Grigory Izrailevich Gorin(at birth his surname was Ofstein; March 12, 1940, Moscow, USSR - June 15, 2000, there, Russia) - Russian satirist and playwright, screenwriter, TV presenter. Author of a number of literary and journalistic articles. State Prize Laureate Russian Federation(2002, posthumously).

Grigory Gorin was born into the family of a serviceman, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, chief of operations and acting chief of staff, 150th Division, 3rd shock army, Lieutenant Colonel Israel Abelevich Ofshtein (1904-2000). His mother, a native of Proskurov, was an emergency doctor. She had maiden name Gorinskaya, his pseudonyms came from this surname - first Gorinshtein, then Gorin. When asked about the reason for choosing such a pseudonym, Gorin replied that it was just an abbreviation: “ G Risha ABOUT fstein R yeshil And change n nationality." After graduating from the 1st Moscow Medical Institute named after I.M. Sechenov in 1963, he worked as an emergency doctor for several years. “The Soviet doctor,” Gorin wrote, “was and remains the most unique specialist in the world, because only he knew how to treat without drugs, operate without instruments, and provide prosthetics without materials...”

He began his literary career by composing sketches for the student “Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful.” Since the 1960s, he has actively appeared in print with feuilletons, humorous stories and sketches. For some time he was in charge of the humor department of the Yunost magazine, running a popular column on behalf of Galki Galkina. He has repeatedly published humorous stories in the humor department of the “12 Chairs Club” of the Literaturnaya Gazeta.

In 1965, in collaboration with Arkady Arkanov and composer Konstantin Pevzner, the “Orange Song” was written for the 8-year-old Georgian performer Irma Sokhadze. Subsequently this popular song was in the repertoire of many performers, including Marina Vladi and her sisters, Anastasia Stotskaya and others.

A collection was published in 1966 humorous stories“Four under one cover,” which included works by A. Arkanov, G. Gorin, F. Kamov and E. Uspensky.

In 1978-1990, Grigory Gorin regularly took part in the “Around Laughter” programs. In the early 1990s, he was invited to the jury of the KVN Major League.

IN last years was a regular participant and author of the program “White Parrot”, and after the death of Yuri Nikulin he was its presenter for some time.

Grigory Gorin died suddenly on the night of June 15, 2000 from a massive heart attack. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

Family

• Wife - Lyubov Pavlovna Gorina (née Kereselidze), editor of the Mosfilm film studio, the Association of Musical and Comedy Films. She died on August 26, 2015 at the age of 74.

Creation

Dramaturgy

• 1966 - “Wedding for all of Europe”, co-authored with A. Arkanov
• “Banquet”, co-authored with A. Arkanov; delivered in 1968
• “Little Comedies of a Big House”, co-authored with A. Arkanov; in 1973 staged at the Moscow Theater of Satire
• “Toreador”, co-authored with A. Arkanov; delivered in 1973
• “Solo for a duet”, co-authored with A. Arkanov; delivered in 1975
• 1970 - “Til”, based on Flemish folklore and the novel by Charles de Coster; in 1974 it was staged at the Lenkom Theater by Mark Zakharov, in 2015 - a play directed by Alexander Mikhailov at the Free Space Theater for Children and Youth (Orel).
• 1972 - “Forget Herostratus!”; in 1972 it was staged at the Theater. V. F. Komissarzhevskaya
• 1974 - “The Most Truthful,” about Baron Munchausen; in 1979, Mark Zakharov shot the film “That Same Munchausen”
• 1977 - “Who is who?”; teleplay directed by Mark Rozovsky
• 1980 - “The House That Swift Built”; in 1982, Mark Zakharov made a film of the same name
• 1984 - “Phenomena”
• 1985 - “Farewell, entertainer!”
• 1989 - “Domestic cat of medium fluffiness”, together with Vladimir Voinovich; in 1990, Konstantin Voinov shot the film “Hat”
• 1989 - “Funeral Prayer”, based on the works of Sholom Aleichem; staged at the Lenkom Theater in 1993, television version in 1993
• 1991 - “Kin IV”
• 1994 - “A plague on both your houses!”, based on Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”
• 1995 - “Royal Games”; in 1995 staged by Mark Zakharov at the Lenkom Theater
• 1997 - “Happy-Unfortunate”
• 1999 - “Jester Balakirev”; in 2001 staged by Mark Zakharov at the Lenkom Theater, television version in 2002

Film scripts

• 1974 - “Stop Potapov!” (based on the story of the same name, published in Literaturnaya Gazeta in 1972)
• 1976 - “You - for me, I - for you!” (together with Alexander Sery)
• 1976 - “One hundred grams for courage” (short story “What impudence!”)
• 1978 - “Hedgehog” (short film)
• 1978 - “Velvet Season” (together with Vladimir Pavlovich)
• 1979 - “That same Munchausen”
• 1980 - “Say a word about the poor hussar” (together with Eldar Ryazanov)
• 1980 - “Naked Kurentsov” (short film)
• 1980 - “Incident at Factory No. 6” (short film)
• 1984 - “Formula of Love”, based on the story “Count Cagliostro” by Alexei Tolstoy
• 1985 - “Dear Pamela”
• 1986 - “My dearly beloved detective” (together with Arkady Khait)
• 1988 - “Kill the Dragon”, based on the play by Evgeniy Schwartz (together with Mark Zakharov)
• 1991 - “Andrey”, film-monograph about Andrei Mironov (together with Alexey Gabrilovich)

Film adaptations

• 1985 - gold fish(television play)
• 2005 - “Incident at Factory No. 6”, (based on the story of the same name, short film, directed by Andrey Tsvetkov)
• 2011 - “Hedgehog” (based on the story of the same name, short film, directed by Alexandra Tsareva)

Bibliography

• I want kharcho! M., 1970
• Small comedies in a big house. M., 1973 (co-authored with A. Arkanov)
• Bullfighter. M., 1973 (co-authored with A. Arkanov)
• Forget Herostratus. M., 1974
• Solo for duet. M., 1975 (co-authored with A. Arkanov)
• Who is who? M., 1978
• Comic fantasy. M., 1986
• The same Munchausen. M., 1990
• Love Formula. Ekaterinburg, 1994

Real name Ofshtein (1940 2000), Russian writer, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1996). Comedies “Wedding for the whole of Europe” (1966; together with A. Arkanov), “...Forget Herostratus!” (production 1972), “Phenomena” (1979), ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Ofstein). Genus. March 12, 1940, in Moscow, d. June 15, 2000, ibid. Prose writer and playwright, satirist, author of the comedies “Wedding for the Whole of Europe” (with Arkady Arkanov, 1966), “Banquet” (with A. Arkanov, 1968), “Little Comedies... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

GORIN (real name Ofshtein) Grigory Izrailevich (b. 1940) Russian writer. Comedy Wedding for the whole of Europe (1966; together with A. Arkanov), ... Forget Herostratus! (production 1972), Phenomena (1979), The House That Swift Built (1983). Scenarios (… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

GORIN (Ofshtein) Grigory Izrailevich (March 12, 1940, Moscow June 14, 2000, Moscow), Russian screenwriter, actor. In 1963 he graduated from the First Medical Institute. For several years he worked as a doctor at an ambulance station. Writer and playwright. Author… … Encyclopedia of Cinema

GORIN Grigory Izrailevich- (b. 1940), Russian Soviet writer. Plays “Wedding for the whole of Europe” (1966). “Banquet” (post. 1968; both jointly with A. Arkanov), “Forget Herostratus!” (post. 1972), “Little comedies of a big house” (1973, jointly with A. Arkanov), “Til” (post.... ... Literary encyclopedic dictionary

- (real name Ofshtein; b. 1940) – Russian. writer. In satirical and humorous. G.'s stories ridicule falsehood, automatism, bureaucracy, the pattern of life phenomena and relationships (“I want kharcho!”, “How does beer open?..” (1968), “Hidden Camera” (1969), ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Pseudonyms

- ... Wikipedia

- (real name Ofstein; March 12, 1940, Moscow June 15, 2000, Moscow) Russian and Soviet playwright, prose writer, satirist. Born into a military family. Graduated from the 1st Moscow Medical Institute named after. I. M. Sechenov (1963), ... ... Wikipedia

Grigory Izrailevich Gorin (real name Ofshtein; March 12, 1940, Moscow June 15, 2000, Moscow) Russian and Soviet playwright, prose writer, satirist. Born into a military family. Graduated from the 1st Moscow Medical Institute named after... ... Wikipedia

Childhood of Grigory Gorin

Literary activity of Grigory Gorin

In 1963 he graduated from the First Moscow Medical Institute named after Sechenov. For four years after that he worked as a doctor at an ambulance station. He did not lose interest in literature; he continued to write humorous stories, sketches and feuilletons, which he published in Soviet newspapers and magazines. He wrote scenes for the student “Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful.” For some time he worked at the magazine Yunost, where he headed the humor department and was the host of a popular column under the pseudonym Galki Galkina.

In 1966, Grigory Gorin, together with other authors, published his first book of prose, “Four under one cover.” In the same year, the comedy “For All of Europe”, co-written with Arkady Arkanov, was released. Later, Gorin, together with Arkanov, wrote such comedies as: “Banquet”, “Little Comedies of a Big House”, “Toreador”, “Solo for a Duet”.

Grigory Gorin - Anecdote

Grigory Gorin achieved great success in the art of writing and was accepted into the Writers' Union, but he had to leave his job in medicine. The writer himself talks about this with humor: “Many of my untreated patients are still alive and write me letters of gratitude for this courageous act.”

Career of Grigory Gorin in the theater

Thanks to the collaboration with the famous director, films also known and loved by viewers appeared: “Formula of Love”, “That Same Munchausen”, “Kill the Dragon”.

According to Mark Zakharov, Gorin had the rare gift of a comedian-playwright and was a unique and unique phenomenon in culture.

Since 1978, Grigory Gorin began performing satirical monologues on television. He was a regular participant in the “Around Laughter” program. His speeches were very popular, they were immediately taken away for quotes, and his unique intonation was recognized by everyone who had ever heard him. Grigory Gorin, with his works, sought first of all to make the audience think. He was worried that his performances were perceived exclusively as a humorous genre. In many of his jokes there was a deep hidden philosophical meaning, which is not immediately visible. Thanks to this special quality, his works remain relevant today.

In the last years of his life, Grigory Gorin regularly took part in the humorous television show “White Parrot” with Yuri Nikulin, and after Nikulin’s death, he himself was the host for some time.

Death of Grigory Gorin

Grigory Gorin - Lecture

Filmography of Grigory Gorin

The wonderful writer would have turned 70 today.

Playwright, prose writer, satirist and screenwriter, author of the plays “Funeral Prayer”, “A Plague on Both Your Houses!”, “The Jester Balakirev”, “The House That Swift Built” and scripts for the films “That Same Munchausen”, “O say a word to the poor hussar", "Formula of love", "Kill the dragon" - Grigory Gorin passed away in June 2000. On March 12 he would have turned 70 years old. An Izvestia columnist spoke with his close friend, playwright Viktor Slavkin, about what Gorin was like in his texts and in life.

Izvestia: How did your friendship begin?

Viktor Slavkin: We grouped around the Yunost magazine, and everyone met there: Arkanov, Gorin, me. Grisha was the most optimistic and cheerful. He reproached us for complaining - they say, we “don’t write.” He said: “Sit down in the morning, start writing - and everything will go!” And he early moved from humor to stories that have a psychological element.

I: Did Gorin always “write”? Did you complain that it “doesn’t work”?

Slavkin: He complained, of course. Since he mainly dealt with theaters, everything happened. It’s difficult in theaters - there main director, the main artist... We called it "the problem of the second act." He always wrote the first act quickly and well. And in the second, for some reason, he began to analyze himself. Because, as you know, the second act should be stronger than the first... I remember he quickly found everyone mutual language. There was such a case - several people, including Arkanov, Gorin and Shirvindt, bought a hut for fishing in Valdai. And there was a peasant who had a boat. He became very friendly with Grisha, but understood that Grisha was a person of a different educational qualification. And then Arkanov told me that this boatman approached him and asked: “Please tell me, is it true that Grigory’s patronymic is Izrailevich?” He answers: “True.” - “And he won’t be offended if I call him that?” “He won’t be offended,” Arkanov answered. And then he began to call him Grigory Izrailevich.

Gorin was always so disposed towards people that little interfered with him. For example, he had a slight lisp. And he made a variety act out of it, which he read from great success. Thus, he did not give the opportunity to make evil jokes about himself, since he was the first to joke about himself. The number was called “Lisping”. This is a valuable quality of a comedian - not to go into introspection, but to let it all out. And he, of course, and Zakharov were a serious support for each other. Although this, of course, did not exclude difficulties.

and: What kind of difficulties were there?

Slavkin: Ordinary ones - a person writes and thinks: “What am I writing? It’s not interesting.” And he needs another person to tell him: “Old man, everything is fine.” They had such a tandem. I know "Dragon" didn't work out. Zakharov began to make it himself. Then Grisha got involved, and then it worked. I'm not saying that Grisha pulled it off, but they had enviable respect for each other. And they mutually protected each other from going in the wrong direction.

and: How would you characterize Gorin the playwright?

Slavkin: Grisha had a moment when he really wanted to write a modern play: modern language, O modern problem. He suffered and suffered - and wrote a play called “Phenomena”. But at some point he stopped this torment and said: “You know, I realized that mine is when I develop a fantasy on the topic of some classic work and as a result I get a new work." And when he realized this, he began to write even better. A thick book called “Gorin’s Theater” was recently published. He created such a theater.

and: Gorin has gained a reputation as a satirical writer in wide circles. How did this correspond to his sense of self?

Slavkin: He sometimes worried that everyone thought: Gorin came out, so he should laugh. But thanks to his dramaturgy, he made people not only laugh, but also sad and cry. This is a normal trait creative person who believes that one should try to do something that has not been done before. He has stories written by a prose writer. But I can't say that he hated himself as a comedian. He was a very witty conversationalist, a man with an optimistic charge. True, shortly before his death, he once said: “Something was wrong with my heart, I decided to sit at home today.” He also had such moments.

and: There is another common opinion that people who are used to making the public laugh are quite sad in life. Does this apply to Gorin?

Slavkin: He was pretty sad too. This is not to say that he was always full of jokes and wit. Sometimes he plunged into melancholy and was dissatisfied with himself. But when friends appeared around him, he again turned into the cute Grisha Gorin, who jokes. He often had sad eyes. No wonder the phrase about “Gorin’s sad eyes” appeared. In many wisdom there are many sorrows. Sometimes it happened that he joked, and this joke had a deep sad meaning, and then it was funny again. That is why his texts still live today.

and: Can you describe any situation that would best characterize Gorin the man?

Slavkin: He was an avid professional fisherman. And I'm just an amateur. One day, he and I were going fishing in the village of Sknyatino - quite far from Moscow. We took fishing rods, drinks, food and went. At night we had to get off the train. We were told that this was our stop and we got off. When the train began to move away, we realized that we had gotten off in the wrong place. We were left alone in the middle of Russia. We went into the hut where the cash register was, but there was no one there. So what do fishermen do? We opened a bottle of vodka and drank. Grisha began to show me his new fishing rod, we were amused. And suddenly his eyes became Gorin-like sad, and he said: “You know, old man, what a blessing that we got off in the wrong place. We will remember this night for the rest of our lives.” And so it happened.

Grigory Izrailevich Gorin (at birth his surname was Ofstein; March 12, 1940, Moscow, USSR - June 15, 2000, Moscow, Russia) is a Russian satirist, playwright, screenwriter, TV presenter, author of a number of literary and journalistic articles.

Grigory Gorin was born into the family of a serviceman, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, head of the operational department and acting chief of staff of the 150th division of the 3rd shock army, Lieutenant Colonel Israel Abelevich Ofshtein (1904-2000). His mother, a native of Proskurov, was an emergency doctor. Her maiden name was Gorinskaya, from which his pseudonyms came - first Gorinshtein, then Gorin (1963; he later officially changed his last name).
“Is your nickname from grief or from the mountain?” - they asked him in an interview.

He joked: “Do you know how Volodya Voinovich deciphered my pseudonym? Grisha Ofshtein Decided to Change Nationality.”

And when they asked if he had any thoughts of leaving, he answered: “I was born in Moscow, I love this corner of it and I will not leave voluntarily. And if they come for me - to arrest or deport me - I will shoot back!”

After graduating from the 1st Moscow Medical Institute named after I.M. Sechenov in 1963, he worked as an emergency doctor for several years. “The Soviet doctor,” Gorin wrote, “was and remains the most unique specialist in the world, because only he knew how to treat without drugs, operate without instruments, and provide prosthetics without materials...”

It was a special highest educational institution, where they taught not only sciences, but the wisdom of life. And they did it as fun as possible.

I remember, for example, our head of the department of obstetrics, Professor Zhmakin, who set students approximately the following tasks during exams:

“Imagine, colleague, you are on duty in the emergency department. They brought in a woman. Eight months pregnant. Contractions began... The waters broke... The lights went out... The midwife ran for the fitter... The pressure is dropping... The hostess sister lost her keys from the procedural room... The head was called to the district committee for a meeting... You are in charge! What will you do, colleague? Turn on the stopwatch... Think! That's it! The woman is dead! You are in prison! Free yourself - come for a re-examination!.."

At the time it seemed Jesuitical to us. Then, in practice, we became convinced that our life can pose even more difficult problems, and if a doctor does not maintain a sense of humor in any situation, he will destroy both the patient and himself...

He began his literary career by composing sketches for the student “Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful.” Since the 1960s, he has actively appeared in print with feuilletons, humorous stories and sketches. For some time he headed the humor department of the Yunost magazine and ran a popular column on behalf of Galka Galkina. He has repeatedly published humorous stories in the humor department of the “12 Chairs Club” of the Literaturnaya Gazeta.

Gorin's first publication appeared in 1960 on page sixteen of the Literary Gazette, which traditionally was devoted to satire and humor. Grigory Gorin published his first story in the magazine “Youth” while still a student at a medical institute. Success came quickly and for a long time. His works were heard in popular humorous radio programs, where he worked as a junior editor of the satire and humor department; artists performing on the stage always read something “from Gorin.” In 1966, Gorin decided to try his hand at drama and, together with Arkady Arkanov, wrote the comedy “Wedding for All of Europe”, then “Domestic Cat of Medium Fluffy”, “Little Comedies of a Big House”, “Banquet”. In 1970 at the Theater Soviet army The premiere of his play “Forgetting Herostratus” took place, which was performed on this stage for a long time with undiminished success. For almost 25 years, Grigory Gorin collaborated with the Lenkom Theater; many scripts were written together with Mark Zakharov. Together with him, the playwright worked on creating plays and films that audiences loved.

By the early 1970s, Gorin had published several collections of plays and stories, and he decided to devote himself entirely to literary work. Subsequently, he created more than a dozen plays, the most famous of which are “Till”, “The Most Truthful”, “Phenomena”, “Farewell, Master of Ceremonies!”, “The House That Swift Built”, “Funeral Prayer”, “Royal Games”, "KIN IV", "Plague on both your houses", "Jester Balakirev". He is the author of scripts for the films “That Same Munchausen”, “The House That Swift Built”, “Formula of Love”, “Kill the Dragon”, “Say a Good Word for the Poor Hussar”.

At the very beginning of perestroika, Gorin turned to Shvartsev’s “Dragon”. In the title of their film - “Kill the Dragon” - the indefinite form of the verb was read, in accordance with the tense of the slogans, as an imperative mood. In bringing the original source closer to current political realities, G.G., unusually for himself, “sank to the ground,” and yet, unable to resist, he added an ending that, in Gorin’s style, went against the generally accepted pathos. The Dragon, or the Ghost of the Dragon, or the One Who Was a Dragon Yesterday, or the One Who Will Become a Dragon Tomorrow, launches a paper dragon with the children. The knight Lancelot cannot yet challenge this Master Nobody to a duel - evil dissolves in the future, it is still indefinable and unprovable. The film ends with an ellipsis - a mark of punctuation and multi-knowledge that multiplies the sadness.

In 1965, in collaboration with Arkady Arkanov and composer Konstantin Pevzner, the “Orange Song” was written for the 8-year-old Georgian performer Irma Sokhadze. Subsequently, this popular song was in the repertoire of many performers, including Marina Vladi and her sisters, Anastasia Stotskaya and others.

In 1978-1990, Grigory Gorin regularly took part in the “Around Laughter” programs. In the early 1990s, he was invited to the jury of the KVN Major League.

In recent years, he was a regular participant and author of the “White Parrot” program, and after the death of Yuri Nikulin, he was its presenter for some time.

Grigory Gorin died suddenly on the night of June 15, 2000 from a massive heart attack. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

On the day of his funeral, June 19, a signal copy of the sixth volume of the “Anthology of Satire and Humor in Russia of the 20th Century” was published, which included all the best that was written by the playwright in his entire life, including the last play “The Jester Balakirev”. Gorin himself called his plays comic fantasies. The people in them are both funny and tragic.

“I had a stormy youth, and I got married only at 30 years old”

“I organized anniversaries for so many friends that I no longer have the strength to take care of myself.”
- Why did you decide to celebrate your anniversary in the air, leaving those on the ground who wanted to congratulate you and drink to your health?

Let me put it this way: I organized anniversaries for so many friends that I no longer have the strength for myself. At some age I began to understand that on my birthday I shouldn’t rob myself. It’s not for nothing that you were born on this day; it brings you to certain results. And if it’s a round date, then doubly so. Therefore, the first thing is not to vulgarize. I celebrated all my family dates in an extraordinary way. It started with the wedding. When I got married, I said: “Lyuba, don’t be offended, but I won’t sit at our wedding. I can’t listen to banal toasts - I’ll go crazy.” But it’s hard for a Georgian to agree to this, they have traditions. Well, that’s how it is for them, and that’s how it is for me.

You cannot deprive guests of the wedding table, otherwise they will think that you are a miser. “So we set the table, drink the first glass, and make it “bitter.” After that, we’ll say: dear guests, excuse me, we have a train in an hour.” That's what we did. The wedding was completely dumbfounded by our impudence. Then it turned out that they were having a great time without us. And we got on the train and left for Tallinn. And then many times on family and anniversary dates I tried to disrupt the usual order of things. They must be unusual.

Agree. But the public, represented by television, should still celebrate this date...

I now have an insane number of calls, everyone is asking me to come: both radio and television. But I strictly limited this flow. There will be several normal programs - in the Ostankino concert studio, in the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. I suggested: guys, let's make Munchausen return, but not to the ordinary world, but to the circus. Only everything is true. The Baron must fly to the moon. And for free Oleg Ivanovich Yankovsky, the last National artist Soviet Union, soared under the dome. Then Mark Zakharov invited the author to the arena with a crazy idea. And I appeared with a huge boa constrictor on my shoulders. Before leaving, I ask the trainer: “Will he accidentally strangle me?” “Don’t worry,” he says, “we fed him before.”

So, did the taming go well?

Yes. Inna Churikova worked with lions and tigers, but at a distance, Abdulov and Farada rode horses. But Yarmolnik, who played Munchausen’s son, got it. Lenya drove out in a car with trained monkeys, who, it turns out, really don’t like being imitated. And so Yarmolnik, dressed up like the orangutans, did not give one of them candy. Nobody expected them to be so vindictive. And then in the dance, this offended monkey completely unexpectedly, with a jerk, straight up cool Walker, as he gives him an eye. Yarmolnik is crying, and the audience is laughing - they thought that was how it should be. In general, all this madness could only happen in the circus. But the result turned out well.

Of course, you came up with it. But, probably, where you are going to fly a little closer than the Moon?

I am incredibly lucky - my father is still alive, who turned 95 in December. I told him: “Dad, don’t celebrate. Let’s celebrate two anniversaries in March.” And on March 12 I will board a plane and fly to America. For the first time I will celebrate a birthday in the air - it’s beautiful. And then the old man and I will go and sit in some restaurant on the ocean shore and have a glass. And if I stay at home, by five o’clock I’ll be full of vodka and complacency, they’ll come out of the presidential administration: “Allow me to read out a congratulatory address” - well, what will it be?

"I don't fit into American filmmaking"

Are you only planning to vacation in America this time? You once gave lectures there at the university, and then I know that you have enough script ideas for two Hollywoods. And now they have a crisis in this regard...

Americans don't like scripts by Russian authors. We do them differently than in America. We write: “Morning. Petrov woke up in a gloomy mood. The gray sky bent towards the earth.” Americans won't even read this. They should have it written: “Large - sky, Petrov’s left leg came down from the bed and found a slipper. Petrov’s remark…” They don’t consider scripts to be high creativity. Cinema must be visible - that's the first thing. Secondly, it must be calculated immediately. If you want a sunrise, then how: in kind or in a pavilion?

Just like in Ilf and Petrov’s feuilleton: “Close-up: the bare breasts of the cocotte Clémence. Panorama: Count Sukhoveysky in white pants enjoying life on Primorsky Boulevard. Close-up: The Count knocked the Countess onto the chest and began to woo her.”

Yes, this is the director's script. That's why I don't fit into American filmmaking. Here they came to me from America, they want to make a film about Mikhoels. I said: “If you want an American script, I immediately refuse.” “No, you make us a “skeleton”, and then an American will sit down and write it all down frame by frame.” For me, stage directions matter, “I stood up thoughtfully, as if forgetting...” Andryusha Mironov once told me: “What did you write? “Everything began to spin, and the sky mixed with the earth...” How to do this? I say: “You are the director - you decide. I thought my remark would inspire you.”

So how then, if there is success, and your plays always have it, how can you share the glory with the director?

You and I once said that it’s not us who write good things. We just read them, everyone just has their own task. After me, the director comes and comes up with a visible image of the performance, then Stupka will come and play it completely in his own way. My words help him, but he contributed a lot of himself to Tevye, and I think it is one of his best works. I am happy that he played my play, this is the recognition that is most precious to me. I have different confessions. I’m walking down the street, and the “new Russian” blurs out towards me: “Oh, “White Parrot”! And yesterday, on the set of this program, a boy from “Ivanushki-International” came up in a wild-looking knitted hat and said: “You know, I cried twice on “ Funeral prayer" And I even started to like him.

Where do your dates with Muse take place: in Moscow or, perhaps, in your hut in Valdai? By the way, did you take those blankets that we bought at the Ukraina department store there?

Yes! First they went to a nearby dacha in the Moscow region, then to Valdai. Warm, good blankets, just what you need. And in general it’s wonderful there. The village loves me, and I love the village. Well, it’s no longer possible to retire for creativity. At first Eldar Ryazanov was my neighbor, then Abdulov bought a house, and now Yankovsky wants it too.

I see that the population of the Estate is seriously expanding due to Moscow stars.

Because in Moscow everything is accessible, everything is nearby, but there is no thrill.

I understand you. In Moscow, I pressed a button and the water came out, but then I pressed it and went and brought it with a bucket. And you think easily and ask eternal questions... What are you guided by when you have to answer them?

I listen to my intuition. There are two minds in man - the simple mind and the main mind. Just a mind for rational decisions, and the main thing would be better called intuition. This is the wisdom that your ancestors and your people have developed over centuries. And all this sits deep inside you. Every person at least once in his life catches himself with a strange instinct that refutes logic and the arguments of reason: for some reason I don’t want to do this now... This is the voice of intuition. And our whole problem is that we don’t trust him. And trust is a big thing. There is this joke: a Chukchi is asked why he votes for Zhirinovsky. And he says: “However, he promises well.” - “But he’ll deceive you.” - “He will deceive later, he promises now.”

“I worry when I sit in an expensive restaurant and am treated to food”

How is your relationship with money structured: who is calling the shots?

Money is a difficult topic. With my mind, I began to approach this very condescendingly, and the fear, that old one, left over from earlier times, works a little. Lived in communal apartment, the scholarship was 20 rubles - these disasters were deposited quite deeply in the brains of our generation. Therefore, when I go to the market, I ask, “How much are potatoes?” and they answer me “Two rubles”, I burst out: “Are you crazy?!”, although I don’t even know what these two rubles look like. I still worry when I sit in an expensive restaurant and am treated to food. In the south of France, on the coast, there are very expensive restaurants where the menu has no prices. This is done this way on purpose - prices are given only to the owner, the one who invited. And the guest should not choose food and wine based on price. I really suffered because of this.

It’s bad when there is no money, it gives a certain freedom. My funds allow me, for example, to buy a very expensive car. But the next minute I ask myself: why? What will this give you, besides the fact that they will know that Gorin drives a Mercedes. In Russia, this generally turns into disaster - all the police stop you. Another joke on the topic. The guy got a job as a security guard and was given a pistol. A month has passed and he hasn’t shown up to collect his paycheck. They ask him: “Kolya, why don’t you come for the money?” And he: “I didn’t know. I thought they gave me a gun, now you can spin as you please.”

You recently celebrated another anniversary - 30 years of family life...

I had a turbulent youth, and I got married only at 30 years old. Lyuba became my fan, not because I was handsome, young and thin, but because she read my first stories and plays. She has an amazing gift that not many women have: she knows how to listen, this is an Aquarius trait. I did not have such a secret friend to whom I would run with a bottle and new play. I read everything to her. In my opinion, she adequately copes with a rather difficult task - to remain herself, not to turn into a writer's wife on whom you test your character. This is not an easy fate.

Now we will talk about it. Yesterday I opened a Moscow newspaper and saw the headline “Berezovsky’s fate in the hands of Grigory Gorin.” The beginning is something like this: after a long stay abroad, Berezovsky returned to Russia in a depressed mood. His comrades betrayed him, Berezovsky fell into despair, started drinking and, in a fit of depression, cut his throat... I was terribly happy about this news. After all, this means that you have resumed work on grandiose project about the Ukrainian composer Maxim Berezovsky?

Yes, after a long break there has been some progress again. Composer Alexey Rybnikov came to the recording of a TV show for my anniversary and said that he wanted to show an excerpt. I thought he would sit at the piano and sing. And Lesha brought 65 people - a choir and an orchestra, and they performed the final part of the opera, which we are working on together. It was like a requiem, I haven’t heard such music for a long time, I even got goosebumps.

The libretto is based on the story of a man named Berezovsky, who is said to be great composer. I can judge this by at least the fact that in competitions with Mozart he received a higher score than Wolfgang Amadeus for his works when he took the exam for the academy. In Italy, Berezovsky became interested in a woman, the Russian princess Tarakanova, in whose salon he played, and dedicated brilliant music to her. And Count Orlov, by order of Catherine, was supposed to take Tarakanova to Russia. To do this, he played the part of a man in love with the princess and said that it was he who inspired the musician. Tarakanova felt something was wrong and did not want to board the ship. Then Orlov ordered Berezovsky: “Play!” - and the woman went. There really is such music that you can’t resist. Then she ended up in hard labor, and Tsarina Catherine paid Berezovsky, but said: “Destroy this music. I won’t be able to listen to it because it’s dedicated to my rival.” Berezovsky started drinking and committed suicide. That's the whole plot. And then, in our times, a certain representative of the devil comes to to a modern composer who is looking for musical theme and says: “Notes, like manuscripts, do not burn, and your task is to remember the music that has disappeared.” The composer is afraid to get involved with this person: an incomprehensible guy with glasses, his last name is Berezovsky...

Isn’t your first and patronymic name Boris Abramovich by any chance?

Well, only the last name appears. In order for the composer to remember that music, the fate of his predecessor is prepared for him, he also falls in love with a woman, goes through this path, and in the end he has lost music. This story is also about a man’s struggle with the devil, whom he defeats. The first stars are involved in our project Bolshoi Theater and Lenkom. We wanted to do it for the opening of the Bolshoi branch. But Rybnikov said that he was afraid to write for Berezovsky, because the audience would think that it was his music. I replied: “But suppress your vanity here. If you read music from the sky, there is only one author, and he is at the top. I've been writing this all my life. Try it!” And he succeeded.

I want to hear this music that is impossible to resist!

I'll rewrite it and send it to you.