TALENT Mait Malmsten

Mait Malmsten

Blessed & Wanted

Mait Malmsten is an actor at the Estonian Drama Theatre and one of the most sought-after film stars in Estonia. For him, 2022 has been an extraordinary year, as right after turning 50 he reached the screens as the main protagonist in the long-awaited feature film Kalev.

By Andrei Liimets Photos by Viktor Koshkin and Herkki Erich Merila

The importance of Malmsten’s role in the sports drama Kalev, based on true events, is emphasized by opinions in the media that the title of the film should have been Salumets. Namely, Malmsten plays Jaak Salumets, a former top basketball player turned basketball coach whose role in Estonian sports is legendary due to his achievements as well as his harsh professional methods and a complicated nature.

Salumets, having once represented the national team of the Soviet Union, became the head coach of the Estonian number one basketball team Kalev in the second half of the 1980s. The team made history by winning the final championship of the collapsing Soviet Union. However, the team had to run the gauntlet before becoming national heroes, since the nationalist wing considered the players as traitors during efforts to regain independence.

You have gained a lot of recognition for Jaak Salumets’s role in Kalev. How important are praise and feedback as well as criticism, both positive and negative, for you at the present moment in your career? It would be wrong to say that it doesn’t matter to me. However, throughout the years I have developed thicker skin to protect me. I am not losing it when someone gives a really negative comment about my acting. Those commenters usually search for something else, and if the film or play lacks it then they will become disappointed. I am not investigating all criticism that is being written. What I come across, I read through. And in general, feedback is nice.

What about compliments? Will you then feel pleased or will you try to balance it out in order not to become too lofty? Of course one has to learn to dose it right. As for Kalev, I was sincerely glad to read the positive feedback, since the film was really important for me. I am myself a basketball fan and the event meant a lot for me. It made me happy to become a part of the filmmaking crew. But I also had numerous fears. For instance, how do we perform sports so that the audience would believe it? If the audience doesn’t believe the sports in a sports themed film, then no one will take you seriously, no matter how hard you play around with themes in the film. Fortunately everything turned out well – it has been a joy to read all the reviews and hear people’s opinions.

I was extremely happy that I could play Salumets!

Were you sad that you could not play basketball yourself in the film? If you were younger, you could have taken the role of one of the players. I was extremely happy that I could play Salumets! I enjoy playing basketball as a workout. It was a blessing to be in the role of a basketball coach – Salumets is such a great character, an extraordinary person.

What was your meeting with Salumets like after the premiere? It was good. Unlike me, Salumets had already seen the film before the premiere and I realized he was fine with everything he saw. We shook hands and had a short warm-hearted conversation.

We did not meet professionally before filming since we had decided with director Ove Musting that the character will be based on Salumets’s public interviews. That we’d pick out elements characteristic to his personality and try to nail the protagonist. We were a bit afraid of having personal contact with him and receiving a tirade, that’s all.

There was still one time that we met during a national basketball team’s game. A friend of mine introduced us. I suggested that we should not really go. But my friend pulled me along and showed me to Salumets, that ‘here, this is Malmsten who is going to play you in an upcoming feature film’. Then Salumets made a snappy remark that the film was probably not going to succeed. He was really distrustful, which is entirely understandable – you have one of the most significant moments of your life and what if the filmmakers cock this up? The film preserves the historical moment and the future generations will remember the events accordingly. Thus the fears before filming were definitely grounded; but when the film was complete it was great to realize that there was no reason to be afraid, neither for me or him.

How much responsibility did you feel? On one side, film truth and historical truth are two different things. On the other side, all the characters in the film are still alive, remember the events, and are able to comment on the film. It was a big responsibility indeed. As I said, the real event was important also for me. Several former basketball players have distanced themselves from the film. They did not want to associate themselves to the specific story or fiction. Perhaps they were afraid of messing up things. This signals how significant the event was for many people.

Is it important for you as an actor to love your character in some way? Or is it enough just to understand them? What kind of personal relationship do you have to have with your character? Good question. Love or not, one definitely has to be an advocate, that’s for sure. Otherwise things won’t feel true, since you somehow justify everything for yourself. It is obvious that the character you play becomes your good friend, you become close to each other. The character is in a way your child, a part of you.

Is there anything you learned about yourself or your life through this role? Salumets’ methods are not exactly endorsed by contemporary sports psychology. Then again, in terms of results, Salumets took the Kalev team into history books. The tough way was the only way during Soviet times. There were no half-tones, it was the mentality of “all or nothing”. It would be impossible to act this way in today’s society, practitioners of such an attitude would

be immediately taken to court. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Present times may be too soft towards certain moments or attitudes, but during the Soviet era the situation was exactly the opposite, it was too brutal. I doubt whether Salumets was the most brutal one, not really. There were all kinds of tyrants back then. I believe that sometimes being harsh, self-confident, and strict is the only way, especially if you have to handle a crowd of men, everyone with their ego and perspective on things. It takes courage to manage all this, so being strict and harsh is the right thing.

You mentioned the importance of this role, since the specific historical event meant a lot for you. Why is Kalev important for the younger generation, or for foreigners who lack a personal connection with the events? Young people gain from the pure historical knowledge – the absurd era we once lived in. It was such an idiotic, harsh and weird political situation. And on the other hand, today’s youth can see the conditions in which the athletes trained decades ago – there were no proper sneakers, no hot water. For today’s youth, it is good to know about how their fathers once lived.

According to critics, Mait Malsten’s role as Jaak Salumets is among his best works on the big screen.

The film could offer today’s younger generation the feeling of gratitude for how much better things are today. Certain Soviet nostalgia is in the air even now, but the film clearly shows how complicated life was even for the topmost professionals. I absolutely agree. I imagine that for an outsider, everything related to the Soviet era seems to be like a cartoon or an anecdote. The gravity, the grimness and the oddity of this time cannot be grasped that easily.

As for timing, we were dealt a favourable hand, so to say. The filmmaking process kept postponing,

since the filming took place during the pandemic, and not everything went according to the initial plans. Looking back now, it appears everything happened for a reason. Whether there is an Estonian audience or a foreign one watching the film, there is definitely a moment of recognition, some kind of repetition of historical events that is extremely uncanny.

The Estonian film industry is small, and many actors have said there are not too many roles to select from – one has to be satisfied when anything at all is offered. In the Estonian context, you are an extremely well-known and sought-after actor. Have you had plenty to choose from when talking about film roles? Actually no. I have turned down not more than one or two roles for some reason. As a rule, a casting is held, and when you are selected then it feels great to do your job. To be part of filmmaking is a great blessing – and I have not received a screenplay so bad that it cannot be performed.

The human eyes have always had a special meaning in Ingmar Bergman’s works. Mait Malmsten says that he would love to play more in emotionally deep films that can be described as Bergman-ish. Actor Marko Matvere with whom you play in the trilogy of Melchior the Apothecary has openly said in one of his recent interviews that he focuses on two things when choosing a role – first, one should have fun and secondly, the salary must be good. What is important for you when you are offered a role? In all sincerity, the story in the film is the most important thing. All the rest comes afterwards. It would be great if I would get at least some money for playing the part. And definitely the film crew matters.

Is there any role you feel especially proud of? Right now it is of course the one I played in Kalev! Before that, I really enjoyed playing in Kertu (directed by Ilmar Raag). And I’d like to bring out that collaboration with Andres Puustusmaa has always been intense and great.

Have you thought about directing a film yourself? I haven’t. I’m afraid I’m not suited for creating an en-

tirely new world. But I enjoy looking for this new world with someone else.

What about other creative ambitions that you have not had a chance to fulfil?

On the Big Screen

have our own playground here, and we should turn it to our advantage. I have made a few casting videos and sent these abroad – and I got proposals to play stereotypes, either an Eastern European or a Russian man who for some reason speaks English.

Ilmar Raag once asked me in an afterparty what kind of film I’d like to make. My answer to him as well as to this question: Bergman-ish. People, silence, talking, thoughts, passions, anxieties, desires. There’s been too little of that.

So no regrets about not being in Tenet by Christopher Nolan?

Definitely not! I mean only if there had been a really big role – but these won’t be given to actors outside Hollywood.

My first memory related to you is an old quotation that goes something like “if Mait Malmsten had been born at least in Ireland, he would be an international A-list star” ... I totally agree! (Laughs.)

Have you thought about going abroad? I believe that if one is internationally successful, then this is because we have done something right in Estonia. Why go to another country when there are so many great actors and filmmakers everywhere already. We

You come from a dynasty of actors. There’s an eternal discussion on how much depends on talent and how much on work. What makes a good actor in your opinion? I have lived in a world of actors since childhood, as did both my parents. This has certainly been an advantage – I have had neither any illusions nor fears. You must have a great deal of self-confidence – that you will make it, and that you have something to tell other people. And you definitely have to work hard. EF

Class Reunion

Agent Sinikael

Mait Malmsten

is currently playing in the feature film Kalev (directed by Ove Musting) that premiered at Warsaw Film Festival, and in the trilogy of Melchior the Apothecary (directed by Elmo Nüganen) to be soon available as a series on the Amazon platform. He is also starring in the family film Totally Boss (directed by Ingomar Vihmar) that will premiere in 2023. Biggest works in cinema: Agent Sinikael (2002, dir. Marko Raat) Knife (2007, dir. Marko Raat) Kertu (2013. dir. Ilmar Raag) Class Reunion 1-3 (2016-2019, dir. Rene Vilbre) Your Honor (2019, dir. Andres Puustusmaa) Melchior the Apothecary 1-3 (2022-2023, dir. Elmo Nüganen) Kalev (2022, dir. Ove Musting)

Kertu

Melchior the Apothecary Your Honor