Russian actress's daughter told about life in the United States and work in Hollywood
'30.07.2018'
Source: Radio Liberty
The composer, the daughter of actress Tatiana Drubich and director Sergei Solovyov Anna Drubich moved to Los Angeles three years ago. She writes music for Hollywood, brings up her daughter in the USA and watches with dismay how the situation in Russia is changing: in her musical, cinema and public life.
Correspondent Radio Liberty Roman Super talked to Anna Drubich and found out how work in Hollywood differs from cooperation with Russian film studios, whether modern Russia is interesting for the American cinema empire and why the fate of the heroes of Assa, the main film of Anna's father, Sergei Solovyov, is so bizarre.
- Anya, tell me how and why you ended up in Los Angeles?
- It's a complicated story with Los Angeles. I was lucky: I wrote my first soundtrack for the film "Anna Karenina" and realized that music for films should be taken seriously. At that moment I studied performing arts in Munich, played the piano. And so I began to look, where they teach to write music for films professionally. I found out that in Russia - nowhere. And in Los Angeles they teach very much. I went to Los Angeles and started studying. I did not like this city terribly. So much so that I ran away from there, returned to Germany, entered the Faculty of Film Music, studied for four years, realizing during this time that all roads still lead to Los Angeles.
- Because there is no other place in the world where the film industry would be so developed?
- Yes. I went to a film festival in America, met a teacher-composer, who looked at me and said with surprise and sadness: “Why are you hanging around in Germany? Move to Los Angeles, that's it. ” I moved and entered the same faculty again from which I had previously escaped. Unlearned and stayed here. In Los Angeles, they very clearly show and explain how everything can and should be in the profession. They take you to the coolest studios, introduce you to top composers, and give you great master classes. It blows your head off. And gradually you begin to think that it cannot be otherwise.
- But then it turned out that in Los Angeles is very different?
- Yes of course. Over time, there comes an understanding that there are too many fairy tales here, and there are a million naive fools like you. All came to fight for themselves in the profession. The competition is terrible. And until the moment when you will probably reach your own studio in Malibu with orchestras of two hundred people who play only you, a whole life must pass.
“Well, you're moving quite successfully towards the orchestra in Malibu.” After all, I correctly understand that you are already working with might and main - it is scary to say out loud - for Hollywood?
- It's hard for me to say how successful I am. But for Hollywood I work, yes. During my studies, I met the famous Hollywood composer Marco Beltrami. He liked my music. And he called me to work in his team. Now we are writing music for blockbusters and TV shows. In addition, I have my own independent projects: cinema, animation, a lot of music I write for Russia.
- Tell me, does Hollywood care about how modern Russia lives? I mean the film industry and social and political life. In general, the theme of Russia pops up in the main world cinema empire?
- Not. I would say that Hollywood is a completely separate planet. It is the planet. There is nothing important here: neither nationality, nor languages, nor accents. Here, only one thing matters - success. On the one hand, this is a plus, it is easier to live this way. Before that, I lived in Germany for eight years: there it is very important - you are German or not German, your origin plays a big role. In Hollywood, this is not at all. Everyone has the same start, the possibilities are the same. On the other hand, when the only currency is success, then you begin to compare yourself with other composers: if you are not like them, it starts to seem that you are close to collapse. And it keeps you in constant tension.
- I understand that it is probably difficult to describe it, but nevertheless try: how is music written for cinema? The director gives you a script to read, and you understand at the text level what kind of a movie should a mood be? Catch this mood and shift it to the notes? Or how?
- There are two ways. The first way is my favorite, when you start working with the director at the planning stage of the film, discuss the idea for a long time, look at the approximate storyboards, references, write demos on the still non-existing cinema. This path involves your inner freedom. You have your own picture, which then may turn out to be completely different. This is a long process that sometimes turns out to be beautiful and very creative.
“But in Hollywood this way is most certainly impossible.” What is the second way?
- The second way is Hollywood. Here you are already ready to install, all the producers among themselves have long been quarreled. They send you a version of the film, which is stuffed with someone else's music. You listen to this music and have to understand what the producers like. Then you start to think about how to write something original, but similar to what they have already put in the film, so as not to scare them with radically new material. And what is there to love? But this path is the most common: Hollywood movies are long shot and edited, and there is no time left for music.
- Your father - a great Russian director Sergei Solovyov - is jealous of the fact that you donate your soul not to Russian film studios, but to Hollywood? Have you had any hard nightly talk about it?
- I can not say that I give everything to Hollywood. Most of my soul belongs to Russian cinema. In Los Angeles, I am only three years old, this is just the beginning of the journey. In parallel, I work a lot for Russia, even more as a percentage. Therefore, dad is not jealous. On the contrary, he believes that I am doing everything correctly and well. Although the very something with Hollywood did not work out.
- His name was to work in Hollywood?
- Yes, he was invited to Hollywood. But he refused, said that he would not work in Hollywood.
- Why?
- This is a long-standing story. Dad is very friendly with Richard Gere. Ever since the times when my father was the chairman of the Union of Cinematographers and directed the Moscow Film Festival. Once he invited Richard Gere to the jury, and there they became friends. Gere was imbued with this friendship and decided that it was necessary to make a presentation for my father in Hollywood. Richard gathered all the big producers in the hot summer Los Angeles and showed them his father's film "Black Rose is an emblem of sadness, a red rose is an emblem of love."
- A weird choice.
- Yes, this film seems strange to many Russians. And for Hollywood ...
- Soloviev, apparently, decided to immediately dot the i, so that they no longer pestered.
“Maybe, but it didn't work.” The Americans carefully watched this film, shook their tongues, shook their hands, congratulated dad. Still, they doubted whether Gere was in his mind and did he need to be shown to a psychiatrist? Indeed, the choice of film was, as you said, strange. Gere calmly answered these doubts that he wanted to make a film about Pushkin in Hollywood. And only my dad should take it off. Negotiations began, began to draw up a budget. But suddenly one of the clever Hollywood producers successfully recalled that Pushkin had African roots and offered the role of Alexander Sergeyevich ...
- Will Smith?
- Michael Jackson.
- Michael Jackson?
- Michael Jackson.
- Dad worried?
- Dad realized that he had to pass the buck. So he did not become a Hollywood director.
- Anya, you say that you give most of your soul to Russian cinema. But still, you prefer to do it remotely, from the lair of the world's main competitor. Why? Is it easier for you to create by distancing yourself from a difficult country and a difficult time?
- Yes, the whole world is now remote. Who cares where everyone is when everything can be written anywhere and sent by e-mail?
- It makes no difference if you were a programmer and did not write music, but computer programs. But you are an artist, and of course, geography matters. It is important to feel the environment, to live it.
- I agree with you. In addition, you always want a personal contact with the director, you want to look into the eyes of the person for whom you work. There are technologies, and there are eyes, yes. But it's not so easy for me to get out of Los Angeles. My daughter went to school here. My husband, Yevgeny Tonha, a cellist, works here, he plays many concerts, he cannot work remotely, you can't give a concert via Skype. So we stuck here. But Los Angeles, by the way, does not tolerate betrayal. If you want to make a career here, then you only need to be here. You leave somewhere, you check in on Facebook - everything, the producers have a tick in their heads: no person, no one is considered.
- Do you consider yourself an emigrant?
- No, I do not consider myself an emigrant. I do not consider myself a person who moved forever. And in this sense it is psychologically more difficult for me: I understand that I have a rear, I understand that I have where to return. When you have nowhere to return, there is no going back. It's easier.
- Have you become a US citizen?
- No, I did not. I have a Russian passport. And I often go to Moscow. Every six months. Always waiting for these trips. In Russia, everything is very dear and close, despite the fact that for the past few years the country has been balancing on the verge of all imaginable and unimaginable fouls. When I call up with Moscow, I am kindly advised and advised that it is not worth returning to Russia now. My friends are very pessimistic. But at the same time, I cannot call Los Angeles my home and place in which I could live my whole life. Los Angeles is a development, experience, industry, world, but not a home.
- Your last work is the soundtrack for Leonid Parfenov's new film “Russian Jews”. I watched this film, and your role in it, in my opinion, is colossal.
- This work gave me a lot. And she took a lot. If you work with Seryozha Nurmamed (director of the film “Russian Jews”), all your juices will be squeezed out, but they will definitely not be squeezed out in vain. This film formed an important phase in my life. There was a tragic event in my family: my husband's mother died - a wonderful woman, a rare person. Experiencing this, I wrote a piece of music - kaddish (Jewish prayer), recorded it in Sony Studio. I sent this work to Nurmamed, and this is how the work on the film “Russian Jews” began. I wrote a lot and densely for this project, twenty-four hours a day for over four months. The film has a complex and very talented editing, the plot changes very rapidly, and the music must change along with it. All this was not easy, but I am happy that it was and is now in my life. This project is a great honor for me.
- What are you so drawn to the Jewish theme? Are you a Jew?
- Yes. My mother is Jewish.
- Dad something is not.
- Dad is definitely not a Jew. And I did not grow in a strong tradition. But with age, this topic more and more interests me, as you say, pulls ...
- Do you love my father's film "Assa"?
- Yes I love.
- How old were you when this movie came out?
- I was one year old when this movie was shot. At eight, I looked at it for the first time.
- You, Anya, are the daughter of one of the most famous and beloved Russian actresses. At the same time, the daughter of one of the most significant Russian directors. You are clamped on both sides with a load of responsibility. Does it help you in life or, on the contrary, harm?
- I am a happy and lucky person. I was born to such people. But this has another side. Why don't I live in Russia? Because from an early age, when I just started to study the piano, all the time I heard one phrase: “Well, everything is clear with her - daughter of Drubich and Solovyov”. All my successes, all my concerts in the Great Hall of the Conservatory were explained by my parents. I've been running from this all my life. At the age of 17, she left alone to live in Germany, where no one knew who Drubich and Soloviev were. I myself did everywhere, I myself received grants and prizes. Outside of Russia, all this is easier for me. Because in Russia, no matter what happens to me, I will hear this phrase again and again: “Well, everything is clear with her - daughter of Drubich and Solovyov”.
- But after all your career began not without father's help?
Papa's help was enormous. But it was completely random. As far back as I can remember, I've always composed music. Once I was strumming the piano, my dad was finishing work on the film "About Love". He heard me strumming and said, “Hey, this is great, I just need this kind of crap for a movie. Can you come to Mosfilm tomorrow? I'll put you the parts of the film, and you will chirp some more. ” And so it happened. Then he incited me to write the music for Anna Karenina, entirely out of selfish considerations. All the composers with whom he then wanted to work asked for large advances. And so he needed to shoot a ball scene, he needed a waltz! Composers broke their fees, without a contract they would not undertake to write music. My father came to me angry: “Listen, you’re a musician. You play Chopin. Write me a waltz, huh? What does it cost you? We need a light waltz, Chopin, which easily turns into Prokofiev. Well, something like one-two-three, one-two-three ”. Of course, I twirled my finger at my temple, but I wrote a waltz.
- What did you do before music for the movie?
- I was engaged in performing arts. She was a pianist, she played concerts. But I always wanted to come up with music. Once I went to see the composer Isaac Schwartz for the summer. We walked through the woods, listened to music, ate ice cream and talked. Schwartz, who by that time had written music for a hundred films, said to me, by the way: “Anh, get out of your head the concept of“ cinema music ”. There is no cinema music in nature. There is simply music, and it either sounds or is silent ”. It was a great time. I am happy that I ended up in the movies.
- Imagine that you have ordered music for a film about modern Russia. What will you write? What kind of music do you start playing in your head when you think about Russia?
- Diverse. Modern Russia is such a complex and unpredictable batch of everything you want. Most likely, it would have been experimental music: Karlheinz Stockhausen, mixed with Nikolai Baskov and Grigory Leps. But it will be necessary, of course, to look at the customer of this soundtrack. From a dull conceptualism, I would immediately refused. And from interesting experiments - I always have excitement.
- What are you writing these days? Now let's finish the interview, what is your music playing in your room?
- Now I am finishing the music for the film "Ke-Dy" based on the story of Andrey Gelasimov - a joint work with rapper Basta. I am also working on music for a great historical drama. I am writing my album of songs. There are several animation projects in parallel. So there will be a lot of music.
