Russian Film Week Masterclasses: Vladimir Mashkov on the Stanislavski System

Russian Film Week Masterclasses: Vladimir Mashkov on the Stanislavski System

Meet the award-winning Russian film and stage actor, renowned director and acting teacher, and newly appointed Artistic Director of the Oleg Tabakov Theatre, Vladimir Mashkov.

Introductory remarks and moderation will be by acclaimed British stage and film actor, director, producer, and Golden Unicorn Awards 2018 Jury President, Brian Cox.

Vladimir will be discussing his career journey from Siberia to Hollywood via Moscow, and his lifelong commitment to the Stanislavski system and its relevance today. Following this conversation, there will be a question and answer session, and some workshop exercises incorporating Stanislavski’s system of physical action.

The masterclass will be held in Russian and English, with translation by Alexander Popov (International Producer, Chekhov Moscow Theatre), and is presented in partnership with Russian Film Week 2018. For more information on Russian Film Week, please see here.

As part of Masterclass’ charitable mandate, this masterclass is FREE for anyone aged 30 & under, if you are over 30 tickets may be purchased for £10 + fee. All proceeds go to supporting the work of both Masterclass and Russian Film Week.

Vladimir Mashkov is best known to the Western audiences for his work in the 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines and 2011 film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Mashkov has also worked as a film director, producer and writer for the 2004 Russian film Papa. Recipient of Russia’s highest professional award, the title of the People’s Artist of the Russian Federation.

His mother, Natalia, was a puppet theatre director, and his father, Lev Mashkov, was an actor. He made his debut on stage as a child, took part in the productions of a school theatre group, performed with his parents in the Novokuznetsk Puppet Theater. In 1990 he graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School, where he studied under Oleg Tabakov.

In 1989-1990 he was an actor of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater. Since 1990 he joined the troupe of the Oleg Tabakov Studio Theater where he starred in the productions The Sailor’s Silence (Abram Schwartz), The Inspector General (The Governor), The Myth of Don Juan (Don Juan), The Mechanical Piano (Platonov), Anecdotes (Ivanovich, Ugarov). Since 1992, Mashkov was also one of the directors of the Tabakov Theater. His directing credits include Star Hous Local Time (1992), Passion According to Bumbarash (1992) and Salto Mortale (1994). In 1996 he he staged The Threepenny Opera at the Satiricon Theater. In 2001 Mr Tabakov invited Vladimir to produce Out of Order by Ray Cooney at the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater. This production, entitled Suite No. 13 turned out to be a record breaker and mega hit, performing to sold out houses for more than 17 seasons.

In cinema, Mashkov made his debut in 1989 in the movie Green Goat Fire. After that came roles in the movies Do It — One! (1990), Ha-bi-Assi (1990), Casus improvisus (1991), Love on the Isle of Death (1991), Alaska, Sir! (1992) and Me Ivan, You Abraham (1993). However, in 1994 he was best known for his starring roles in Denis Yevstigneev’s Limit and Valery Todorovsky’s Moscow Nights films. In 1995 Mashkov also played the main role in Karen Shakhnazarov’s melodrama American Daughter. One of the most notable works of this period was the role of Tolyan in the picture The Thief (1997), subsequently nominated for an Oscar. In 2000, he played the role of Emelian Pugachev in the historical film of Alexander Proshkin Russian rebellion.

In the early 2000s, Vladimir Mashkov starred in several Hollywood films: Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000), 15 Minutes (2001), An American Rhapsody (2001) and Behind Enemy Lines (2001).

Mashkov played the Russian millionaire Platon Makovsky, whose prototype was Boris Berezovsky, in Pavel Lungin’s 2002 drama Tycoon. Next year he appeared on television as Parfen Rogozhin in the adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel The Idiot, directed by Vladimir Bortko. In 1997, Vladimir Mashkov made his debut as a filmmaker with the New Year’s romantic comedy The Orphan of Kazan. In 2004 he appeared in the role of director, screenwriter and producer of the film Papa, based on Alexander Galich’s play The Sailor’s Silence, in which he also starred as Abraham Schwartz. He starred in the 2005 adaptation of Boris Akunin’s novel The State Counselor, next year he played in the action movie Piranha and the US television series Alias.

In 2007, Vladimir Mashkov played detective David Gozman in the historical crime series Liquidation. He portrayed the character of a hired killer in the 2008 film The Ghost. His next films were the role of the second pilot Seryoga in the action film based on real events Kandagar (2009) and the image of the machinist Ignat in Alexei Uchitel’s drama The Edge (2010). In 2011, Vladimir Mashkov appeared in the American blockbuster Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, where he played Russian agent Sidorov.

In 2015 the thriller TV series Rodina aired on television, directed by Pavel Lungin. Mashkov played officer Alexei Bragin, released from a long imprisonment, who appears to have defected. The disaster film Flight Crew by Nikolai Lebedev premiered in 2016, where Mashkov played experienced pilot Zinchenko. In 2017, the sports drama Going Verticalwas released. In this film, Vladimir Mashkov starred in the role of coach of the Soviet basketball team, which at the 1972 Munich Olympics beat the seemingly invincible US team. With an initial worldwide gross of over ₽3 billion ($54 million), Going Vertical is the highest-grossing domestic film of all time in Russia.

Mr Mashkov was appointed Artistic Director of the Oleg Tabakov Theatre in 2018, following the death of his mentor and theatre’s founder.