The film also explores Rogers’ relationship with Alexey Pagitnov, Tetris’s original creator, played by Nikita Yefremov. “I really, really liked the character of Henk at the center of it,” says Egerton. “Just this kind of puppyish, charismatic, dogged person. So I signed up to go along for the ride.”
While the film is a work of fiction, Egerton says that most of what is depicted actually happened, aside from a car chase at the end. “The sense of jeopardy and danger at the time in terms of being behind the Iron Curtain just before the fall of the Berlin Wall and what was happening across the block at that time, I think it was a dangerous place to be. So all of it, really.”
As an actor, Egerton relates to Rogers’ hustle and determination, especially in his earliest days as a professional. “I think all actors that I’ve spoken to relate to that sense of it being a real hustle when you first start out,” he says. “But I liked that about Henk. I like the fact that he’s one of those people that no matter how many times you knock him down, he keeps getting better back up. We love people like that.”
