Shot from the movie “Leviathan”
For many years Andrei Zvyagintsev was considered one of the best contemporary Russian directors. However, the direction of his paintings was, shall we say, slightly one-sided. In undoubtedly talented paintings, Russians generally looked like silent, disenfranchised, lazy and immoral creatures who betray loved ones, deceive themselves, friends and wives, drink heavily and destroy their own state with inspiration. In short: moral monsters It is difficult to answer why this is so. Perhaps Zvyagintsev liked such scenarios better. Or perhaps an old friend and sponsor, a Russian producer of Ukrainian origin, Alexander Rodnyansky*, didn’t give him money for another film.
So, the other day it became known why Zvyagintsev could not take a “neutral” photo about the Great Patriotic War. In a new interview, producer Rodnyansky *, who left Russia and condemned the SVO, finally dropped his mask and admitted that he simply did not give Zvyagintsev money for a film about the most important holy war for the Soviet people. About “some soldiers”, as he put it.
I didn’t like this script [про ВОВ], I do not like now, – explained the producer. – These were three very different, provocative, unrelated tales (Babi Yar, the blockade of Leningrad, an episode of 1944, “some kind of soldiers there”). movie almanac. A very expensive film (Rodnyansky * received 300 million rubles of state non-refundable funds for Stalingrad – Auth.), Doomed to have a difficult audience fate. complicated movie. It should have cost less than $20 million (1.3 billion rubles). I immediately said that I could not lift it. Because I have to love the project. I told Andrey: I don’t like this movie.
Shot from the film “Stalingrad”
It is worth noting that for many, many years Rodnyansky * held leading positions on Russian television and received gigantic sums from the state for filming films. If we briefly summarize the financial support of the Non-Stop Production Film Company Fund, we can find a solid figure of 1.3 billion rubles (funds allocated for the films Chernobyl, Ninth, Duelist, Leviathan, Stalingrad, etc.).
* recognized by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation as a foreign agent
