Actor Aleksey Panin condemned his country’s aggression against Ukraine several years before the full-scale Russian invasion and left for abroad. As a result, he was put on the wanted list in Russia. He continues to be hated for his support of Ukraine, but he remains committed to his position.
Alexey, firstly, on behalf of the editorial board of PRO UKRAINE magazine, we would like to thank you for your courage in defending your position in support of Ukraine. You left Russia, but you were denied entry to Ukraine. You said you didn’t want to come here, but for you, it was a matter of principle: “Either you are an enemy of this or that”. Was there a feeling of disappointment and a desire to abandon your position at this point?
During the interview with Shikhman, I failed to formulate my position, giving the impression that I was either an enemy of this or that. However, I want to emphasize that my main position is opposition to the Russian regime, regardless of whether I am allowed to enter Ukraine or not. I am sorry that some of my statements have led to my being blacklisted by Ukrainian websites. Although to be honest, it is not as important for me to have access to Ukraine as it is a shame that I am being judged as an enemy of the country for erroneous wording. I reconsidered my views a long time ago and realized that the Kremlin’s propaganda had deceived me. I saw people on the streets thanking me for my new views, and Ukrainians treating me positively. However, due to bureaucratic issues, I remain barred from entering Ukraine, which causes me resentment. This concerns only the paper side of the issue because in real life I am treated very well. The essence of my position is that my beliefs have changed, I have become clearer about what is happening, and I would like administrative barriers to not create false perceptions of me as an enemy.
After you made your position clear and left Russia, you lost the opportunity to work.Because let’s be honest, Russian artists are not welcomed with open arms in Europe. But you find the strength to create a project: The Bench. Tell us, how did the idea of staging a play based on Oleksandr Helman’s play come about? Is the project still alive?
The audience that attends my performances is mostly Russian-speaking — Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians, and Kazakhs. In Europe, however, I am welcomed with open arms, including by Ukrainians. For example, I’m on tour in Sweden and Israel, where the halls are full, and I’m playing together with a Ukrainian actress in the play “The Bench”. Even though, according to the papers, I remain unable to enter Ukraine because of some lists created by officials, the Ukrainian people are extremely supportive of me. This is evident in their respectful and loving attitude. Moreover, Ukrainians predominate in the halls of Europe – about 80%. However, I feel resentful because some bureaucratic processes prevented me from moving freely. Even though I’m a Russian artist, my work is popular, and I don’t experience any problems on this basis. I lost my job in Russia before the war started, after expressing my position. I continued to work in Spain, but when the war broke out, I could not return to Russia. Now I am in America, where we are planning to resume the play “The Bench” with another actress. We will also be working on a new project based on Edward Albee’s play with Bohdan Stupka’s grandson, Dmytro Stupka. Roman Kachanov is a film director, author and creator: “DMB”, “Down House”, and “Nevalashka”. I worked with Roma a lot. Roman Kachanov came to visit me in Spain and said: “What are you sitting around for? Let’s do a performance based on Helman’s play The Bench”. And so, thanks to Roma’s idea, we gathered at the El Faro Theater in Spain. With Vera Kutsenko, a Ukrainian actress, and Gena Gotovchits, a Belarusian who is now a director. And with this international team, we made a wonderful play called The Bench. That’s how the idea came about.
This interview was not supposed to be about personal matters, but rather about my position on Ukraine. But, as you can see, I’m getting on a first-name basis. I’ve watched a lot of interviews with you and I’ve gotten into your inner world, and I think I’ve managed to understand you. So it’s impossible not to talk about personal things. You know that feeling that you haven’t found your way yet? Your place in this world? Tell me, where do you feel good? In which country would you rather live? What do you want?
I don’t know what to say about whether I have found my way in this world or not. I think I found it a long time ago. It seems to me that it’s not easy for creative people, to whom I belong, to exist in any world at all. All creative people probably live in their world first. And getting into the “world of people,” into this whole society, such people are probably always a bit vulnerable, like naked vulnerable. I feel comfortable in any country if I have the opportunity to engage in creativity and art if I play in the theater, if I work in the cinema. I live in that world. It is always difficult for me to return to this world, to the world of people. I worked 25 days a month for 15 years. I had no idea how to pay for an apartment, what bank accounts were required, how to open them, and how to pay for tickets. I still don’t know how to use all the Internet applications. Administrators have always done it for me. My world was always on stage, on the set. My world has always been there. I am at ease there. I always feel uncomfortable when I enter society, so I don’t care what country I live in. My life is trains, airplanes, hotels. That’s my life. I don’t need a family in general, in the sense of a house, slippers, or dinner in the evenings. I don’t need that. I feel happy when I’m on the move, when I’m working, when I’m moving from set to set. When I move around, when I don’t have time, when I’m tired, when I fly to performances and play them, then immediately get on a train and go somewhere else. That’s my world, and the country doesn’t matter at all. I can’t sit still at all, I require movement.
Let’s talk about your career in movies, shall we? Have you thought about playing the lead role in your movie? Find sponsors, and write a script.As Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio often do.
In 2018, I made my debut feature film. It’s called I’m Back. I directed it and played the main role in it. There were wonderful actors in my movie: Volodya Epifantsev, the wonderful Sasha Golovin, the wonderful Kostya Murzienko, and my daughter. We screened this movie in Moscow, there was a preview. Unfortunately,I don’t own the rights to this film, because I didn’t give the money, but there were sponsors and investors. The rights belong to them. Unfortunately, I can’t dispose of my film now, and I have some kind of misunderstanding and conflict with the producers. That’s why I can’t show this movie to a wide audience right now, but this movie exists. Many people have seen As a director, I was successful, as a debutant I was successful. Now there is a conversation in America that in parallel with Albee’s play What Happened at the Zoo, which I mentioned above, we may make a movie. There will be both a play and a movie. We are thinking about it now, and maybe it
will all come together. And in America, we will probably film it.
Anna, your daughter is beautiful and wise beyond her years. The yellow press is full of bile and mangled answers from Anna as part of your interview with Sobchak. Tell us about your relationship with your daughter now, how did the move to the United States affect you both?
I have a great relationship with my daughter, but like any family, there are conflicts, disputes, and misunderstandings. Moreover, Anna is in a transitional age now, but these are, as they say, working moments. Nothing so supernatural. Yes, I don’t even know, I don’t even want to comment on the yellow press, because there is lie after lie. And 80% of what is written about me and my daughter is a lie. I don’t know what it is, what kind of bile was in the press after the interview with Sobchak. Any normal person can turn on the TV, hear with their ears, and see with their own eyes. I think everything is very clear there. If the yellow press tries to create a storm in a teacup out of nothing to collect views, subscriptions, likes… There is no point in fighting it. It does not affect us in any way. We have long been accustomed to living with this, and we open the press and everyone laughs together. We don’t react to all this anymore.
The United States, your country? Have you found your place where you feel good and have found inner peace?
Something I like about the US, something I like about Spain, something in Russia, something I like in Kyiv, in Ukraine. I’m not looking for a place to live. I am living, I am going through life, so I am going. I don’t have any tasks or goals, I don’t have to find my country… I feel good with myself, with my inner world, and I feel good when I can express myself, and when I can engage in art and creativity. I am least of all interested in money. I’m interested in money only to live on it, not to feel limited in any way. But I’m not interested in making money for the sake of making money. So the United States is my country, and I’ll say it again: a huge number of countries are also mine, and Rome and the planet Earth are my homeland.
Do you plan to come to Ukraine?
I would be very happy to come to Ukraine. Moreover, they were waiting for me there, and many people invited me to Kyiv, Odesa, and Lviv. After the war started, there were even more of these people. I would love to come and see my friends, and I would love to work in Kyiv, and I would love to make a movie. I love Kyiv, I have a lot of things connected to Kyiv. Odesa is one of my favorite cities on the planet. But it does not depend on me now. As soon as I have the opportunity, I would love to show Ukraine and Kyiv to my daughter with great joy and pleasure. Well, of course, I am not going to live in Ukraine. I’ve already said it, my home is airplanes, trains, and hotels. The most ideal thing for me is to live the life I used to live: I came to Kyiv, filmed for two weeks and moved. This is my life. Sitting in the same New York or Monte Carlo, in a villa with millions, I’m not interested in that. I need to live and enjoy this life, drink it to the fullest, fall in love, break up, play in plays, act in movies, drink champagne, something like that.
