Unplayed roles of Irina Muravyova: How the most charming and attractive almost became Raisa Zakharovna

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

In her filmography - more than 80 works, many of which have become cult. Today it seems that Irina Muravyova has always been a sought-after actress and could get any role for which she applied. But in fact, in her biography there were creative failures - some of the roles that she dreamed of went to other actresses, and she refused others herself. Could you imagine Muravyova as Raisa Zakharovna in the film "Love and Doves"?

"Attention, turtle!", 1969

Now it is hard to believe in it, but at first neither directors nor teachers believed in Irina Muravyova's acting talent. She was not admitted to any of the Moscow theater universities on the first attempt, and on the second she was taken only to the drama studio at the Central Children's Theater, on the stage of which she then performed for 7 years. On the screens, at the dawn of her acting career, she appeared only in television plays, and attempts to pass screen tests, as a rule, ended in failure.

Irina Muravyova tried to pass her first tests at the age of 20. Director Rolan Bykov then began work on the children's film "Attention, Turtle!", And Muravyova claimed the role of a school teacher. But as a result, the audience saw Irina Azer, the same age as Muravyova, a student of VGIK, in the image of the class teacher of the 1st "B". However, the popularity of this actress was not brought by this film - she became famous after "Zucchini" 13 Chairs "and" Big Change ".

"It can't be!", 1975

Irina Muravyova did not appear in Leonid Gaidai's comedy based on Zoshchenko's stories "It Can't Be!" In addition to her, Svetlana Kryuchkova also claimed the role of the bride of Vladimir Zavitushkin (performed by Leonid Kuravlev) in the short story "The Wedding Adventure". But in the end, this role went to Valentina Telichkina - the star of the film "Journalist", who by that time already had ten years of filming experience. But Kryuchkova still starred in this film, but in a different role - Zinuli.

Intolerance, 1976

Although in the mid-1970s. Irina Muravyova has already started acting in films, she was still often denied auditions. She applied for the main female role in the crime drama "Intolerance" by Evgeny Tashkov, but the director approved the actress of the Taganka Theater Elena Gabets. However, this film was not very popular with viewers, and Irina Muravyova in the same year appeared on the screens in the TV show "Doctor of Philosophy" and in the film "Time has chosen us."

Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano, 1977

Irina Muravyova and Natalia Gundareva were among the candidates for the role of Sofia Voinitseva in Nikita Mikhalkov's film An Unfinished Piece for a Mechanical Piano. However, the fact that in the end the role went to Elena Solovey was not surprising - she was called one of the most beloved actresses of Nikita Mikhalkov, who shot her in several of his films. And although the actress shortly before that became a mother for the second time, and she was not at all up to filming, the director persuaded her to come with the baby. Later, she did not regret that she agreed to this proposal, because this work became one of the best in their tandem with Nikita Mikhalkov.

"Love and Doves", 1984

In the late 1970s. All-Union recognition and fame finally came to the 30-year-old actress. First, she played one of the main roles in the musical comedy "Duenna", and a year later she appeared in the image of Lyudmila in the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" by Vladimir Menshov. The director was delighted with the work of Irina Muravyova on the set and said about her: "".

Menshov wanted to cooperate with Irina Muravyova in the future. When he started filming the film "Love and Doves", he decided that the image of the lively Lyudmila in some way echoed the image of the exalted Raisa Zakharovna, and offered this role to Muravyova. But then the actress had just had a second son, and she flatly refused to shoot.

For the role of Raisa Zakharovna, Vera Alentova, Olga Yakovleva and Natalya Kustinskaya also auditioned, but the latter was not approved by the artistic council, and Menshov himself planned to shoot Tatyana Doronina, but she also refused. Having already started filming, during a film expedition in Karelia, the director sent a telegram to Lyudmila Gurchenko, and Raisa Zakharovna was finally found. In her performance, the heroine was so colorful that for her sake Menshov significantly changed the script, adding several scenes with her participation and turning her from an episodic heroine into one of the main ones.

Irina Muravyova never regretted any of the unplayed roles - her family, not work, remained in the foreground for her all her life. At the age of 23, she married director Leonid Eidlin, in 1975 she had a son, Daniel, and in 1983, a son, Eugene. The actress really did not want her children to grow up behind the scenes and on the set, like all her colleagues, so she often refused even the most tempting roles if there was no one to leave her sons with. She agreed to act only in Moscow and did not leave the city for the sake of months of film expeditions.

Her theater colleague Elena Valyushkina said that during intermissions Muravyova always ran to the dressing room to call her sons: "". Until now, Irina Muravyova considers her main role to be the role of wife, mother and grandmother, and therefore she feels completely happy and does not think about unplayed roles. She says: "".

This film became the undisputed success of Lyudmila Gurchenko, although the audience did not see all the material filmed by Vladimir Menshov: What episodes did the censorship cut from the film "Love and Doves".