It seems to me that the choice of scripts for the directors is always done intuitively, that’s how it is for me. You read and are interested, some photos and images immediately pop into your head. I want to think about the story I read, certain scenes and lines of dialogue etched in my memory. Or, on the contrary, all this is not done. If you try to analyze, a lot of things were drawn to the “Techie” storyline. These are the heroes, and the acuteness of the situation in which they find themselves, and even their age – I like shooting people of the generation close to me, I understand them better. I would also emphasize the universality of the story: it’s very easy to get involved in it, to put yourself in the place of the protagonist. You can ask the question, “What would I do if my family was kidnapped and forced into a criminal operation?” “. I liked the intertwining of the past and the present of the characters, it makes the characters voluminous. In a nutshell, I read the script and the thought immediately came to mind: “I want to shoot this!”.

“Techie” is more of a thriller than a mystery novel. The main character is not an organ worker. I’m more interested in the drama genre. “Techie” and “Crystal” for me personally are mostly drama, and the detective and thriller is a setting for revealing the main characters. In both cases, the writers skillfully took advantage of the advantages of both genres, combining them perfectly.

Our shoot lasted about three months. Working on every project is difficult in its own way, because time and possibilities are always limited. The director has a big responsibility, and extreme situations always happen. I would say that filming, in principle, is a big major force, from which you have to kind of swim out, film all the material well, meet deadlines and budget. At the same time, don’t forget to maintain a relationship with everyone, which is sometimes difficult – in extreme situations, we all start to behave differently. Filming “Techie” was not very difficult. However, several scenes proved difficult, especially those where the child, the son of the main characters, participated. We had a wonderful young artist, he was eight or nine months old then and, as you understand, the kid doesn’t care if the film crew wants to rehearse another take. The need to smile or cry at the right time is our problem, not his. However, he is still a big boy, and his parents were very patient, because in the end we still made it.

Already at the level of the script, the story left no one indifferent. I have to admit that the reaction from the viewer has been bigger and bigger than I expected. It seemed like the story was too heavy and not everyone would be ready to dive into it. But it’s clear that today’s viewer craves heartfelt and honest stories about topics that weren’t usually talked about on screens before. To our surprise and delight, “Crystal” really hooked the viewer – the series became almost popular.

During the casting of each project, I always start by thinking about the actors with whom I have worked before who could play in a new project. But the stories are different, so it is very rare to find roles for the same artists. Katya Olkina is a wonderful and versatile actress. I’m glad it was her who played the heroines in both Technar and Khrustalny. Moreover, it was at Technar that we met her. Also in this series, Fedor Lavrov, with whom we worked together on the Maya project, and Konstantin Topologia, who played the governor of Khrustalny, starred. I like when actors play roles that don’t look like they’ve played before. They themselves are much more interesting, it is always visible on the screen. I hope that Vladimir Zherebtsov and Viktor Dobronravov can surprise the viewer with their images in Technar. They are subtle and professional artists.

There are plans and dreams, but so far there is no proper story. I hope she finds me soon or I find her.

Yes, I would really like a real high-quality melodrama. But it’s very difficult to write it, that’s probably why I haven’t met it yet. I would like science fiction… I’m afraid of comedies, I feel rather insecure in this genre.

It seems to me that a whole galaxy of strong directors is working today in Russia, whose work I kindly envy. Andrei Zvyagintsev, Valery Todorovsky, Yuri Bykov, Boris Khlebnikov, Sasha Kott, Kirill Serebrennikov, Nikolai Lebedev, Zhora Kryzhovnikov, Andrei Konchalovsky, my master VGIK Andrei Eshpay… The list goes on. The more I work, the more I realize how difficult it is to make a really good film. A lot of things have to come together. We directors always work with the same dedication, convinced that this particular project will become special and strong. But real miracles don’t always happen. With this realization, my admiration for the work of colleagues at each of their new jobs only increases.