Artem Lyskov:
“Ranetki” made me famous

There is no need to introduce this man. We’ve been seeing a lot of him on television recently – Artem is actively participating in films and TV-shows. Today we can catch him on Channel STS in a teenage show “Ranetki”. Not everyone knows that Artem Lyskov is our fellow countryman, he was born in Vologda and he had lived here for 16 years. Artem loves his city. He’s got a lot of friends and relatives here.

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He came to Vologda not long ago to host the anniversary of School №11 where he used to study. The young actor’s schedule is very busy, but he couldn't miss such an event. «How can I say no to the school I attended for 10 years? – says Artem. – I'll be in Vologda for three days and during this time I'll need to rehearse everything so that the event goes smoothly.»

The «Marten» magazine couldn't miss such an event as the actor's visit to Vologda. We met with Artem and asked him a couple of questions about movies, art and, of course, cars.

After graduating from the 11th grade Artem came to Moscow for the first time, he had only passed it before. There was only one purpose: to enter a Theatre University. Not a lot of people know what it means to enter a Theatre school. First you need to go through an audition where some people get eliminated, then you are given a chance to show what you can do in the first round, the luckiest ones reach the third round and only after that they are allowed to take the exams. Artem was trying his luck in all the Moscow’s Theatre Universities, he got to the final round in RATI (GITIS) and the Boris Shchukin University. Artem picked “Shchuka”. He was 16 at the moment and that’s not the best age to become a student actor as many directors think. A person is way too young to realize whether he really wants to connect his life to the theatre. But Artem had already had some acting experience by then – he had gone through a theatre studio “Teenager” which had taught him to love theatre. That’s where he had started to realize that he wants to be an actor.

His classmates at Shchuka didn’t take him seriously at first – he was a young boy, how could he be a serious rival? But Artem kept working, he tried to be good at everything even though he had some problems with acting, the main subject. But it’s no wonder they say that being a successful actor is 10% talent and 90% hard work. Artem was working hard. By year four he had gotten three main parts in the University's final shows (and that’s very good for a young actor considering that even a small part is great success there – author’s note).

Directors working with young actors usually don’t allow them to try out for movies. Artem didn’t have this problem – Mikhail Petrovich Semakov, the artistic director of his course, is positive about letting his students participate in films. It was during his student years that Artem plunged into the world of movies. Today everyone knows him thanks to the part of Kolya Platonov from the TV-show “Ranetki”. The show is airing on STS and is highly popular among teenagers. Artem told us how he became a part of this project:

- I always celebrate New Year’s holidays with my family in Vologda. Last year, on January 7, I got a phone call and I was offered a meeting to discuss the project called “Ranetki”. My first question was: “Who’s the director?” They said “Sergei Arlanov”. And I stopped hesitating. I had always wanted to work with that man! And then I came to Moscow and met with the director – Sergei only took one look at me and in the evening I got a call and I was told I got the part. That’s it. There was no audition, no casting. He realized I was perfect for the project and I realized my dream had come true – I was about to start working in Sergei Arlanov’s team.

- Did this show bring you your first popularity?

- I had started doing movies a long time ago, but I started being recongnized only after this show. Mostly teenagers watch it. They were the ones who accepted me like one of their kind. My character Kolya Platonov is a simple 11th grade student. The show is quite naïve, but it touches very kind topics such as family relations, teenagers’ issues. The main characters of the show are the five young girls from a real life music band “Ranetki”. It’s a story of their lives, first love, disappointments, drama and, of course, art. To be honest I used to dream of singing on stage. I had had vocal lessons in Vologda as a schoolboy and then, later, in the University, singing was one of my favorite subjects. And I was considered a good singer. When the band’s musical producer found out about this I was offered to sing a solo at the “Ranetki” performance. We were performing at the Ice Palace and there were 12 thousand people in the audience. So I consider myself the happiest person – I became an actor and had a shot at singing on a big stage. I got a lot of positive emotions out of it all.

- Artem, you’ve got a personal agent. How many young actors can afford this?

- Any actor who does several projects at once needs an agent. It’s the helper, the actor’s right hand that conducts all the administrative matters. The actor doesn’t need to think about anything besides art itself. It must be very tough for the actors that have to discuss their fees and schedule by themselves. I don’t have such a problem since I’ve got an agent. He knows how much time it takes for me to do this or that project, he composes my schedule. It’s very handy. Filming is my main activity at the moment. I’m not doing theatre, I’m doing movies. But it doesn’t mean I don’t want to do theatre. It’s just how things are right now. But I think the situation is about to change very soon. Every actor should do theare. Theatre is a special life with a special atmosphere. And when I got deprived of it I realized how much I need it especially in terms of acting. In the theatre you can’t reshoot anything, can’t postpone the filming. You need to “live” your part from beginning to end. It’s different in the movies, it’s a different genre, there is no time to accelerate there. You might start filming a scene where you are killed and then film a scene where you’re still alive. A scene where your character is crying might be filmed right before the scene where he is all good and cheerful.

- I think the readers would like to know what your schedule looks like.

- I’m an owl – I like to go to bed late. And the time I get up depends on when the filming starts. But I don’t think it’s right. It’s better to have a routime for the day, but I can’t do it just yet. Now that my character is one of the main ones acting in “Ranetki” is my primary job. Sometimes I come home at 2 in the morning and the next filming is at 7 am. The schedule is not standardized, they film as long as they need to. All in all an actor’s shift is 12 hours. They film you everyday with only a couple of days off per month. So there’s hardly any time to get bored. But recently I’ve had to skip the filming for a month and a half! I broke my arm at the shooting of one of the scenes for “Ranetki”. My character was supposed to ride a skateboard. I wasn’t very goot at controlling it but I decided to do a trick by myself, without stuntmen. We made two takes and during the third one I slipped, fell down and broke my arm. Of course I had to go to hospital. The filming of the scenes with my character had to be postponed for a while. I was really sad about spending so much time in hospital. But my friends and fans didn’t give me the chance to feel sad. They came to see me veryday in large groups. Everyone came: people I knew, people I didn’t know. When I was asked to go to the examination room I wasn’t sure why: to do the bandaging or to give another authograph.

- Artem, can a young actor get a star fever after getting such attention?

- Some may get it, but not me. I realize quite clearly that this is the actor’s fate: today everyone knows and loves you and tomorrow they might not even remember who you are – there will be someone else, a new hero, a new character. It’s quite normal. I know what “temporary fame” is so I’m quite calm about it. I’ve got a profile in “Vkontakte”, I write an online diary – that’s how I stay in touch with my fans. I try not to neglect any letters. Even if I don’t reply I’ll still heed the viewers’ opinion. It is they, the viewers, who suggest a lot of ideas for the script (I mean the script of “Ranetki”). And the writers often take these suggestions into account if they are truly interesting.

- If you didn’t become an actor who would you be?

- When I was in school I received an IT-specialist and programmer’s certificate. I am still interested in computer technologies. The skills I got at those courses help me a lot today. I post photos and videos on various online resources, I’ve got my own website. It’s very handy. When I was studying at the Boris Shchukin University I developed and edited the University’s website. I also have experience in working with outdoor advertising. I created a full design for an advertising campaign for the “Shchuka’s children” recital that starred celebrities like Leonid Yarmolnik, Pavel Lyubimtsev, Aleksander Filippenko, Viktor Schenderovich, Veniamin Smekhov. I think if I hadn’t become an actor I would’ve worked in advertising. Or I would’ve become a radio or television host. There are a lot of options. But I am an actor and I’m proud of it!

- We offered Artem to do a test drive of any car from the “Marten” showrooms. He shared his impressions with us:

- I love cars and I’ve been driving for two years. I’ve got a car now, which I bought right after I got my license. I’m planning to replace it in the near future so I’m happily examining a lot of brads these days. In the “Marten” showroom I picked “Nissan Teana” for the test drive. “Teana” looks simple, but it still draws attention. Especially when you turn on the headlights the car transforms and starts looking more interesting. You can see its grace – the car is quite big. The big size and the turn radius take some getting used to, but driving such a big car isn’t that hard – the wheel and the pedals are very light. It’s important for me, I don’t like heavy wheels. When I was test driving this car I got used to it pretty quickly. The cabin is spacious and comfy. The rear view camera especially stands out to me, it allows you not to turn your head when you park, you can just look at the screen of the on-board computer. Even the distance to the border is reflected there. All in all the car is comfortable and solid.