Famous Ukrainian actor Oleksandr Rudynskyi shared his experience of filming The Agency, a thriller series by Hollywood directors Joe Wright and Neil Burger, and whether there were any Russian actors on the set.
He said this in an interview with Serhiy Lykhovyda on the YouTube channel “Rozvova”, UNN reports.
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The actor said that in order to get on the set of international projects, he needs the help of his German agency. Actually, it happened this time too. The casting process began with an online conference with Joe Wright, the director of the first episodes, known for the movie Dark Times.
The actor also talked to the casting director who worked on the second part of Yorgos Lanthimos' Dune. After two takes, the scene was recorded in Ukrainian, which was an important moment for the actor. Rudynsky waited for about a month and a half for the casting results.
Oleksandr Rudynskyi auditioned for the role of Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Butenko, who performs undercover missions in the government-controlled and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. According to him, foreign actors who live in Kyiv and those from Europe auditioned for the role.
Five directors worked on the 10 episodes of the series: Joe Wright, Grant Heslov, Philip Mertin, Zetna Fuentes, and Neil Berger. For Oleksandr Rudynskyi, The Agency is the largest foreign project he has ever starred in.
I appear in four episodes. Joe Wright was the first director who came on board. He considered all the ideas you offered him. He even came up with a scene that wasn't in the script, because I made the Ukraine forever free gesture there. And there's a shot that also went viral, where I break the glass and shout: “Glory to Ukraine, you s*xes,” when we pass a Russian checkpoint. The pyrotechnics were supposed to load explosives on the rear window. And it exploded, but did not break completely. In this take, I started breaking it with my assault rifle, which added some tension. It was already the fifth or sixth take, and at that moment it didn't explode completely, I started to break it out, and that's why this “Glory to Ukraine, you s*x” was born. I was worried that he wouldn't reshoot it. He took it into the edit and it's very nice. I was very worried whether they would insert things like “Glory to Ukraine”. Although in the script of the 10th episode, in the finale, in the decisive episode, I had my character's line “Glory to Ukraine” written in the script
The actor also added that participation in the series was not only his biggest international project, but also a step towards popularizing Ukrainian actors in world cinema. He emphasized the importance of cultural representation of Ukraine and support for actors who can become part of major film projects without the participation of Russian colleagues.
In addition, the actor has a position: not to participate in filming with actors from the aggressor country. Therefore, he had no comment on the presence of the Russian actor in the TV series The Agency. According to him, he saw the Russian actor only once at a rehearsal, but did not share scenes or interact with him on the set.
I saw him once at a rehearsal. He is Russian, but he has lived in London for many years. We discussed this issue with the director. I asked them whether Russians would participate. They said no, they wouldn't. In fact, that's what happened. All the Russians and Belarusians, because there is a linear character, a Belarusian, are not played by Russians. The Belarusian is played by a Pole. There are also actors from the Baltic countries. A Georgian plays a Russian
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