Andrey Mironov's last film: What's left behind the scenes of the film "The Man from Boulevard des Capucines"

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

30 years ago, on August 16, 1987, one of the most popular actors of Soviet cinema passed away Andrey Mironov … Two months before, Alla Surikova's film was released "The Man from Boulevard des Capucines", which became the last film work of Andrei Mironov. On the set, there were a lot of curiosities that most viewers did not even know about.

The script for this film, written by Eduard Akopov, lay on the shelves of Mosfilm for several years, since none of the directors dared to tackle the western genre. But Alla Surikova was not afraid, although she later admitted that she did it "out of frivolity." The main character, Mr. Fest, was played by Andrei Mironov. Surikova did not see anyone else in this role, so she patiently waited for his consent for six months. Due to the constant employment in the filming, he could not read the script, but when he finally found the time for this, he realized that this role was created especially for him, since his hero was just as fanatically devoted to the "cinematography" as he was. …

In a western, even ironic, it is assumed that there are a large number of battle scenes. The stuntmen helped to stage the stunts, almost all the actors took part in them without understudies. Even Natalya Fateeva climbed the wall with a pole on her own. But Mironov flatly refused to act in fights - the actor could not forget the injury received during his studies. When he passed the stage movement exam, he had to pretend to be a fight, and his partner “tried so hard” that Mironov then ended up in the hospital. The stuntman Alexander Inshakov managed to convince the actor that this time everything would be safe, and then Mironov nevertheless agreed to participate in the fight scene.

The role of Mr. Fest was for Andrei Mironov the last completed work in the cinema. In Leningrad, he attended the premiere of the film, and two months later, while on tour in Riga, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. At that time he was only 46 years old. Later, Alla Surikova admitted that the film for her began not with the script, but with the main character - if Mironov had refused, the work would hardly have taken place. According to the results of a survey of readers of the magazine "Soviet Screen", Mironov was recognized as the best actor in 1987.

Nikolai Karachentsov initially auditioned for another role - Black Jack the robber. And in the role of Billy, director Alla Surikova saw an actor of a different texture - tall and powerful. But Karachentsov convinced her and persuaded to give this role to him. And the director was pleased with his work. He performed all the stunts on his own, without understudies, his amazing plasticity charmed the entire film crew. But during the filming of one of the episodes, he was injured: after several unsuccessful takes, he provoked the stuntman into a real fight, and eventually left the set with a broken toe.

The role of Black Jack went to Mikhail Boyarsky. But when he was invited to shoot, he was busy in another project. To secure his consent, Surikova's assistants cheated and said that Andrei Mironov personally asked him to be invited to this role. He could not refuse him, and so Surikova managed to collect a unique stellar acting ensemble on one set. Not without curiosities. The main villain, Black Jack, had a horse taken away during filming. Independent searches yielded no results, so I had to go to the police.

Oleg Tabakov agreed to shoot in the film, however, he did not have time for this at all. Therefore, he was filmed separately, in close-ups, and then added to the general scenes during editing. The actor approached his role creatively and finalized the image himself: he inserted special tubes into his nose to make it appear wider, and his face looked "insidiously good-natured." His son also worked next to him on the set: Anton Tabakov got a small role as a ticket collector.

The most difficult thing for the director was with the choice of the main character. Irina Rozanova and Olga Kabo claimed the role of Diana. Alexandra Yakovleva initially did not pass the test, but decided to try again and persuaded Surikova to give her a second chance. The director gave the right to choose to Andrei Mironov, and it was thanks to him that Alexandra Yakovleva got this role. Surikova recalled: "".

The film might not have been released. The Goskino commission, after viewing, came to the conclusion that the western genre with fights and tricks could not be of interest to the Soviet audience. But everything turned out to be just the opposite. Despite the fact that there was nothing in common with the classical genre of Westerns, and the fact that the title contained a factual error (Paris has Boulevard des Capucines, not Capuchins), the film enjoyed incredible popularity with viewers. More than 50 million people watched it a year.

The inimitable Mr. Fest was very popular with viewers, especially women, but none of them managed to take first place: why did Andrei Mironov consider his mother the main woman in his life?.