Born in Kazan, Russia, film producer Evgeny Afineevsky came to America several years ago with a vision to open new horizons. As an established Hollywood filmmaker, Evgeny frequently works with legendary celebrities. 

- Evgeny, when did you come to America?

- I first came to the United States in 1996. At that time I was just looking around. It was not until 1999 that I decided to come here to conquer Hollywood.

- How difficult is it to be a Russian in the movie industry?

- It appears to me that it is difficult to be a Russian in Hollywood because – although Hollywood was started by Russians – the motion picture industry is a family that does not allow anyone from the outside to penetrate it easily.

- How did your ascent to the Olympus of Hollywood proceed?

- In 1999, Menahem Golan and I arrived here and founded a production company FilmWorlds that was later renamed into New Cannon. We intended to resurrect the legendary Canon company that in its own time in the 1980’s was simply phenomenal. Later, I came to realize that attempts to rekindle past glory will not yield much success. Something new had to be created. This desire to create novelty gave me the inspiration to rename the company once again to New Generation and to be the new generation of Hollywood, to be something extraordinary. In principle, today, Hollywood is built on young people, on something fresh and unusual, on something that goes against the current, on something that forces people to look at themselves. Everyone has gotten used to a pre-defined lifestyle. Whenever something is done in a new way, people notice. In my opinion, young people, with their ideas and visions have good potential.

- To reach triumphant heights in the movie industry is it sufficient to have a single successful project, or is it necessary to advance gradually through many years of hard work?

- It is not impossible to open all doors and to climb up Mount Olympus with a single project. This scenario, however, does not guarantee that it will be possible to remain at the same height you’ve once reached. It is crucial to be able to hold yourself in place and to continue with the upward motion. If you were to make a single project and then falter, people would forget you quickly. One must always keep up with the level he attained. It is necessary to give notice about yourself through new ideas. On the other hand, one can climb Everest with slow and gradual moves. Everyone is free to choose the proper path for himself. What one should keep in mind is that the object is not to rise quickly and then rapidly fall down. The goal is to establish yourself as firmly as possible with every successive step.

- You have chosen the latter path for yourself?

- I have produced a number of films in recent years: Crime and Punishment, Death Game, and the Return from India.

- The fortunes of social mobility in Hollywood are obviously good. One can come here as nobody and rise to fame and glory. Of course, it is not possible to attain greatness immediately. It is necessary to pass through some middle level first. In the history of Hollywood, however, there are numerous examples when people, who already reached the middle level, received notoriety for their mediocrity and never made it big…   

- This is all true. Although gradual ascent is a rather predictable path, one’s initial appearance on the Olympus of Hollywood has to be dazzling. This first breakthrough must be exemplary. If you make an average-grade film, bad reputation will stick to you for a very long time. Even if you create something brilliant in the future, people will still consider you a B producer. Hollywood is very vindictive. In a different case, if you show all your mastery from the outset, you will still be regarded as a top professional even if you make a mistake later on.

- Evgeny, you are a producer. To what extent does the success of a motion picture depend on the work of a producer? Whose labor is most valuable – that of the actors and the directors, or that of the producer?

- I believe that everything is in the hands of the producer from the very start. It is he that guides the project from the very conception of an idea to the film’s final screening. The basic premise is that the producer is interested that his film be as good as it can be. He exerts all his forces to attract the best talent and the best specialists. The producer brings the marketing strategy. In essence, the film is the child of the producer.

Certainly, the production of a film does require coordinated collective work. However, with the exception of the producer, no one stays the course from the very start to the end.

- Making films requires unimaginable strength and constant work. There is almost no free time. Such work does not exhaust you?

- Making films is not my work. It is my world. It is constant communication. I am not able to rest. I cannot sit still. I am a man-machine that must always remain in some creative motion. I need to feel life and movement around myself. Without feeling motion, I do not feel life, I start to lack oxygen. In my understanding, one must always bring good to the people in this world. If one is to do nothing, then why live at all? We will have plenty of time to enjoy our rest in the next life.

People who are not doing anything find within themselves illnesses and problems.

- With what Hollywood stars do you work in your projects?

- My current film will star Lainie Kazan, Liza Minelli, Robert Line, and Joe Bologna. Rene Traylor and Bruce Vilanch will also be working with us. We are currently talking to Jack Nicholson about his participation. Other celebrities include Ellen Degeneres. There are many young stars. For one of the roles we have selected a participant of a popular reality television show Fight for the Fame. This selection will be very important for our project.

- Let us discuss your new project. The title of the film – Oy Vey, My Son is Gay – is, to put it soft, a shocking one…

- Apart from being shocking, it is intriguing. The intrigue inherent in the title will attract many people to look at what it is. The film is most certainly not of a gay comedy genre. The film is about the reality, which now surrounds us, about what exists in our very lives. Every person has his own views on the topic. We try to share the comic experience of our characters in handling the new reality. We show how they, having been acquainted with the new world, attempt to change themselves and establish a link between their worldviews and what it is that they had just discovered.

- Will this film be your first comedy? Why did you decide to make a comedy at all?

- This is, indeed, my debut in the comedy genre. If one looks at what is going on today – the problems of economics, the threats of terrorism – it will be clear that the world is in tension. Once in a while, there is a wish to relax. A good comedy certainly has the power to help us loosen up. Without much effort we can begin to laugh. We can look at the life that is all around us from a distance and to enjoy the experience.

- Are you confident about the success of your enterprise?

- I am most definitely. If there were any doubts, I would not even have started. I think that no matter what one does, he needs to believe in his cause. Whether it is big or small, it is important to believe – to be not simply one hundred percent, but one thousand percent certain.