On January 4, a new season of the series "Mediator" started. In honor of this event, we spoke with one of the lead actors, Vladislav Tsenev, about acting, his creative path, and directly about "Mediator."

You may have seen him in the series "Kitchen. War for the Hotel" and the project "Live Life", and right now he plays one of the key roles in the popular series "Mediator" – all this is about Vladislav Tsenev, a fan of Daniel Day-Lewis and a lover of St. Petersburg. We talked with Vladislav to find out what makes his role in "Mediator" special, how he prepares for his projects, and why he loves cinema.

– A new season of "Mediator" is coming out on the START online cinema, where you have one of the key roles. Tell us, what does this series mean to you?

I worked on this project with Tyoma Aksyonenko. For me, he turned out to be a real, creatively soaring, interestingly and voluminously thinking person.

We met on the project "Live Life". And this summer I was invited to auditions for "Mediator". I hadn't watched the series before, but I had heard a lot about it. Tyoma and I met before the auditions, and it turned out that we very passionately started discussing my character. This is one of those cases when I left the audition and thought: "Even if nothing works out, it's okay."

After some time, I received a short message that I was approved. Then preparation began – the most interesting part. Usually it happens very quickly, but here we had a whole month. We meet again with Tyoma Aksyonenko, discuss everything, with Ira Starshenbaum – we sit in a cafe for 6-8 hours, work out our storyline, rewrite the script, add something of our own. What the characters will be like, what references, what movies to watch to understand how Tyoma sees it from the outside. This is how a very interesting process began, which is rare in the acting profession in Russia.

Here, of course, serious preparation was required, we were constantly in touch with Tyoma. The role is very difficult, and first of all, because I had to play a nice guy. It would seem, what's so difficult, but that's exactly the difficulty: to make it so that, you know, he turns out to be just a nice guy, with no flaws.

My character is very charismatic, energetic, charming and beautiful not only externally, but also internally. He carries some interesting thought, and this manifests itself in how he speaks, how he moves, how he looks – you need to create a character and show him. It sounds easy, like just be yourself. But nothing of the sort.

That was the main task – to make everything as believable and charming as possible, because behind this lightness and freedom lies a lot of interesting things, for example, my hero's childhood traumas. We see his communication with his mother, who bullies him. And then it becomes clear where he gets so much anger, aggression, resentment towards the whole world. Where does such a desire to prove to everyone that he is worthy of something come from, and we understand that first of all, he seeks to prove it to his mother.

The character grew up without a father. His name is Sergey Volkov. Pseudonym – Volk (Wolf). He is, like, tenacious. There is a goal, the end justifies the means. He moves forward, and no obstacles matter.

These were very interesting shoots. Tyoma Aksyonenko creates just some crazy atmosphere on set: absolutely clear, creative, without fuss. You can feel how the whole team immediately gets involved. How it all goes in its own mechanism. This rarely happens, and it is very valuable. I literally enjoyed every second of the filming process.

– Besides immersing yourself in the story of your hero, did you learn something specifically for yourself?

I learned a lot. You know, Tyoma became a kind of teacher for me during this period. I am now very intensively studying English. I also have a mentor who guides me. And we communicate daily. In a word, I constantly immerse myself in an environment of self-discovery. And there is a phrase in English: "You are enough." When during filming I talked with my mentor and shared my experiences, Tyoma told me that I didn't need to play anything. This is very close to me.

With Sonya Lebedeva, who also acts in this series, we started communicating during filming and shared some thoughts with each other. She became the person who helped me create the character. Sonya just told me the same phrase: "you are enough."

These shoots turned out to be a lesson for me. I am sure that an artist gets the roles he is ready for. I found a lot for myself. I stopped fussing. I stopped rushing somewhere, hurrying, wanting to please someone.

As the viewer says: "Oh! I see an actor in the movie, it's not him at all. It's some other person." And as we were told in theater school: "Guys, your character is still you. It's just you in a different manifestation of yourself as a person. And you try different things." That is, the richer an actor is internally, the more characters he can create. And if an actor is poor in emotions, in expressing his inner world, then he will be monotonous. Therefore, many people think: "This actor is different everywhere, and this one is the same everywhere." Volk taught me new qualities. After that, I calmed down in the frame.

– Tell us about your master Arvid Zelanda (RGISI, St. Petersburg). What was your relationship like during your studies?

He is a wonderful person. An amazing teacher. A strong director who completely devotes himself to his work. And he is a very reserved person, which, in my opinion, only adds a plus to his teaching method. Undoubtedly, he became a guide for me into the acting path, into my acting profession, into this craft.

Masters usually appear rarely, come, say hello, and then return after a month or two to see what is happening with their students, give some tasks, hints, and go back to their business. It turned out that this is a normal story for a theater university. We didn't know about it because our master came to us every single day and spent all his time on us.

Arvid Mikhailovich influenced me as an actor and as a man. I remembered once and for all his words: "Tsenev! You need to provide for your texture. We don't need a good boy on stage, we don't need an intellectual who pleases everyone. We need a charismatic, strong, core man! If this doesn't come out of you, you have nothing to do in this profession. Just nothing."

And so he pulled this core out of me, carved marble out of me that was previously stone. This is all thanks to him. How he spent himself, how he pulled this out of everyone. Someone took a little less from him, someone a little more. Someone blames this person for some of their failures. It seems to me that this is not entirely correct. He gave us much more than he could give. We still maintain communication with him, walk around St. Petersburg, around his beloved Tauride Garden. I am immensely grateful to him for the time he spent on us. He is incredible, just incredible!

– You say that your mentor is a reserved person, but do you consider yourself reserved or open?

Well, the first thing that impulsively comes to me is that I am a very open person. I can be reserved in some specific situations and with some specific people. This happens, it's normal. After all, not everyone needs to be trusted, and not everyone can be trusted. But I am open to this world, I look at it with such wild eyes and always crave new knowledge, acquaintances, people.

– What special thing have you learned through acting that you couldn't have learned anywhere else?

An unexpected question, actually. It's interesting to reflect on this topic. I am sure that in life someone believes in fate. Some fully, some, on the contrary, think completely opposite. I also believe in fate, but! How we build it, so it will turn out. I studied at the Aviation Institute – and could have stayed there. Who I would have grown up to be then, I don't know.

But all these creative energies prevailed in me from childhood. I loved to sing, dance. At 3-4 years old, I put on some incredible concerts for my grandmother and grandfather, mom and dad: I sang Lyube, acted out being killed. I had scenes with blood, with machine guns. I didn't really study at school, I was constantly involved in amateur performances, organized various events, and how after all this could I go to aviation? I don't understand.

What have I learned? A lot of things. It cannot be expressed in one word or sentence. I get to know myself from different sides. The acting profession is a kind of self-psychotherapy. You dive deep into yourself, and there is so much there, it's so scary and at the same time so cool. So cool because you can immerse yourself in this fear, look it in the eye and say: "Yes, hello. I'm ready. You are no longer scary to me. I am ready to work with you now and get to know you."

I learned sincerity. I learned to be myself, not to pretend, to hear and see people. This is very cool.

The acting profession taught me to observe myself and people. And by the way, this is the main tool of our craft. If an actor is attentive and observant, then half the success is already guaranteed.

– In one interview, you mentioned your grandfather — obviously, he is an important person in your life. How do you remember him? What life wisdom did he manage to pass on to you?

My grandfather is my idol. Well, you know, at 85 years old to get up at 6 am, do exercises and go build the roof of your own bathhouse – that says a lot about a person.

The slogan of his life is movement. He is constantly busy with something. And I admire that he gave himself such a support and foundation for his old age. Recently I was at my mother's birthday in my native Ufa. I saw my grandfather, and we chatted, hugged, kissed, nothing else existed at that moment. There were also my grandmother, my nanaechka (it's a long explanation, in short, Tatar grandmother, grandfather's wife).

Actually, I'm just a happy person. I am rich in relatives, they are all alive and well, and that's the most important thing. True, I observed, tried to remember, photograph everything with my eyes.

– Native Ufa, St. Petersburg, which in a sense began to nurture the actor in you, now Moscow continues to do this. It's clear that these cities have left a mark on your life. Has a new city appeared during this time that managed to make you fall in love with it? Or maybe you are still dreaming of visiting one?

I like your questions, they are unusual, they are about acting, but at the same time about something personal. I generally don't like to share personal things, but with you for some reason I really want to do it.

Ufa is undoubtedly my hometown, but I just fell in love with St. Petersburg. It's incredible. It's my favorite city on Earth now. It is the most beautiful, atmospheric, vibey, incredible.

At first, though, I didn't understand all these architectural buildings, who even lives there. It's all crazy, of course, beautiful, buildings from the 17th-18th centuries, but inside people wash in basins because there is no hot water. Then this bore in me subsided a bit, and I even lived in such houses for a while.

I have been to different European countries, but I consider St. Petersburg one of the most beautiful cities.

And Moscow is still insanely big for me, although it is undoubtedly beautiful, and it has a million advantages. I love this city in my own way, but if we compare, St. Petersburg wins. In St. Petersburg I relax, in Moscow I work.

– You are probably popular with women. Has it ever happened that you were perceived as a pretty picture, without trying to get to know you better? What do you think about this?

(Laughs)

I think that the viewer very often builds some projections onto the person they see on the screen.

Most viewers think that if an actor plays a negative character, then in life he is just as bad. For example, there is Draco Malfoy and there is Harry Potter. There is an antagonist and a protagonist. And Draco Malfoy can no longer be perceived as a good guy. He will forever remain in our hearts as that disgusting white-haired scoundrel. And even for me. But I understand that in reality, of course, this is not the case.

I won't lie and pretend that there hasn't been a situation where I was perceived solely as a pretty picture. I receive a lot of warm feedback and impressions on Instagram* (*belongs to Meta – recognized as an extremist organization in the Russian Federation). I always reply, because it's so great to answer a person, I seem to erase the boundary between actor and viewer.

I am the same person, just acting in movies. When I reply to messages, I often encounter the reaction: "Oh, you replied." And I say: "Of course I replied, what's so special about that?" And this is without any coquetry now. It seems to me that it is a bit arrogant not to reply; people ephemerally build some success around themselves. And success is such a thing, it's there today, gone tomorrow.

It is very important to be grateful in the moment for what you have now, to thank the people who watch you, because everything happens for them.

In fact, you give them emotions, your feelings, you spend yourself on them – it's cool, I'm ready to do it constantly, because I have so much energy, I have so many different thoughts and meanings. I want a person after watching some movie or series to understand something for themselves and about themselves. I want to be part of such cinema that makes you think. It seems to me that only then does cinema work.

– Now you are on a wave of success, but surely there were moments when there were no projects at all. How did you cope emotionally and what did you do to find work?

(exclaims, laughs)

Great time, it was a super great time! You know, I look back now and think: "God, thank you for this, it was so cool!"

I was approved for my first movie, it was "Kitchen. War for the Hotel", my first, main, big role. I got scared and was somehow modest, internally feeling like I wasn't ready to work with the camera.

And at the institute, everyone was shocked that I was the first to start acting and got a role, I was a bit ashamed.

"Kitchen" is the series that I turned on and watched when I came home from school. And then suddenly, after 7-8 years, I end up in the main role in this series. What? Does that happen?

When I started acting there, for some reason I immediately understood that nothing would happen next. There would be no: "Ooo, Vlad Tsenev has appeared!" No, it was the opposite. Two seasons of "Kitchen" came out, and that's it. Silence. Nothing. And I thought: "Well, dude, you felt it."

Perhaps I didn't allow myself to climb onto this wave of success. Maybe I wasn't ready for it, because now I feel ready. Over these four years, I have built such steps from which, I hope, I will not fall. I don't know what will happen, so I need to be careful in my thoughts and statements. Now I don't feel like a kitten thrown into the ocean of this boundless world of cinema. I have already become seasoned and am ready to work and act further.

Then, after "Kitchen," nothing happened. Then a cool project appeared, "In Isolation", in English, also a main role, an insanely cool experience. But it was like scraping the bottom of the barrel: here there are no auditions, here there are. Naturally, no money.

What did I do? I worked at the Gogol Center. Fate brought me together with Kirill Semyonovich Serebrennikov, but that's a separate story.

Then I went to the "Gogol School" and started teaching acting. I am grateful for this experience and time.

I also worked as a courier. When I worked delivering pizza, I realized what an ungrateful and difficult profession it is. Now, when I order some delivery, I always leave a tip. I know how hard it is. No matter how much money I have in my wallet now, I still leave 50-100 rubles.

After pizza, I moved to another courier service of an establishment that sells various eclairs and flowers. There was a funny situation there. Once I was delivering flowers and eclairs to a girl, and she recognized me (laughs). I was standing in a hood, bearded, unwashed, with bags under my eyes, and I didn't think anyone could recognize me at all. I see that she is looking at me somehow strangely and says: "Are you from 'Kitchen,' right, an actor?" I replied: "No, goodbye." (Laughs). I closed the door, and the only thought in my head was: "I need to run away urgently." Such a defensive reaction.

Then I registered on profi.ru, walked dogs for 300-400 rubles per hour. I am allergic to dogs, but I really needed the money.

I remember I found a woman who breeds corgis. Such sweet buns on short legs – she had five of them. I got up at 7 am, by 8 I was at her place, picked up five corgis and walked them in the park. I was still smoking cigarettes then, you know, there is a photo of Daniel Radcliffe where he is walking in the park with dogs tied around his waist. And so I also walked and smoked cigarettes. Incredibly cool! I am immensely grateful for this experience. It taught me endurance and patience.

Everything has its time, but at that moment it was very hard for me, I was tearing my hair out. I thought, what else can I do? And the coolest sublimation of energy occurred when I made one of my acting showreels. My agent constantly told me: "Vlad, record a showreel, record a showreel," and so I recorded a 4-minute acting showreel. I transformed into several different characters, and it took off and later gave me work.

Now I look back and am glad that everything turned out this way. I enjoyed this process. At the moment, of course, it was hard, but now I understand that at the same time it was cool. This is such a true, underground path.

– A cool story that speaks of determination – the one that happened with Kirill Serebrennikov. In an interview with OK, you told how you and your girlfriend got his attention, and he invited you to perform in plays, cast you in a film about Eduard Limonov. And in both the play "The Lake" and "Limonov," you immediately play several characters. What is it like to switch between them while maintaining your uniqueness for each?

Kirill Serebrennikov is my next mentor after Arvid Zelanda. I have exceptional feelings for him, and there are simply no words. This man is of some incredible strength and talent. I am so glad that I am part of the Gogol Center. Even if for a short time.

I was at his rehearsals and saw how he creates plays. I was lucky to perform in the works he directs and to act in two of his films. One is a short film "Out of the Box", and the second is about Eduard Limonov.

"The Lake" is my first play with him, and the second is "Kafka" on the big stage. As for the characters in "The Lake" – it's, of course, mind-blowing.

"Vladik, you will play five characters."

Kirill Semyonych, what? He calls me "Vladik." I ask, what, how?

"You have a separate scene, a separate play, you create five characters."

It was a super cool challenge. Several different characters in an hour and a half. Such an intimate story. I sit and watch the main stage, and behind it there is a huge number of mirrors the entire length to the ceiling. The auditorium is in the middle of two stages. And there is a main stage, and there is mine. The viewer watched me either on it or through the mirror that reflected me. Thus I created my play. There was completely my big stage, the guys had their own main action on the main stage. On my stage, flashbacks of other characters took place. Each time there was a bright flash of a new character.

And with each performance, I tried to hone it, make it as cool as possible. And then all this tied into Limonov. There, too, about five or seven different characters, all of them Eddie's enemies. And it's Odin Byron, it's me, it's Vadim Stepanov. The three of us always existed in the frame. We appear in different guises and manifestations of Eddie's enemies. He sees us somewhere. Sometimes they are passersby on the street, sometimes models or street musicians, sometimes wealthy aristocrats he hates. Kirill Semyonovich loves such experiments when one person plays several characters, it's his trademark. And I really like it.

– Are you ready for physical changes for roles, like Christian Bale, for example?

(Exclaims)

Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Again, yes. You hit the nail on the head. Christian Bale is one of my favorite actors. Also Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Heath Ledger. There are many, but these are the main ones.

I desperately want this. I am sure that I am already on the way to this. In Russia, the culture is a bit different, and such an approach is not developed. But I grew up on this and am still growing. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando – these are my colleagues in the craft, I can't call them otherwise. The Western approach is incredible. I want to introduce this into our industry; few people are doing this now.

I want and am ready to change physically and psychologically, of course, not to go to extremes and not to join the "27 Club." There is always a certain line that should not be crossed. But the serious approach of Daniel Day-Lewis, Christian Bale, their preparation for roles is admirable. Daniel Day-Lewis is a genius. He is just crazy in this regard! In 40 years of his career, he has only a little over 20 films – you have to respect yourself, be able to leave the viewer hungry, and then appear and just knock everyone down in a creative sense.

I want the same and understand that it is more difficult for us because we are in Russia. And that makes it even cooler. In Hollywood, there is a different culture, a different industry, and it has already flown a million steps ahead. Actually, of course, there are no limits or barriers. As they say, everything is in your head, and therefore I am sure that if you want, desire and work will grind everything.

– You mentioned at the beginning of our conversation that you prepared for the filming of the series "Mediator," discussed something. You didn't have that much time, but still you prepare, rather than work on a conveyor belt when you don't even have time to take a break. It seems to me that on such a conveyor belt it is really difficult to give your all.

Yes, you can work on a maximum of two projects in parallel. If they are serious, and you have leading roles there, even then it's not always right. By the way, in the West, every self-respecting actor has a coach. Here it's just not accepted. Last year, for the first time, I hired an acting coach for one of the roles. We were filming with Nikita Efremov and Sonya Lebedeva. Life brought us together again. Just after "Mediator," the three of us were approved for leading roles in a feature film. And Sonya and I started working with one coach – Valery Karavaev, founder of the Karavaev Lab theater school. This is the best thing that has happened to me in the acting profession. The film is called "Replica", it will be released this year. There we also had a month and a half for preparation.

We met with the director, other actors, rehearsed, went through scenes, read, created, prepared. Now I will hire an acting coach, because, of course, you can see something from the outside, evaluate yourself somehow, but it will still be a subjective view. And objectively, you will never evaluate yourself as an actor, it's almost impossible to do. The coach sees and explains your strengths, tells you where and how to be better, how to do it better. This is an incredible experience. This makes the role more interesting, more voluminous. Everything falls into place in your head and soul and connects with one thread.

– What acting challenges do you set for yourself?

I want to dig deeper – there is no end to it. One of my favorite Russian actors, Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky, said: "There is no end to the acting path, no matter how much you search for perfection in this craft, some achievement – it doesn't happen. There is no end." And where exactly you will stop, you never know. The main thing is not to dig yourself in, of course.

To search, observe, develop, I don't know what other words can be used. That's what I want – to move from the external to the internal. I think that's the most important thing. Like Stanislavsky: we work, first something happens here, then directly on the face, on emotions, that is, from the internal to the external. Now I want to go inside there, so that later it all comes back out, in the right, so to speak, direction. Therefore, I recommend psychotherapy to everyone. It's a very cool thing.

Every week, sometimes twice, I do it, and I have really changed. My life has turned upside down. I have become a different person. Often people just don't know what they are capable of. We can not only eat, go to work, sleep and drink alcohol, we can move mountains. We are so talented, each in our own way. Everyone has wings to fly. And to spread them, you need to go and work on yourself, really.

I am convinced that everything that happens in our life has a cause-and-effect relationship. My master Arvid Mikhailovich even said: "In Russia, people lack cause-and-effect relationships. You did something, and then you reap the fruits of what you did."
If you did something bad, it will come back to you very badly. I believe in all these things. Therefore, always be kind to people, always be kind to yourself. And it will all come back to you threefold, and you will be happy. That's all. (Laughs)

– Do you watch projects with your participation?

It's hard to watch projects with my participation. Naturally, I see flaws, where I could have done better. And it's not always that you come across a good director or editor. After all, cinema is born in editing. We did everything we could during filming, as artists, but then a lot depends on the editor. If he is good, then you can make a good actor out of anyone. (Laughs). That's why now some bloggers, actors without education are being cast. I'm not judging, I mean that cinema is such a thing – you can edit it so that even a person off the street will act well. But theater – no. In theater, you are like on the palm of your hand. There you are seen from all sides as a person, as an artist.

This year I got into the habit of such a thing. I watch myself on playback. While we are filming a movie, I come up and say: "Show me the take, please, I want to see." Before, I simply couldn't do it. I trusted the director completely, thought he probably knows better. No! We do a take, I come up and watch. Like, yeah, here you can do this, here you can do that, and this is like this. I try, as I felt, come up again, see: "Oh, it works!"

I have become less strict with myself. It seems to me that to some extent I still remain a self-critical person and actor. I always grumble like an old man. And in this way I try to get rid of it, try to love myself.

– Do you plan to pursue acting all your life? Perhaps in the future you see yourself as a director or in a profession not related to cinema?

I will definitely direct something, of course. I will be a decent director. I went to study at VGIK for six months, as a director. I was a free auditor. I didn't have the money to pay for tuition. Actually, in those six months, I took almost everything I needed. My master at that time, Valery Bakievich Akhadov, said this: "Vlad, you already know everything. Come, bring your work, we will guide you, correct you. Shoot. Just take and shoot, shoot every day – that's the most important thing."

Now I am interested in the path of an actor. And to develop precisely in this direction. And for a director, I still need to become more seasoned. I need to accumulate impressions, stories, read books, watch movies. To acquire such a baggage of knowledge so that later I can draw from it. After all, life itself is also a story.

I also really love music and dancing. I am generally a versatile person. And I won't hide it, I won't be modest. I love to dance. It seems to me that dancing is one of my vocations. I have been doing it since childhood. And I want to give something to the viewer through dance as well. Some specific energy and thoughts, feelings. An artist is not only an actor, he can do a lot.

– During quarantine, you recommended the series "Fleabag." What do you recommend watching from recently released? Which directors currently inspire you as a viewer and as an actor?

I haven't watched almost anything in the last six months, even a year. Because I come home tired and just fall into the pillow or study English. I am now focused on my self-development. After all, this is our time – young, talented, with burning eyes. You need to develop a lot, work on yourself: psychotherapy, English, dancing, filming. When I come home after all this, I just want to drink tea, take a shower and go to sleep.

Therefore, I try to choose movies that can inspire me to something. I haven't watched anything Russian at all. And I haven't seen "The Boy's Word" yet. I want all this hype to pass, and then I will calmly sit down with a cool head and watch it as a work with its own artistic meaning.

I am inspired and guided by the films of Martin Scorsese. Quentin Tarantino is an absolute psychopath, a genius of film production in Hollywood. Damien Chazelle is one of my favorite directors. He directed "Whiplash" – a film about a drummer, which I watched 6 or 7 times, both in Russian and English. I would like to work with him because he combines music and cinema, and it's very cool. He has a wonderful musical series called The Eddy. It's about a Parisian bar and the lives of its musicians.

The last series I watched is The North Water with Colin Farrell. I also really love him, I like how he works.

– What advice would you give to yourself at the beginning of your creative journey?

I want to say: "Vlad, don't fuss, don't rush, don't run anywhere." But that's all of me. Without this, there is no me, if I didn't crave, didn't tear, didn't desire new knowledge. If I didn't fly somewhere like a rocket, and continue to fly, trying not to slow down, then there would be no me as I am now. Therefore, I don't want to give myself any advice, everything happened exactly as it should have happened. I regret nothing.

I did no evil. Neither towards people nor towards myself. And if I involuntarily did something bad, I definitely repented, asked for forgiveness and talked to the person. We all make mistakes. Without mistakes, there is no path, without obstacles, no growth. And it's great to exist in such a cardiogram. It's boring to go straight or always be on top. It's cool when you experience the full range of emotions, live every moment of your life path. It can't be any other way. Only through mistakes do we learn.