Director Sarik Andreasyan: biography, photo and filmography

Biography

Sarik Andreasyan was born in 1984 in Yerevan. After 4 years, together with his parents Garnik Saribekovich and Erazik Vladimirovna and two brothers, he moved to the Kazakh city of Kostanay. In 2001, Sarik graduated from a gymnasium with a humanitarian focus named after Gorky. Immediately after this, the young man entered the journalism department of the local State University. During his student years, Sarik played in KVN and acquired connections that were useful to him in his future work. After graduating from university, Andreasyan moved to Moscow. In the capital, he entered the Yuri Grymov Workshop, receiving a specialty in film director upon graduation.

Sarik Andreasyan's childhood and family

Sarik Andreasyan was born on August 24, 1984 in the capital of Armenia - Yerevan. However, our today's hero lived in his historical homeland for a relatively short time. Already in 1988, he, along with his parents and two brothers, moved to the Kazakh city of Kostanay. Here, among the endless Asian steppes, in fact, he spent his entire childhood.

Sarik Andreasyan first became a KVN star

In Kazakhstan, Sarik graduated from a specialized gymnasium with in-depth study of the humanities. After this, our today’s hero submitted documents to Kostanay State University, where he began to study the features of journalism.

Carier start

In the early years of his directorial career, Sarik began to specialize in filming music videos and advertising.

In 2006, Andreasyan was invited to direct the low-budget thriller “45 Centimeters” based on his own script. However, this project was soon stopped due to lack of sufficient funding. A year later, work resumed, but was then curtailed again. Later, Sarik was once again invited to finish the painting, but he refused.

In 2008, Andreasyan again gets the opportunity to create a picture according to his own script. Soon the comedy “Mugs” will be released, in which Evgeny Nikishin, Nadezhda Ruchka, Mikhail Politseymako, Dmitry Nagiyev and others were involved. The film was warmly received by the audience and brought in almost 5 million US dollars with a budget of one million.

In September 2009, Sarik Andreasyan was invited as a director and screenwriter, and already in May of next year, filming of the film “Office Romance. Nowadays". The film was a great success, grossing $15,000,000 at the box office.

New success of Sarik Andreasyan's films

Here, the first project of the Armenian director was the comedy “Office Romance.
Our Time", which, like his previous film, was created with the participation of many former KVN members. So, in particular, the roles in the film were performed by Vladimir Zelensky, Pavel Volya, Dmitry Khrustalev. In addition, the cast also included some other stars of Russian and Ukrainian cinema. Sarik Andreasyan presents the film. The star cast, a competent advertising campaign, as well as the analogy with the original Soviet film ultimately brought the film a huge success. The film grossed $15 million and became the highest-grossing project in its history. At this moment, Sarik Andreasyan became a full-fledged star of Russian cinema. As an established and successful director, he began working on several new projects. As a result, in the next three years his new projects appeared on the screens - the comedies “Pregnant”, “That Carloson”, “Happy New Year Mom”. Our today's hero worked on each of these films as a director, screenwriter and producer. In addition, in one capacity or another, Sarik Andreasyan also worked on many other famous comedies (“The Understudy,” “Nannies,” “A Man with a Guarantee”).

Work at the film company Enjoy Movies

In the fall of 2010, Sarik Andreasyan, together with producer G. Malkov and his brother Ghevond, founded the film company Enjoy Movies. From that time on, he began to act in 3 roles at once: director, scriptwriter and producer. The first project of the new film company was the superhit film “Pregnant” in terms of success at the Russian box office. The film collected $8.2 million at the box office, but was crushed by domestic film critics. They rightly considered this work by Andreasyan to be a plagiarism of the comedy by A. Rai, noting the excellent work of Dmitry Dyuzhev, who played the main role.

Career

After studying, he took up writing scripts (in 2005-2006 he was the author of dialogues for the series “Don’t Be Born Beautiful” [5]) and in 2006 got the opportunity to direct the low-budget thriller “45 Centimeters” based on his own script, but the project was stopped during the filming process from -lack of funding[6]. The following year, filming resumed, but was soon canceled again for the same reason. Later he was invited to finish the film, but refused. [ source not specified 136 days

]

In 2007, he was the author of the idea and director of the humorous program “Bla-Bla Show” on the REN TV channel[7][2], and directed a music video for the aspiring artist DJ Elizabeth “Just Let Me Go”[8]. A year later, in Nizhny Novgorod, he filmed the pilot episodes of the series “Bitter Non-Standard” with the participation of Nikolai Naumov and other actors of the “Blah-Blah Show”[5], but the project never aired.

In 2008, he directed the comedy “BUDS” based on a script he wrote with his screenwriting team. Thanks to his experience working on television, Andreasyan brought together famous comedians and former KVN players in the film. The film was released in August 2009 and earned about $5 million at the box office against a budget of $1 million[9], having paid for itself many times over at the box office[10].

Also in 2008, Andreasyan wrote the script for Konstantin Kryukov’s directorial debut entitled “Spring Pepper” (produced by Art Pictures Studio),[11] but filming was suspended[12] due to Kryukov’s divorce from Evgenia Varshavskaya, the daughter of the film’s investor and entrepreneur and State Duma deputy from United Russia Vadim Varshavsky[13][14].

In September 2009, Andreasyan was invited to act as director and screenwriter, after which development began on the film “Office Romance. Our Time", which was released in 2011. The film received mostly negative reviews in the press[15], including negative reviews from major Russian media (Art of Cinema[16], Kommersant[17], Afisha Mail.ru[18], Novye Izvestia[19 ]).

In September 2010, together with producer Georgy Malkov and brother Gevond Andreasyan, he left Leopolis and founded the film company Enjoy Movies[20], after which Andreasyan became not only a director and screenwriter of his films, but also a producer. The first project was the box office successful film “Pregnant,” which was also directed by Andreasyan himself[20]. The film, having grossed $8.2 million, received mostly devastating reviews from film critics[21], who considered it a plagiarism of Ivan Rye's 1994 film[22].

In his own film company, Andreasyan directed and produced 15 films in the period 2010-2013, including “Moms” (2012), “Happy New Year, Moms!” (2012), “That Carloson” (2012), “What do men do!” (2013), "Pregnant" (2011). In 2012, in two years Kino became the most successful film company in Russia according to Film Pro. Business"[23].

The film "Moms", consisting of several short stories by different directors, was highly praised by critics[24], the sequel, "Happy New Year, Moms!", received mostly high ratings[25].

“That Carloson”[26] received devastating reviews, as did the film “What Men Do!”[27] which was released in February 2013.

In April 2013, Enjoy Movies producers Andreasyan, Georgy Malkov and Ghevond Andreasyan, Renovatio Entertainment producer Vladimir Polyakov, as well as Hollywood producers Hayden and Tove Christensen organized the company Glacier Films, whose plans included shooting at least ten films aimed at worldwide distribution[28 ].

In the summer of 2013, Andreasyan directed the first international project of Glacier Films - the crime drama "American Heist" starring Adrien Brody, Hayden Christensen, Jordana Brewster and rapper Akon. Filming took place in New Orleans[29]. The first screening of the film took place at the Toronto Film Festival. The film was shown as part of the Special presentation competition program[30]. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics: its rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes is 14%[31], Metacritic gives the film 23 points out of 100[32].

In the fall of 2013, Glacier Films' first international production project, the zombie horror Cooties starring Elijah Wood, was filmed in Los Angeles[33]. In the winter of 2013-2014, filming took place in Romania for the second international production project of Glacier Films, as well as the producer of “Paranormal Activity” and “Insidious” Steven Schneider - the historical mystical thriller Bathory / Lady of Csejte. The main role in the film was played by actress Svetlana Khodchenkova. The director of the film was Andrei Konst[34].

From December 2013 to March 2014, four films by Enjoy Movies and Renovatio Entertainment “Luck Island”, “Friends of Friends”, “Champions”, “Easy to Know” were released. In the winter of 2014, Andreasyan began filming the second part of “What Men Do!” In May 2014, he began filming the fantastic action film “Mafia”, the plot of which is based on the card game of the same name[35].

According to research from the Filmz.ru website, in 2020 Enjoy Movies became the most profitable company in the Russian film market[36].

On January 22, the crime drama “American Heist” was released. After the film's release in the United States, information appeared on a number of Internet portals about the film's anti-record box office[37]. Sarik Andreasyan explained this by saying that the film was shown in ten cinemas without any advertising campaign[38].

In the fall of 2020, the filming of the film “Earthquake” took place. The Russian-Armenian film was nominated for an Oscar from Armenia, but was rejected due to the prevailing Russian contribution to the production of the film[39]. Despite this, Earthquake was the only film to receive positive reviews from critics,[40][41][42][43][44] as the other films received mostly negative reviews.

In the spring-summer of 2020, filming of the film about Soviet superheroes “Defenders” took place. The film received almost exclusively negative reviews in the Russian press.[45] It was destroyed by the authors of such publications as “Afisha”[46], “Meduza”[47], “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”[48], “World of Fantasy”[49] and many others. According to Criticism, a website that aggregates critical film reviews, as of February 27, 2020, The Defenders was the fourth worst film on record.[50]

In July 2020, the Enjoy Movies studio announced its intention to declare bankruptcy[51][52][53], but in August it withdrew its bankruptcy petition[54][55].

Despite problems with the Enjoy Movies studio, the Andreasyan brothers founded a new studio called Big Cinema[56]. Within the framework of this studio, Sarik Andreasyan made two films - “Love in the City of Angels” and “Unforgiven”. Both films were the only ones to receive average reviews.[57]

On September 7, 2020, Andreasyan divorced his wife after seven years of marriage[58].

In 2020, he directed the comedy “Girls Are Different”[59], during the filming stage it was known as “Holidays in Skirts”[60]. On February 23, 2019, footage for Andreasyan’s new film “Robo”[61] appeared online. On April 4, 2020, Andreasyan announced that he would film another drama with the participation of Dmitry Nagiyev called “Motherland”[62].

Filmography from 2012 to 2013

In just three years, director Sarik Andreasyan created and produced 14 films. These include family comedies:

"Moms";
“The same Carloson”;
"What are men doing!"
“Happy New Year, moms!” and etc.

All of them were a huge financial success and attracted full houses. Thanks to their appearance on screens, the film company Enjoy Movies became the most commercially successful in Russia in just 2 years.

In addition, in 2013, just 4 years after the start of his creative activity, Sarik Andreasyan entered the top 10 most successful producers in the Russian Federation according to the famous magazine “Film Business”, and also took 3rd place as the highest-grossing directors in our country according to Variety Russia. .

COPY-PASTE PRINCIPLE

For the first time, the name of Sarik Andreasyan sounded loudly when his second film, the comedy “Pregnant” (2011), was released, followed immediately, back-to-back, in the same year by the release of “Office Romance. Nowadays". The reviewers were angry not at the rude and unfunny jokes on which both films were based, but at the blatant exploitation of someone else's material. Moreover, if “Office Romance” organically fit into the new course towards remakes of Soviet classics (at that time the highest-grossing Russian film after the USSR was “The Irony of Fate. Continuation” by Timur Bekmambetov), then “Pregnant” seemed like an unauthorized remake of the Hollywood hit - “Junior” by Ivan Reitman with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also talked about the adventures of a pregnant man.

It’s enough to look at the Internet forums where Andreasyan’s haters have entrenched themselves to discover: so far the main direction of accusations against the director is his demonstrative and, in the opinion of the majority, outrageous secondary character. He borrows ideas, plots, characters, techniques, specific scenes. His debut, "BUDS: Episode One" (2009), copied the model of "Dumb and Dumber" - a politically incorrect and deliberately idiotic comedy about the adventures of idiots in the big city. “Pregnant” speculated on Schwarzenegger, “Office Romance. Our time" - on Eldar Ryazanov, "That's Karloson!" (2012) - based on a Soviet cartoon and book by Astrid Lindgren: deliberately misspelling the character's name in the title is a simple way to avoid disputes over copyright. Almanacs “Moms”, “Happy New Year, Moms!” (both 2012) and “Moms 3”, filmed without Andreasyan’s participation, are an attempt to borrow the strategy of the annual holiday “Christmas Trees”. "What are men doing!" and “What are men doing! 2” is an obvious copy-paste from the successful comedy “Quartet I” “What Men Talk About.” Filmed in the States, “American Heist” again, both in title and plot, refers to dozens of similar films. "Mafia. A Game of Survival" is both a response to ubiquitous filmed games and toys, from Transformers to Angry Birds, and an analogue to dystopian survival films like The Maze Runner or The Hunger Games. “Earthquake” is an imitation of many disaster films (however, the unique event basis this time saved the director from direct accusations of plagiarism). “Defenders” is the domestic analogue of Marvel’s “Avengers”.

What is confusing is not the constant speculation on other people’s material, which is quite normal and commonplace for modern mass culture, but Andreasyan’s principled position. He consistently and aggressively acts as not a modest executor of a producer’s order, but a creator whose will is a conscious strategy of constant and widespread borrowing. He is his own producer and customer, most often his own screenwriter. That is, by all indicators, Andreasyan is a real author. But his position is fundamentally anti-author; No wonder he so often attacks festival cinema. The craving for plagiarism does not come from a lack of self-confidence, but from its excess, which is instantly revealed in every public statement. He sincerely believes that he can shoot better than the original. And if it’s not better, it’s at least not worse.

Andreasyan’s directorial psychology was formed in the era of rampant piracy, when the concept of “copyright” had no meaning. You can call this medieval thinking (without a shadow of condemnation). The material for art, themes, characters, pathos and even pictorial techniques are common, the same for everyone, and belong to each artist, since, ultimately, they belong to the public. And she already laughed once at a comedy about a pregnant man - why not give her this pleasure a second time? Moreover, Andreasyan is not content with retelling someone else’s story. He instantly appropriates it, in the tradition of children's creativity or naive painting. Or even improves, like the infamous Spanish pensioner, an ancient fresco: for example, she adds a commercial-criminal ending to “Office Romance” (it turns out that the story is not about love, but about a competing company that decided to screw Kalugin). He invents a whole universe of “Carlosons”, coming up with a name for them – “metrics” – and placing them in heaven. It adds patriotic-statist pathos to the plot about a group of superheroes. And so on.

In its attempts to imitate Hollywood, Russian cinema often resorts to the “Hottabych’s golden watch” effect. In the book of Lazar Lagin, the genie gave the pioneer Volka a watch made of pure cast gold; there was no mechanism inside. Andreasyan's cinematography is the literal embodiment of this method, right down to the details. “Junior” describes a fantastic but detailed mechanism for impregnating a man so that he is able to bear and give birth to a child. The hero of “Pregnant” simply made a wish, looking at a shooting star, and suddenly became pregnant. How and why is not specified: details in cinema are superfluous, Andreasyan is sure. Looking for verisimilitude? You just don’t believe in miracles!

Or take the Defenders team. Man-Bear, whose machine gun is connected to the central nervous system; the earth-man, whose whip is made of stones; a water woman who becomes invisible, and with the help of a super suit makes everything she touches invisible; a man-wind who knows how to masterfully handle bladed weapons. For what purpose were they taught these particular skills in the experimental laboratories? Why was it never used? Probably, Andreasyan and his screenwriter Andrei Gavrilov sincerely believe that American comics are structured in a similar way: they add magical abilities to a person, and then let them fight their enemies. And defeat them, of course. Andreasyan simply ignores the complex backstories of the heroes of “The Avengers” or “Justice League”, implicated in mythology and psychology; he does not know about them or does not want to know. Cinema is a miracle. Stop delving into the miracle.

It’s the same story even with Karl(o)son. That is, Lindgren’s nature is also mysterious, but there is at least an explanation for his ability to fly: a propeller on his back. Even the angels, to whom the heavenly metrics that protect children are so similar, had wings. How and why the nameless hero played by Mikhail Galustyan flies is unknown. Miracle, again miracle. By the way, the belief in miracles that Andreasyan demands from his viewer is an important part of the national character. It can be assumed that she is one of the reasons why the public forgives the scripts of Andreasyan’s films for all their obvious flaws.

The main factor designed to give a sense of wonder is music. In this area, Andreasyan behaves like an even more confident expropriator. The most painful thing to hear is the melodies of Andrei Petrov in the remake of “Office Romance”, which are solely called upon to be responsible for the authenticity of the film, for its fidelity to the original, as well as for the atmosphere. The contrast of cozy musical themes familiar from childhood with the interiors of Turkish hotels and Moscow offices requires you to immediately close your eyes - or cover your ears - just to eliminate the feeling of total inappropriateness. In his selection of songs, Andreasyan acts with the panache of a teenager putting together a set list for a school disco: Oh, Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison and I Want to Break Free Queen in Pregnant, After Dark Tito & Tarantula and You're Beautiful by James Blunt in Office Romance ", the entire repertoire of Joe Dassin in "Moms" and the touching "Where does childhood go" in "That's Karloson!" (here the primary school teacher seemed to intervene). The grotesque trail of associations around each of the hits, long erased from frequent use, does not confuse the director, but seems to him an advantage.

Hottabych’s principle works especially effectively in the lackluster “American Job,” which even one wouldn’t dare call outrageous: a typical film, of which there are thousands. Every American review (the film did participate in the Toronto festival, and the professional press saw it) sounds of bewilderment. Why did the Russian director take on such a picture? What did he even want to say with a set of familiar clichés? Two brothers, one righteous, the other sinful; a robbery that leads both down a slippery slope; the preparation of the attack at the beginning and the climactic chase-battle at the end... None of the reviewers seemed to be able to get the point. For Andreasyan, this film was not an attempt to say anything at all. "American Heist" became a conceptual gesture. A way to prove that anyone can make a standard Hollywood film, really. And to demonstrate that there is no creativity in the American film industry, it’s just mechanics. You take a star or several (Adrien Brody was joined by Hayden Christensen, who plays the young Darth Vader and a Golden Raspberry favorite), mix cliches and well-known plot structures - and the film is ready. That's all the “why”.

By the way, about the actors. Apparently, at the beginning of his career, Andreasyan had only a vague idea of their purpose in cinema. Therefore, in “BURDS” the main roles are played by Kaveen players Sergei Pisarenko, Evgeniy Nikishin and Andrew Njogu; The bad acting noted by everyone is the director’s lack of understanding of the differences between student stand-up sketches and cinema. Andreasyan knows from the very beginning about the saving power of stars, but does not distinguish between star artists and pop stars. He is the first to bet on the acting abilities of the former lead singer of “Brilliant” Nadezhda Ruchka (in “BUDS”) and the former singer of “VIA Gra” Anna Sedokova (in “Pregnant”), and he is not at all embarrassed by the result: the girls are beautiful, and this The main thing. Only gradually self-actors of a higher class begin to appear in his films, fundamentally raising the quality of the spectacle: Oleg Tabakov in “That's Carlosone!”, Egor Beroev in “Moms”, Svetlana Khodchenkova in “Office Romance”, Veniamin Smekhov in “Mafia” and Konstantin Lavronenko in "Earthquake". However, judging by the duology “What Men Do!” and “The Defenders,” Andreasyan is still convinced: some genres, in principle, do not need professional acting.

A sarcastic commentator would add: “Not only the acting, but also professional makeup, special effects, costumes, cinematography and editing.” Indeed, one can endlessly explore the blunders in Andreasyan’s films. But it’s much more interesting to try to understand why the structure continues to hold up, the director continues to film, and the audience continues to watch?

It seems that Andreasyan's audience seems to see his films as a worthy, if not a response, then a trolling of Hollywood, an effective refutation of the thesis about the importance of talent and originality for success in cinema. Enjoy Movies products prove that the fake works just like the original. But it is dear, domestic (the Andreasyan brothers also play on patriotic feelings with considerable joy). In the eyes of many, these films are not good in themselves, but they indirectly make it clear that others are no better. Not cinema, but a distorting mirror.

Glacier Films

In 2013, the brothers Andreasyan, G. Malkov, and V. Polyakov teamed up with famous Hollywood producers Hayden and Tove Christensen and organized a new company. Glacier Films, which they founded, immediately announced its intention to produce at least 10 films for worldwide distribution.

In the summer of 2013, director Sarik Andreasyan, whose films are very popular among Russian audiences, shot the drama “American Heist.” Adrien Brody, Hayden Christensen, Jordana Brewster and rapper Akon were invited to star in this first Glacier Films project. Filming took place in New Orleans. The debut screening of the film took place in Canada at the Toronto Film Festival.

The same year, Sarik Andreasyan directed the zombie horror film Cooties, the events of which unfold in a private school, where students have contracted a terrible virus and are desperately fighting for survival.

Later, Glacier Films produced the film Bathory/Lady of Csejte, based on the true story of Countess E. Bathory. The main role in the film was played by S. Khodchenkova. The film was directed by A. Konst.

Directing works

In 2009, Sarik Andreasyan’s debut directorial work “Mugs” was released. A comedy starring famous KVN participants and a budget of one million dollars earned as many as five in theaters, recouping several times over.

Thanks to this financial success, Andreasyan receives an offer to direct a remake of the classic Soviet comedy “Office Romance.” As a result, the film received devastating reviews from critics, but with a budget of 5 million dollars, it grossed about fifteen million dollars.

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At the same time, Sarik, with his brother Ghevond and familiar producer Georgiy Malkov, founded his own production company, Enjoy Movies. The director's first work, published under the auspices. The film largely follows the plot of the comedy “Juno,” for which it was fiercely criticized. However, box office receipts again exceeded all expectations.

Sarik Andreasyan’s most favorably received works by critics are the collections of film novels “Moms” and “Happy New Year, Moms!”, which he produced and became the author of several short stories.

After the release of the comedies "That's Carloson!" and “What Men Do,” the founders of Enjoy Movies decide to create an international production company with the goal of entering the global market. As part of this campaign, Sarik Andreasyan is directing his first English-language film, the crime action film “American Heist.” Starring Oscar winner Adrien Brody and Star Wars star Hayden Christensen. However, the film performed poorly at the box office and received devastating reviews from critics.

Sarik Andreasyan returns to Russian-language films and begins to engage in more serious cinema. Over the past few years, he has directed the fantasy thriller "Mafia", the disaster film "Earthquake" and the first Russian superhero film "The Defenders". All of them received extremely low ratings from critics and did not impress at the box office. Below is a photo of Sarik Andreasyan from the filming of the film “Earthquake”.

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The director's latest works

In 2014, Andreasyan began work on the second part of the hit movie “What Men Do!”, inviting T. Mamedov, R. Yunusov and D. Kozhom to play the main roles. Filming took place in Moscow and Los Angeles.

Other works by Sarik include “Women against Men”, “American Heist”, etc.

One of the director’s last works was the film “Defenders”. Its trailer collected about 30 million views and became the topic of many articles in the foreign press.

Sarik Andreasyan: “Hollywood killed independent cinema”

— Your debut in overseas cinema, “American Heist,” was held in the United States without much success. Do you plan to continue developing your business there after this?

— No, “The Robbery” performed well on alternative platforms, but with it we caught the moment when no one needed inexpensive men’s cinema at the box office—all cinema became women’s and family cinema. When we started filming it, films like “Hostage” or “Air Marshal” collected box office, but when we got to the box office, this layer had already gone – to television and the Internet. All movies with social overtones are now there too: from House of Cards to True Detective. In the cinema today, no one needs this: in the States, either a very expensive attraction or a very local drama in the spirit of the Sundance festival makes money. And I'm not American, I can't make an American drama like Clint Eastwood. I can’t even fully understand the Russian soul, although I’ve lived in Russia all my life, and in America I’m a total stranger. I think I should do international stories.

— Such as “Samson”, which you are going to shoot with partners from Germany and Israel?

- Yes. This is the very first story of a superhero - a man who was empowered by God and who destroyed a pagan temple in the name of God. This is a wonderful layer for action: I don’t make anything up. And this is a very dramatic action film because there is no happy ending. In America, they are a fan of biblical stories, from the Passion of the Christ to Noah or the Exodus. Central America is very religious. And such a story as “Samson” exists in all cultures and religions. By the way, Samsung is Samson in Korean. He is also in Islam as the first suicide bomber - a man who sacrificed himself to God. That is, I fall into the interests of all audiences - in Arab countries, in Asia, in Europe, and in America.

And in Russia, such great historical films are also very popular. Even the frankly weak “Gods of Egypt” earned 700 million rubles. This is a huge box office, at the old rate it turns out to be even more than American fees. We love peplums.

— You have several projects in your work at the same time, how do you manage to keep track of them all at once?

- I think that in theory this is due to the fact that I know three languages: Russian, Armenian and English - I can freely switch my consciousness from one to another, turn on different points in my head. The only thing that saddens me is that I don’t have time. I forgot when I slept normally: if not work, then family or other responsibilities. I sleep 5 hours a day, and it’s tiring, but if I sat and waited a year and a half for the moment when filming “Samson” began, I would simply go crazy. And so I have the opportunity to do other things. We are currently writing the script for “Robots,” another big science-fiction project with Chinese producers. We wrote a couple of options, but so far it’s not the same.

— Will you be making more comedies?

— Yes, I’m filming one of the short stories in the anthology “All About Men” - our joint project with Misha Galustyan’s Fresh Film company. We want to release it in September. Comedy is something we understand. I have forty employees, they can’t sit and wait two years for the release of a big science fiction film, they have to work.

I haven’t made any comedies for the last two or three years, but when people write about me, they only remember them. This is a certain stereotype, and I don’t know how many years it will take for journalists, when mentioning me, to write in brackets not “Pregnant”, but “American Heist” and “Earthquake”.

Film “Earthquake” directed by Sarik Andreasyan

On December 7, 1988, one of the most destructive earthquakes in modern human history occurred in the Armenian USSR. Overnight, 4 cities and more than 300 settlements were destroyed almost to the ground. More than 25,000 people died under the rubble or subsequently died from their injuries. The republic did not have a single chance to cope with the disaster on its own. But the misfortune brought people together, many of whom had never heard of Spitak or Leninakan before.

Although Sarik Andreasyan was still a preschooler during the days of this tragedy that united the world, he remembered the atmosphere of grief and the universal desire to help in every way possible. Therefore, it is not surprising that, having become an adult, the director decided to make a film about those events.

Judging by the feedback from viewers, the film certainly turned out well. It became a kind of act of gratitude to all residents of the USSR and other countries who came to Armenia to save those who were dying under the ruins of houses, schools, kindergartens and industrial enterprises.

Sarik Andreasyan’s film “Earthquake” was released on December 1. He awakened in the people of the older generation memories of a great country, where the pain of another was perceived as one’s own, regardless of nationality, and made young people think about eternal values.

Career[ | ]

]

The film "Moms", consisting of several short stories by different directors, was highly praised by critics[24], the sequel, "Happy New Year, Moms!", received mostly high ratings[25].

“That Carloson”[26] received devastating reviews, as did the film “What Men Do!”[27] which was released in February 2013.

According to research from the Filmz.ru website, in 2020 Enjoy Movies became the most profitable company in the Russian film market[36].

In July 2020, the Enjoy Movies studio announced its intention to declare bankruptcy[51][52][53], but in August it withdrew its bankruptcy petition[54][55].

On September 7, 2020, Andreasyan divorced his wife after seven years of marriage[58].

Personal life of Sarik Andreasyan

The director does not like to talk about his family. It is only known that he is married to a girl who received a diploma in journalism and is only indirectly related to cinema.

Journalists managed to find out that the story of how the spouses met is similar to the script of a romantic film. Judge for yourself: several years ago, Sarik Andreasyan met a girl on one of the social networks who posted a photo of his future wife as her avatar. The communication continued for about a month, but then the deception was revealed. After some time, the young man saw the beauty from the photo and could not resist approaching the stranger. He told her about his “virtual romance” and she thought the story was funny. As a result, the young people began dating and later got married.

Now you know who Sarik Andreasyan is. The films of this director often become a target for criticism from specialists. However, many of them are among the highest grossing in the history of Russian cinema and are very popular among viewers.

Sarik Andreasyan about modern cinema

Do you want to know why SUCH a movie is being made here?

Actually, the interview itself with Sarik Andreasyan, given by him to Afisha in July 2012.

-What are you watching yourself?

- Everything except thrillers, mysticism, horror. These are genres that don’t exist for me.

— So “No Country for Old Men” and “Oil” passed you by?

“There Will Be Blood” is a great film, but I just love Daniel Day-Lewis. “No Country for Old Men” is not mine. I understand with my brain that this is talented, but I myself would not want to make such films. 90 percent of the audience who watch this film do not understand anything. It's unclear why the Coens are doing all this. Just like Tarantino. People are playing around. This is not a spectator movie. It's for critics and film buffs. I get more pleasure from The Avengers or Iron Man than from Old Men.

— At your master class, you explained the difference between Russian and Western cinema: American cinema is like a Universal amusement park, and ours is like a decrepit carousel in the yard. Do you think that cinema is necessarily an attraction?

- One hundred percent. No one takes a child to the circus to make him sad, no one goes to a cafe to ruin his mood. People go to the cinema to have fun, and it lies in the plane of humor, action, and attraction. If a person comes to a children's film, he should not expect to see Zvyagintsev’s “Elena” there.

—Have you seen “Elena”? What do you think?

— I have a good attitude towards Zvyagintsev. What he does is beautiful, professional, no questions asked. But Zvyagintsev could not have directed Pregnant. And not because he is too talented. He just doesn’t know how to do it: he needs to connect with the viewer who grew up watching MTV. This viewer is eating, in a hurry, hugging his friend. But Zvyagintsev’s viewer is completely different: he came consciously and is ready for the camera to crawl for two minutes and the actors to be silent. Zvyagintsev knows exactly his audience: what cafe he eats in, what theater he goes to, what he watches “Closed Screening” by Gordon. And my segment is general, people from 14 to 25 years old, I don’t know any other details about them.

— Are you offended that your “Carloson” is heavily criticized?

— Adults who come to my “Carloson” expect to see the Soviet one. Not getting what they want, they begin to be indignant: where is our cinema going! But it's not going anywhere. It corresponds to the current parameters. "Harry Potter" is the current children's movie. After it, I can no longer offer children the old “The Adventures of Pinocchio.” My nephews do not finish watching the Soviet Carlson. For them it is ugly, pastel, boring.

— Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” was recently released, partly also a children’s film. How do you like him?

— For me, this film is the highest degree of imbecility. I got up and left at the twentieth minute. This is an absolute arthouse, tailored for children's cinema. If the same Zvyagintsev had been given the opportunity to film “Carloson,” he would have made just such “Moonrise Kingdom.” How much did he collect from us? Five thousand dollars, ten? But American cinema has an international distribution, so Anderson is not crazy. He knows for sure that in every big city there are five thousand people who will like his film. He multiplied these five thousand by ten dollars and realized that he would collect 30 million. Accordingly, he will always be able to film his shit.

— And you don’t like “Train to Darjeeling”? This is a comedy about family, just the way you like it.

- This is not my comedy. I don’t like this kind of texture at all: movies shot in India. I'm far from it. Although he himself is an oriental person theoretically. For me, the best comedies are the early Adam Sandler films. "Big Daddy", "Happy Gilmore". And in this "Kingdom of the Moon" a fifty-year-old man in a gnome costume is trying to make me laugh, and Edward Norton is wearing shorts. What's this? In The Dictator, Norton has a small cameo when he comes out of the toilet - and we understand that someone was scratching his balls. The audience applauded at this point. This works! For me, the film is not very good, but it made money - which is the most important thing.

— But does Sacha Baron Cohen seem marginal to you as a comedian?

— Yes, Cohen and Apatow’s humor is not my thing at all. When someone shits on a woman, why should I laugh at it? This is beyond good and evil.

— At the same time, you work with Georgiy Malkov, one of the producers of the film “Hitler Kaput!” Isn't this extreme?

- Yes, I think this is a very bad film, and Georgy knows that I think so. But “Hitler is kaput!” caused a resonance. Why is he being scolded? Because this is Russian cinema. As a child, no one tensed up when watching “The Naked Gun”, and this is, in fact, the same thing - parody trash. I know a lot of people who like “Hitler kaput!” And I cannot make any claims to the viewer for having a normal rest. It’s like saying: “Why did you go to the beach to sunbathe?” People always laughed at such comedies. Let's remember "Dumb and Dumber," where a man pissed in a can and gave a policeman something to drink - in 1994, everyone was laughing.

— Let's talk about your creative method. Do you have a recipe for a killer joke?

“I just see if it’s a working joke or not.” There are good jokes, but the viewer cannot count them. And sometimes I see that the joke is primitive, but the viewer will definitely laugh; for example, I intentionally put the “Gay Mikhailovich” cake in the trailer. If I put on something more intelligent, then only me and five other people will laugh.

— Did you have any guidelines? Woody Allen maybe?

- No, because it is simple. His films are like two cents. They are a little slow and moody, but he doesn’t do anything complicated.

- There are classic techniques in rom-coms - for example, the hero in love runs in the rain. But it’s one thing when Bridget Jones is running, and another thing when Yegor Beroev in the film “Moms”, when after two minutes of acquaintance he desperately flies to kiss Ravshana Kurkova.

“It seems to me that if you do everything truthfully, then the cinema will lose its lightness, become fundamental, and will be difficult to watch. If I start telling the story for a long time, I will lose the viewer. In “The Adventures of Shurik,” by the way, Shurik also quickly kisses Lida when they come to the apartment to do homework. I explain the story this way: Yegor runs to Ravshana for the sake of his child, he understands how much a full-fledged family means to him. The novella takes ten minutes. Of course, it can be stretched out to a full meter, but I don’t have time, so my hero immediately makes a decision and kisses her. When you look at it for the first time, you give in to your emotions and don’t analyze anything. When you see it for the third time, you already think - your mother! But I clearly understand that my films are not reviewed. Someone came home in the evening, got sad and turned on “Pregnant” - this doesn’t happen. So what?

— Is it okay that you have all of Moscow drawn on your computer? It looks newer than Dubai.

- This is done consciously. Unfortunately, Moscow is not cinematic. Mostly wires and debris. This is not New York. The Muscovite knows that I am deceiving him. And a man from Chelyabinsk begins to wonder whether he should go on vacation to Moscow, and not to Dubai. This relates to the question of what kind of portrait of the country we are painting. It’s more pleasant for me to show her clean, sunset, beautiful.

- You have a private company, you don’t depend on anyone, you earn money yourself - and at the same time you make almost an image film. For what?

“We call it good, but the point is that it talks about simple truths.” That love is good. I don’t turn love inside out, I tell you primitive things - you need to live as a family. There are things that shouldn't change. I don’t emphasize this in any way, but there is an idea in my films. Simple, for a sixteen year old. Adam Sandler in “50 First Dates” says that if you meet your loved one, don’t miss this chance. "Love affair at work. Our time” is about the same thing.

— Is a family movie with a happy ending what the viewer wants now?

- Family, women's and children's clothing - these are the main trends. Gangster cinema is dead. Men's films have stopped raising money because a woman initiated the trip to the cinema, and she chooses The Devil Wears Prada. The Aviator flops, and so does Gangs of New York. In Russia, all crime films are shown on NTV as TV series. The second “Brigade” will not collect money. Everyone says “Boomer”. Six hundred thousand dollars - that’s all the “Boomer” is.

— Your heroes, unlike “Boomer,” speak a non-existent language. For example, in “Pregnant” Dyuzhev is angry with his friend like this: “You lousy lawyer!” That's what they said in translated American comedies of the nineties - but not in real life. Don't you think that the heroes of the same Germanika are much more truthful?

“I sincerely hate Germanika and everything she does.” This is the worst thing - when they try to make their country look like shit. If I had the opportunity, I would send such people to some island. I also went to school, but I didn’t have anything like that. Do you know why in Cannes and Venice they give prizes to all our goodies? All these films were shot in dirty hallways to make Russia look bad. The Hipsters will never get anything, because Russia looks good there. It is beneficial for them that everyone thinks that Russia is balalaikas, bears, marginals, Germanics, “Ovsyanki”, “Gruz 200”. All this is beyond good and evil. The Americans export their films, and they give us festival prizes so that we will always be in the lower league. If we suddenly start making The Avengers, we will take away 200 million a year from them. It’s better to give a prize to some “Oatmeal” so that we continue to think that this is how cinema should be.

- Why does Ernst give Germanika money?

— Apparently, he’s making his arthouse dreams come true. But, again, there are no ratings. Her share is ridiculous; ProjectorParisHilton has five times more. This suggests that people include things where the picture is beautiful, where the person is at least properly made up. A wonderful phrase is “millions are never wrong.” It's like saying that everyone is against Putin. Who is against Putin? All my friends in the regions voted for Putin. There are 140 million of us, 15 in Moscow, of which 5 million are Tajiks, two million Armenians without passports, and a million from Facebook are dissatisfied with something. The problem with the Garden Ring is that it tries to appear bigger and smarter than it actually is.

— I remember at the premiere of “Carloson,” Mikhail Galustyan complained that because of the “March of Millions,” buses with disabled children allegedly could not park on Novy Arbat.

“I think that these fifty thousand people, instead of walking around the center, would be better off chipping in a hundred rubles and going to boarding schools, instead of standing with signs saying “Putin, you are bad.” This is where civil society begins, and not from throwing mud at each other. We all hate each other. One screenwriter from America told me that Mexicans - Benicio del Toro, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron - even go to cafes together. And if they have a job, they call each other. And we all help each other out. Our main problem is that they don’t like our neighbor because he has a washing machine and you don’t. Evil has become petty.

— You criticize the Garden Ring, but all your films take place within its boundaries. What about the klutz, little man? Is he present in your universe?

- Only as a comedic character. A klutz can exist in cinema if it is Galustyan or the Tajik from “Our Rashi”. But if this klutz is an orphan and his leg is broken, then no longer. But, of course, we cannot forget about such people.

— That is, the viewer votes for films in which wealthy Muscovites make some kind of moral choice?

“If I brought the comedy “The Untouchables” to our distributors, where the main characters are disabled and black, they would immediately ask me: “Are you filming for grandmothers?” I go through certain filters, there are a lot of nuances. Perhaps in five years I will gain such weight that I will come out and say that I made such and such a film, and they will immediately rent it. Today I can't afford it. There will be a happy ending for now.

- So let there be a happy ending - but why do you always need giant apartments, renovations, new furniture?

- Because I want beauty. If I shoot in the apartment where, let’s say, my grandmother lives, I won’t be able to make a film about the holiday. And such a movie is unlikely to be released by the New Year or March 8th. And this is a fundamental point, because there is a tendency for viewers to go to Russian films during the holidays.

— Is it nice to feel nostalgic on March 8th and return to the Soviet Union?

- One hundred percent. By the way, I really regret that censorship, ideology, and the rental system have disappeared. After all, we had an insane film distribution system - box office receipts were higher than in America. I would be prepared for censorship. They would have told me: “Cut out a joke about Gay Mikhailovich.” Sure, not a problem!

— Do you agree to censorship in exchange for a rental guarantee?

— For an ideal rental system, for loyalty. If they told me that we would have censorship, but on March 8th me and Renat Davletyarov are coming out, and there is no “John Carter”, who will earn forty million dollars, I would say - good.

— So, like in China?

- Yes, because I can’t compete with “John Carter”: one minute of this film costs two million dollars. Give me the opportunity to compete with my own, in this competition we will become better. When the Film Fund decides to redistribute something, why aren't I or another young filmmaker involved in the discussion? Call me, I am much more aware of the current situation than you are.

- And what would you advise them?

— They would hear a lot of useful things from me. There is no need to look at me with disdain, I am not going to prove anything to anyone. It is Khutsiev who needs his film about Pushkin to be rented. I can give him marketing tips or tell him who to cast for the role of Pushkin.

- Who, by the way?

— Hugh Jackman, for example. Take a Western star and tell your great story in a way that's interesting. Take Cumberbatch. You can always figure out how to reach the viewer. Even Germanicus was able to do this. There is no need to criticize young people for being stupid. This is the easiest thing.

— The fuss around the Union of Cinematographers probably makes you laugh - when old people talk about some cultural ideals?

- Me - yes. Everything has long been destroyed. For twenty years we have had zero ideals. And where will they come from if you look out the window and there are only Coca-Cola and Starbucks? In Italy there is no one at McDonald's, an Italian does not go there, he loves his own. And here people have sold out. Both mentally and literally. Nobody loves theirs. Filmmakers talk about ideology and culture in order to receive government money on time. If Nikita Sergeevich found an investor or invested his own money and made a national film, I would say - bravo! And when they say: “Let’s organize a Union of Cinematographers and also a Cinema Fund, we’ll take it there, we’ll cut it here” - I stop believing in it.

—What about the younger generation? You seem to be outraged by the image of a VGIK freshman.

— A student with a scarf, yes. This is a person who knows nothing, but acts as if he knows everything. Classic: you walk through Mosfilm and meet friends. “So how?” “We’re making a movie now. We’ll probably send it to Venice.” After another fifteen meters: “Well, how are you?” “Now it’s cinema, then Cannes, Berlin.” They all have their heads in the clouds somewhere, but what happens in the end? “I am a creator, my camera shakes, the picture breathes.” This is self-deception.

— As a result, you have almost no competitors.

— I would be happy if someone else made films in this segment. I would know that I was competing with someone and I needed to do better. But for now everything works like this: there is Frank Sinatra and there is Dima Bilan. Not in the sense that one is bad and the other is not. Bilan packs stadiums, and you can’t say to his audience: “Oh, you stupid fifteen-year-old girls!” Those teenagers who now come to see “Pregnant” will be very ashamed in 15 years to say that they went to see this film. How ashamed I am now to say that I watched the series “Tropicana” with my mother in 1996.

https://www.afisha.ru/article/russkoe-kino-2012-andreasyan/

ANDREASYANSARIKGARNIKOVYCH

In 1988, together with his father Garnik Andreasyan, mother Erazik Bagdasaryan and two brothers, he moved to the city of Kustanay (Kazakh SSR). He played in the regional KVN league in the “Real Armenians” team, but after the television creative association “AMiK” (the copyright holder of the “KVN” brand) learned that the team was actively touring and using the “KVN” brand without legal permission, the team was was not allowed to participate in the Voting KiViN festival and lost her chances of entering the KVN television leagues. After moving to Moscow, he began to specialize in music videos and advertising.

After studying, he took up writing scripts (for example, in 2005-2006 he was the author of dialogues for the series “Don’t Be Born Beautiful”) and in 2006 he got the opportunity to direct the low-budget thriller “45 Centimeters” based on his own script, but the project was stopped during the filming process due to for lack of funding. The following year, filming resumed, but was soon canceled again for the same reason. Later he was invited to finish the film, but refused.

In 2007, he was the author of the idea and director of the humorous program “Bla-Bla Show” on the REN TV channel, and directed a music video for the aspiring artist DJ Elizabeth “Just Let Me Go”. A year later, in Nizhny Novgorod, he filmed the pilot episodes of the series “Bitter Non-Standard” with the participation of Nikolai Naumov and other actors of the “Blah-Blah Show”, but the project never aired.

In September 2009, Sarik Andreasyan was invited to serve as director and screenwriter, after which development of the film “Office Romance” began. Our Time", which was released in 2011. The film received mostly negative reviews in the press, including negative reviews from major Russian media (Art of Cinema, Kommersant, Afisha Mail.ru, Novye Izvestia).

In September 2010, together with producer Georgy Malkov and brother Gevond Andreasyan, he left Leopolis and founded the film company Enjoy Movies, after which Sarik became not only a director and screenwriter of his films, but also a producer. Their first project was the box office successful film “Pregnant,” which was also directed by Sarik himself. The film, which grossed $8.2 million, received mostly devastating reviews from film critics who considered it a plagiarism of Ivan Rye's 1994 film.

In his own film company, Andreasyan directed and produced 15 films in the period 2010-2013, including “Moms” (2012), “Happy New Year, Moms!” (2012), “That Carloson” (2012), “What do men do!” (2013), "Pregnant" (2011). In 2012, in just two years, Kino became the most successful film company in Russia according to Film Pro. Business".

In April 2013, Enjoy Movies producers Sarik Andreasyan, Georgy Malkov and Gevond Andreasyan, Renovatio Entertainment producer Vladimir Polyakov, as well as Hollywood producers Hayden and Tove Christensen formed the company Glacier Films, whose plans included shooting at least ten films aimed at worldwide distribution.

According to research from the Filmz.ru website, in 2020 Enjoy Movies became the most profitable company in the Russian film market.

In July 2020, the Enjoy Movies studio, founded by Andreasyan and which released most of his films, announced its intention to declare bankruptcy, but in August it withdrew its bankruptcy petition.
In 2001 he graduated from a gymnasium with a humanitarian focus. In 2001, he entered the Faculty of Journalism at Kostanay State University. He graduated from the Yuri Grymov Workshop with a degree in film director.