Iron Button's Sole Role: How a Young Actress Gets Her Destiny Through Scarecrow

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

Probably one of the most resonant events in the film world of the early 1980s. was the film "Scarecrow", which provoked a loud scandal. At first, they did not want to release it on screens due to the fact that Soviet schoolchildren looked too cruel in it, and when the premiere did take place, a flurry of criticism fell upon the filmmakers. The young performers of the main roles also got it. The antipode of the main character, Iron Button, was played by Ksenia Filippova. And although in the future she did not become an actress, this film became fateful for her, because thanks to the director Rolan Bykov, she gained what she considers much more valuable than acting fame.

Thousands of schoolchildren were casting for the film by Rolan Bykov. When Ksenia Filippova stood in the crowd of people wishing to act in a movie, lined up in 6 rows, she did not even dream that they would pay attention to her. The invitation to come to the photo tests came as a complete surprise to her. The girl was even more surprised when she was approved for one of the main roles and she found out what company she got into: her partners on the set were the daughter of Alla Pugacheva Kristina Orbakaite, the son of actress Natalia Kustinskaya Dmitry Egorov, the stepson of Rolan Bykov Pavel Sanaev.

Ksenia could not believe that she, an ordinary schoolgirl, was chosen from thousands of girls from all over the country. Moreover, initially in this role the director saw Tatiana Protsenko, known for the role of Malvina from "The Adventures of Buratino". But she was seriously injured while cycling, and doctors forbade her to act in films. Tatyana had to refuse two very tempting offers - she could play Little Red Riding Hood and Iron Button. After her refusal, the role in the film "Scarecrow" went to Ksenia Filippova, who had no filming experience yet.

Of course, the young debutante had a hard time on the set. According to her, the hardest thing for her was to tune in to work and give out the desired emotion, because during the breaks the children were fooling around and laughing, and after a few minutes the girl had to cry in front of the camera. At the same time, the director did not give the children indulgences, stating: ""

For a 13-year-old home girl, who first found herself in another city without her parents, these shootings became a real stress, especially since she got one of the most difficult characters in the film - a cruel, principled and implacable sixth grader, nicknamed the Iron Button. After all, it was she, the "honor and conscience" of the class, who did not understand the situation, pointed out the victim, calling her classmate a traitor, and organized the boycott and lynching. It was psychologically difficult to recreate this character.

Ksenia told: "". There was a moment when she was already ready to escape from the set, but after a long conversation with Bykov, she still found the strength to pull herself together and do what was required of her. And the biggest reward for all her efforts was … a dog! With the received fee, Ksenia bought a spaniel, which she had long dreamed of.

On the set, the children became friends, and for several years after that Ksenia Filippova continued to communicate with Christina Orbakaite, Dmitry Egorov and Marina Martanova. On all birthdays, they went to visit each other. Later, Ksenia said: "".

After that, Ksenia Filippova returned to the set only once - after 2 years she starred in a cameo role in the children's film "Troika", and this was the end of her film career. She received new proposals from directors, she participated in the auditions, but it did not go further than this. However, this did not come as a big shock for the girl. Years later, Ksenia told: "".

After leaving school, Ksenia Filippova entered MGIMO at the Faculty of Economics, worked for 4 years at the Rolan Bykov Foundation, then worked in a bank and an advertising agency, and then got a job in a private art gallery. Today she says that she does not regret not becoming an actress, but she is very grateful to fate for such an experience, because communication with Rolan Bykov not only turned out to be very useful for her professionally, but also played a role in her development as a person. But most importantly, thanks to the director, Ksenia gained the most valuable thing in her life.

After the premiere of the film, Rolan Bykov received bags of letters. Among them were many angry messages from teachers who accused the director of deliberately exaggerating colors and slandering the Soviet school - they say, there was no such cruelty among schoolchildren, they could not take up arms against a classmate and even burn her scarecrow! However, the plot was based on a real story, and after the release of the film on the screens, many viewers wrote to Bykov that they had experienced such a thing. Hundreds of letters were also addressed to young actors, but the director decided not to give them to children in order to protect them from star fever. He made an exception for only one letter addressed to the Iron Button. Although he was written by a student of the 11th grade, he made an impression on Bykov that he was an adult and reasonable person beyond his years, so the director decided to pass this letter to Xenia.

Many questions in this message baffled the girl. For example, she was asked about what function the orchestra played in the film, and about other features of the filming process, and she even had to consult with her mother to determine the answer. As it turned out, the curious author of the letter was not a schoolboy, but a second-year student at the institute. They began to correspond, and one day the young man came to Ksenia in Moscow from St. Petersburg with a large bouquet of flowers. At that time he was 20, and she was 14. After 4 years they got married and have not parted since then. Ksenia wanted to invite Rolan Bykov to their wedding with her planted father Rolan Bykov, but at that time he had already become a deputy and could not find free time for this. Nevertheless, Ksenia continued to communicate with him until his last days.

This motion picture still causes a lot of controversy today: Why Scarecrow provoked a scandal.