How Two Great Directors Filmed 12 Chairs Almost Simultaneously

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

In June 1971, Soviet viewers stormed cinemas to watch the new comedy of Leonid Gaidai, and exactly five years later they could not tear themselves away from TV screens when Mark Zakharov created his own version of the film adaptation of the novel by Ilf and Petrov. Gaidai did not like the rival film so much that he called it a "criminal offense", but today both films are included in the golden fund of our cinema and are equally loved by the audience.

Leonid Iovich always selected the actors very carefully, but the auditions for the role of Ostap Bender became special even for him - he tried more than 20 candidates, and what kind! Nikita Mikhalkov, Oleg Basilashvili, Alexander Belyavsky, Vladimir Vysotsky, Vladimir Basov, Alexey Batalov, Oleg Borisov, Valentin Gaft, Evgeny Evstigneev, Andrey Mironov, Spartak Mishulin, Alexander Shirvindt, Mikhail Kozakov, Nikolai Rybnikov, Nikolai Gubenko … could not take part in the filming, and Gaidai refused someone (for example, Mironov).

When those who, according to the director did not fit, were eliminated, there were only two applicants, and with them the case was decided even more interestingly. Alexander Belyavsky had already been approved and even came to the set, but before the start of a new film, the group always broke a plate "for luck." On this day, the dishes turned out to be strong, and the superstitious Gaidai not only postponed the shooting, but also decided to reconsider the candidacy of the protagonist. He invited Vladimir Vysotsky for the role - again, oddly enough, a failure with a plate, and the omen turned out to be correct, Vysotsky washed down in the first days of filming. And only then did someone tell the desperate director about the little-known actor Archil Gomiashvili, who has been playing Bender perfectly for many years in one of the provincial theaters. With this candidate, the plate broke, and the shooting rolled like clockwork. So an artist from the hinterland instantly bypassed two dozen famous actors at the turn and played a major role in his life.

And Mark Zakharov, on the other hand, took advantage of his colleague's "best practices" and without hesitation took on the main roles of Andrei Mironov and Anatoly Papanov, rejected by Gaidai. Time has shown that he absolutely did not make a mistake. Today, no one even argues about which pair of actors is brighter - everyone is good. Interestingly, a whole team of 10 actors starred in both tapes, in small roles, some in the same characters. For example, Georgy Vitsin played Bezenchuk in one film, and Mechnikov as a fitter in another, and Savely Kramarov was a one-eyed chess player and mechanic Polesov.

Gaidai again had a hitch with Madame Gritsatsuyeva. He tried for this role a couple of the main "curvy" actresses of our cinema - Galina Volchek and Nonna Mordyukova, but neither one nor the other seemed funny enough to him. Then the sound engineer Vladimir Krachkovsky showed him his wife Natalia, who by that time had already starred in several episodic roles. The capricious director fell in love with the magnificent beauty at first sight: - only he could say. This role has become really important for the actress.

And Mark Zakharov, as always, quick in decisions, approved Lydia Fedoseeva-Shukshina for the same role, even without samples. True, the role was given to the actress very hard. Shortly before that, her husband passed away, and as soon as work on the film began, she also lost her father. On the shooting of the wedding of Madame Gritsatsuyeva and Ostap Bender, the actress arrived immediately from the funeral. After playing the episode, she went to the corner and cried.

Were in work on both paintings and difficulties. Gaidai did not skimp on expenses, and part of the filming took place in the Caucasus. In this case, Mikhail Pugovkin was especially hit. First, he was lifted by a fire hydrant to a sharp peak of the rock, where Father Fyodor allegedly climbed. The actor was very far from the profession of a stuntman, so here he endured fear. However, when viewing the material, it turned out that his torment was also in vain - the height at which he was at all was not visible in the frame, so they decided to re-shoot the episode in the pavilion, without any risk. And then, after chopping down chairs against the backdrop of a storm, the actor fell ill with severe sciatica - a real storm was required for filming, and this one managed to wait in Batumi only by autumn.

There is a famous story that on the set of Mark Zakharov, Lyubov Polishchuk received a serious spinal injury - at the moment when Andrei Mironov throws her after a hot dance, the actress allegedly landed past the mats on the concrete floor. True, the director himself always vehemently denied this legend and said that there was always complete order with the safety measures under his leadership.

In this case, I would like to agree with Mao Zedong, who adopted the slogan "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools compete." Two films, shot in different styles, based on the same novel, really graced our cinematography and still serve as an excellent educational tool for future directors. The audience, undoubtedly, only benefited from the rivalry of the great luminaries of our cinema.

Time puts everything in its place, but, unfortunately, does not spare people. See Further How the actors who played in the comedy "Twelve Chairs" have changed in the years after filming