Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov to Cannes this 12 months along with his fourth movie in Competitors and his first in English. Titled Limonov: The Ballad, it tells the unimaginable story of Eduard Limonov — pronounced “Le-morrr-nov” not “Limunuv” — a Russian renegade poet who traversed the world, reinventing himself each time instances received laborious (they usually often did). To star, the director selected British actor Ben Whishaw, himself a chameleonic actor who’s simply as at house taking tea with the Queen in his Paddington guise as he’s taking part in Hamlet onstage on the Outdated Vic. Right here, he talks about attending to grips with an enigma and recollects his first-ever Cannes for her film Vibrant Star in 2009.
DEADLINE: How did you become involved with this undertaking?
BEN WHISHAW: It was throughout lockdown, so I believe it was perhaps despatched to me round August or September 2020. Goodness… A very long time in the past now! It was throughout that loopy lockdown time when everybody was desirous to be doing one thing, however nobody might. Anyway, it received despatched to me, after which I had a few Zoom conferences with Kirill. I knew it was going to be a form of loopy undertaking, a couple of very sophisticated man, however there was simply one thing about it that felt form of irresistible to me. And form of terrifying, actually, on the similar time.
DEADLINE: What most appealed to you about this character?
WHISHAW: Nicely, he was many issues, I assume, which is the purpose. He was a form of a shapeshifter. He began out being a poet. He was form of a thug, a fairly urchin thug, however he grew to become fairly nicely considered a poet in Soviet instances. After which he left the Soviet Union and went to America, and he lived like a bum, actually, for ages. However then he grew to become a novelist. Then he went to France, and was fairly revered there, after which he went again to Russia, lastly, within the ’90s and have become a politician. So, he had all these transformations — going from the Soviet Union to the West, and from the West again to Russia — going from an artist to a politician, from a no one to a star. He went via these distinct phases of life, they usually chronicle, in a means, what was happening within the wider world.
DEADLINE: So, does it…
WHISHAW: [Interrupting] Oh, the massive factor I forgot to let you know is that he ended up in jail!
Ben Whishaw in Dangerous Behaviour.
AHI Movies/Everett Assortment
DEADLINE: So, does it simply cope with sure sections of his life, or is it fairly far-reaching?
WHISHAW: It’s fairly far-reaching. I believe he’s an adolescent once we first meet him, and also you see him when he’s 60-something, so it’s actually wide-ranging. Kirill has known as it “a ballad”. It’s a form of poetic condensing of a number of time. As an example, there’s a giant sequence in the midst of the movie the place he results in New York along with his girlfriend. There’s a complete sequence that’s paying homage to the New York of the ’70s and movies about New York within the ’70s.
DEADLINE: The place is Serebrennikov primarily based?
WHISHAW: Kirill is, I consider, in Berlin. He’s working throughout Europe.
DEADLINE: Had you seen his earlier movies?
WHISHAW: I’ve seen Summer season, and it’s great. He’s additionally a tremendous theater director. He actually has this unimaginable means of staging issues. There are many sequences executed in a single take, or these large set items that break up the motion. I completely adored him. He’s actually a tremendous man, and a tremendous director. So artistic.
DEADLINE: One thing uncommon about this movie is that it’s primarily based on a novel — Limonov (2011), by Emmanuel Carrère — that was impressed by Limonov’s life. Is there the same ingredient of fiction within the movie?
WHISHAW: Undoubtedly. I imply, Limonov himself wrote a form of auto-fiction about his life. Nobody is aware of whether or not it’s actually what he lived and did, or whether or not it’s a fictionalized model of occasions. So, there’s undoubtedly this type of slippage within the movie, the place you don’t know whether or not what he’s describing is admittedly what occurred, or whether or not it’s a form of novelistic, free-wheeling reinvention of his personal life. So, he might simply be a form of fantasist, in a means. That’s undoubtedly a part of what the movie’s about, I believe. We completed capturing in September 2022, so it’s been some time.
DEADLINE: How a lot analysis did you do into the real-life character?
WHISHAW: I did as a lot as I might. I learn his books. In English translations, clearly, since I don’t communicate Russian. Truly, they’re all actually very attention-grabbing. The primary one is sort of well-known, if you understand about Limonov, which, within the West, not many individuals do. The primary guide he wrote known as It’s Me, Eddie. And anyway, I learn three, 4, or perhaps 5 of his books, which have been those I might discover in English translations. Clearly, I learn the Carrère novel, and browse tons about him. There’s now numerous commentary about him. He’s an especially divisive determine, so there’s a number of fairly conflicting views on him, presently. I learn all of that, which was fascinating. What else did I do? I watched him a bit. There’s actually just one or two interviews of him talking English, however there are some fascinating interviews with him talking in Russian or French. I didn’t perceive what he was saying, however I might really feel the man.
DEADLINE: Have been there individuals round that knew him? It’s not that way back, is it?
WHISHAW: Kirill met him. Kirill knew him a tiny bit. However there are such a lot of layers of artifice within the movie, not least in the truth that it’s in English, however we begin the story in Russia. It felt prefer it needed to be a form of poetic tribute to him. I couldn’t do an impression or try a mimicry of him. I felt there was some extent at which I didn’t have to go any additional into understanding him extra. And so, I let myself be led by Kirill, what he thought in regards to the man and what it was about Limonov that he was intrigued by, which is sort of laborious to clarify. It’s fairly mysterious.
Whishaw in Passages.
MUBI/Everett Assortment
DEADLINE: What do you suppose he was intrigued by?
WHISHAW: Kirill, like all good administrators, solely tells you as a lot as it’s worthwhile to know as an actor. He retains a certain quantity to himself, which I respect. I believe it’s a needed factor. I’d say there’s a component of not explaining [in directing], since you don’t need the movie to be explaining something. So, he didn’t clarify himself to me. However I do bear in mind him saying, very early on, that he noticed one thing of himself within the character, within the individual. In fact, they’re not remotely something like one another. Nothing like one another in any respect. However but one thing resonates with him. I believe it’s about what I stated at the start, I believe it’s to do with Limonov reinventing himself. That’s what I like in regards to the movie most: you watch any individual get knocked down, after which form of be reborn over and over.
DEADLINE: From Serebrennikov’s earlier movies, it appears he has a rebellious streak too.
WHISHAW: There’s undoubtedly a spirit of riot. Limonov was a punk. He was a punk poet. And his complete life was riot, actually. No matter scenario he was in, he rebelled in opposition to it. He by no means, ever went with the move. That was his nature. He could possibly be in opposition to actually every little thing. If he was in Russia, he was in opposition to that. If he was within the West, he was in opposition to that, too. That was his setting, which could be very attention-grabbing. I believe there’s one thing maddening however interesting about that form of persona.
DEADLINE: What sort of characters do you favor to play? Are the extra advanced characters essentially the most rewarding for you?
WHISHAW: They’re all rewarding. I like all of the people who I’ve performed, all of the characters I’ve performed. I don’t have a desire. I simply attempt to honor what that individual is, I suppose. I do know it’s the form of factor of lot of actors say on a regular basis, but it surely’s true. You don’t choose them. They’re doing their factor, and also you don’t choose them.
DEADLINE: Are you going to go to Cannes with the movie?
WHISHAW: I’m going to be on stage in London, however hopefully I’ll get there.
DEADLINE: What’s your first reminiscence of the Cannes competition?
WHISHAW: It was with a movie known as Vibrant Star [2009] that Jane Campion directed. I used to be 28 or one thing, and god, it was simply superb, but in addition actually worrying. I’ve a horrifying reminiscence of strolling out of an interview as a result of… I don’t know why; I used to be only a bit overwhelmed. There ares so many well-known individuals swanning round, and there are all these sorts of old-school glamor guidelines. I can’t bear in mind exactly what occurred, however Jane wasn’t carrying excessive heels, and that was an issue: she couldn’t go down the purple carpet as a result of she didn’t have excessive heels on. I believe she was in mismatched sandals.
DEADLINE: And have you ever been again since?
WHISHAW: Yeah. I went with The Lobster in 2015.
DEADLINE: So, you’d gotten over the overwhelmingness of all of it then?
WHISHAW: Yeah. I used to be a bit older [laughs]. I might take it extra in my stride.
DEADLINE: What tip would you give to your youthful self about how to deal with Cannes?
WHISHAW: I’d say, simply snigger at it, get pleasure from it. It’s a spectacle which you can’t take too significantly. I used to be taking all of it far too significantly, as I most likely did every little thing again then. I believe I’m a little bit of a lighter individual now. Again then, I felt every little thing greater than it wanted to be felt, and took every little thing too personally. So, I believe I’d have a break. Take a break and go and do one thing enjoyable.
Learn the digital version of Deadline’s Disruptors/Cannes journal right here.
DEADLINE: It sounds such as you’re retaining busy. What are you doing in the intervening time?
WHISHAW: I simply completed filming a movie with Ira Sachs. We did Passages collectively. It’s a couple of photographer known as Peter Hujar, who’s a very extraordinary photographer. Nicely, he was, he’s handed now — he died of Aids within the ‘80s. After which I’m going again to London. I’m doing a play on the Royal Court docket known as Bluets. We open in Might, precisely when Cannes occurs. However I believe I can scoot over on the Sunday, my time off.
DEADLINE: What’s it about theater that retains you going again?
Nicely, I haven’t executed a play since 2019, however I used to really feel it was very a lot part of my life. I’d do a play yearly if I might. However, post-pandemic, I haven’t executed one. I don’t understand how that got here to be, but it surely simply didn’t occur. So, I’m excited. I’m doing one other play after that; the truth is, I’ve received a bunch of performs to do. However, yeah, it’s vital to me. Why? It’s one thing I can’t clarify. I believe it’s as a result of it’s stay. It’s additionally laborious work. You form of dread it and find it irresistible on the similar time. The repetition is tough, but it surely’s not likely that tough. And also you don’t have that with filming.
DEADLINE: As a result of there’s just one take that makes it right into a film?
WHISHAW: That’s fully proper. Generally you watch your self in a movie and also you suppose, “Oh God, I might try this scene so significantly better now,” since you’d get to do it many, many instances on stage. [Laughs.] And in addition get to do it very badly many instances, as a result of generally issues don’t go the best way you need them to go. I assume it’s about studying to be current with no matter occurs each evening. Not making an attempt to recreate one thing that occurred a number of nights in the past, however being with the evening as it’s that evening.