IFC TV / GYPSY PUNK: "EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED" FOR EUGENE HUTZ 



To the music world, Eugene Hutz is best known as the frontman and lead instigator of raucous "gypsy punk" band Gogol Bordello. For film audiences, he'll soon be better recognized as Alex, a Ukrainian tour guide who - along with his grandfather/driver (Boris Leskin) and Sammy Davis Junior, Junior, Grandpa's "seeing-eye bitch" (don't worry, the guy only thinks he's blind) - helps a cautious American (Elijah Wood) explore the truth behind his own grandfather's rescue from the Nazis in Liev Schreiber's "Everything is Illuminated" (based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer). Hutz, buoyed by the just-received news that his band would be performing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, sat down with IFC News' Dan Persons to talk about the film: 

You came to the U.S. at the age of 21, having been born in Kiev and then traveling with your parents as they made their way throughout Eastern Europe, including Ukraine. How did exposure to that cultural grab bag affect what you brought to Alex? 
It's definitely an advantage that I have that I was exposed to both sides - east and west - on a deep level. I grew up in Ukraine, and I know Eastern Europe very well. I've also visited many times throughout the last years, and have kind of internalized the changes that have taken place there, so my bible of Eastern Europe is pretty updated. However, the western side of things is probably something that helped me to translate this character in this film, because, to be perfectly honest, this film is more of a fantasy on a Ukrainian theme, than an authentic portrayal of Eastern Europe. If I was to do things that are, from beginning to the end, portrayed really the way it is without trying to translate it, it might not have come through. Eastern Europe is a lot darker place than people think, especially than Americans think. It's really a lot less about red pants, accordion, and vodka shots. 

The big theme of the film is reaching back, both into one's past and the past of one's family. 
Very central point. For me as well. 

Did working on this film affect how you look into your own heritage? 
It's actually more the other way around. I think that that idea of investing time into your heritage is very central to me already... Somewhere along my way, when I was only a teenager - about fourteen, fifteen years old - I learned that my family is actually half Roma, which in the West is called gypsy. That had so much to do with me understanding who I am, and where my otherness comes from: Why am I not feeling home in Ukraine? Why do I do what I do; why do I feel so comfortable and at ease and at home basically being on the road for years? Why am I so adaptable? All these are common traits of my ancestors. The irony was that when I was younger I thought of Rocking in the Free World, breaking away from all my heritage - that's what I wanted to do. But I sort of came full-circle to realize, no, that's my heritage; that's why I'm doing all these things.

 
What about Alex did you relate to? 
Well, when I had my first conversation with Liev about this role, I had a certain confidence which drove me to say, "No further search is necessary. I am this guy. This is my role." The confidence came from the fact that Alex is such a dynamo - very much romantic and maniacal and hyperactive. His energy wasn't necessarily helping him to get things right, or straight, but he was nonetheless a very romantic and kind of an overbearingly enthusiastic character, which is something I've always liked about people. 

With so many American actors playing foreigners, it's sort of gratifying to hear that your accent is real. 
Accent has to be real. Acting an accent is something that's always bad. It can be only bad, it's always horrible. The saving thing is that an accent can be acquired with some time, it's a very kind of fade-in, fade-out kind of thing - you can make it harsher or less harsher by simply hanging around for a couple of weeks in a certain location... By the time we started shooting in Prague, which was full of Ukrainian girls, my accent actually grew to be a bit harsher. I really didn't have to strain anything. 

How much time did you spend studying with those Ukrainian girls? 
Um... Well... It's hard to say right now. Enough not to be able to remember a goddamn line from the script by the time shooting started. 

Posted: Wed - September 14, 2005 at 07:55 PM          

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