How Biletsky, Budanov and Malyuk appeared in the film “Killhouse”: the director told what happened behind the scenes
Ukrainian war cinema is increasingly working with material that has not yet become an archive, so the participation of real military commanders in a feature film is perceived not as an ordinary casting move, but as a way to bring the screen story closer to people whose decisions are connected with real events of the war.
Director Lyubomyr Levytsky said that the appearance of Andriy Biletskiy, Kyrylo Budanov, and Vasyl Malyuk in the film “Killhaus” was not planned from the beginning of work on the film. The idea was born during the filming process, when the team was looking for a replacement for the actor who was supposed to play the commander in one of the important scenes.
According to the director’s plan, the main character was supposed to give the commander his father’s chevron. Because the actor who was planned for this role was unable to take part in the filming, the director began to look for another solution. At this point, according to Levitsky, he suggested inviting not an actor, but a real general to the frame.
“We planned a scene where the main character has to give his father’s chevron to his commander. The actor who was planned for this role was unable to play. We started looking for another one. And then I said: “Stop, what if it’s a real general?”, – Levitsky said.
After this proposal, the film crew did not immediately support the director, because involving a person who was involved in military affairs during the war in a feature film was difficult from an organizational point of view. The most obvious problem was time, because we were talking about people whose schedules depend not on the movie, but on the military situation.
Levitsky admitted that the team found such an idea almost unrealistic, but this is what pushed him to bring the idea to the end. He perceived the difficulty not as a reason to refuse, but as a challenge for the entire film crew.
“The team twiddled their fingers and said that it would be difficult to implement, at least in terms of time. It’s just that Andriy Yevgenovich is not in Kyiv. He is engaged in war, not cinema. And I said: “The more they tell me that it is impossible, the more I want to do it,” – he noted.
After the decision to invite a real general, the director began to develop the idea further. He came to the conclusion that the participation of real military leaders could strengthen the film and give it a different level of credibility, since the viewer would see in the frame not conventional characters, but people well-known in the context of modern warfare.
So Levitsky had the idea to make all the generals in the film real. After that, negotiations began, and the main obstacle remained coordinating the time for filming.
“I had a concept in my head to make all the generals real. This will strengthen the film historically. I got excited about this idea and started negotiations. The question arose solely of implementation – when to do it,” the director shared.
The most difficult part of the process was not the consent of the participants themselves, but finding a short gap in their schedule. Levitsky said that the scene with Vasyl Malyuk was postponed six times, since his busy schedule did not allow him to quickly arrange a shooting day.
The director explained that the team was actually waiting for the moment when the generals would have at least some free time. Participation in the film could not affect their main work, so the shooting process was adjusted to the circumstances related to the war.
“For example, we postponed the scene with Vasyl Vasylevich six times because of his busy schedule. We simply waited for him to have a day off, and just snatch him out of one of them for literally an hour, like Kirill Alekseevich. But we managed everything. It turned out that it was real,” the director said.
Separately, Levitsky emphasized that while working with the generals on the set, there was trust. According to him, they relied on the director and understood that he was responsible for how they would look in the frame and how the scene would be presented.
The director described the filming as a situation in which even very serious people get involved in the cinematic process and allow themselves to trust the team. For him, this trust became an important part of the work, because we were talking about people who in real life are associated with a completely different level of responsibility.
“The magic of cinema is something that turns all serious people into little boys. All the generals who came trusted me very much, knew that everything would be fine, they would look good. I am very grateful to them for that,” he emphasized.
According to Levitsky, filming scenes with the generals required special attention to safety. At each location, the necessary protocols were followed, and some filming locations had to be changed due to the risks.
This approach was necessary due to the status of the participants and the realities of wartime, when even a brief appearance of public military figures in a particular location requires caution. The director emphasized that the team took these circumstances into account when organizing the process.
“At each of the locations where the generals were filmed, all safety protocols were followed. We even changed some locations a little for safety reasons,” noted Lubomyr.
