It's a true sensation! A brilliant British actor arrived in our province.
During a break on the set Malcolm McDowell told us about his feelings towards
his new role (based on Chicatilo) and the unforgettable Caligula.
Malcolm McDowell-one of the most renowned and mystical actors
of the Western cinema-began working on his role in a film by the Italian
director David Grieco. Filming on location, supported by the Ukrainian
production company "Danapris-film", takes place in Kiev and will end
on June 30. The film is financed by the famous Italian producer Mario Cottone.
The working title of this feature film is "Evilenko"-it is the main
character's last name. The film's events take place during the disintegration of
the Soviet Union. Some Ukrainian actors participate in the filming, Ostap Stupka
in particular. The director intends to introduce the film to the general
audience at the Cannes or Berlin festival, he also promises to arrange a showing
in Ukraine.
It's not the first time McDowell plays a villain. Without his
participation Caligula would have become the star
of a porn movie. As is well known the filming of Caligula was financed by
Penthouse. The producers insisted on insertion of the certain sexual scenes in
the film, but McDowell turned "Caligula" into a tragedy of a man who
was allowed everything. A man as miserable as he was satiated.
Before that was Stanley' Kubrick's A
Clockwork Orange, where the actor played an anti-hero as well. After having
worked with Kubrick, McDowell had to spend several months battling a nervous
breakdown. He always gets those parts, people with warped minds, living on the
edge of madness. Remember his Yurovsky from Karen Shahnazarov's The Assassin of the Tsar? So now the famous Englishman took on the role of a psychotic
murderer named Evilenko in a movie based on the life of the Russian serial
killer Chikatilo.
The director of the film-David Grieco, a journalist and a
writer-attended the unexampled trial, which urged him to write a book. Soon he
wrote an adaptation of his own book and now is filming it in Kiev.
It's not an accident that McDowell was invited to play the
leading part. Grieco says he was thinking of Malcolm even as he was writing his
novel. "We have been friends for 30 years, and my profound knowledge of
Malcolm's style helped me to make the character three-dimensional."
During a break on the set the cult actor agreed to
answer a few questions.
Q: Mr. McDowell, you've already played villainous and demented characters in A Clockwork Orange and Caligula. Do you think it can help you play Evilenko?
A: No.
Q: In your opinion, do they have something in common?
A: Of course they do, the same actor played them. It's a part of my experience, but I played both parts long ago. All these films are about cruel people, but they are different people.
Q: How did you research the real events on which the film is based? Did you read documents or watch some video materials?
A: I'm an old friend of David Grieco and he wrote a book about it. He told me about it a few years ago and suggested I play the part, but the film is not Chicatilo's biography.
Q: What is your impression on Chicatilo's personality? He is a prototype of Evilenko in the film.
A: He is an ill man. He was mistreated in his childhood, but this is not a justification. I don't want to feel compassion towards him or turn him into a romantic hero. He is what he is. This is the first time I have to play a character whom I have no positive feelings for. As I am not using anything from my personality to do this, I have to invent absolutely everything.
Q: How were you preparing for the part?
A: I'm an instinctive actor. I didn't make any preparations actually. I wanted to get here first, on his territory if you like. I've come here, put on the suit Evilenko wears, his spectacles-a very important element-and I immediately absorbed his personality. I decided to be spontaneous. I didn't want to have any completed impressions about the character. I didn't discuss him with anyone and of course I wasn't going to consult a psychoanalyst about the serial killer phenomenon, it's of no help at all. I'm not playing an idea, I'm playing a real person. I must feel every moment, live through one scene to another to make it all real.
Q: Who do you think the target audience is for this film?
A: It's not my responsibility, I don't deal with that. I just try to do my best. But I suppose this film should warn people.
Q: What kind of impression has the Ukraine made on you? Many foreigners say it's a third world country.
A: I liked Kiev and I don't think Ukraine is a third world country except for the telephone system. That telephone system is really from the third world! I've tried to call to the United States, no such luck. But Kiev is a magnificent city. It doesn't matter what the political system is, it's a great city.
© Oxana Savchenko for "Kiev Vedomosti"
This translation © 2003-08 Alex D. Thrawn for www.MalcolmMcDowell.net