“I’m quite un-musical!” Karl Arnold Avot reveals the biggest challenges of the “Soviet Jeans” series

When asked what reflections the role in the series has given the actor, Kārlis Arnolds Avots admits that we are used to thinking on general levels every day, but the profession of an actor, when preparing for a role, requires us to look for the stories of specific people’s experiences, which more or less transform the actor himself.

In an interview with “tv3.lv”, the actor of the main role of the TV series “Soviet Jeans”, Kārlis Arnolds Avots revealed what skills he learned while preparing for the role, what was the greatest pleasure to work with on the field and what nerve-wracking “pots” his colleagues knocked over during the shooting of the series.

Filming lasted more than 50 days. What did it require of you as a professional actor?

The hardest were the days when I had to be in the theater as well. A bus came after me at three in the morning, took me to the set, got dressed, and then I worked for 12 hours. After that, I was taken back not to my home, but to the theater. I only had an hour to dress up and get ready to go on stage. At that point we were playing a lot of ‘Brands’ [par Agnusa lomu izrādē “Brands” Kārlis Arnolds Avots tika nominēts arī “Spēlmaņu nakts” balvai kategorijā “Gada aktieris otrā plāna lomā” – red.].

So I also live somewhere between these two imagined realities. I got really little sleep because at the end of the evening I had to prepare for the next day.

The events of the series “Soviet jeans” take place in the late 70s, early 80s. What were your findings about the era covered in the series or the theme in general?

Until now, I was completely unfamiliar with the currency of the time and a kind of payment system that allowed you to get possession of western goods. I had heard, but had no real understanding of how high the jeans were. Lots of period tidbits that actually make up their world on screen.

Working on the series and this story made me think more about young people who suffer for political reasons even today. But they continue to dream and hope for the right to a better tomorrow. It really touched me.

Did you have to learn any special skills while preparing for the role? Maybe learn to sew? It looks pretty convincing in the series.

I’m pretty non-musical. I really don’t sing and when I start singing, there are very few people who want to hear it and traumatize their ears. I don’t play any musical instruments either. So it was very difficult for me to learn to play the guitar.

When the day of filming came, I already started sleeping worse at night, even though I had already learned. It was a huge shame for me, because the film crew in their large total was an entire audience. Now, looking from the outside, it seems to me that Renard is already the same as me. That’s why it was so honest and easy for me to say “I don’t sing”, because I really don’t sing like Karl.

I also had to learn to sew. I also sewed one pair of school uniform pants with effort. It all looks more believable in the cinema, but it is achieved not by my hands (although it is partially mine), but by the handiwork of other people. And of course the credibility factor – the work and merit of the editing director.

The blitz of actors in the series is quite impressive and gorgeous. Which of your professional colleagues was the greatest pleasure or satisfaction to work with?

I am very happy that Āma Milonoff was approved for the role in the series, because we met her for the first time at the Tallinn Film Festival “Black Nights”. We were selected together for the acting program, which selected 8 young film actors from the Baltic Sea region. About six months later, I found out that she was one of the applicants for the role.