Behind the scenes "Princesses of the Circus": Why the film was predicted to fail

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

When director Svetlana Druzhinina, who turned 84 on December 16, began filming the film "Princess of the Circus", no one believed in the success of this venture - firstly, Imre Kalman's operetta was already filmed in the USSR back in 1958, and quite successfully, and secondly, everyone was surprised by her choice of actors for the main roles - the dramatic actress Natalia Belokhvostikova and the unknown MGIMO student without professional acting education, who not only did not sing, but also spoke Russian with an accent! But the director's instinct did not disappoint Druzhinin this time too …

The first Soviet film adaptation of Imre Kalman's operetta "The Princess of the Circus" was a black-and-white film by Yuli Khmelnitsky, released in 1958 under the title "Mister X". It is interesting that the prototype of the main character for Kalman was a Russian émigré from a noble family, an officer forced abroad to “retrain” into a circus acrobat who performed in a mask so that his acquaintances would not recognize an aristocrat in the circus. Kalman's operetta had a second name - "Mister X", but the superstitious composer believed that only "female" names for operettas bring him good luck. But Khmelnitsky chose the second name for his adaptation. The main role in his film was played by the famous Soviet pop and opera singer Georg Ots, who brilliantly performed all the roles of his hero. Therefore, it was extremely difficult to imagine someone in this role after him - the new hero was obviously losing in comparison. But Svetlana Druzhinina decided to bet not on the actor's vocal abilities.

Prior to that, Svetlana Druzhinina had already shot musical films ("The Matchmaking of a Hussar", "Dulcinea Toboskaya"), and the topic of the circus was especially close to her - as a teenager, she studied for a year at a circus school at the acrobatics department, but her mother was against her daughter performed in the troupe of acrobats, and Svetlana entered the choreographic school. Due to a serious injury, Druzhinina never became a ballerina, but began working on television and acting in films, and later took up directing. However, she did not forget about her circus and dance past. Together with her, Maris Liepa studied at the choreographic school - it was to him that she planned to offer the main role in her film. True, there was one "but": at that time the famous dancer was already 45 years old.

Everything was decided by chance. Druzhinina went to the Bolshoi Theater to invite Maris Liepa to audition, but in the buffet she accidentally ran into a very handsome young man with an aristocratic appearance. She was so impressed not only by his beauty, but also by the nobility of manners and "foreign" charm that she immediately decided to invite him to come to the audition - this is exactly how, in her view, the main character of her film should have looked.

However, it turned out to be very difficult to approve the young man for the main role. Igor Keblushek turned out to be the son of a prominent Czechoslovak diplomat. He was going to follow in his father's footsteps and studied at MGIMO - accordingly, he had no acting education or filming experience. In addition, he never studied vocals, and he spoke Russian with a very noticeable accent, although his mother was from the Leningrad region. To get approval for the role of a Czechoslovak, and not a Soviet student, Druzhinina had to go to the trick: she passed him off as the Baltic states. It remained only to secure the consent of Father Igor, but he, surprisingly, did not object and answered his son with an aphorism: "".

Igor Keblushek objectively assessed his capabilities and understood that he got into the cinema solely because of his spectacular appearance. Therefore, on the set I tried to learn from professional actors and listened to all the advice. And he was lucky to work with the stars of Soviet cinema - Natalia Belokhvostikova, Nikolai Trofimov, Yuri Moroz, Lyudmila Kasatkina, Elena Shanina, Vladimir Basov, Alexander Shirvindt.

The difficulties did not stop there. In the main female role, Svetlana Druzhinina saw Natalia Belokhvostikova. Everyone around was surprised at this choice - everyone knew her as a dramatic actress, and no one represented her in the "light" genre of operetta! Svetlana Druzhinina told: "". Even her husband, director Vladimir Naumov, objected to Belokhvostikova's participation in the filming. Ill-wishers whispered: "".

But neither the director nor the actress herself listened to anyone. For Belokhvostikova, this image was a wonderful childhood dream: "".

All vocal numbers for the actors were performed by professional opera singers: for Keblushek - the Bolshoi Theater baritone Vladimir Malchenko, for Belokhvostikova - the Bolshoi Theater artist Galina Kovaleva. The actress said: "". Due to Keblushek's strong accent, his character was voiced by another actor - Stanislav Zakharov.

The gossip stopped only when the film was released. The result amazed everyone - the instinct did not disappoint Svetlana Druzhinina. Thanks to the beauty and romantic flair around Keblushek (a foreigner, the son of a diplomat, a mysterious stranger, a real Mister X!), Millions of Soviet spectators fell in love with his hero, and Natalya Belokhvostikova surprised everyone in a new role, in which she was incredibly good!

The directors flooded Keblushek with new proposals, but he never appeared in films again: Where did the actor who conquered millions of women's hearts disappeared?.