In December, the premiere of the second season of "The Last Minister" - a caustic political satire by Roman Volobuev about the employees of the fictional ministry of long-term planning, took place. In an interview, the star of the series, Sofya Lebedeva, spoke about the details of the sequel, dreams for next year and filming in a Hollywood project with Golden Globe winner Taron Edgerton. - How do you feel returning to the project for the new season? Does it feel like a cinematic family is reuniting?

- In the first season, we still got to know each other as actors, rubbed against each other and in the process somehow became close. At the end of the shooting shifts, they thought that there would be only one season: there was no talk about the announcement of the second speech at that time. Therefore, when the information came that "The Last Minister" was being extended for a second season and everything was working out according to the schedule, of course, there was general enthusiasm and joy. During the first season, we became family - yes, one might say, a family of films.

- In one of your posts on Instagram, you called the director Roman Volobuev “favorite”. And he wrote in a post dedicated to the release of the season: "I love everyone." What is the reason for such love in the team?

- I think that with the whole team of The Last Minister we look at creative issues, style issues in the same way - and absolutely everyone is in love with the characters and the script of Roman Olegovich. When you shoot with such a group and shoot in such a way that there is a large creative field, a field of improvisation, synergy occurs. The whole group had an aftertaste from the project for a long time, and I hope that we will meet with such a group again.

- What is the value of the "Last Minister" for modern society?

- To talk about society as a whole is too general. So far, not all "modern society" has seen "The Last Minister" ( laughs ).

Art does not give answers, art asks questions. The topics raised by "The Last Minister" are universal. I believe that this is a series about people, about the choice that a person makes, about reflections, about difficulties. As for the value for the audience, such things will become clear over time, from a historical perspective. Great things are seen at a distance. It will be clearer in a few years, the show has the potential to become a cult hit for its audience.

- Before the release of the second season, the media wrote that he could be censored. Weren't you afraid that the material will not come out?

- In the cinema, it is arranged like this: after the filming shifts, the actor does not in any way affect the final result, the project's exit or absenteeism or the release date. These are the rules of the game. When you finish filming, you try to let go of the story, your thoughts about the role, switch to the next film. Immediately after filming "The Last Minister" I flew away to act in two foreign projects, it was a little easier to switch.

- How long have you thought about participating in a project dedicated to politics?

- First of all, I look at the heroine and her character, at transformation and growth - I choose projects based on these criteria. The changes of my heroine Sophia Skvortsova, her disappointments, her failures, her choices and development were interesting. For me, this is still the most important thing.

- Was the season more biting than the first one?

- It's difficult to compare with the first season - a lot of time has passed. But in the new one, in my opinion, there is more humor, more references, subtext, predictions, more surprises and twists.

- How has your character changed?

- Skvortsova has a new position. She works as "Director of the Directorate of External Communications". She had even more ambition and more uncertainty, more desire for success and maybe some kind of "wildness", whatever that means. It is inconsistent, chaotic at times.

- Do you like the material you play? Do you bring something of your own to the heroine?

- I have a lot of different proposals, so I can only choose and act where I am interested. I fell in love with the script for "The Last Minister" from the first reading.

Of course I do. The acting profession is arranged in such a way that you, as an actor, look for and find in yourself a similar point of pain, like that of a character, and through the material you tell a story that strongly resonates with you as a person.

- Your name is Sophia Lebedeva, and the heroine is Sophia Skvortsova. How did it happen?

- Sonya Skvortsova appeared before I came to audition. So this is just an interesting coincidence. Although I don't really believe in coincidences in life. Roman Olegovich, it seems to me, has such a Gogolian technique - speaking surnames. Therefore, Sonya Skvortsova, Tikhomirov, Dudar, Sinitsyna - I think this is the point.

- Who do you like to play more - modest or confident girls?

- I like to play character characters, even if they were modest at first: so that they open up and turn into confident. Hero transformations are very exciting. I also like the sportiness of the characters - this is also a kind of confidence. Now I am fond of martial arts, horses, shooting. I hope you will see all this in one form or another on the screen in the future.- In the spring you returned from Scotland, where you starred in the Hollywood project "Tetris". Can you tell us more about this - how did you get there, who is your heroine?

- Unfortunately, now I can’t tell a lot about Tetris, because I have signed an NDA - this is a contract that you conclude at the trial stage. The studios are so concerned that you won't reveal any details or plot details. In general, the concern for keeping the plot secret in the West is part of the industry. We even had a script behind a password - using a separate link to an encrypted site.

As for how I got there, this is not my first Western project. Before that there was "McMafia" from "BBC". I have an agent in London who sends me samples. The mechanism is always the same, now it also comes to Russia - you do not come to the casting, they send you several pages of the script, you are at home, in your kitchen you record on your camera how you play them.

- In the film you starred with Taron Edgerton - what is he like in life?

- Yes, Taron Edgerton is amazing. He is a great professional, and his charisma on the set charged everyone and burned holes in the scenery. It is interesting to play with him - and it is also very pleasant to communicate with him.

- Do you often audition for filming abroad? Does your mom continue to help you record the self-test like she did in the past?

- Yes, they do it often. Samples for foreign film companies are generally given time restrictions, that is, for example, material should be sent in two or three days. Therefore, you carve out a place in the schedule, teach in English - or another language - the text, write it down and send it away. The second stages of trials, as a rule, are “zooms” with directors and actors, reading scenes.

Mom, yes, helped during the lockdown. Now there is no lockdown, so I'm recording it myself. In general, my mother is a very talented and creative person, I love working with her. But now she's busy with costumes for movies - she's a costume designer.

- How do you remember the outgoing year, do you make plans for the next one?

- I remember the outgoing year by the fact that I was in other countries on the set for about eight months and met a lot of interesting people from all over the world. I experienced such an internal expansion, because interaction with other cultures and mentality brings a lot, you understand other people better.

I remember Scotland, this is one of the most beautiful places where I have been. In general, there have been many miracles this year. And the next year, I hope, will be as intense as this one, the pandemic will somehow come to naught, the borders will open, it will be easier to travel - and I will correctly allocate time between work and everything else.

The second season of The Last Minister is available to watch on Kinopoisk.

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