Jenia Tanaeva See You Soon Interview

Oscar Nominee Joins Lead Actress in Fascinating Debut Film

Jenia's journey is a true-life modern Cinderella story, only the single mom version. While raising her two daughters, Anya and Alina, she spent a lot of time watching films with her kids. One night she came across the 1957 film An Affair To Remember, and it became the inspiration for the beautiful heartwarming love story she wrote called See You Soon.

See You Soon follows a soccer star who, after suffering a career-threatening injury in the run-up to the 2018 World Cup, embarks on an unexpected journey of self-discovery and gives true love a chance. It was filmed throughout Russia. The film is also produced by Jenia for eMotion Entertainment, and executive produced by Alexander Mikhalskiy. Jenia hopes that her journey will inspire men and women around the world to follow their dreams, and be courageous enough to take that first step.

Jenia Tanaeva was born in the beautiful city of Saint Petersburg, Russia. She was raised during the communism regime in the family of engineers, living in a tiny apartment with her parents, grandparents and her older sister. While in school she was seriously pursuing rhythmic gymnastics, spending all of her time between school and the gym. After graduating from high school she attended the University of St Petersburg, majoring in psychology.

Interview with Jenia Tanaeva

Question: Can you tell us about See You Soon?

Jenia Tanaeva: See You Soon is a Cinderella story, in which Cinderella is a single mom, who takes a huge step into the unknown in order to get a better life for her son and herself. It's a story about people, about true love, and about man becoming a better person and doing his absolute best to be with a woman he loves. See You Soon is about believing, trying, loving, growing and finding happiness.


Question: What inspired you to write See You Soon?

Jenia Tanaeva: Love and its almighty power are always my biggest inspirations. The film An Affair To Remember and my city,


Saint Petersburg, are also my big inspirations.

Question: When did you first begin writing See You Soon?

Jenia Tanaeva: Summer of 2011"it took me three months to write it and then almost three years to rewrite the script.


Question: Was it difficult being not only the writer, but also the producer and lead of See You Soon?

Jenia Tanaeva: Absolutely! As exciting as it is to be involved in the project you love, it is very hard on all levels from the beginning until the very end. For example, during production there were three weeks when I was the only producer. Each day looked like this: I would wake up at 6:30 AM and by 7 o'clock, I would be in the car on my way to the studio. From 8 AM until 8 PM, we would be shooting. Around 9 PM, I would leave the studio and I would rest in the hotel until about 11am, when I would start doing all of the production work until 3 or 4 AM. And then I would have to be up at 6:30 again. It was tough and very tiring, but it was still an amazing time of my life.

Question: Can you tell us about the role you play in See You Soon?

Jenia Tanaeva: My character is a single mom, who's just came out of an abusive relationship with her ex-husband. She's kind loving person, but very insecure with quite a lot of fears. She finds enough bravery in her heart to go on a journey that would completely change her life.


Question: How are you similar to the character you play in See You Soon?

Jenia Tanaeva: My character and I do have some similarities. We are both from St. Petersburg, the city I was born in and love with all my heart. We were both single moms when our lives began to change dramatically. We have different life stories, but we definitely have the same values.


Question: What was the best part about being on set for See You Soon?

Jenia Tanaeva: For me, the best part of being on set of See You Soon was the ability to watch my dream coming true. It was really remarkable to see about 200 people work every day on making it come true. And for me, after imagining it and seeing it so many times in my dreams, I was finally seeing it unfold with my eyes.


Question: Can you tell us about how you cast See You Soon?

Jenia Tanaeva: When we sent the script to Liam, I was surprised at how quickly he reacted and how positive he was about the script. He really liked his character from the beginning and it was also a great addition that he loves soccer and knows how to play the game.


Question: When writing See You Soon, did you envision Harvey Keitel and Liam McIntyre starring in the film?

Jenia Tanaeva: I had envisioned Harvey being in it, but I just never thought that he'd really agree to be in a film that was written by a first-time writer, produced by a first-time producer and directed by a first-time director. I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least.


Question: What's next for you?

Jenia Tanaeva: I would love to create more motivational, inspirational, female-driven love stories.


Interview by Brooke Hunter