Tarkovsky and Solaris

Akira Kurosawa... Tarkovsky and Solaris (originally written for the Asahi Shinbun Newspaper, and published in the evening edition, on 13 May, 1977). "...I met Tarkovsky for the first time when I attended my welcome luncheon at the Mosfilm during my first visit to Soviet Russia. He was small, thin, looked a little frail, and at the same time exceptionally intelligent, and unusually shrewd and sensitive. I thought he somehow resembled Toru Takemitsu, but I don't know why. Then he excused himself saying, 'I still have work to do,' and disappeared, and after a while I heard such a big explosion as to make all the glass windows of the dining hall tremble hard. Seeing me taken aback, the boss of the Mosfilm said with a meaningful smile: 'You know another world war does not break out. Tarkovsky just launched a rocket. This work with Tarkovsky, however, has proved a Great War for me.' That was the way I knew Tarkovsky was shooting Solaris." From Nostalghia - an Andrei Tarkovsky information site.