Behind the scenes of the film "Truffaldino from Bergamo": Why Natalia Gundareva was against participating in the filming of Konstantin Raikin

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

On August 28, the famous actress Natalya Gundareva would have turned 70, but 13 years ago she passed away. It is probably difficult to name an artist who would have enjoyed such popularity - it seemed that she could do any role. One of the confirmation of this is the film "Truffaldino from Bergamo", in which Gundareva appeared in an unexpected role for herself. However, the audience had no idea what difficulties were accompanied by the filming process - the actress was categorically against the candidacy for the main male role …

The idea of staging a musical film based on the play by the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni "The Servant of Two Masters" came not to the director, but to the composer - Alexander Kolker, who wrote all the music for the film. The poet Kim Ryzhov, with whom they had worked in tandem for a long time, took up the script, and then they invited to listen to the finished musical play by theatrical director Vladimir Vorobyov. And he decided not to stage the play, but to create a film adaptation at Lenfilm. The original script was later supplemented with scenes with fencing, fights and chases, and the musical comedy turned out to be very dynamic.

The search for an actor for the main role in a musical comedy was quite long - one of the requirements was vocal data, so Oleg Dal and Boris Smolkin were considered among the candidates for the role of Truffaldino, who successfully performed on the stage of the Leningrad Theater of Musical Comedy, which at that time was directed by the film director Vladimir Vorobiev. Therefore, many had no doubts that the main role would go to Boris Smolkin, with whom he had worked for a long time. Moreover, he took most of the actors for the film from his theater. Smolkin really played Truffaldino, but only in the theater, a year after the release of the film, and in the comedy he got a cameo role.

Konstantin Raikin was not a singing artist, moreover, no one knew the Moscow theater actor in Leningrad at that time. And the fact that he was the son of the famous Arkady Raikin was taken with hostility by many - they say, they are "dragging through" another spoiled "actor's son". However, he also had a significant advantage - he was so organic, mobile and possessed such plasticity and a sense of rhythm that he had no equal in this. Therefore, the director Vladimir Vorobyov nevertheless opted for Raikin, which he had to regret more than once at the beginning of filming.

Konstantin Raikin himself could be characterized by words from the song of the protagonist "". He immediately realized that he could not miss this role, since it ideally suited his acting temperament. However, from the very beginning of filming, relations with the director did not work out, it even came to an open conflict. Raikin repeatedly asked Vorobyov to change his tone in communication with him and refrain from constant poisonous remarks about and without in his address, but the director remained tough enough, in the end, the actor promised to "stuff his face." After that, Raikin was even going to leave the shooting. The situation was complicated by the sharp rejection of his partner on the set Natalia Gundareva, which created a very tense atmosphere.

According to the script, the actors had to act out a love relationship, and Gundareva openly demonstrated her dislike for Raikin, although they were in the same year at the Shchukin School. At that time, Gundareva was already a famous actress, she could afford to dictate her conditions on the set. Gundareva categorically stated that she would not act with such a partner, they say, his only merit is his father's loud surname. She wanted the role of Truffaldino to go to the actor Viktor Pavlov. Vorobyov was a very strict and demanding director and usually never made concessions to the actors, but for the sake of Gundareva's participation he almost agreed to her terms.

Raikin admitted: "". The actor almost lost heart completely, but when Gundareva saw his work on the set, she realized that her attitude was biased, and that her son was really worthy of his famous father and received this role absolutely deservedly. The conflict situation was resolved by itself: rejection suddenly grew into mutual sympathy and creative harmony both on the part of the actress and on the part of the director. Later Vorobyov set Raikin as an example to other actors. And after the release of the film, Raikin finally received the recognition and love of the audience, and many still associate it with Truffaldino.

The role of Clarice went to the actress of the Musical Comedy Theater Elena Driatskaya. The viewers at that time did not know her, but they well remembered her voice - after all, it was she who sang the songs of Constance, Milady and Kat in the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers" and the part of Diana from "Dog in the Manger". Lyudmila Gurchenko herself auditioned for the role of Beatrice, but the actress and singer Valentina Kosobutskaya, known for the film "New Year's Adventures of Masha and Viti", was approved. It was not easy for her, because in the film she had to play both a male and a female role - her character first appeared in a man's suit, and then it turned out that it was a woman in disguise. But with all the vocal parts, both actresses coped brilliantly.

Unlike their colleagues, neither Raikin nor Gundareva could sing. Therefore, their parts were voiced by other actors: Truffaldino sang in the voice of Mikhail Boyarsky, and his beloved Smeraldina - in the voice of Elena Driatskaya. It is interesting that at one time Vladimir Vorobyov refused to accept Boyarsky into the troupe of his theater due to the fact that his voice seemed to the director too hoarse. The actor did not harbor resentment and agreed to participate in the work on the film - according to him, Kolker's brilliant music was the main argument in favor. As a result, Raikin's plasticity and Boyarsky's voice made the image of Truffaldino complete and complete.

Gundareva's exactingness was not a manifestation of a capricious character, but an indicator of high professionalism and a very serious attitude to work, because she made high demands, first of all, to herself. Behind the scenes of the film "Sweet Woman": Why Natalia Gundareva thought she was not suitable for the main roles.