Video: Behind the scenes of "An Ordinary Miracle": How the shooting almost cost Abdulov's life, and why the censorship did not let the song about the butterfly
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Since the filming of the film-fairy tale by Mark Zakharov "An ordinary miracle" 40 years have passed, most of the actors, unfortunately, are no longer alive, but this touching story is still relevant and many modern viewers make them believe that miracles sometimes happen. Although during the filming there were many not fabulous incidents that could lead to dramatic consequences.
When the director started filming, he already knew who should play the main roles. In the image of the Magician, Mark Zakharov saw only Oleg Yankovsky. Both his candidacy and Evgeny Leonov for the role of the King were immediately approved by the Mosfilm leadership. But when the shooting began, Yankovsky had a heart attack, and the actor was in intensive care. He suggested that the director take another actor instead, but Zakharov decided to suspend filming and wait for Yankovsky to leave the hospital. And for the actor, this decision became fateful - he later said that it was thanks to his work with Zakharov in "An Ordinary Miracle" that he later played Munchausen with him and other significant roles.
But the candidacy of Alexander Abdulov at the artistic council raised doubts - at that time he was a novice actor and did not yet deserve national recognition. The competition was very serious - among the contenders were Yevgeny Gerasimov, Valery Shalnykh, Igor Kostolevsky. The latter really often got the roles for which Abdulov auditioned. Therefore, when Zakharov invited him to participate in screen tests, the actor replied: "". But Mark Zakharov managed to defend his candidacy and approve for the main role.
Abdulov was proud of this work and considered himself indebted to Mark Zakharov. "" - said the actor.
During the filming, Abdulov refused the help of doubles and performed many dangerous stunts on his own. Once it almost turned into a tragedy. The actor said: "".
Several actresses also auditioned for the role of the Princess, among whom were Vera Glagoleva, Marina Yakovleva, Larisa Udovichenko, Evgenia Glushenko. The director doubted the candidacy of Evgenia Simonova, but all doubts were dispelled when he saw the actress on the set. True, one day the shooting because of her still had to be suspended - the actress organically could not bear the weapon and could not fire a pistol in any way. After much persuasion, she still pulled the trigger, but at the same time closed her eyes, which can be seen in the frame. Evgenia Simonova brilliantly coped with her role, not suspecting that it would play a cruel joke on her: after this film, all the directors saw her exclusively in this role and did not offer diverse roles.
After a heart attack, Yevgeny Leonov also starred, without whom the director also could not imagine this film. He often improvised on the set and offered his own versions of certain scenes. Most often, Zakharov listened to his advice, but one day he did it his own way and was right. Leonov advised him to cut out an episode in which the King waves his hand, greeting the people in the same way as the members of the Politburo did then on the podium of the Mausoleum. However, it was in this scene that the censorship did not see sedition.
On the other hand, many other episodes have caused doubts. So, the censors did not want to miss the song about a sparrow and a butterfly, which is "byak-byak-byak-byak" with its wings. She was suspected of sexual overtones - they say, why else is a sparrow chasing a butterfly, probably with obscene intentions. The song was left only due to the fact that Zakharov was able to convince the censors of the "gastronomic" sense of the persecution of the butterfly. An important role was played by the famous Andrei Mironov, who was loved even by the censors. But the phrase "Our king is getting old" had to be cut out because of too obvious associations with the aging Brezhnev.
Thanks to his successful work with the director in The Ordinary Miracle, Yankovsky got the main role in his next film: Behind the scenes of the film "The Same Munchausen".
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