How does a funny little girl from the musical comedy "Sorcerers" look and live these days: Anya Ashimova

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

A funny girl with a bright appearance Anya Ashimova, who played the younger sister of the protagonist in the musical comedy "The Sorcerers" was remembered by all viewers of the country when they first saw her on TV screens on New Year's Eve in 1982. Many then were sure that with such artistic and external data, she would certainly become a star of domestic cinema. However, the fate of the little actress was completely unpredictable.

Sometimes it is enough for an artist to show himself brightly somewhere in order to win popular love. A single role can change a whole life, becoming the foundation of an acting career. However, this did not happen with a seven-year-old Moscow schoolgirl - this role was the first in her life, but, unfortunately, also the last. Her star, flashing brightly in the sky, immediately went out, but left a memory of itself in the hearts of the audience for more than a decade. It seems that a lot of time will pass, and this picture will continue to be our guide to the magical world of New Year's fairy tale and childhood.

Briefly about the plot of the film, script and casting

A two-part television musical film with elements of fiction - about love and deceit, about magical forces that help Ivan Pukhov (Alexander Abdulov), after many incredible adventures on New Year's Eve, to conjure his beloved Alyonushka (Alexandra Yakovleva), an employee of the Institute of Magic at NUINU. The film is based on the well-known story of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky "Monday starts on Saturday".

Many who read this work note with regret that only the city of Kitezhgrad, the institute of magicians and sorcerers and several heroes remained from the story. Writers rewrote the script more than once due to the strict censorship in the cinema of those years. As a result, the new version turned out to be a completely New Year's story, which director Konstantin Bromberg made a musical. And albeit with some losses, the film still reached a wide audience of viewers, becoming an attribute of the New Year's holiday for many years.

But that's not all. Probably, at that time there was no such picture for which such a number of stars of domestic cinema would have auditioned, and so famous and popular that the director could only sympathize. The choice was indeed long and painful for him. Nevertheless, now we cannot even imagine that in the place of one actor there could be another - even no less famous and talented.

Which of the stars of Soviet cinema could, but did not play this or that role in the musical, you can find out from our publication: Heroes of "The Wizards" 35 years later …

By the way, the director selected the star cast of the film amazingly. True, the only one in "The Wizards" was the main role of Nina Pukhova, for which an ordinary Moscow schoolgirl was approved, who had no experience, no patronage, no stellar parents. Although more than a dozen applicants have tried this role, he chose her. And Anya "took" the director with her extraordinary appearance, infectious energy, childlike spontaneity, innate charisma and charm.

About the young actress

A blonde, freckled little girl was born in January 1973 in Ulan-Ude, where her father, Rafael Ashimov, served in the engineering troops. The family moved to Moscow when it was time for their daughter to go to school. Once in the capital, a girl from a distant Buryat city zealously took up her studies, everything was incredibly interesting to her. And in her free time, Anya managed to attend several circles in the Palace of Pioneers on the Sparrow (then Lenin) Hills, where she sang, danced and even painted.

To the film studio them. Gorky, Anya Ashimova got into the film project "Sorcerers" by chance. Somehow, waiting for the start of classes, the girl stood with her friends in the hallway of the Palace. A woman approached the group of girls, as it turned out later, the assistant director Konstantin Bromberg: she was looking for a little actress for a role in a new film. So she invited them all at once to the film studio for auditions.

Ashimova later recalled her first visit to the film studio this way: “I remember we were brought to a small room where there was an old dressing table. I moved its doors, saw many of my reflections and began to make faces. The photographer literally pulled me away from the mirror by the scruff of the neck. " All this, as it turned out later, was watched by director Konstantin Bromberg, who really liked the exemplary excellent student with disheveled pigtails and a radiant smile. He then said: "I immediately realized that it was she, my Nina"

Nevertheless, Anyuta had to go through tests on a general basis. For a long time she did not succeed, she could not learn the text in any way. The girl cried, but did not agree to her grandmother's persuasion to return home. The stubborn character of the excellent pupil did its job, and Anya nevertheless learned the necessary words. After the shot was taken, she was approved for the role.

So Anya ended up in the cinema, and painstaking but interesting work began. Once in the acting environment, the young actress felt like a fish in water. The little girl did not understand a lot, therefore she behaved naturally: In addition, the celebrities turned out to be ordinary kind, sympathetic and cheerful people. The girl had the warmest relationship with Emmanuel Vitorgan and Mikhail Svetin, who even presented Anya with a whole bundle of calendars, which at that time was the ultimate dream of a child. Anya also developed a special relationship with her "brother" - Alexander Abdulov, who really took care of the baby as a sister.

And in general, the actor was, as they say, the soul of the company. On the set, he always tried to amuse those around him. His jokes lifted the spirits, and everyone, having relaxed, with renewed vigor set to work. Little Anya next to tall Abdulov seemed very tiny. Therefore, the film crew had to go to all sorts of tricks: either put the girl on some stones, then put thick books under the bench on which she was sitting.

About her work in the film, Anna later said that the most difficult thing was given to serious feelings:

Movie soundtrack

Anyway, Ashimova says that watching the film again, she sees a lot of blunders. This is especially noticeable in scenes where the young talent supposedly sings. In some places there is a complete discrepancy between the picture and the sound … But the voice acting of the film is a separate topic. To begin with, we note that during the filming, it was decided to re-sound Anya's voice. She now spoke in the voice of Svetlana Kharlap, theater and film actress, master of dubbing and dubbing. However, the girl did not sing in the film herself, although she knew how and pretty well.

In the musical, as everyone managed to notice, there are many songs, or to be more precise, there are twelve. Their authorship belongs to the composer Yevgeny Krylatov and the songwriter Leonid Derbenev, who had to redo the texts 6-7 times at the request of the director.

Almost all the main characters sing songs based on the film. But of the actors who starred in these roles, only Alexander Abdulov, Mikhail Svetin, Emmanuel Vitorgan and Semyon Farada sang for themselves. The rest were voiced by the stars of the national stage. For example, Irina Otieva sang all the songs instead of Alexandra Yakovleva, superbly transforming herself into a sweet Alyonushka or a witch. And the most difficult song in this picture - "Imagine" - was brilliantly performed by Sasha Abdulov. Professional vocalists tried to sing it, but the voices did not "merge" with the hero of Abdulov. Then the actor had to sing it. It turned out quite well.

In addition, many of our readers will be shocked to find out who actually sang the song "Three White Horses", which became not only a hit, but also a winter anthem for many years. At first, 13-year-old Olga Rozhdestvenskaya, daughter of the famous singer Zhanna Rozhdestvenskaya, tried to sing it. Anya also tried to perform "Three White Horses", recorded a song, but her voice did not suit the artistic council. But, somehow a young jazz singer Larisa Dolina entered the studio. She was 27 years old at that time. For fun, the director invited the singer to sing a verse, but when he heard her singing, he did not invite anyone else to audition. The execution turned out to be more than! The singer sang in a high voice, ringing and fervently. And it is in her performance, as it is not difficult to imagine, that this hit has been heard from TV screens for almost 40 years. And then, when releasing the film on television, its creators did not even mention the singer in the credits.

In addition to Dolina and Otieva, songs were performed by Zhanna and Olga Rozhdestvensky, Leonid Serebrennikov, Vladislav Lynkovsky, VIA "Good fellows" and were also remembered and loved by the audience.

The oppression of popularity

After the release of "The Wizards" on screens in 1982. In an instant, the young actress became extremely popular. But, as she later admitted, this fame was not a joke on her:

Further destiny

Although the bright debut was unforgettable and, it seemed, fateful, Anya Ashimova herself never intended to become an actress:

Anya studied well at school, after graduating from which she entered the Academy of Management, the Faculty of Economic Informatics. Mathematics was one of her favorite subjects, and it was her that our heroine chose for herself as a profession.

It was at the entrance exams to the university that Anya met her future husband, Kirill Gaidash. Having become classmates, at first they were just friends, but in the third year love broke out between them. It happened at one of the parties. And after the fourth year, Kirill and Anya got married. After graduating from the academy, Anna worked as an economist in an insurance company, and then as an editor in a magazine. After the birth of her son Sasha, she quit and devoted herself to family life. Say what you like, it's good when dreams come true …

Anna says about her current life:

P. S. Continuation of "The Wizards", which did not come true

In the 90s, director Konstantin Bromberg and screenwriter Boris Strugatsky suddenly decided to shoot a sequel to "The Wizards". The plot of which was conceived "on the head of the day" - the NUINU institute was attacked by businessmen who dreamed of getting a magic wand to do business. The Institute with all the wizards was forced to hide in a parallel world, but Alena needed to return to the real world, where she had a husband and daughter …

The project was never implemented due to funding problems. Well, on the other hand, as time has shown, the sequels filmed many years later based on the motives of well-known and popular films of the 70-80s did not particularly delight the audience.

Read about many interesting facts that happened in the process of creation and how the film "Sorcerers" was shot in our publication: Start without the main character and the UFO over the set: what remained behind the scenes of the film "The Wizards".