Producer Horunzhy: For the main role in the film about Babi Yar we will invite one of the best actresses of our time
Producer Vladimir Khorunzhiy told about the work on the film “YAR” dedicated to the tragedy of Babi Yar, explained why it is pointless to seek money in Ukrainian Goskino funds and how the project can interest Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Diane Kruger and Kirsten Dunst.
Kievian Vladimir Khorunzhiy has been working in Hollywood for 30 years. He is known as a composer who wrote soundtracks for the series “Santa Barbara” and the film “Langoliers”. He also produces films, and while preparing the tape about Babi Yar, Horunzhy also appeared as the author of the idea and the screenwriter. The main character of the film is the singer, the star of the Third Reich, who in 1941 comes to Kiev. After suffering from the explosion, she finds herself in a family of Jews who save her from death. A woman realizes all the horrors of Nazism on personal experience, when she and her family lead to the place of execution.
The tragedy of Babi Yar became unprecedented in history. You have to constantly talk about it. Similar in history is not present
Vladimir Khorunzhiy with his mother, who spent her childhood in the Jewish ghetto.
– Vladimir Anatolyevich, how long has the project “YAR” been developed – a film about the tragedy in Babi Yar?
– I have been working on this film for about seven years. The idea of creating a project prompted me to tell stories of my mother, who lived for three years in the Jewish ghetto in the Vinnitsa region. There she was deported along with her parents, sister and brother. Soon mom will be 93 years old, but she is in sound mind and good memory and well remembers how she had to walk every day on pain of death! I went into the subject of the Holocaust, began to conduct archival searches, collect material.
– Why did not you take your mother’s stories as a basis, and turned to the tragedy of Babi Yar?
“Life in the ghetto was a horrible day to day. But there were no mass murders and executions. It was a project of Hitler, to which he approached faithfully – all Jews in any country occupied by the German army, concentrated in one area. And Babi Yar became an unprecedented tragedy, which you must constantly talk about.
This is a place where a huge number of people, tens of thousands of civilians, including women, old people and children, were killed in a very short time. This was done ruthlessly, just hellishly. There is no similar tragedy in history.
I want to create a film that captivates the viewer and makes me think about what happened and realize it. It should be a film-interment. Our picture should not be approached simply as an anti-Nazi, anti-Hitler and anti-holocaust project.
This is the fate of one woman, a Nazi, who, seeing with her own eyes the horror of what is happening in Babi Yar, turned into an anti-fascist, understood what war is. It does not matter when events took place – 2 thousand years ago, now or in the 1940s.
War is a catastrophe that distorts, destroys and tears people apart, divides them, as it is today.
Even if we do not exaggerate the colors, but simply look at the archival documents, there will be a huge amount of evidence confirming the participation of Ukrainian nationalists in massacre of Jews
– Is there enough money to implement the project? What is the budget of the film?
– Budget around $ 12-15 million. I have already negotiated with the Hungarian producer Andy Vaina, who, it can be said, heads the Hungarian film industry. Thanks to him, the relatively small city of Budapest is the center of film production. So he was very enthusiastic about the creation of a film about the tragedy in Babi Yar and promised to help with raising the capital of the Hungarian film fund. In the case of filming in Hungary, the film fund may take a part of the costs for itself.
– What part of the necessary amount do you already have?
– We have a third of the budget. And there are financial guarantees of reliable people. Also, some institutions can assume credit obligations and guarantee us assistance.
– Who gave you “live” money?
– A private investor. This man from Ukraine, a fairly well-known businessman of Jewish origin.
– Have you applied to the funds for financial support in Ukraine?
– The search for funds in Ukrainian funds – initially a futile task in the case of the project about Babi Yar. If I brought him to the Goskino commission on financing, of which I was a member, I doubt that he would have been missed. The fact is that even if you do not exaggerate the colors, but simply look at the archival documents, there will be a huge amount of evidence confirming the participation of Ukrainian nationalists in massacre of Jews. This contradicts what is being said to us today. But the fact remains: the nationalists worked as guards at the Germans, constituted police formations …
The role in the film “YAR” requires the actress to have absolutely extraordinary qualities and talents. She must play a woman at different ages: from 32 to 90 years
– When working on the project, did you work with a historical consultant?
– I did research myself: I read memoirs, records and watched documentaries, in particular, I studied the documentary project of director Stephen Spielberg, in which he collected the testimonies of people who were victims of the Holocaust.
I also talked with eyewitnesses of the massacre in Babyn Yar, who managed to escape. Evidence of what happened is mass. It is all the more strange that there are people today who deny the Holocaust.
But in general, the preparation for films of a scale such as “YAR” is reminiscent of the work of the investigator, when he has to reconstruct events and rebuild the tragedy.
– At what stage is the project now?
– The story line is spelled out completely. Over the script, I and Gleb Kaminer. We are in the process of finding a scriptwriter with a name that will be based on our script, so that the project can then be handed over to a good director. Preparing a movie is a chess game. Now begins the aerobatics of the organization.
There are preliminary agreements with the American director Kevin Reynolds, who shot the film “The Insurrection.” Also, perhaps, Israeli directors will work with us. We also face the issue of choosing an actress for the main role. We aim at the four most famous actresses: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Diane Kruger, Kirsten Dunst. The heroine should be an effective blonde, be able to sing, dance.
The film “YAR” will be shot in the Baltic countries or in Hungary
– Is not it too small for a star of such magnitude?
– I worked in Hollywood for 30 years as a composer. Last years 20 – as a producer. I know that remarkable famous actors and actresses have different considerations – not just financial ones. It is important for the actress’s agents that she keep the bar of the fee. And if she received $ 15 million for the role, her representatives can reluctantly agree to $ 3-5 million with great reluctance. But there are other important factors. For example, such a role, as in the film “YAR”, requires the actress to have absolutely extraordinary qualities and talents. She must play a woman at different ages: from 32 to 90 years. Such a plan roles are rarely dropped out in a career. I think that the story behind the plot will arouse the interest of the star and give good results in the world box office.
– Will there be some way involved Ukrainian resource: specialists, locations?
– As for the participation of specialists from Ukraine, it will be possible to speak when the candidature of the director is approved. I would really like to make the most of the Ukrainian resource. But the trouble is that this kind of film is obliged to have an insurance policy – both on terms and on amounts. Ukraine in all respects abroad is a country in a state of war. Therefore, neither the star for long-term shootings here will not come, nor people engaged in technological issues. In Ukraine, now there is no Babi Yar in the form that he had in 1941. Because I would have to look for a location not in Kiev. Babi Yar was a vacant lot with a very deep ravine, far beyond the city. If we talk about the place of filming, it would rather be the Khmelnytsky region. But in view of the above-mentioned reasons the film will have to be removed not in Ukraine. Perhaps it will be the Baltic countries or Hungary.
– In what terms is it possible to implement the project?
– It’s hard to say yet. I would like it as quickly as possible. People are not eternal. I want the film to be seen by those who survived the tragedy, and, in particular, my mother. I want people to see: the memory is alive; so that the world community knew and remembered the tragedy. It is necessary to attract young people to the screens. And just with the help of the action movie you can do it.
