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Was almost cast as a mistress and gained 9 kg: Pamfir star shares interesting facts about the famous Ukrainian movie which received a record standing ovation in Cannes

Maria RagutkinaNews
Solomiya Kyrylova on filming Pamfir

Ukrainian theater and film actress Solomiya Kyrylova had to gain weight to look more natural on screen for her film Pamfir, which received a record six-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. This transformation was difficult for the star.

She admitted that the film's director, Dmytro Sukholytkyi-Sobchuk, had clarified such a requirement in the contract. The actress shared some interesting facts about the filming in an interview with OBOZ.UA.

According to Kyrylova, originally, she was offered to play the mistress of Pamfir's brother instead of the lead role.

"The casting for the movie took three years, so it's clear that they've already 'ransacked' the whole of Ukraine. Also, it COVID-19. First, they sent me an offer to audition for the role of Anhelina, the mistress of Pamfir's brother. This was a secondary role. The casting director saw me in it and I thought that I could do it," says the actress. "But I didn't feel any challenge for myself. When Dmytro watched my audition, he offered me the role of Olena. I am very grateful to him for seeing me as the main character. Of course, I realized how much work was ahead of me and how much I would have to transform myself, first of all. It was so unusual! But it was during that time that I felt both growth and challenge."

Kyrylova admitted that gaining weight for the role was very difficult for her - the actress had to completely change her diet.

"I gained nine kilograms for Pamfir. It was very hard for me, but the contract clearly stated that the weight should be 5-10 kg more. They say it's easy to gain weight. Maybe when you sit on the couch and do nothing, it is, but when you work a lot in the mountains, in extreme conditions, and you are stressed... Every morning I would get on the scales hoping to gain at least one kilogram, but it didn't work out," she admitted. "So I just went crazy: I ate white bread and snickers (laughs). Then I felt very hungry. My pancreas and liver felt this pressure for sure."

According to the actress, there are people whom the camera "makes thin," and others whom it "makes fat." And Kyrylova belongs to the first category, as she has a rather slim body.

"I have never considered myself thin, although very often I look like that on camera due to the structure of my face - I have prominent cheekbones. Dmytro explained that I am one of those actresses whom the camera makes thin, and that is why he wanted me to gain weight so that I wouldn't look too skinny," she explained. "In my first scene, where Olena meets Pamfir and where I am naked, I had a rather flat stomach. And the director wanted it to have fat rolls, to be a woman who doesn't have time to do beauty treatments, to look more natural."

This was not the only difficulty during filming. To get used to the role of Olena, the actress had to work at a plywood factory in Krasnoilsk, Chernivtsi region.

"There, I was introduced to the director of a plywood shop, shown each stage of production and left to work there for a week. Every morning I went to a place where there were mostly people who didn't understand Ukrainian at all, because it's the border with Romania," she added. "One woman spoke very broken Russian, and that was the only person I had communicated with."

What's more, while working on the dialect, she stopped calling her family to avoid switching to the familiar language. According to Kyrylova, this experience helped her to better understand one of the main characters.

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