Behind the scenes of the film "Formula of Love": Why the actors refused roles, and what the song "Uno Momento" was about

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

On June 17, theater and film actress, People's Artist of Russia Alexandra Zakharova celebrates her 56th birthday. The springboard in her film career was the legendary film of her father, director Mark Zakharov - "Love Formula" … Many believed that she became an actress only because of her family ties, but did not know that her father was always her most severe critic and doubted whether she would cope with the role. But those in whom the director did not doubt themselves stubbornly refused to shoot. The audience also did not suspect that the main character was filmed in a cast and spoke in a strange voice, and what actually Farada and Abdulov were singing so touchingly about …

The script, written by Grigory Gorin, is based on the story of Alexei Tolstoy "Count Cagliostro". True, the script was so far from its literary basis that the film can hardly be called an adaptation of it. Gorin retained only the main storyline and turned Tolstoy's dark and caustic satire, exposing theosophical societies and the occult, into a work reminiscent of a rogue novel.

Initially, some of the characters were not in the script. So, the participation of Alexander Abdulov in this project was not supposed, but the actor himself turned to the director with a request to come up with at least a small role for him. And Grigory Gorin finished the role of Jacob, the servant of Count Cagliostro. The episode with the removal of the wig and transformation into another person was invented by Abdulov himself.

The famous song "Uno, uno, uno, un momento" might not have happened at all. In the first version of the script, she was absent, but Farada and Abdulov again took the initiative and offered the director this original move. The words and music of the pseudo-Italian "Neapolitan Song" were written by the film's composer Gennady Gladkov. It was composed of separate, rhymed, but in no way connected with each other Italian words. For all the phantasmagoric nature of the song, it still had to be approved by the literary committee, for which the censors were provided with the following "translation":

And that translation of the song about the poor fisherman, where in the finale “in general, everyone died,” as Abdulov's hero said in the film, has nothing to do with its content. Instead of Semyon Farada, who was not distinguished by outstanding vocal abilities, the author of the song, Gennady Gladkov, had to sing in a duet with Abdulov. The lyrics for all the other songs in the film were written by Julius Kim. In addition, Gladkov appeared in one of the episodes: he played the role of a servant of the Fedyashevs, who utters a single phrase: "Who was this sculpted from?"

Mark Zakharov knew in advance who he wanted to shoot in his film, and made a lot of efforts in order to carry out his plan. Usually actors come to auditions, and then the director himself went to the artists with an invitation to shoot. He visited the Georgian actor Nodar Mgaloblishvili in the theatrical dressing room when he was on tour in Moscow, during the intermission after the first act. At first, the actor replied with a categorical refusal - he spoke poor Russian and had no idea how he would interact with the actors on the set. But Zakharov managed to convince him by promising that another actor would voice his character. As a result, Count Cagliostro spoke in the voice of Armen Dzhigarkhanyan.

In the role of the main character, the director saw Elena Valyushkina, a graduate of the Schepkinsky school. But she also refused to shoot, since at that time she was just going on vacation. Later, the actress said: "". As a result, the role of Mary became significant for her.

For the role of Fimka, the director approved his daughter, Alexandra Zakharova. To many, this decision seemed logical, but they did not even suspect how much effort she had to make to convince her father, who doubted her acting abilities. He did not even want to take her to the troupe of "Lenkom" and gave the artistic council the right to decide whether the theater needed such an actress. However, for a long time she remained there in the crowd. But her work in the "Formula of Love" pleased her father - he was pleased with the result.

A real sensation during the filming was made by the actress Elena Aminova, who played the role of the assistant to Count Cagliostro. Both Abdulov and Farad began to hit behind the beauty - once they filled her bed with flowers plucked from local flower beds. And Farada rolled it around in his car, which caused great displeasure with his wife. Soon after filming, Aminova got married and gave birth to a daughter.

Nodar Mgaloblishvili also tried to find his formula for love on the set, for which he paid with his health. Once he gave a solo concert in a hotel room for a stranger walking down the street, sat down on the windowsill and got so carried away that … fell out of the window on the second floor. When Zakharov saw the main character with a leg in a cast, he was speechless - how does Count Cagliostro appear in the frame now? We must pay tribute to the skill of the operator - he managed to shoot Mgaloblishvili so that his plaster cast did not appear in the frame, and the legs of the main character were "presented" to him by the same Gennady Gladkov.

Tatiana Peltzer, Leonid Bronevoy and sound engineer Yuri Rabinovich created their own "circle of interests" on the set - they played preference all night long, and in the morning they appeared on the set as if nothing had happened, full of strength and energy. And this despite the fact that the 80-year-old actress was filmed in a special corset - shortly before filming, she broke a rib.

The protagonist of the film had a real prototype: The incredible adventures of the great magician and adventurer Count Cagliostro in Russia.