Video: Behind the scenes of "Crew": how the first Soviet disaster film appeared
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
On October 30, 1979, the shooting of the legendary film by A. Mitta "The Crew" … It became the leader of the box office in 1980, and was seen by over 70 million viewers. No one could even imagine such a success - it was the first disaster film in the USSR, and the whole filming process was also catastrophic: the script had to be rewritten, the actors refused roles, the censorship cut out frames that were too frank for those times. And yet the result exceeded all expectations.
The idea to make a film-catastrophe came to director Alexander Mitta back in 1976. Nothing of the kind was filmed in the USSR at that time, and the leadership initially did not approve of this idea: the Soviet plane could not crash, and Mitta did not want to abandon the idea of a plane crash. The director managed to find a compromise solution: the accident happens abroad, due to a natural disaster, and not a technical malfunction of the aircraft. And thanks to the heroic actions of the TU-154 crew, he returned to Moscow in the final. In this form, the script for "Safety margin" was approved, however, later the director changed the name to "Crew".
However, script problems were not the biggest during filming. The budget was very modest, and Mitta wanted to make a film with real special effects. There were no decommissioned TU-154 aircraft in the USSR at that time - the model was new. A Tu-114 was found in the cemetery of old aircraft. Since he could no longer move, the scenery was built right around him. However, in preparation for filming, the wires sparked, and the diesel-filled plane caught fire even before filming began. It was not possible to save the situation, Mitta arrived already at the ashes. Later, these episodes were filmed on parts of the aircraft that had crashed.
Catastrophes followed the director during the selection of the cast. All the main roles were supposed to go to those who played them as a result. Alexei Petrenko was to become the ship's commander, Nikolai Karachentsov as co-pilot, Oleg Dal as flight engineer, and Elena Proklova as flight attendant. For various reasons, all the actors refused to shoot. The last to leave was Oleg Dal, when most of the episodes with him had already been filmed - he was sick. The reshoot required new costs, and besides, it was urgently necessary to look for a new hero.
The place of Oleg Dal was taken at that time by the widely unknown Leonid Filatov. Many were surprised by this choice, since it was difficult to imagine this actor in the role of a womanizer. M. Zhvanetsky later said about him: "Thin, angry, sick - but what the country is, so is the sex symbol." After filming, Filatov really gained incredible popularity, especially among the female population of the USSR. The actor admitted that the role of a playboy was given to him with difficulty, since in life he is modest and withdrawn.
They also looked for a replacement for Proklova for a long time. The choice fell on student Alexandra Yakovleva (at that time - Ivanes). Mitta was worried that she would not be released from school - at that time filming students in films was not approved, but it turned out that she was expelled for being late and disrupting rehearsals. At the same time, the rector warned not to contact her - even then there were legends about the difficult character of Ivanes. The director of the picture B. Krishtul regretted that he did not follow this advice: “But I had to endure, there was no money for reshoots, and the thought that I would have to look for the main character again made me shiver. The underachieved student did such that even the veterans of the cinema were amazed: she made tantrums, substituted people. When the credits were already ready, the actress got married and changed her last name without notifying anyone in advance. And then she hysterically, demanding to redo the credits.
The film "The Crew" in the USSR became revolutionary not only in terms of special effects and dynamics of the plot, but also in the number of erotic scenes. True, most of them ended up being cut out. But even what was left (only about 20%) amazed the imagination of an inexperienced Soviet viewer.
The ending of the film was originally different - the crew commander had to die from the stress experienced. But the ministers of aviation and cinema were outraged by this ending and insisted on a happy ending. Therefore, in the finale, a scene was added as the crew visit the surviving commander in the hospital.
The legendary film does not lose popularity today: recently, based on its motives, director N. Lebedev shot a new "Crew", where Mitta acted as a consultant. But Alexandra Yakovleva refused the acting profession: why the star of "Crew" and "Sorcerers" left the cinema
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