4 famous Russian stuntmen of the past, whose stunts are still admired today

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

We never cease to admire the incredible scenes that accompany action films and science fiction films. At the same time, computer technologies are not always capable of fully embodying the director's intention. Of course, some actors have both courage and ability. But you must admit that not every actor wants to burn, fall or drown. In this situation, film studios may hire teachers of riding, extreme driving, or teach actors how to fight, but never make a star face risk it. Therefore, they come to the rescue - professional daredevils who made courage their profession.

Alexander Inshakov

Perhaps this is one of the few stuntmen whom the viewer knows by sight. He not only performs and directs stunts, but often appears in the frame himself. There are many examples, the most memorable are the roles in the films "The Crusader" and "The Brigade". And Alexander Ivanovich got to the cinema thanks to sports. In the early 70s, he became interested in karate and a few years later received a black belt. He became the absolute champion in this art at the Moscow Championship in 1979. The new talent was used at the Mosfilm film studio, with which Inshakov collaborated for over 20 years. Subsequently, he teamed up with his colleague Russian director Denis Alekseev, and they created the Triada-Film company.

For a long career, the actor and stuntman had to work in such famous films as "Assa", "Tehran-43", "Cold Summer of 53", "The Man from Boulevard des Capuchins" and many others. It was he who dubbed such different actors as Alexander Abdulov, Goyko Mitich, Leonid Yarmolnik. Experience and professionalism allowed Alexander Ivanovich not only to be the author of various interesting tricks, but also to act as a producer of the cult series "Brigade".

The stuntman considers one of his favorite works to work on the stunts of the musical western of Soviet times - the film "The Man from the Boulevard des Capucines". As he later recalled, a funny company of four stunt groups gathered on the set. The time while the scenery was being created and the cowboy town was being built was not wasted - together with their colleagues, they revised American action films and came up with completely new spectacular solutions. For example, instead of glass bottles, resin bottles were cast especially for the actors, which fought without causing harm, but looked like real ones. Even equipment was brought from Africa - a balsa tree that could be easily broken. The result was an amazing film where Inshakov played several roles at once. I even visited a woman - after all, the ladies would not have been able to lift and carry the actor A. Mironov on their own.

A favorite question that journalists love to ask a stuntman is about work-related injuries. But Alexander Ivanovich is not afraid of them, because anything can happen. Once, during the filming of the film "Forbidden Zone", the stuntmen had to be in the frame of a huge tornado. This natural phenomenon was recreated using a rocket launcher. However, one of the soldiers, controlling the engine, misunderstood the command, and as a result, the air stream lifted a whole stack of firewood into the air and carried it to the stuntman. Of course, it was not without a severe head injury. The injury could have been worse if the stuntman hadn't gotten his bearings. And there are also funny cases. During the filming of the battle scene of the historical film "Boris Godunov" about 500 horsemen were supposed to converge on the field. The artists are ready, so the armies converge and … horses accustomed to walking in formation are lined up in clear lines! What to do - they have been taught that way all their lives.

Vladimir Balon

It is this stuntman and an experienced swordsman who staged battles in many films. Pictures "Beware of the car", "Step off the roof", "Devil's dozen" are known and loved by many. But thanks to historical films filled with battles - "D'Artanyan and the Three Musketeers", "Midshipmen, forward" - Vladimir Balon opened up to the viewer as an actor. Remembering his work on the latter, the stuntman proudly spoke about the difficulties. The fight on a spiral staircase, where actors with swords in a fight move from the steps to the balustrade, then fall down and return to their original place, he considers his best staged fight, "dialogue on iron". Subsequently, he was invited to appear and stage stunts in modern sequels of films about D'Artagnan and the adventures of the midshipman.

It is noteworthy that as a child, Vladimir Balon was distinguished by poor health, he was diagnosed with asthma, tuberculosis and a whole bunch of diseases. But when the young guy got tired of everything, he made a "fake" certificate of fitness and with his friends enrolled in the fencing section. So he chose his future profession, graduating from the Institute of Physical Education. And he got into the cinema thanks to E. Ryazanov - his debut was the film "The Hussar Ballad".

Nikolay Vaschilin

This man, as he later wrote in his autobiography, "was dying at the will of the directors." It was he, and not Nikita Mikhalkov, who blazed with fire in the frame. And he, instead of Vitaly Solomin, jumped from pine to pine. Nikolai Nikolaevich is now on a well-deserved retirement, and earlier he was not only a vice-champion in sambo, but also an excellent stunt director. He also worked on the most exciting scenes of "The Musketeers", thanks to him, the fight between Sherlock Holmes and Mortimer over the waterfall looks with bated breath. He occasionally starred himself in episodic roles, for example, as a pirate in Treasure Island, a sailor in Red Bells, a bandit in Speed, or Nikolai in the film Urga-Territory of Love. For a long time he directed the course of stunt training for future actors of LGITMiK and did a lot to make Lenfilm's stuntmen the best.

Alexander Mikulin

The stuntman Mikulin became the main director of stunts with the use of motor vehicles and vehicles in the USSR. He has been inventing and making accidents for over 40 years. And it all began, as usual, with the passion of youth - as a boy, he drove along Nikolina Gora, where his father had a dacha. And even now, when the traffic police check the documents, they are surprised - Alexander Mikulin received the rights back in 1958, and he has a permit for all types of vehicles, including a tram. As the stuntman shares, safety is above all for him, which is why he is against risky shots with actors and even athletes. Thanks to him, more than 65 films have been created, and at the same time not a single emergency has happened.

It's all about excellent pre-preparation. However, not everyone understands this. Once, says the stuntman, he had to act in a small video dedicated to road safety. It was attended by two twin boys, one of whom, according to the scenario, was supposed to cross the road. And it was assumed that the driver of the car, Alexander Mikulin, would brake at high speed right in front of the child. The director, having filmed several takes, suddenly doubted a little - what if the car would fail? To which Alexander joked: "Yes, we have a second boy." This was the last take of the day.