Scandalous glory of "Brigade": Why the actors of the acclaimed series are reluctant to remember their participation in the project

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

On May 28, the famous Russian actor Andrei Panin could have turned 56, but 5 years ago he passed away. He began acting in films only at the age of 35, and real popularity came to him after filming in the series. "Brigade" … There he played a classic antihero, after which he was offered, mainly, the role of villains and scoundrels. For other actors who played the main roles in the series, he also played a fatal role. Therefore, many of them today prefer not to talk about this project. And recently, because of the "Brigade", which made a lot of noise in the early 2000s, a scandal flared up again …

The creators worked on the creation of the 15-episode film for about two years. The Russian "gangster saga", as the producers and director called it, came in handy in the early 2000s, when the memory of the gangster times was still alive. Therefore, the "Brigade" is often called "a monument to the era of the dashing 90s." According to director Alexei Sidorov, the reference point for him was The Godfather, Scarface and Once Upon a Time in America. "Brigade" became the most expensive Russian television movie at that time. The budget for one episode was 200 thousand dollars. Filming was carried out at 350 sites, including the Government House and the Butyrka prison, 110 role-playing characters were involved and about 900 sets of costumes were used.

Since the release of the series, the controversy around him has not subsided. The most frequent accusations against the founders of the "Brigade" are the romanticization of the criminal way of life, the propaganda of illegal profit and the glorification of the bandits. However, the producer Anatoly Sivushov presented the main idea of the project in a different way: "".

The director of the film, Alexei Sidorov, even claimed that this is a movie about love: "". However, the "Brigade" can hardly be called a melodrama, after all, the criminal plot in it determines all the events.

The main characters were so convincing in the images of bandits that many representatives of the criminal world took them for their own. In addition, many of them claimed that it was they who became the prototypes of the heroes of the series. Most often they write that the image of Sasha Bely was "copied" from the thief in law, the leader of the Orekhovo-Medvedkovo group, Sylvester. He also started from scratch in the late 1980s. headed an organized crime group that was engaged in robbery, car theft and racketeering. And just like Bely, he faked his own death. They even said that the money for the shooting was given by the "brothers" themselves. True, the creators of the series, admitting that during the filming, they consulted both the police and criminal structures, deny their participation in the financing of the project.

After the release of the series on the screens, the actors who played the main roles received just crazy popularity. But not all of them were happy about it. Dmitry Dyuzhev, who received permission to shoot in the guise of a bandit from his confessor, later said: "". And although for Dmitry Dyuzhev, Vladimir Vdovichenkov and Sergei Bezrukov "Brigade" became a springboard in the film career, and after that they were filmed a lot, they were still associated for a very long time exclusively with their heroes-bandits. Bezrukov was angry when he was once again told that in each of his next images Sasha Bely "looks through", and that this character is the most convincing of all whom he has ever played.

Unlike his colleagues, Pavel Maikov in the early 2000s. did not receive a large number of proposals from directors: "", - said the actor.

Recently, a scandal erupted around the Brigade. Pavel Maikov sharply criticized the series: "". The actor saw the problem in the fact that due to the fact that the images of criminals turned out to be too attractive, the boys for whom the series became a cult dreamed of becoming bandits.

Maikov's words caused a storm in the media. The producer of the series, Alexander Akopov, said that the crime rate in Russia has nothing to do with the popularity of the "Brigade": "".

Vladimir Vdovichenkov regarded the words of Pavel Maikov simply as an attempt to once again attract attention to himself, but the fact is that many viewers absolutely agreed with him. And the actors themselves are very reluctant to remember filming in the film, which brought them their first popularity. Vladimir Vdovichenkov and Ekaterina Guseva for several years refused to talk about the Brigade in interviews. Bezrukov wants to forget the role of Sasha Bely, like a bad dream, and considers filming in a "dirty movie" a failure. Producer Alexander Inshakov did not understand such a reaction, because it was this role that became the start in Bezrukov's film career.

Andrei Panin always stayed away from the discussions around the Brigade. He himself stated that he had not watched the whole series: "". And to the question of whether he regrets that after the role he played, the role of a villain was fixed for him, he answered: "".

No matter what they said about The Brigade, one thing was certain: the series was wildly popular with viewers and won several awards in the Best Series nomination. A lot of discussions have caused and the mystery of Andrei Panin's death: murder or accident?