That's the Welshman's assessment of the Soviet space programme, the details of which he delved into for his intriguing new thriller, Star City, which imagines what might have happened had the Russians beaten the Americans to win the space race and never stopped venturing out into the stars.
Actor Ifans is at the centre of it all, starring as the brains behind the space programme, the mysterious nameless man only ever referred to as the "Chief Designer".
Speaking exclusively to Radio Times about playing the extraordinary figure, Ifans explained: "I was intrigued from the off, because he has no name – that really is the foundation as to who he is in this show. The foundations of him are based on a real guy called Sergei Korolev, who was literally the brains – the only brains, one could argue – behind the Russian space programme through the '60s.
"So the Chief Designer had to be protected from anyone knowing who he was, and just physically kept away from any danger, because to lose him would be to lose vast amounts of knowledge."
View Green Video on the source websiteIfans added: "Beyond learning about this incredible man, who was a Ukrainian, I may add, not a Russian – that's very important for me and for the world right now to know that – I was just interested in playing a character who was passionate and following his dreams and pursuing his dreams and aspirations and doing that within the system that made that very difficult."
Elaborating on the culture of surveillance in the show, the actor pointed out: "All these characters live, from dawn until dusk, in a place where you're not entirely sure you can trust the person you're speaking to, even your closest relatives, even your lovers. And what that does to the human soul over time, we touch on it in the show..."
"Here you have someone who is maybe one of the most important historical figures of all time, arguably, and nobody knows about him," Nedivi told us.
"But then there was another element to him, which was fascinating – part of it was protecting him from foreign influence. But I think another element was protecting the state. They didn't want anyone to be too powerful – the state would have to be powerful above all else."
But, in Star City at least, the Chief Designer is far from the perfect Soviet comrade, secretly conducting scientific projects away from the prying eyes of Anna Maxwell Martin's Colonel Lyudmilla Raskova, the head of KGB surveillance.
"He still feels compelled to try to push humanity forward in his own way. That's how much he believes in what he's doing."
He was born in 1907, in the city of Zhytomyr, which (as Ifans points out) would be in modern-day Ukraine.
After his release, he became a famed rocket designer and went on to direct the Soviet space programme. But, while he had plans for a Soviet moon-landing before the USA's 1969 mission, Korolev unexpectedly died in 1966.
Speaking exclusively to Radio Times, Professor Asif A Siddiqi, a historian who specialises in the social and cultural history of Soviet space programme, explained: "During his lifetime, very few people knew of his existence. Even the CIA had trouble figuring out who he was.
"Obviously, [Korolev] was the head of a pretty large organisation, so everybody within that organisation had access and knew who he was, so they had to sign all these papers, and basically, if you revealed his name, you would be thrown in jail. And then once you were in the team, you saw him everywhere, but that process of getting in the team was very onerous."
Professor Siddiqi added: "In 1966, he had a regular visit to the hospital, and the doctors discovered he had a tumour in his stomach. So they immediately tried to operate and remove it, but he had a very weak heart and, during the operation, the anaesthesia didn't work properly, and his heart gave out, so he unexpectedly died.
For Siddiqi, Korolev's death was at the heart of why the Soviets were beaten by the Americans to the moon.
He added: "There were many other structural reasons too. I don't think it was necessarily an issue of technology, it was more an issue of their system not being designed to do something extremely ambitious, in this case, a moon landing, in a quick way.
"But I think the most proximate reason was Korolev," he added.
"I think the Chief Designer's death was the pivot point, and I think the show does that well, because it asks, 'What if he was alive?' Well, if he was alive, then maybe they would have been first."
View Green Video on the source websiteAdd Star City to your watchlist on theRadio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Hence then, the article about how rhys ifans decoded one of history s most mysterious men for new drama star city was published today ( ) and is available on Radio Times ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( How Rhys Ifans decoded one of history's most mysterious men for new drama Star City )
Also on site :