Evstigneev, Denis Evgenievich

Childhood and family

Denis Evstigneev was born on October 29, 1961 into an acting family. The boy spent his childhood and youth in Moscow. Denis’s dad is actor Evgeny Evstigneev, known for his roles in the films “Heart of a Dog,” “Midshipmen,” and “For Family Reasons.” Mom is a successful theater director - Galina Volchek. The parents separated when the boy was not even five years old. In 1968, Denis had a sister, Masha, she was his father’s daughter from his second marriage. The boy was raised by Galina Volchek and her second husband Mark Abelev.

Denis Evstigneev with his mother

As a child, my mother often took Denis with her on tours and filming. At such moments, the boy was kept company by other acting children, such as Anton Tabakov and Mikhail Efremov. In one of the interviews, Evstigneev’s son admitted that his choice of profession was greatly influenced by his grandfather. Boris Izrailevich Volchek was considered one of the founders of Soviet cinema; his outstanding achievements as a cameraman greatly impressed and inspired his grandson at a young age.

Films and television projects

Denis is a graduate of the camera department of VGIK. The young man graduated from a higher educational institution in 1983 and immediately began working in his profession. The first film, where Evstigneev participated as a cameraman, was released in 1984. In 1991, the grandson of Boris Volchek was awarded the USSR State Prize for his work in the film “Servant”. Denis Evgenievich has less than a dozen camera works to his credit, since 9 years after graduating from VGIK he decided to switch to directing.

Denis Evstigneev in his youth

Evstigneev made his debut as a director in 1994. His first production was the film “Limit”. In 1999, the film “Mom” was shot. Denis Evgenievich acted as the director and producer of this film. The film “Mama” with the participation of Nonna Mordyukova, Oleg Menshikov, Vladimir Mashkov, Evgeny Mironov was a huge success. They started talking about Evstigneev’s son as an independent creative personality, and not as a child of star parents.

The cast of the film "Mom"

In 2001, another directorial work by Denis Evgenievich was released, after which he completely concentrated his energies on producing. Series filmed with the participation of the younger Evstigneev: “Kuprin”, “Mosgaz”, “Jackal”, “Marry Pushkin”, “Guys of Steel”. Denis Evgenievich’s filmography is extensive; over the years of his work as a cameraman, director and producer, he took part in the production of several dozen films.

Filmography

Camera work

1. 1984 - Tales of the Old Wizard
2. 1986 - Fellow Traveler
3. 1988 - Servant
4. 1988 - Autumn, Chertanovo
5. 1990 - Taxi Blues
6. 1990 - Bursa
7. 1991 — Armavir
8. 1991 — Comrade Stalin’s journey to Africa
9. 1992 - Luna Park

Director's works

1. 1994 - Limit
2. 1999 - Mom
3. 2001 - Let's make love

Produced films

1. 1999 - Mom
2. 2001 - Let's make love
3. 2004 - Moscow. Central District 2 (TV series)
4. 2004 - Boys of Steel (TV series)
5. 2004 - A Place in the Sun (TV series)
6. 2005 - Full speed ahead! (series)
7. 2005 - Vocal parallels
8. 2011 - A short course in a happy life (TV series)
9. 2012 — Mosgaz (TV series)
10. 2014 - Kuprin (TV series)
11. 2014 — Executioner (TV series)
12. 2015 — Spider (TV series)

"Russian project"

From 1995 to 1997, the ORT TV channel showed videos of the first social advertising in Russia. The series of issues was called the “Russian Project” and became the source of a lot of catchphrases that went among the people.

Famous Soviet and Russian actors were invited to participate in the videos: Oleg Efremov, Lev Durov, Alexander Zbruev, Nikita Mikhalkov, Evgeny Sidikhin, Oleg Tabakov, Nina Usatova and others. Denis Evstigneev was invited to work as a cameraman for the Russian Project.

"Mother"

The director invited the same actors to play the main roles in this film. In addition, O. Menshikov, A. Kravchenko, A. Panin and others played in the film. The plot of the film is based on the history of the notorious Ovechkin family. It was not difficult for the young director to find an actress to play the role of the mother. Or rather, this was determined before work on the script began. Nonna Mordyukova, according to Evstigneev, even took part in the search for money for the film.

The plot of the film had little in common with the real story of the Ovechkins. The film by Denis Evstigneev reveals the tragic fate of a woman who, despite everything, finds the strength to live on. The heroine of Mordyukova is a real image of a Russian mother. In reality, members of the Ovechkin family are criminals. And the mother is the organizer of a terrorist act. Nevertheless, both viewers and critics left many rave reviews about the film. And the success of the film “Mom” lies not only in the participation of famous actors, but also in the talented director’s work.

Personal life

Denis Evstigneev married for the first time in his youth. His chosen one was a girl named Tatyana Tsyplakova, they lived together for seven years. During this period of his life, Evstigneev worked as a cameraman and spent a lot of time filming. The wife, whose photo Denis took with him on business trips during the first years of his marriage, found out about his affair with another woman and problems began in the family.

Denis Evstigneev with his first wife Tatyana Tsyplakova

In an interview with the magazine “Caravan of Stories,” Tatyana said that the homewrecker constantly called her lover at home and even met with Evgeny Evstigneev, introducing herself as her son’s fiancée. Denis might not come to spend the night; his wife found a photo of another woman in his things. At some point, Tatyana packed her things and left. Evstigneev and Tsyplakova shared an apartment with Galina Volchek throughout the years of their marriage. Denis’s mother became a close person to Tatyana and remained so even after the divorce.

Denis Evstigneev with his second wife Ekaterina

For the second time, Evstigneev married the adopted daughter of Zinovy ​​Gerdt. In this marriage, Denis had a stepson - Orest Fokin. Katya Gerdt gave birth to a son from her first husband Valery Fokin in 1978. Orestes and his children live separately, visiting Evstigneev and his wife on holidays. Fokin did not follow in his family’s footsteps, but connected his life with jurisprudence.

An excerpt characterizing Evstigneev, Denis Evgenievich

After his meeting in Moscow with Pierre, Prince Andrey left for St. Petersburg on business, as he told his relatives, but, in essence, in order to meet there Prince Anatoly Kuragin, whom he considered necessary to meet. Kuragin, whom he inquired about when he arrived in St. Petersburg, was no longer there. Pierre let his brother-in-law know that Prince Andrei was coming to pick him up. Anatol Kuragin immediately received an appointment from the Minister of War and left for the Moldavian Army. At the same time, in St. Petersburg, Prince Andrei met Kutuzov, his former general, always disposed towards him, and Kutuzov invited him to go with him to the Moldavian Army, where the old general was appointed commander-in-chief. Prince Andrei, having received the appointment to be at the headquarters of the main apartment, left for Turkey. Prince Andrei considered it inconvenient to write to Kuragin and summon him. Without giving a new reason for the duel, Prince Andrei considered the challenge on his part to be compromising Countess Rostov, and therefore he sought a personal meeting with Kuragin, in which he intended to find a new reason for the duel. But in the Turkish army he also failed to meet Kuragin, who soon after the arrival of Prince Andrei in the Turkish army returned to Russia. In a new country and in new living conditions, life became easier for Prince Andrei. After the betrayal of his bride, which struck him the more diligently the more diligently he hid the effect it had on him from everyone, the living conditions in which he was happy were difficult for him, and even more difficult were the freedom and independence that he had so valued before. Not only did he not think those previous thoughts that first came to him while looking at the sky on the Field of Austerlitz, which he loved to develop with Pierre and which filled his solitude in Bogucharovo, and then in Switzerland and Rome; but he was even afraid to remember these thoughts, which revealed endless and bright horizons. He was now interested only in the most immediate, practical interests, unrelated to his previous ones, which he grabbed with the greater greed, the more closed from him the previous ones were. It was as if that endless receding vault of the sky that had previously stood above him suddenly turned into a low, definite, oppressive vault, in which everything was clear, but there was nothing eternal and mysterious. Of the activities presented to him, military service was the simplest and most familiar to him. Holding the position of general on duty at Kutuzov's headquarters, he persistently and diligently went about his business, surprising Kutuzov with his willingness to work and accuracy. Not finding Kuragin in Turkey, Prince Andrei did not consider it necessary to jump after him again to Russia; but for all that, he knew that, no matter how much time passed, he could not, having met Kuragin, despite all the contempt that he had for him, despite all the proofs that he made to himself that he should not humiliate himself to the point of confrontation with him, he knew that, having met him, he could not help but call him, just as a hungry man could not help but rush to food. And this consciousness that the insult had not yet been taken out, that the anger had not been poured out, but lay in the heart, poisoned the artificial calm that Prince Andrei had arranged for himself in Turkey in the form of preoccupied, busy and somewhat ambitious and vain activities. In 12, when news of the war with Napoleon reached Bukarest (where Kutuzov lived for two months, spending days and nights with his Wallachian), Prince Andrei asked Kutuzov to transfer to the Western Army. Kutuzov, who was already tired of Bolkonsky with his activities, which served as a reproach for his idleness, Kutuzov very willingly let him go and gave him an assignment to Barclay de Tolly. Before going to the army, which was in the Drissa camp in May, Prince Andrei stopped at Bald Mountains, which were on his very road, located three miles from the Smolensk highway. The last three years and the life of Prince Andrei there were so many upheavals, he changed his mind, experienced so much, re-saw (he traveled both west and east), that he was strangely and unexpectedly struck when entering Bald Mountains - everything was exactly the same, down to the smallest detail - exactly the same course of life. As if he were entering an enchanted, sleeping castle, he drove into the alley and into the stone gates of the Lysogorsk house. The same sedateness, the same cleanliness, the same silence were in this house, the same furniture, the same walls, the same sounds, the same smell and the same timid faces, only somewhat older. Princess Marya was still the same timid, ugly, aging girl, in fear and eternal moral suffering, living the best years of her life without benefit or joy. Bourienne was the same flirtatious girl, joyfully enjoying every minute of her life and filled with the most joyful hopes for herself, pleased with herself. She only became more confident, as it seemed to Prince Andrei. The teacher Desalles brought from Switzerland was dressed in a frock coat of Russian cut, distorting the language, spoke Russian with the servants, but he was still the same limitedly intelligent, educated, virtuous and pedantic teacher. The old prince changed physically only in that the lack of one tooth became noticeable on the side of his mouth; morally he was still the same as before, only with even greater embitterment and distrust of the reality of what was happening in the world. Only Nikolushka grew up, changed, became flushed, acquired curly dark hair and, without knowing it, laughing and having fun, raised the upper lip of his pretty mouth in the same way as the deceased little princess raised it. He alone did not obey the law of immutability in this enchanted, sleeping castle. But although in appearance everything remained the same, the internal relations of all these persons had changed since Prince Andrei had not seen them. The members of the family were divided into two camps, alien and hostile to each other, which now converged only in his presence - for him, changing their usual way of life. To one belonged the old prince, m lle Bourienne and the architect, to the other - Princess Marya, Desalles, Nikolushka and all the nannies and mothers.