Konstantin Khabensky: “I want my work to surprise me”

If one day Konstantin Khabensky makes an appointment with you, do you know what will be the biggest mistake? Be a couple of minutes late. Yes, he understands everything about traffic jams. But he is not late. And, probably, the worst dream of Khabensky’s partners in the theater and cinema is the one in which they, playing a scene with him, suddenly forget their lines. Konstantin Khabensky is a professional, and only the desire to avoid pathos, which is categorically alien to him, prevents him from writing this word with a capital letter. Therefore, he is demanding – to himself and others. Therefore, at the request of the photographer, he is ready to instantly give out any emotion. And therefore, with restraint, carefully choosing words, answers questions, and some simply bypasses them. But if he does speak, then about what is really important to him.

On Cosmonautics Day, the film “Time of the First” about the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft is being released, where you play one of the main roles. At first glance, not the most dramatic story: nothing supernatural, by today’s standards, happened. What drew you to the script?

It just seems that nothing supernatural happened. In fact, a lot of events happened – including the impossible, in the opinion of the people of that time. Well, for example, the first manned spacewalk.

Yes, but not your hero, not Pavel Belyaev, but Alexei Leonov.

This is true. But in a team, whether it has two people or twenty-two, there is always someone who remains in history by name and deed, and there are others: people who have done everything so that we know the name and deed.

Was this role interesting for you?

It was interesting for me to search, fantasize, collect the image of Belyaev, the commander of the ship who corrected, regulated and ensured the safety of this spacewalk – probably so. Understand the characters, their compatibility or incompatibility, the history that developed between these two astronauts. How they went about doing this is impossible. How their relationship changed, what sides they opened up to each other during the flight, before and after.

First of all, this is still a story of characters and their development. The story of the flight is not of a spaceship, but of the human spirit. My hero is a man who says: “as the Motherland commands.” A military man, a man of order, a man of duty. And it is very interesting to understand what is behind all this. For training, for chopped phrases, for a uniform and bearing that is immediately visible, even if a person is in civilian clothes. What joys, resentments, what experiences are there – that’s what I wanted to get to the bottom of.

In many ways, this devotion to duty is also a feature of the era.

That’s right, that too. And maybe I was partly driven by nostalgia for those people – unmercenaries who worked primarily for the good of the country, for its sake. Yes, they still exist, thank God. But it seems to me that most of society looks in a completely different direction.

What do you have in mind? If we talk about nostalgia, then it is now taking on frightening proportions.

We are talking about different things. I’m talking about nostalgia for relationships in which the main thing is duty and trust. Responsible for what you do. It’s a normal thing. You come to work on time, you come prepared – if about my work. You try to take responsibility for what you do. And sometimes you encourage others to do the same. You can’t live in the past. But you need all the best that happened to you and that, as you think, is acceptable in today’s conditions, to revive and preserve.

It follows from your words that the level of trust and responsibility that we observe today does not suit you. Was everything better in this sense before?

I cannot speak for the whole society. But yes, you are probably right. Probably so, because I am a maximalist and periodically say to myself: “Hush, hush, don’t do it like that” … First of all, it all depends on upbringing. Probably, this responsibility – even hypertrophied – I have from my father.

Were you brought up strictly?

I won’t say that it’s so strict, no. I just had a person by whom I could measure my actions. And which at some point in my life allowed me to make mistakes and correct them on my own. This is achieved not by lectures and moralizing, only by personal example. I think so.

Is your charitable work also a consequence of maximalism and a sense of responsibility?

Our foundation he tries, among other things, to unobtrusively remind and show by personal example how simple it is, how good it is, first of all for ourselves – from the point of view of internal values ​​and human dignity – to help another person. Our profession, with all due respect to it, is like that… If something suddenly doesn’t work out for us, then no one will physically suffer from it, by and large. But if it works out, then it will give someone confidence, someone will think, for someone, perhaps, it will become a discovery, well, or just the mood will rise.

And the fund is still a story of real help. And not disposable – when they helped a child with an operation, for example. This and its subsequent management, physiotherapy, introduction and adaptation in society, psychological and social rehabilitation. And working with parents who have experienced shock, who also need to live a fulfilling life, do not shake every minute because everything can happen again. I would like to change the attitude of society to an oncological diagnosis as a sentence. It’s not like that, life doesn’t end there. Our program is called: “To know and not to be afraid.”

Could you devote yourself entirely to the foundation and charity, giving up acting work?

Do not know. Now the fund is in good shape, we have 14 employees, a large team. And I – I think, have not yet worked out everything in the profession to calmly abandon it.

What else do you expect from her?

The same as always. Don’t repeat. Work with directors who make you wonder.

When was the last time you were so surprised?

A long time ago, unfortunately.

Are you more involved in films now?

Yes, in film and television. This does not mean that I am not interested in theater, I just do not want to jump from the set to the theater stage. I try to act consistently to finish with one, and then take on seriously and responsibly the other. A play and a film are completely different things. They coincide only in one thing: it is desirable for the actors to know the text, or at least understand what it is about. And talk to each other. Everything else is different.

Theater is a momentary affair, communication, energy. This is how you keep the rhythm, this is two or three steps ahead of the viewer. The ability to get the better of your emotions – because the actors look ridiculous, they start crying uncontrollably and cry until the last spectators leave somewhere in the middle of the performance. I say this conditionally, of course. And many, many more. Theater is a very living thing.

Can you tell us more about TV projects?

Now I’m filming a big story for the centenary of the October Revolution. This is an eight part film.

Art?

It depends how we do it. Maybe it will turn out to be anti-artistic.

Sorry, game, I mean.

Oh sure. I play Lev Davidovich Trotsky.

Are you ready for a new wave of talk about the Bolsheviks and whether it is necessary to take Lenin out of the mausoleum?

Well, we are not shooting about politics, this is again a story of characters, relationships, actions. Of course, it will not do without talking, but the profession of an actor, director, and any artist in general, probably, cannot but provoke a person. Emotions, reflections. If you don’t do this, if you play, and there is indifference in the auditorium, then you are doing something wrong.

We talk about your work all the time. Do you know how to rest?

I can, I guess. Here in the yoga system, it seems, there are exercises that lead to a complete purification of consciousness. I don’t really do yoga. But theater – for those who try to work honestly on stage – is a story of airing. You get aired if you work honestly. Everything superfluous comes out of you, you are empty, cleansed, you are filled with other energy. And even when the most difficult performance, when there is no strength, your arms and legs hurt, and your voice is broken – but the audience accepted it, then in fact you are absolutely happy, even if it seems that you can hardly walk. In fact, you rested. You have given everything away, cleansed yourself and now you are ready to move on.

And you don’t have to pull off a difficult role later, like wet clothes?

It happens. This is what usually happens when it doesn’t work. You need to understand and feel every second – yourself, the viewer and what is happening on the street. You need to have all this in you. So you asked about rest. I don’t know how to properly rest. I, like most, rest incorrectly: I lie down on the sofa and watch TV. I need two days to breathe, to continue to do something else. Rest is a way out into a different rhythm of existence. Actually, for this, many leave for the seas or forests. Just to get out into this different rhythm. In this sense, it’s even easier for me. I have a different rhythm in different cities. Different rhythm in theater and cinema. Sometimes heavy, but different.