Mykhailo ILLIENKO, the film director, told The Day this film’s box office returns amount to some 1.5 million hryvnias, and that this sum could have been considerably larger: “Most shows were in the morning or afternoon. Practically no night shows because this Ukrainian motion picture runs counter to our movie theaters’ standard of prime time US movie shows. They can’t change their schedule without failing to honor their obligations under contract.
Fire Crosser has been screened at movie theaters in 35 Ukrainian cities. The launch of a DVD version is tentatively scheduled for April 19.
For Dmytro Linartovych, an actor at the Kyiv Municipal Theater, starring as Ivan Dodoka, this was a debut in a full-length movie. In the following interview he shares his ideas about an active lifestyle, love of folk songs, and Ukraine’s filmmaking potential and ideological principles.
What did you feel watching this movie? Were you satisfied with your performance?
“The viewer’s are the number-one critic, so I will trust their judgment. I watched this movie twice. First to professionally assess my performance. Second, sitting back, watching it as just another moviegoer. I can’t grade my performance and rely on the audiences to do so.”
You have visited a number of Ukrainian cities screening this movie. Where was the warmest public response?
“It was warmly received everywhere. I hate differentiating between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ [Ukrainians]. Believe me, people in the south, west or east of Ukraine were looking forward to watching this movie picture because Ukrainians miss national-made motion pictures. The impressions varied, ranging between sentimental and ironical, but no one seemed to be left indifferent, considering that this is a genuinely Ukrainian production, with Ukrainian producers, Ukrainian cast, and it is about Ukraine.”
Can you say that your character as an actor, has something in common with that of Ivan Dodoka?
“I have never experienced such twists and turns. Working on this role I relied on the stories I’d heard from my father, grandfather, and grandma. I also relied on what the film director, Mykhailo Illienko, told me. I read about Ivan Datsenko and watched WW II newsreels. Because of tight schedule, I could not visit Ivan Datsenko’s home village, Chernechy Yar, before the start of the shooting – which I still regret. I hope I will one of these days. I treasure every emotional nuance in this movie, although in real life I’m an ordinary man. I can just impersonate a hero as a professional actor.”
Mykhailo Illienko said in an interview this movie would be about the making of a leader. Any other ideas in this production you would regard as important?
“The main hero is a daredevil and at the same time a conscious individual who finds it in himself to keep up struggle under the hardest of conditions. His is motivated by an overwhelming desire to return to his native land, his wife and son. Our fellow countrymen have developed the habit of putting up with what they believe are hopeless situations. Ivan Dodoka manages to cope with such situations. I liked this when working on the role.”
How did you become an actor?
“I never thought of an actor’s career as a youth. My father was a stage director and actor. He ran the drama studio ‘Devin’ and later a drama company under the aegis of the Armed Forces. When I was 13, he asked if I would act as a boy in a play entitled Horror, about the 1933 Holodomor. I agreed and then came the roles of the Little Devil and Michele in [Eduardo de Filippo’s] play Top Hat. After school I served in the army and it was there that I finally decided on an actor’s career. I wrote to my father about my decision. After demobilization I worked as a stage hand for a year while getting prepared for enrolment in a dramatic art institute.”
What is you most cherished impersonation?
“I’m proud of all my impersonations at the Kyiv Theater. I love them because each has involved lots of work and dedication. I act as Mykhailo Hurman in Ivan Franko’s Stolen Happiness; as Rodo in Eduardo de Filippo’s Top Hat, and as Captain in [Nikolai Gogol’s] Taras Bulba. I accept a role only when I feel that it is close to me. I have been offered movie roles, but my theater schedule is too tight. Of course, there is a selection of roles. I can impersonate a character only when I ‘feel’ him, when I can perceive his inner world, when I can understand why he acts in a certain way.”
In this movie you sing the Ukrainian folk son “My Mom Whacked Me…” The script gives this song a magic power. Do songs play any part in your life?
“I love singing Ukrainian songs; they’re close to my heart; they have some encoded messages; they give me creative inspiration. Our songs are markedly diversified, each with a great many implications, each with its own dramaturgy. In a sense, they are our national treasure.”
Any mental peculiarities about the Ukrainian cinema?
“One has to consider the national character, national culture and tradition in the first place. Ukrainians are inherently spiritual and national-culture-oriented; they have an image-bearing way of thinking; they are industrious; they love what they create. At present, it is impossible to make as many productions as we’d like to have, but there is potential. There will be genuinely Ukrainian movies made. They will differ from other cultures, from US and European productions. Ukraine is a strong and self-sufficient nation. There are many themes worthy of our producers’ attention – with history topping the list. Here there is no end to creative work.”
Media and social networks have compared you to Johnny Depp, Rambo, Vasyl Stus, even Matt LeBlanc. Who do you think is the closest to your character? Whom would you list as top-notch experts in your field of endeavor?
“I worship no idols there, for that’s how my parents brought me up. There are actors I like, they’re true masters. There are such Ukrainian actors, among them Yaroslav (Ivan) Havryliuk, Boryslav Brondukov, Kostiantyn Stepankov, and Ivan Mykolaichuk. Their creative approach is close and understandable to me.”
