"Skeletons in the closet" of Soviet films: Novels, intrigues, quarrels and other incidents that the audience did not know about

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

Despite the fact that Soviet films are deservedly considered the most sincere and warm, a lot happened on the set, from quarrels and stormy reconciliations to accidents and divorces. Given the creative nature of the actors, their impulsiveness and emotionality was not uncommon. Despite the disagreements and misunderstandings, the viewer, thanks to the talented acting of the actors, had no idea what was really going on between them.

Prisoner of the Caucasus

It would seem that the beloved comedy, which the audience of several generations liked, was as if filmed in an atmosphere of friendliness and mutual assistance. No matter how it is. After this film, Leonid Gaidai and Yevgeny Morgunov, who played "Experienced", no longer worked together. Many colleagues were aware of the conflict between them, after Morgunov came to the technical viewing of the picture drunk, in the company of girls and from the last row dropped jokes about the director. The actor was taken out of the audience, and the offended director did not find anything better than to cut out all the scenes with Experienced, which could be removed without prejudice to the film.

However, this was the last straw in a long-running conflict. At first, Yuri Nikulin refused to shoot, he did not want to play Dunce again and called it speculation on their troika. But Gaidai, with whom they were on friendly terms, managed to persuade him, promising that he would make changes to the script and diversify their images.

The relationship between the trinity was also tense, Morgunov and here managed to spoil relations with colleagues, refused to act. It was rumored that the cause of the endless series of conflicts, the source of which was Morgunov, was not only his complex nature, but also different payments to the actors for the roles of the same plan. The experienced one received almost two times less.

After Morgunov was removed from the technical inspection of the picture, he no longer acted in the film, in scenes that had not yet been filmed, he is played by an understudy. For example, another person brings in the refrigerator.

The Diamond Arm

The Tarbar language spoken by the smugglers was not spelled out in the script, the actors invented it right off the bat. Considering that Gaidai loved references and did nothing just like that, even in this seemingly meaningless set of words, you can find a logical chain.

So, Gaidai offered the curse word "Mordyuk". When Nikulin asked why Mordyuk then, the director joked, allegedly had a fight with Mordyukova the day before and decided to make her "pleasant" in this way. A kind of immortalized joke. Considering that the character of Nonna Mordyukova was not sugar, it is likely that this was so, but neither the director nor the actress decided not to dwell on the conflict and its reasons, moreover, it was clearly not so serious.

Mironov, who brilliantly and directly played Kozodoev in this film, never again played for Gaidai, although the director often shot talented, but the same actors from film to film. Another contender for this role was Georgy Vitsin himself. Gaidai planned to shoot Mironov in the role of Miloslavsky in the film "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession", but only if Nikulin plays Ivan the Terrible. But with Yakovlev, their tandem did not work out in Gaidai's eyes.

Trial of Loyalty

In 1953, an order was issued, more unspoken, forbidding directors to shoot their second halves in the main roles, apparently this has become too widespread a phenomenon. However, this did not stop a year later, Ivan Pyriev, once again starring Marina Ladynina, his wife and mother of his son.

The film "Trial of Loyalty" was watched by almost 32 million people, it was wildly popular, but became the last in the career of a young and talented actress. This is because her eminent husband, as he made her famous, having fallen in love, and destroyed her career, as soon as her feelings faded. Then it was normal for him, according to rumors, he ruined the career of many young actresses who turned him down.

It is ironic that the beginning of the end of the relationship between the director and the actress happened precisely at the time of the filming of the film about family values. Once she took him away from his legal wife and gave birth to a child to a married man, years later she herself found herself in an equally unenviable position. At first, the husband simply moved away, then he became rude and cold, and now rumors about his infidelity, about his harassment of aspiring actresses, whom, after refusal, he hacked at the root of his career, were already brought to her. But Marina did not believe the gossip and lived her usual life, although she could not avoid quarrels and scandals.

So, having learned about the next intrigue of her husband, the actress, on the advice of her friend, began to write letters to the party organs, but changed her mind and threw away the draft. But the nimble housekeeper delivered the letter to Pyryev himself, allegedly for this he ruined her future career. Or maybe everything is much more prosaic and no one except the spouse could see in the actress a talent suitable for the main roles.

Love and pigeons

For the entire cast, the film became a star, but for Alexander Mikhailov, who played Vasya, he almost became the last and not at all because he was going to leave the cinema. The Soviet know-how, the special effect when Vasily, dressed in a suit, shirt and tie, falls into the sea, and then emerges already undressed next to Raisa Zakharovna, was rather difficult to remove. Especially from the technical side. Even divers were involved in the filming.

It was not possible to shoot a rather complicated scene from the first take, the divers had to undress Mikhailov in 30 seconds and release him happy to Raisa Zakharovna. And during the next take, very hard-working divers pulled the tie without undoing it, and almost strangled the actor.

However, the actors themselves assure that the story is embellished and nothing terrible happened, just everyone was in a bit of a hurry and that was not the worst thing at all. Here is the fact that the shooting was in November and outside the window it was already cool in autumn, even in Batumi, and the water was not higher than 14 degrees, this is really scary.

By the way, few people know that there is only 10 years of difference between the actresses who played Nadezhda and Baba Shura. And this is Nadezhda older. That's what make-up and talented acting do. Baba Shura and Uncle Mitya spouses in real life - Natalya Tenyakova and Sergei Yursky, an intelligent couple from St. Petersburg, which, however, did not stop them from playing a colorful village couple.

Sorcerers

The role of Alena, an employee of the institute, who is then bewitched into a witch, was one of the key ones, it was necessary to choose not just a damn beautiful actress for her - there were no problems with that. The director wanted to see a demonic beginning in her, a character that would make everyone around her languish. Which is exactly what happened. Elena Tsyplakova, Proklova, Alferova auditioned for the role - the director saw beauty and lyricism in all of them, but the witch's beginning was not enough. In addition, Alferova and Abdulov were married at that time, and this would remove the sharpness in their relationship on the screen.

Alexandra Yakovleva took matters into her own hands right away from the trial, showing, if not a witch's character, but devilishness for sure. Her charisma, energy and beauty did not leave the director indifferent and she was approved for the role. Who knew that the demonic beginning of the girl would not give rest to the entire film crew. They played with Abdulov, but with Valentin Gaft they disliked each other from the very beginning.

Yakovleva brought the whole film crew with her nit-picking. I carefully examined the costumes and forced them to redo them, it got to the illuminators if they were "wrong" to expose the light and the actress was not good enough on the screen. For the same reason, the make-up artist got it. Grimm was applied to her for three hours, so that the employees simply sobbed from her demands to paint over each eyelash separately. It got to the point that the entire film crew boycotted her. And they did it when she finally appeared in the frame, putting on makeup and dressing and devoting the entire first half of the day to this.

Yakovleva had enough wisdom not to spoil relations with the director and cameramen - after all, it depended on them how good she would be in the frame. But with Gaft, they did not hide their hostility, he could not stand it when his partner did not know the text by heart, once, when she once again mixed up the text, he lost his temper and began to choke her. However, it organically fell into the take, so that even the director decided to use this moment in the film. But Gaft did not agree to the use of this frame and they went to meet him.

From that moment on, the actors began filming separately, and their common scenes were edited. Yes, it was problematic and long, but easier if you consider that any meeting between them ended in a squabble. Such a decision raised questions, but all doubts disappeared when Graft brilliantly confessed his love for the chair Alena was supposed to sit on, but she was filmed later!

White sun of desert

The Red Army soldier Sukhov was supposed to be played by Georgy Yumatov in the film, moreover, the role was written for him, therefore there were not even samples. Yes, it was already known about his problems with alcohol, there was an agreement that if he breaks down and drinks, he will be removed from the shooting. Less than a week later, Yumatov, after a hard day of shooting, drank and got into a fight. More precisely, he was beaten, and so badly that there could be no question of further work in the coming weeks. Even under makeup.

The director, remembering the initial agreement, removed the actor from the role, they urgently began to look for a replacement for him and found him. It was this role that made Anatoly Kuznetsov famous, although he got it, by and large, by accident.

This incident served as a lesson for Yumatov, after which it took a whole year for him to come to his senses. Later, he played brilliantly in the film "Officers" and regained his reputation, although his excessively close relationship with alcohol remained. In 1994, he shot a janitor with a gun for a stupid anecdote that questioned the results of World War II. Yumatov, who went through the war, was wounded, shell-shocked, could not endure this and took up his gun. And yes, he was drunk.

Despite all the quarrels and misunderstandings on the screen, the actors, the director and the entire creative and technical staff managed to make a truly kind and touching movie, and this under the conditions of the most severe censorship. That no matter how love for art and unconditional talent helped them in this? The results of their work - the classics of Soviet cinema never tire of delighting viewers of many generations, and the films have long been scattered into quotes that almost everyone knows.