Behind the scenes of the film "Mustache Nanny": How the main character played a cruel joke with actor Sergei Prokhanov

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

42 years ago, the family comedy "Mustache Nanny" became one of the most beloved films of Soviet viewers - it was then watched by more than 40 million people. For Sergei Prokhanov, the role of Kesha Chetvergov became a visiting card and a ticket to a big movie, nevertheless, the actor himself disliked his hero, unlike the children for whom he became an idol. Why did the director put a chamber pot on his head during the filming, how Prokhanov managed to cope with 20 children playing the game "Scare Uncle", and why Kesha made him his hostage - further in the review.

This film was the first full-length directorial work of Vladimir Grammatikov. Prior to that, he graduated from the acting department of VGIK, became an actor of the Pantomime Theater, served in the army, and then entered the same university at the directing department. He made his directorial debut in 1976 in the short film Typhoon Face! Before getting the opportunity to shoot a full film, graduates of the directing department usually had to work as an assistant director for several years, then as a second director, but Grammatikov was lucky enough to "skip" these stages.

Initially, this film was supposed to be shot by Yevgeny Fridman, he had already assembled a film crew and began to audition, but then he had another project, and the script for the comedy was handed over to Grammatikov at the film studio. Having learned that the authors were the screenwriters of Tarkovsky's "Mirrors", Andrei Weizler and Alexander Misharin, the young director agreed without reading. But when Grammatikov learned the plot, at first he was even taken aback: "".

And the story really looked strange: the young slacker and merry fellow Kesha did not go to college after school and did not stay on any of the jobs for more than two weeks. And since the parasites were being watched then, and Kesha was also caught hooliganism, breaking the glass in the entrance, the district police officer summoned him to a meeting of the committee of people's assessors at the housing office, where his fate was to be decided. The social activists decided to give him a chance for correction and sent him to work in a kindergarten - so that he could undergo a course of re-education there through "socially useful labor." All his acquaintances and colleagues predicted a failure for Grammatikov, because the most difficult thing is to shoot children, and even in such an amount!

Despite all his doubts, Grammatikov nevertheless got down to work. But then the first difficulty arose: for a long time he could not find the main character. For all applicants, he arranged the same test: the young actor was allowed into a room with 20 children and watched whether he could find contact with them - after all, on the set, they were his main partners. Many of those actors who came to audition were charming, funny, knew how to play the guitar and sing, but none of them passed the "exam" for children who were allowed to play the game "Scare Uncle".

25-year-old Sergei Prokhanov immediately declared that he was exactly the one the director had been looking for for so long. The self-confident impudent person was immediately sent to the room of 5-year-old children. When, 10 minutes later, Grammatikov approached the door, he was surprised at the dead silence - usually there was an incredible noise. He opened the door and saw this picture: Prokhanov wriggled on the floor and said: "We are fish, and fish are silent!" Children obediently repeated all his movements without a single sound and looked at him with admiration. So the director realized that he had finally found his hero!

But the problems with finding actors did not end there. Grammatikov was going to shoot only twins in his film - according to the law, young actors could work on the set no more than 4 hours a day. So that the equipment does not stand idle, and the adult actors have a full day, the director came up with such a way out: to use twins, one of whom will be filmed in the morning, and the second - in the afternoon. I managed to find 18 pairs of twins, but then the idea failed. Although the children were absolutely similar in appearance, it turned out that they were completely different in character, and this was very noticeable in the frame. As a result, out of all the candidates found in the film, only one pair of twin girls remained.

To get a lively direct reaction from children, the director went to different tricks. For example, before filming began, he hid a chamber pot behind his back, and after the command "Motor!" put it on his head. The kids burst into laughter, and the director got the right shot. He told the children fairy tales, composing them on the go, and sometimes even raised his voice. As a result, Grammatikov achieved the desired effect, and the children coped with all the tasks. However, in the future, none of them tied their fate with cinema.

Unfortunately, for the 75-year-old actress Elizaveta Uvarova, the role of the nanny Arina Rodionovna in the film "Mustache Nanny" was the last one. Even before filming began, she found out that she had cancer, but did not refuse. Uvarova did not see the premiere of the film - almost a year before that, in August 1977, she was gone.

With the audience, the comedy, which no one predicted success, enjoyed immense popularity. The film was watched several times, and as a result, "Mustache Nanny" became one of the highest-grossing films of the late 1970s. The hit of Sergei Prokhanov in the image was one hundred percent, and he had a whole army of fans. He traveled throughout the USSR with concerts, performing songs from the film and talking about the filming. Later he recalled: "".

The directors bombarded him with new proposals, but they were all the same type - he was offered to play extremely cheerful, carefree guys, the same as his Kesha. The likelihood of forever remaining hostage to one role was very high, and Sergei Prokhanov did not want to replicate this image. He dreamed of serious and deep dramatic roles, but viewers and directors presented him only in a comedic role. In 1978 he had a chance to destroy this stereotype - Prokhanov played the treacherous ex-fiancé of the main character of the film "Young Wife". His hero was a traitor and a scoundrel, but this did not bother the actor - he was happy to be able to break out of the role of a "nice guy."

The actor continued to act in films until the early 1990s, but there were no more striking leading roles comparable in popularity to "The Mustached Nanny" and "The Young Wife" in his filmography. During that period, Prokhanov made a very difficult and important decision for himself - he left the acting profession for directing. For 30 years, Sergei Prokhanov has been heading the Theater of the Moon that he created and does not regret leaving the cinema.

Sergey Prokhanov called this picture one of the best in his filmography: Behind the scenes of the film "Young Wife".