A man for all seasons

One of the most highly acclaimed movies in competition for the coveted Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is the Russian film “Leto” (“Summer”) by Kirill Serebrennikov.
Serebrennikov came to Cannes in 2016 with “The Student”, which was selected for the Un Certain Regard category but this year, his first time in the main competition, was prevented from attending by his government. The director is currently under house arrest on charges of alleged corruption, though many believe the real reason is his criticism of Vladimir Putin’s government.
Filmed in black and white, “Leto” is set in the Soviet Union of the 1980s and tells the story of the early years of two Soviet rock stars – Viktor Tsoi of Kino band and Mike Naumenko of Zoopark band. Tsoi, the country’s first rock superstar, became a legend following his untimely death in 1990.

A Russian of Korean descent, Tsoi is portrayed in the film by Teo Yoo, a South Korean actor born and raised in Germany even though he doesn’t speak a word of Russian. Since graduating from the prestigious Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York, Yoo has been appeared in a variety of foreign productions, among them the Vietnamese film “Bitcoin Heist” director Ham Tran.
In 2017, Teo Yoo was cast in the Thai film “The Moment” directed by Laddawan Rattanadilokchai. He played Kim, the head of the creative department at a Korean company who falls in love with Karn (Kan Kantathavorn), his colleague from Thailand.
“I got a call from a friend of a friend who knows Laddawan. They were looking for an English-speaking Korean actor willing to play a gay character. I made a tape of myself and sent it to them,” he says.
“The Moment” was followed by “Leto”. 
“Again, it started with a call from a friend last May," Yoo tells XP. “He told me that a famous Russian director wanted to cast Viktor Tsoi. He asked me ‘Do you know any Korean actors in their early 20’s or late teens who might be interested in the role?’ I’d lost some weight at the time, and have curly hair like Tsoi in real life, so I sent my photos and bio. A week later, they wanted to see photos of me playing a guitar, so I sent those too and I was then called to Moscow for an audition. Kirill had been in preproduction for six months and still hadn’t found anyone for the role so I knew I was in with a chance.

“I didn’t know a word of Russian. During the audition, they told me to work in English as I would need to be dubbed in the film anyway. I did that and sang two of Viktor Tsoi’s songs. When I got the role and returned to Moscow for the shoot, I found out I needed to do it in Russian because the lips had to match! I didn’t sign up for that, but as an actor, my philosophy is that I’m the instrument for the director to present his vision. So I started memorising the lines in Russian phonetically. I took the script and worked solidly in my hotel room for three weeks. I learnt Russian by osmosis and by default,” he laughs.
“My role model is Asano Tadanobu. I met him at the Busan International Film Festival and we became friends. Whenever I have to go to other countries to film, I ask him for advice. He’s worked in other countries without speaking their language or even English,” Yoo says of the Japanese actor who starred in Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s “Last Life in the Universe” and “Invisible Waves”. 
“As an actor, you play with fear in your head and you trust the production. In the end, it’s all about love – the language of cinema is the same everywhere. You fight time. You have a limited budget. Everybody gets a little bit hysterical. You get drunk. You cry. You laugh.”
Yoo looks at Tsoi as someone who created a culture. “Tsoi was a young kid who was inspired by American music and he added some Korean poetry and charisma. He put the cultures together and created something new, instead of ripping them apart. His music brought all the production together. I am really grateful for that.”