by Nathaniel R
from the actor's instragram
One of the most unusual and affecting movies of the past year or so in cinema is finally making the rounds. Poland’s 2020 Oscar submission, Never Gonna Snow Again is in theaters and will presumably hit VOD shortly. The mysterious film is about a man named Zhenia, a Ukrainian massage therapist, who becomes the fixation of a small Polish town. The residents all begin to employ him and each of them project their own feelings and fantasies onto him. Still, Zhenia's own desires and identity remain an enigma, even to the audience who are invited to fixate and project, much like the townsfolk. But even the town is not entirely grounded in reality, but arguably an homogenous purgatory of a suburban fantasy. All in all it makes for an unusual and riveting film experience.
At the center of it all is the 35 year-old actor Alec Utgoff of Stranger Things fame. The Ukraine born actor has been working in film and television for a decade now but this is his biggest film role to date, and a major breakthrough in terms of the ways in which filmmakers might imagine casting him. We recently talked with him about his career as well as this particular role...
As "Dr Alexei" in Stranger Things
Though his face is familiar to the millions who watch Stranger Things, and he readily admits to enjoying the genre "Honestly, I think sci-fi is my thing." but otherwise he's often frustrated with the roles he's offered. "To this day I always play someone who maims or kills or gets killed essentially." Though his English is fluent he believes that English-language writers don't really know how to write Russian characters. He defines them as caricatures more than characters. But he has done his fair share of them. “You gotta pay your bills. I'm in the same spot as everybody else!”
He longs to work in more challenging roles and is especially eager to work in a period piece. Historical drama is in his family's DNA /"My uncle's an archeologist. In my family there are a lot of history professors. This is what we talk about, and this is what I understand"
Never Gonna Snow Again is of course, not a historical drama, but a contemporary arthouse puzzle. Neverhtless it did provide him with a rare opportunity for a leading role and a true challenge. Surprisingly he wasn’t truly sold at the start. When he asked for a script the directors instead sent a concept. “Guys, I, I don't know what I can give you in this because I don't understand it!” He says reenacting his first conversation with Małgorzata Szumowska and her frequent collaborator Michał Englert. “I can't work without the script. I think I'll have to pass.”
Fortunately the directors were as persistent as Utgoff was reluctant so they had a meeting “Malgo was very charming and entertaining. She painted this whole picture. And then we had a script within two weeks. It was sort of a Woland-esque. He's the devil coming in and saving people, so to speak.”
The early script was much different and gave more concrete details about his character including giving him a brother . The actor is refreshingly candid about his doubts when the script was tossed out again. “I'm more comfortable with holding onto character rather than improvising all the time, you see?” He tells me. “Because that way I can prepare, I can think of the many things I can do with it.”
Despite his doubts he learned to go with their flow, and began to understand the collaborative improvisational feel that the directors conjure on set which includes molding the roles around the actors own talents. “I did two years of ballet back in school so Malgo goes ‘okay now improvise’” he says laughing about his mesmerizing dance scene. “But I'm not a dancer! She found out I can play piano so I also play piano in the movie.”
Did he have a process for the dialogue free closeups? How do you give as much as you can to hold the fascination of the camera without actually revealing a character?
as "Zhenia" in Never Gonna Snow Again
“It’s part of the Russian soul,” he says contemplating the mystery… or joking; as with Zhenia, it’s tough to truly get a bead on Alec. For the closeups where we're often left curious about what Zhenia is thinking about he deployed several different tactics “For example, I was thinking of my mother. Or of memories that were comical.”
“The only problem that I ever have is when a director says ‘act!’” He says in hilarious self-deprecating sesueway. “Like, you know, ‘cry’ or ‘laugh.’ It puts me in fear if I don’t understand the why. Sometimes as an actor, you have to fill in the why yourself. [Malgo’s] process is very fluid and intuitive and because of that there are bound to be problems."
“I think this taught me to be a little bit more, patient, and a little bit more focused.” Rather than the standard work of character creation he is accustomed to, he instead tried to approach it with intense focus “I just focused on the actions that I was doing, whether it was massage, or dancing, or the Polish. I didn’t speak Polish. It was mad!” He says with a laugh. “It wasn’t easy for me personally at all! But the film is unlike any other!"
The last remark has a bit of a twist. He’s trusting the positive reception and what people (like myself) have praised about his work and the film itself. As it turns out, as difficult as it is for him to discuss his acting, it’s even more difficult for him to watch himself onscreen. “I’m too shy!” He explains though at first I don’t believe him. ‘Never?’” I press. “I criticize myself too much,” he explains “to the point that it's not healthy. So it's better just to the best you can and leave it.”
In the end he found himself at peace with his work on Never Gonna Snow Again and grateful for the unusual challenge it presented. As he was walking away from it “I felt very satisfied.” And, perfectly in keeping with our winding conversation he seems surprised by this admission!
But he still won’t watch any of his own work, he reminds me as we end our call. I assure him he’s missing out.
