitement during the shooting of the fight. But everything went well and without a single mistake.

The only thing was one extremely insignificant nuance (although, for me, as a perfectionist, it is still a tick) when they filmed the moment as I desperately waving a mop and hitting the shop window. The director asked me to bring the heroine to the peak point of the affective state and create more excitement, and I was worried that this might hurt the cameras. As a result, I never hit them, but I hit one of the operators a little. But he decided not to tell anyone about it (Smiles, – Ed.)”.

“And you still decided to honestly confess…”

“Yes (Laughs – Ed.). I hit him once. But he resisted and did not even move. And he continued to do his job. He needed to keep the frame – and he kept it. Endured and held it (Smiling, – Ed.)”.

“How was it working with the film crew in general?”

“It was incredibly fun to work with the film crew. I think the guys will remember me as an unrealistic laughing person. And this despite the fact that in the frame, on the contrary, I needed to cry a lot. In the intervals between filming, I didn’t even feel sad for a second (Laughs – Ed.).

And this is great! Since, when working on material, an artist needs to be able to preserve himself, to clearly distinguish between the image and the present himself. On this score, in the acting circle, there is even a kind of law that is taught in the theater institute: to exist well and be honest in the frame, you must remember that this is a role. After all, if you, even by accident, plunge too deeply into it, get overwhelmed and stay in this state, you will automatically lose the boundaries of life and frame. They will start to blur. And this will certainly have a negative impact on work. So, the ability to switch and the group that helps you with this are very important”.

“What are the most curious moments you can remember?”

“We had an incredible amount of funny moments during filming. Take the story of Christmas, which we met on the territory of the prison. It happened that on the eve of this holiday we filmed scenes in a prison colony and a shop nearby, in which, by the way, my character is smashing the shop window. And now it’s already 11:30 pm. on the clock, we finished filming this episode and they let me go home. But before leaving, I need to get back with a small film crew to the territory of the prison, where all our cars are parked, including the make-up car, wardrobe, etc.

We drive up there, but it turns out that these huge gates, through which we can go to the point we need, are closed. After waiting a little and getting through four more such doors on our way, we got to the right place. And then the most interesting thing began: the gates, behind which all our transport is located, are completely closed, and the person who has the key to them cannot be found (Laughs – Ed.). It’s midnight in the yard, we have already met Christmas, but we are still waiting for someone who will still bring us the right key since previous attempts have not been crowned with success. Ultimately, the producers, together with the prison administration, decided to lead the actors to the exit on foot and from there send them home.

At some point, it even seemed to me that I had fallen into a state of some unreality. But at the same time I really liked that even in such a dead-end situation, when everyone at the end of the work shift is on a depleted resource, there was still enough energy for irony, humor, and fun. And this is all thanks to the group. Not to a specific person, but to the group of people who know how to co-create”.

How did your working relationship develop with your colleagues on the set? I know that among your partners in this project, there are famous actors as Oleksii Zubkov, Anna Miklosh, Oleksandr Pashkov…”

“When I met Oleksii Zubkov, I had the feeling that he was my lost brother (Laughs – Ed.)… It was incredibly easy for me to be with him. In terms of communication on the set, and in terms of creativity. Here, indeed, as they say, amazing! I am very sincere about this and, it seems to me, in no interviews I have spoken so about any of the partners on the set.

It was also very comfortable to work with Anna Miklosh, who plays my heroine’s friend in this series”.

“On what three whales do you think the work on the set is based?”

“The script, partner, and team, these are the very three whales. And in a situation where you are already involved in the filming process, read the story, and know your colleagues in the acting workshop, the most important component, of course, is always the team.

Cinematography is a very complex mechanism. To make sure it won’t fail, everyone present on the set must do their job on time and as efficiently as possible. And also be ready to help others.

Also, this living mechanism creates something new and that we initially did not know. Any actor entering a project never knows how successful it will be. And even at the stage of filming, he thinks, “Maybe this film will beat all ratings, or maybe it won’t be so successful”. But this ignorance always has a positive side, since creativity is born from it.

When people are confident that they are doing something incredibly cool, the opposite is often the case. Because pride can dazzle. And when you don’t know what the final result will be, but you want it to be worthy, then you try hard and help others along the way. Of course, everyone in the process may experience some kind of failures, errors that need to be corrected immediately. But this is work. It is a caravan on its way and it’s great!”

“How, in your opinion, will the filmed story impress the viewer?”

“Television and filmmaking are necessary for people who experience certain emotions but do not know how to express them. Because of what those, accumulating, begin to destroy them from the inside. When a person watches a story that is similar to something that he had to experience in life, cries, gets upset, or angry with the actor, they finally let these emotions out and it becomes easier for them.

In my opinion, we emotionally exactly existed in the frame with Anna (Anna Miklosh, – Ed.). So, it will be very easy for viewers, who had to deal with what our heroines went through, to live these emotions with us and let them go. And this, in my opinion, is the greatest benefit of this film”.

“Some kind of emotional support?”

“Yes. And this is very valuable. Since a person, faced with any situation in life, it is always important to feel that they are not alone and some people also had to go through the same. And they are interested in how others acted in similar circumstances. Living in society, they desperately need to know that they are similar in some way to other people.

***

Let us recall, that on the production of a 4-episode melodrama «Mistakes of Youth» works Film company “Kyivtelefilm” by the order of TV channel “Ukraine”. The series was filmed in Kyiv and the Kyiv region and is now at the post-production stage.

The picture is full of action-packed episodes involving the performance of stuntmen on motorcycles, cars, and water. More details about how the most extreme scenes were filmed can be found in the reportage “Elements of a road movie and the motorcycle stunts: details from the filming of the TV series “The mistakes of youth”.

You also can read the interview with the director of the series, Serhii Shcherbin, to find out how the shooting process was organized in general.

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“Mistakes of Youth”

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4 episodes

Melodrama

2021

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Scriptwriter: Rauf Kubaiev

Director: Serhii Shcherbin

Director of photography: Artem Kozyriev

Production designer: Oleksandr Ukolov

Costume designer: Tetiana Zubareva

Makeup artist: Iryna Boitsova

Executive producers: Pavlo Karvan, Svitlana Karvan

Line producer: Artem Suliha

General producer: Valentyn Opaliev

Producers of the TV channel “Ukraine”: Victoriia Korohod, Iryna Cherniak

 

 

 

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