Video: Behind the scenes of the film "Burnt by the Sun": Because of what Oleg Menshikov refused to act, and Nadya Mikhalkova fainted
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
October 21 marks the 75th anniversary of the famous actor, director, screenwriter and producer Nikita Mikhalkov. In his filmography - more than 40 acting and more than 25 directorials. Mikhalkov's calling card both as an actor and as a director was the film Burnt by the Sun, which won an Oscar. Why Oleg Menshikov at first refused the role written especially for him, and then expressed gratitude to the director, and how Mikhalkov's daughter suffered on the set - further in the review.
The script entitled "The Unconditional Effect of Ball Lightning" was written by Nikita Mikhalkov in collaboration with Rustam Ibragimbekov in 1993 in just a few months. The action took place against the backdrop of the historical events of 1936, on the eve of mass repressions in the USSR, but the plot itself and all the characters were fictional. The auditions also passed very quickly, since the director knew in advance who he wanted to see in the lead roles. But not all of his expectations were met. The role of Mitya in the script was written specifically for Oleg Menshikov. Nikita Mikhalkov has already encountered him on the set in his film "Relatives", where Menshikov played a cameo role, and since then took the actor "on notice." A year after filming in "Rodna" he got the main role in "Pokrovskie gates", and Mikhalkov realized that he was not mistaken in his directorial instinct - in this role Menshikov was simply magnificent.
However, Menshikov unexpectedly refused the offer to star in "Burnt by the Sun" The fact is that at that time he had already signed a contract with the Romanian director, and he was going to leave for the shooting. Everything was decided by chance: the shooting was suddenly postponed, and the actor was free. Mikhalkov did not regret his choice - Menshikov in this role simply "bathed", very accurately conveyed the essence of his character, and most of the episodes with his participation were removed from the first take.
Later Menshikov admitted that he was very grateful to Mikhalkov for not taking another actor instead. After "The Pokrovsky Gates" he played the main roles in several films, but there were no such bright and successful works among them, and "Burnt by the Sun" played a crucial role in his film career, brought a second wave of popularity, made it possible to reveal new facets of acting talent and brought Russian artists to the "first echelon". Menshikov said: "".
In the main female role, Nikita Mikhalkov saw Elena Yakovleva. But then Ingeborga Dapkunaite, a young actress, came to the casting, whose most famous work at that time was a supporting role in the sensational film "Intergirl". Mikhalkov did not see this film, the name of the actress did not mean anything to him. She came to the audition without an invitation - she found out that the director was shooting a new film, and she herself proposed her candidacy. Mikhalkov at first glance was captivated by her lightness, openness, naturalness, fragility and some kind of strangeness. Later, he admitted that he was disarmed by the smile of the actress - when he saw her, he immediately realized that the main character should be just that.
The role of divisional commander Kotov was played by the director himself, and his daughter was played by 7-year-old Nadya Mikhalkova. For a while, he doubted his participation and thought about the candidacy of Vladimir Gostyukhin, but Nadia looked so natural next to her father that the director abandoned these thoughts. Because of her, Mikhalkov had to hurry up with the start of the filming process, although circumstances demanded that it be postponed until the summer. But Mikhalkov was afraid that during this time Nadia would grow out of the age of her script heroine and change noticeably outwardly.
The script took place in the summer and was filmed in November. Mikhalkov had to order artificial foliage, and the entire film crew manually glued 150 thousand green leaves to the trees. The actors had to portray a beach vacation in the sweltering heat, walk in swimming trunks and swimsuits and swim in the river, when in fact it was late autumn outside, the water was icy, frost was cleaned off the ground before filming, and the air was so cold that the mouth needed was to rinse with cool water so that no steam came out of it in the frame.
Probably the most difficult thing on the set was little Nadya Mikhalkova. Next to her father, she felt easy and relaxed, listened carefully to all his recommendations and followed them unquestioningly. In the frame, she looked incredibly organic, and the audience had no idea what it cost her. One of the episodes was filmed in a bathhouse, and while Mikhalkov was explaining her tasks to Ingeborg Dapkunaite, Nadia lost consciousness from overheating. At the same time, she did not complain and did not talk about her poor health - she was afraid to let the film crew down.
The title of the film refers to the popular movie in the 1930s. tango "Weary Sun", which sounded in the picture more than once. At first Mikhalkov wanted to name the film "The Burnt Sun of 1936", but one day a friend called him and asked: "" He liked this phrase so much and engraved in his memory that he decided to make it its name.
In addition, the director admitted that the title arose by analogy with Gone With the Wind. Film critics have drawn parallels with this work more than once. So, Andrei Plakhov wrote: "".
All efforts were not in vain: in 1994 the film "Burnt by the Sun" received the State Prize of the Russian Federation and was presented at the Cannes Film Festival. Mikhalkov was disappointed with the result: the jury awarded the main prize to "Pulp Fiction" by Quentin Tarantino. After that, Mikhalkov vowed to bring his films to this film festival. But 9 months later, he was in for a real triumph that made him forget about this failure - the American Film Academy awarded "Burnt by the Sun" an Oscar in the nomination "Best Foreign Language Film".
Another peak of the creative biography of Nikita Mikhalkov is called the film "Relatives": How the shooting almost cost the life of Nonna Mordyukova.
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