Sergei Bezrukov in Nikolai Andreev’s film “Nuremberg”, which can be seen in theaters from March 2, played the role of the state prosecutor of the Soviet Union Roman Rudenko. It was thanks to Rudenko that fascist criminals could not escape punishment at the Nuremberg trials, which took place in 1945-1946.
How similar are you to the character in the movie?
Sergey Bezrukov – Roman Andreevich Rudenko was a Ukrainian with the peculiarities of the southern dialect. We agreed with the director Nikolai Andreev that we would not copy his pronunciation. I played a lot of historical characters and wanted to be exactly like them everywhere. But here we went in a fundamentally different way. I am neither outwardly nor in speeches like Rudenko. By the way, there are pictures from the chronicle, you can listen to his performance. But there was one feature we wanted to highlight.
– Which?
Sergei Bezrukov: Call note. That this is not a speech from a modern accuser. And at the same time, it was important not to fall into a parody.
– How did you get this paper?
Sergei Bezrukov: When Nikolay called me and told me that there was a small, but very important role, he pointed out that it was important that the accusatory texts were alive and a lot depends on me. Yes, the role is small, but it was thanks to Rudenko that many Nazi criminals did not escape severe punishment, which could happen quite unexpectedly because of the Americans. Then they would have ended up in the United States and everything would have been different.
– Many note the work of artists who accurately recreated the hall of the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg.
Sergei Bezrukov: I was in this room in Nuremberg and was amazed at the work of the production designers who built exactly this room at Mosfilm. And I will also point out the artists of mass scenes. Not all were foreigners. An American policeman approaches me: “Can I take a picture?” And this is our actor, he looks so similar in type! And the foreign actors who played Goering, Paulus! I understand that this is filming, but the artists are immersed in the atmosphere, they feel, they live in the frame. Therefore, the types – to goosebumps. For example, Kantel…Kantlenl…
– Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the SS Reich Security Main Office.
Sergei Bezrukov: I will not pronounce myself. This disgusts me as the grandson of two grandfathers who fought. But he is played by Michael Epp. We starred in another movie with him and he already killed me according to the script. At the same time, we communicated well with Michael when we were with the play “Vysotsky. The Birth of a Legend” in Berlin, Epp came with the whole family.
– Are you communicating now?
Sergei Bezrukov: There have been no messages from him lately. For several reasons. Although they corresponded. The fate of Michael was such that one grandfather was a fascist, and the second was English. That is, he spent a period of separation through his family. Fascists on one side, anti-fascists on the other.
– Another foreign actor who perfectly played the cynical Goering is the Danish Karsten Nergaard.
Sergey Bezrukov: There was such an episode on the set. I make the accusatory speech, then turn around and Karsten gives two thumbs up and I lip read his: “Very good.” Scenes like this bring back the horror of the times you are immersed in while filming.
– What was the main difficulty?
Sergey Bezrukov: Speak with the cold energy of metal, when internal tears drown. His voice cannot tremble when the atrocities of the Nazis at the Auschwitz concentration camp are presented in court. You look at the withered head of a concentration camp prisoner, which was on the director’s desk, you look at gloves, bags, lampshades made of human skin. And you understand that this is makeup, plastic. But at the same time, he understands that it was so and that this is the truth, presented by the Soviet side, which many did not know or refused to believe. Like a movie. Just like Goering gives you a thumbs up. But everything else, if we discount these moments, is true and is reproduced with precision, emotion and veracity.
