“We joked that not only the bear has come to us yet”: Anastasia Stezhko on the filming of the series “Vampires of the Middle Band” 03/02/2023, 13:05

Vampires are sometimes not scary at all, but very cute creatures! The Cullen family from Twilight, Eric from True Blood, the house ghouls from Vampires of the Middle Strip. In the Russian series, many will like Annushka – a strict but fair police captain, whom you simply want to match (only if we are not talking about a glass of blood for breakfast). The second season of the popular project will start on March 6 on the TNT channel. Anastasia Stezhko, who played the role of the same athlete, Komsomol member and beauty Anna Ostroumova, gave an exclusive interview to VOICE.

– Anastasia, when you were invited to audition for the second season of the TV series “Vampires of the Middle Band”, you watched the entire first season in two days. What did you like and dislike about it?

– I liked everything! To tell the truth, I was pleasantly surprised by the project. And from the idea, and from its implementation, and from acting. I found no negatives!

– In the second season of the series, you replaced Ekaterina Kuznetsova. How did your character, police captain Anna Ostroumová, change as a result?

– I think there have been small changes in the heroine, even during the development of the plot. In my opinion, the second season is more dramatic than the first, and there are difficult events in the life of my heroine that cannot leave her in the same state she was in before. It seems to me that in the second season Annushka will wise up. Maybe it will also seem a little more warm and personal to the audience because there is an opportunity to show those qualities. We see the story of Annushka, her relationship with the other characters.

– Didn’t the fact that there are a lot of action scenes in the series scare you?

– The action scenes in the script don’t scare me, on the contrary – they rather arouse interest! They allow me to express myself in different ways – not only in terms of dramatic or comedic skills, but also as an artist who owns her body. I like the fight scenes and when the character has some superpowers. So when I read the script for Vampires…, I was looking forward to filming. It was interesting how it all turned out.

What problems did you face while filming?

– Basically, the difficulties were related to the weather conditions, because it was a very hot summer and we were filming in quite warm suits. Unfortunately, comfortable cool rooms were more of an exception to the rule, so we had to endure. Everyone escaped as best they could: surrounded by fans, newspapers, anything they could. That was probably the most difficult moment, and everything else is easy – thanks in large part to the atmosphere on the site.

– And what were the pleasant moments for you in this strange work?

– There were a lot of them! Basically, when the whole cast got together and they talked backstage, we joked. By the way, there have been a lot of cast “breakups” where they couldn’t do an episode for laughs. For example, they did a scene with stakes, i.e. a trap for alien vampires. We were working in a forest where there was terrible noise: either a plane flew by, or a car drove by, or tourists appeared. We already joked that only the bear didn’t come to us for a set.

– You played in 51 TV projects. Which one do you remember the most?

– So far, the most beloved, warmest and most expressive for me, as well as for the actress, is the series “Vampires of the Middle Band”. If we talk about old works, then I can name “Dyldy”, “Awakening” and “Birch”. They are very important to me.

– In 2010, you took part in the Miss Russia contest, you even made it to the finals. What did this adventure give you?

– The beauty pageant gave me the opportunity to look at a whole range of female characters. There you could meet completely different girls, each with their own goals and stories. It was necessary to find a common language with everyone, and this is a great communication experience. It was also necessary to get in shape in a relatively short time, and they taught us various useful things. For example, fashion shows and just how to behave effectively on stage.

– Five years ago you posed naked for the men’s glossy magazine Maxim. Do you regret it now?

– No, I do not regret it, because the shooting turned out to be very beautiful and not vulgar at all. I am very grateful to the team for taking into account all my wishes. The photos turned out to be creative, so why apologize? On the contrary, everything is beautiful.

– You are raising a two-year-old daughter, Stesha. Shortly after giving birth, you started working again. How quickly did you get in shape?

“I did not take any serious steps on purpose. I didn’t start training in the gym, dieting right after giving birth. Everything happened gradually, because after all it was necessary to concentrate on the baby and her own inner state. I fully managed to get back in shape about nine to ten months after giving birth, then I started playing sports.