Alexander Ustyugov: the Metrostroevskaya mine is warm, cozy and very cultural

Russian actor, theater and film director, musician Alexander Ustyugov will play a metro builder in Andrei Smirnov’s new film “For You and Me.” One of the scenes was filmed in a mine at a depth of 65 meters. The actor shared his impressions with our correspondent.

Alexander, your first profession was working in a mine. Why did you make this choice?

Because I was born in a mining town and I had no choice. We employ either power engineers or miners. I entered the mining school and received the specialty “Electrician for repair, installation and dismantling of mining equipment” and after graduating from vocational school I went to work in my specialty: first for practice, and then as a professional at the Vostochny coal mine.

What do you remember about working in those parts?

There are many memories left. Accidents, breakthroughs, all sorts of disasters. And in principle, a depth of 55 meters is also quite an interesting story: with strong gusts of wind, you feel like you’re on Mars.

Did working in the mine help you get into the role of a metro builder in the new film?

There was nothing difficult about my role, especially in the scene that took place in the mine. I didn't need any additional skills other than certain terms that I knew. It was clear and close. That is, I didn’t have to explain anything.

Are the workings in the construction of the metro different from those in coal mines? Where did you like best?

The Metrostroy mine is warm, cozy, light, and therefore quite comfortable. At the same time, depth is not felt. Dry, good, everything is very cultural.

Why did you decide to change your profession as an engineer to an acting path? How did you understand that you were not a builder, but an actor?

Because I wanted this since I was 14 years old, it just wasn’t possible. After the coal mine, he mastered several more professions: car-building engineer and working as a theater lighting technician. Later he became an actor. This path became natural for me, but it took a long time.

Your first role?

The first role is the film “Star” by Nikolai Lebedev. I got a small episode in the tape. Then I was at the very beginning of my studies. Played a German. If you look very carefully, you can find it.

Tell us about your role in the film “For You and Me.” Who is your hero?

The hero is complex, like the whole picture. Quite ambiguous. I play the husband of the main character, a metro construction worker, a man who went through the war in the engineering forces and now works as a section chief. He is a responsible, enthusiastic person, and work is important to him. Every opening of a new station is poetry, delight, and an important stage in his life. According to the plot of the film, he builds and opens the Smolenskaya station. And he looks at this as his own achievement, as some kind of success from the distant 1953, which was marked by the death of Stalin and the subsequent decadent mood in the country. He seems to cling to these stations.

Do you have anything in common? Do you like him?

It's hard for me to say. I'm not looking for any similarities. I'm interested in the differences. Similarities lead to monotonous roles. But the director and I came up with the character’s character together. Let's just say I like him. And it seems to me and the director likes him, because we created him with enthusiasm.

How did being in a mine working 65 meters underground affect the creative process?

Building a set on this scale is hard enough to make it feel as authentic as possible. In the mine, even the atmosphere and the water on the walls gave their own sensations: trolleys and sparks. Such surroundings, of course, create absolute plausibility of existence.

What impressions did you have from working together with real metro builders?

Beautiful. The guys and I quickly found a common language, because mining is a specific business. They even jokingly called me to work when I said that I was an electrician for installation. The master said: “Oh, I need these! Come to us!” So they even offered me a job in my specialty. (laughs)

In the future, who would you like to play?

This doesn't happen to me. You can't dream about a role. Because the role consists of a huge number of things: script, team, finances, etc. A huge number of scripts that I read are modern works. But there are many discoveries that have yet to be made.

You lived in Moscow for many years. Share your impressions of your first meeting with the metro?

Oh, it's a smell that always brings me back to nostalgia. Until now, in the metro in winter and autumn it is so definite, mixed with the heat that the trains are gaining, with some kind of impregnation of the sleepers. And it is both the same and different at the same time. It is unforgettable, it is not repeated anywhere and for some reason is found only in the subway. The first time I went down the escalator, I felt it, and I still hear it. Precisely in Moscow. In St. The St. Petersburg metro doesn't smell like that.

Alexander, do you have a favorite station? What's connected with it?

"Revolution Square". When I was studying, I constantly changed trains at this station. And I touched the dog’s nose for four years. She is probably the most beautiful to me. In times when there were no telephones, I looked at the sculptures, looked at these border guards, engineers and other characters.

Do you currently live in the northern capital? What are your impressions of the Leningrad metro? Has your favorite station appeared there?

Yes. My favorite station is Chernyshevskaya, in the area of ​​which I still live. However, I don’t use the metro now. I've probably been going underground for ten years now. Well, “Vosstaniya Square”, naturally, “Mayakovskaya”. Something like that. I will probably be trivial in choosing these three stations.

The Moscow Metrostroy recently turned 90 years old. So that you can wish the builders of the most beautiful metro in the world?

I wish I could build it just as beautifully. So that the new stations are as large-scale as before, and not just a utilitarian place where people could spend time while waiting to board. Then you get real works of art! And the Moscow metro proves this continuity every year.

MOVIE! MOVIE! MOVIE!

If a random pedestrian in the early morning of March 18 turned from Sushchevsky Val onto Savelovsky Proezd to mine No. 1237, he would have seen a dozen film cameras. Here, the team of the Belorussky Station director Andrei Smirnov spent the whole day underground.

The People's Artist is working on a new film, “For You and Me,” where he acts both as a director and as a screenwriter and producer. At the moment, little is known about the film. The plot will unfold in Moscow in 1952, and one of its key characters will be a metro builder.

They decided to film an episode of the film in a dismantling chamber near the Savelovskaya station. In order not to interrupt the shift from production, they chose a suitable place - an adit in which work was no longer being carried out.

The cage in the mine has not yet been dismantled, the appearance has not changed in any way compared to those that were used in the early fifties, where the film takes place.

SMU-8 employees dressed up in the uniform of metro builders of those years, appearing in the future film. Vyacheslav Galyuga, one of the actors who came to filming, shared his emotions from the descent.

– I went underground for the first time today. Very impressed. I admire the people who come down here every day - Vyacheslav plays a cameo role in the scene: his hero, a metro builder, falls under a rock collapse.

But the director of the film, Andrei Smirnov, is not visiting the underground construction site for the first time, and at the age of 80 he took part with great enthusiasm in choosing the site for filming the scene.

INTERESTING

Construction sites and workings of the Moscow metro have more than once become the setting of films. One of the scenes from Georgy Danelia’s film “Kin-dza-dza!” was filmed in the tunnel of the Polyanka metro station during the construction of the section from Serpukhovskaya to Borovitskaya. The object is captured at the 83rd minute of the film.

The tunnel played the role of an illegal entrance to a shopping center on the planet Plyuk, through which the heroes went to get gravitsapa.