How Gleb Panfilov changed the fate of Inna Churikova: a novel behind the scenes of the film "There is no ford in the fire"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The other day, famous director and screenwriter, People's Artist of the RSFSR Gleb Panfilov celebrated his 87th birthday. For more than 50 years, his name has usually been mentioned along with the name of the famous actress Inna Churikova, who all these years has remained his constant muse and wife. Today it is difficult to imagine them separately, but this union appeared thanks to the film "There is no ford in the fire". This picture became Panfilov's debut as a filmmaker and made viewers look differently at the actress, who, because of her non-standard appearance, was strongly discouraged from starring.

Looking for another beauty

It seemed that their meeting was predetermined by fate. Even before 32-year-old Gleb Panfilov began filming his first film, friends noticed a drawing on the wall in his house, which depicted an unknown girl. When they later saw Inna Churikova, they were amazed at how much her features resembled that stranger - as if he dreamed of her even before they met.

Gleb Panfilov did not come to the cinema right away: before that he managed to graduate from the chemical-technological faculty of the Ural Polytechnic Institute, worked as a master of the chemical cleaning department at a plant in Sverdlovsk, and then became the head of the propaganda and agitation department at the VLKSM city committee and created a city amateur film studio, and later came to local television, where he shot several documentaries and short television films. In 1965 Panfilov graduated from the directing department of the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors and got a job at Lenfilm. Once his teacher Yevgeny Gabrilovich told the students of the courses about the fate of a young nurse who dreamed of becoming an artist, but did not manage to fulfill her dream - she died during the Civil War. Based on this real story, Gabrilovich wrote the story "A Case at the Front", and then agreed to co-write the thesis for Gleb Panfilov's thesis. The war drama No Ford in the Fire became his debut feature film as a filmmaker.

The main character of the film is the ugly nurse from the hospital train, which takes out the wounded from the fronts of the Civil War. She is clumsy, shy, weird and even ridiculous, but pure and sincerely dedicated to her cause. In addition, she suddenly reveals the talent of an artist, and her naive drawings amaze with the strength of her spirit. Finding an actress for this role was a very difficult task, because it was important not only to find a young actress who was not afraid to look ugly on the screens, but also to convey the main idea of the scriptwriters - the discrepancy between external absurdity and internal wealth. All the actresses who came to audition seemed to the director too beautiful. No matter how hard they tried to "spoil" them with makeup, it all looked unnatural. Panfilov wanted to find an actress who would not consider herself attractive, but at the same time would be very charming and charismatic.

Fateful meeting

Inna Churikova was not afraid to look ugly and ridiculous on the screens, because in the cinema she was offered only grotesque and comedic roles. Because of her non-standard appearance, at first they did not want to be admitted to any of the theater universities or to any of the theaters. Even in the Theater of the Young Spectator, where she was eventually taken, only minor roles were entrusted to her. But in the cinema, her fate was developing more successfully: by the time she met Gleb Panfilov, she had already managed to star in episodes of the films "Clouds over Borsk", "I Walk Through Moscow", "Elusive Avengers", "Older Sister", and also be remembered by the audience starring in the films "Frost" and "Cook". Of course, she did not consider herself a beauty and did not try to look better on screens than in life. The main thing in it was organicity, spontaneity and the very share of the "eccentric" that the director was looking for.

He saw her on TV, in the TV show of the Theater of the Young Spectator, where Inna Churikova played Baba Yaga. Then Panfilov thought that he would like to see such a heroine in his film. And after that, Rolan Bykov advised him to pay attention to Churikova, and the director was convinced that his instinct did not let him down. Panfilov recalled their first meeting: "". And she later said: "".

At first, the management of the film studio did not want to approve Churikova for the main role, because the main characters were usually bright beauties, but Panfilov was adamant: he needed this particular actress! The director helped her find her own acting style, discovered her for herself. Later, Churikova said that it was in the film "There is no ford on fire" that she was born as an actress, because Panfilov not only exploited her specific appearance, but also made it possible to reveal the full range of multifaceted acting potential.

Slander on the beauty of Soviet people

In 1968 the film "There is no ford in the fire" was released. The filmmakers greeted the premiere at the House of Cinema with enthusiasm, but discussions began in the press. Someone saw in Inna Churikova a movie star of a new format and wrote a review under the title "Is beauty in beauty?" The film bosses remained adamant: Churikov and non-standard actresses like her were strongly discouraged from starring, "". However, Gleb Panfilov remained true to himself and his muse and ignored this prohibition.

But the audience received the film very warmly. In 1969, the debutant director won recognition abroad: at the International Film Festival in Locarno (Switzerland), Panfilov received the first prize - the Golden Leopard, and the work of Inna Churikova was awarded a diploma by the jury. For the debut film, it was an incredible success.

After 2 years, while working on the next film, where Gleb Panfilov shot Inna Churikova in the title role, the director and actress got married. This painting had a symbolic name - "The Beginning". When she came out, the readers of the magazine "Soviet Screen" chose Churikova the best actress of 1970, at the International Film Festival in Venice she received the "Golden Lion" for the film "Inception", and her husband - the "Silver Lion". This was a triumphant beginning for their joint creativity, and a harmonious family union with a half-century history of love.

After the premiere of the film "Inception" Faina Ranevskaya admired her colleague: "".

Such, which Panfilov showed Churikov, none of the directors saw her, because he looked at her with loving eyes. Thanks to this, the audience was also able to discern in her something that they had not noticed before - not only a powerful comedic and sharp-character potential, but also subtle lyrics, spiritual depth, fragile femininity and incredible charm.

Such meetings change life once and for all: What helped Inna Churikova overcome self-doubt.