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December 2013 | № 12 (123) DO NOT MISS: December 8 – Korchma on Borovskoye Highway December 22 — Korchma in Sadovo-Samotochnaya Street December 29 — Korchma in Pyatnitskaya Street December 29 — Korchma in Bochkova Street More news and photos at www.tarasbulba.us e U v o [email protected] k l r a h Project manager – Yuri Beloyvan i it n [email protected] i w an e c ad uisine – m OLGA ZAITSEVA: EVERY WOMAN IS A WITCH… VIY: RETURNING PREMIERE 30 january in 3D INCREDIBLE ASIA: Blood, sacrifices and cremation in Nepal THE NEW YEAR: tar barrels, flower offerings and mass spam DELIVERY OF HOMEMADE UKRAINIAN FOOD AND HOTLINE 6+ www.tarasbulba.us (212) 510-75-10 2 | GUEST SHE BROUGHT TOGETHER THE OPPOSITE FEATURES OF A BEAUTY AND A WICKED WITCH IN THE ROLE OF GOGOL’S PANNOCHKA FROM THE HORROR STORY VIY, IN SEARCH OF THE BEST ANGLE SHE COULD LIE IN A COFFIN FOR HOURS … SHE WAS CHOSEN FOR THE PART FROM AMONG THOUSANDS OF CANDIDATES AND THE RESULT SURPASSED ALL EXPECTATIONS… THE NEW 3D VERSION OF VIY COMES TO THEATERS ON JANUARY 30; MEANWHILE BULBA NEWS TALKED TO OLGA ZAYTSEVA WHO PORTRAYED THE LEGENDARY PANNOCHKA IN THE MOVIE. OLGA ZAITSEVA: “EVERY WOMAN IS A WITCH…” – Olga, how did you start your work with the film creators? What is your secret? – It’s not a secret, really. We have been working together for long time, and working well. It all started at casting, like with all actors. I came in, and what followed next was ridiculous. I don’t know if we can even publish this in a magazine… – Try us! – Here’s the story. I came to the casting and asked the casting director: “Where is the director?” He said, “It’s casting, it’s not even the trials, it’s a long way till you finally meet the director… Let’s make a casting video first.” I agreed. So they started to film me when somebody cried out: “Stop! Walk like that! I am calling the director.” So I say: “You just told me it’s a simple casting video, that the director is away.” And the response: “No, he’s right here.” Then they dressed me up and made me up, then called back in about six weeks and said that I was hired for the role. – It wasn’t so simple really, they were looking for the actress to play Pannochka for quite a while. The photo archive contains more than two thousand actresses… Why do you think the producers chose you? – I don’t know… The director used to tell me: “I hired you for your forehead, you have a Gothic forehead and crazy eyes…” – Pannochka is quite a peculiar character: on the one hand, the ultimate beauty, on the other, the ultimate female evil… the vamp woman, the devil incarnate. How difficult was it to embody these two images? – Can’t you tell just by looking at me? (she – There is hardly any mysticism here! Viy. I wasn’t scared of Viy himself, I was terrified laughs). It was quite a mystical story: as soon – Why not? The boards were quite secure, of the hands protruding from the wall. I could as the cameras started rolling, I would get why would I fall? Khoma had to drag me out visualize them so vividly that it triggered panic. this feeling that I turned into someone else… I from under there. I remember hiding behind the chair… I think it’s remember I even burst out crying at one point… a film for all times. We have 3D and all this new It was very creepy… – How long did you spend at the set? technology now, but we will never film like they – I never counted; my kid grew up at the Viy used to before… – Speaking of mysticism, do you remember set. That was hard, I worked 16 hours a day… how well the film’s advertising campaign and – We hope your Viy will have the same PR service was organized back in the Soviet – How long did you shoot the key scene? The success. Actress Nataliya Varley was all her times? There were constant rumors about actors scene of three nights in the church? life associated with two roles: Pannochka or a and crew of the 1967 film Viy, that lots of scary – About a month. We filmed it mostly in Captive of Caucasus. Now comes out Viy with things happened to them. All this was published the studio, only exterior scenes were filmed on you playing a very memorable role. Do you and only built up the heat around the film. location. It took them hours to set the light, so suppose you will be associated with Pannochka? When you were on the set, did anything unusual I could nap in that coffin. I had no prejudices. – I doubt it. Several of my films come out happen to the crew? It’s true that when you dream your own death, in 2014, not one Viy. I also don’t believe that – The most mysterious things happened at the it means you will live a long life. That’s what I you can associate a person with one thing place we lived… We stayed in a haunted castle. hope for (she laughs). today. It used to be different, there were fewer There was constantly this feeling of something films… Pannochka is Gogol’s character. I don’t otherworldly hovering over us. I was once lying – We cannot avoid comparing your film to understand how somebody may be associated in bed in my room, it was 4 a.m., I can’t explain the one with Nataliya Varley, which enjoyed with a classical literary personage. But of course, it, but I felt there was something crawling on the unprecedented success: it was the first horror movie every woman is a witch to some extent. Gogol bed… It scared the hell out of me… in the Soviet Union, it had huge box office returns used to say: “All women are witches, and older – 32 million tickets were officially sold, 200 million women are witches for sure…” – Was there anything extraordinary during people watched it… It was released in 13 countries. the shooting? Do you remember when you first watched it? – Have you read Gogol? What other classical – I was luring Khoma and suddenly fell under – I was a very young child then. I knew two writers do you like? the floor boards… scary movies: A Nightmare on Elm Street and – Honestly, I didn’t like to read until recently. GUEST | 3 What most people read when they were 16 to 18, I first read at 23 or 25. I am glad I did that because at 25 I could understand much more than at 18. Reading Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita in school is the stupidest thing, I would say. You can hardly make heads or tails of it, not even every adult is able to do it. – Did you make friends with other actors? How did you find Jason Flemyng? Was he very big-headed? – Flemyng is very cool, very positive. We had a very warm friendship. We could text each other on Instagram, for example. There was this story when we filmed a scene together in a tavern, after that he ran to see the footage, and then said to the director: “I don’t understand how she does it, but I feel uncomfortable when she’s behind me… it sends shivers down my spine, I can’t keep still…” – You have a very active and busy job always demanding maximum dedication. Where do you find energy? – In my kid. When you have children, you have obligations, and whether you want it or not, you need to keep those obligations. Naturally, you need energy for that. Every morning I look into my son’s eyes and realize what an immense supply of energy he is to me… No one else can give you that. – Do you exercise? – Of course! I play tennis, I work out in the gym, I swim, I do yoga, I snowboard in the winter, and bike in the summer. – Such an active lifestyle requires a corresponding diet. What do you eat? – I always have my breakfast. I never go out without eating yogurt or something else. Yogurt, cottage cheese, dairy products, or rarely cereal or eggs. I love cheese pancakes that the nanny prepares for my son. I can’t stop stealing them from him (she laughs). I try to merge lunch and dinner between 6 and 8 p.m. So, practically, I eat twice a day. In the evening I eat protein – fish, poultry. Maybe some vegetables, that’s all… I just love sweets, I can’t resist the temptation of a Kyiv cake brought over from Ukraine once a month. – Do you take any sports additives? – Categorically not! I vote for the natural products. When I was in the US I only shopped at the organic grocery stores. – Are you familiar with traditional Ukrainian or Russian cuisine? – Of course! My grandmother was a chef! – What is your specialty? – Varenyky with poppy seeds – they are the best in the Ukrainian cuisine. Pork fat is another special story. I once went to Kyiv and my mother asked me to get her some pork fat. So I tell her: “How do you picture me carrying it on a plane – it will smell in the cabin.” And she said: “Never mind, they can suffer it for an hour…” So I brought her pork fat from Kyiv.