Yuri Yakovlev (left) was surprised: after editing, the “unfunny” material turned into a sparkling comedy.
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
Komsomolskaya Pravda studied what was left behind the scenes.
Nikulin refused the main role.
“The film could have been completely different,” Vladimir Tsukerman, director of the Museum of Three Actors (Nikulin, Vitsin, Morgunov), immediately said. – Ten years before the premiere in the Kremlin’s Archangel Cathedral, scientists opened the tomb of Ivan the Terrible. Anthropologists reconstructed the king’s appearance from the skull. Nina Grebeshkova, seeing her portrait in the magazine “Science and Life,” ran to her husband Leonid Gaidai: “Lenya, this is a copy of Yura (Nikulin-Ed.)! That’s what needs to be eliminated! Gaidai and comedian Vladlen Bakhnov have just started working on a comedy based on Bulgakov’s play “Ivan Vasilyevich.” They wrote the script “for Nikulin.” But he categorically refused to play the role of administrator of the royal household: “This is a banned writer. The film will be kept on the shelves.” After watching “Ivan Vasilyevich…”, Nikulin was very upset because he refused to act in a film.
Gaidai’s wife was sure: Nikulin looks very much like Ivan the Terrible! Photo: Frame from the film.
– How did Gaidai take Nikulin’s refusal?
– Very hard. Leonid Iovovich hoped with his help to avoid friction with the censorship. Do you remember Nikulin’s phrase in “Prisoner of the Caucasus”: “By the way, in a neighboring area the groom robbed a party member”? Frunzik Mkrtchyan was supposed to voice him. Censorship prohibited. And in the mouths of the Goonies it was a walk.
Gaidai would have taken Nikulin without testing. Now we had to organize “shows”: Evgeny Evstigneev, star of the Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theater, Evgeny Lebedev, Georgy Vitsin.
Ivan groznyj. Photo: IEA RAS/Editors
– Well, which Vitsin is Ivan the Terrible?
– Normal! I have a photo of your samples. But the three did not suit the director. Someone recommended Yuri Yakovlev. He is a Ryazanov actor! – Gaidai exclaimed. But the first tests showed: this is the ideal choice!
If Tsar Nikulin had been Tsar Nikulin, Andrei Mironov would have played Georges Miloslavsky. Their tandem worked brilliantly in “The Diamond Arm.” I had to find another actor for Yakovlev. There were many candidates for the role of Miloslavsky: Anatoly Kuznetsov, Vyacheslav Nevinny, Sergei Nikonenko, two Georgies – Burkov and Yumatov. Gaidai chose Leonid Kuravlev. It was Kuravlev who came up with the phrase that became popular: “Citizens! Keep your money in a savings account, if you have it, of course.
– Shurik, of course, was chosen for the role of the inventor of the time machine without auditioning.
– He had a competitor: Oleg Vidov. But still, Gaidai chose Shurik, sorry, Alexander Sergeevich Demyanenko. He even gave his character his first name. In Bulgakov’s work, the inventor was called Nikolai Ivanovich. And they left their natural dark hair color. In previous comedies, Shurik was painted blonde. What a brilliant image!
His film wife Zinochka (actress Natalya Selezneva) also had to compete with two other namesakes: Zharikova and Gundareva.
Under a double surname
“But Natalya Krachkovskaya was hired without any testing for the role of Ulyana Andreevna, Bunsha’s wife,” continues Vladimir Tsukerman. – On the set of “Ivan Vasilyevich…” Natalya Leonidovna contracted pneumonia. After the illness I lost ten kilos. Gaidai forced her to eat to regain her former curvy figure. She prescribed a strict “diet”: daily: semolina porridge with whipped cream, buns with butter, boiled macaroni and cheese. And only half a month later she was allowed to enter the site.
This is how it should be, according to the director, the wife of the house manager, Bunshi. Photo: Frame from the film.
– Why does Belogortseva-Krachkovskaya appear in the credits?
– There was another actress in the USSR, Natalya Krachkovskaya, her husband’s sister. Then they added Natalya Leonidovna’s maiden name, Belogortsev.
“Pugovkin will show you!”
– Without auditions, Gaidai hired two other actors: Vladimir Etush for the role of the dentist Shpak and Mikhail Pugovkin for the role of director Yakin. It is true that there was a problem with Pugovkin. At the artistic council, several Mosfilm directors spoke out against it. They say that his face is not very intelligent and does not correspond to the appearance of a Soviet film director. Grigory Chukhrai, director of the Experimental Creative Association, where the comedy was filmed, spoke in defense of Mikhail Ivanovich. “Comrades directors! You think too highly of yourself. Pugovkin will show you what types there are among you.”
The Kremlin did not register
– Was there any problem with censorship?
– Of course. In the “food” scene, Bunsha asked, “Wait a minute! At whose expense is this banquet? Who will pay? According to the script, Miloslavsky responded: “People, father, people.” In the film, the answer is different: “At least not us!”
A police lieutenant questions Ivan the Terrible: “Where do you live?” – “Moscow Kremlin.” The censors considered the response sacrilege. I had to replace it with a neutral one: “In the rooms.”
But Gaidai himself removed even more episodes. They shortened the lengths. From the cut-out images they even made a short film “Black Gloves”, in which Miloslavsky robbed Shpak’s apartment. It is easy to find on the Internet. Remember when the thief accidentally discovered a bar in the wall? The scene in which he tasted the drink was removed. Scenes of the police chasing Miloslavsky were shortened. He still runs away. Happy, sitting on the boat between two ladies. And suddenly… bam! – There are already two police officers sitting on the sides. I have you affection!
CONFESSION
“It wasn’t funny at all.”
“In addition to my love for Bulgakov, it was tempting to play two roles at once, especially Gaidai,” wrote Yuri Yakovlev in his book “Between the Past and the Future.” – I was surprised: how does such a gloomy person do comedy? He didn’t like jokes, chatting between takes and never laughed, like Ryazanov, during a funny scene.
My task was to play Ivan Vasilyevich at the same time as a powerful and funny ruler, due to the unimaginable situations in which he finds himself, and Bunshu, a typical, narrow-minded and fussy little boss who sticks his nose everywhere. Gaidai rarely, but correctly, intervened in the process and showed himself very well as an actor.
Photo: Frame from the film.
Almost the entire film was shot in a preliminary version, that is, without editing. Gaidai invited the group to watch. I looked and got angry. Everything was somehow slow, disorganized, especially in the scenes with Kuravlev, which is very disappointing, since Miloslavsky, his character, should be alive, mobile like mercury, but here everything somehow sways, unhurried. And absolutely not funny. I drive from Mosfilm and think: “What will it be? Fail?” But I didn’t know anything about Gaidai’s brilliant ability to work in the editing room. He was a virtuoso! How everything came together, came to life, started playing, what rhythm appeared! How he managed to shorten something without compromising the role, highlighting the most successful parts, putting accents. Just a metamorphosis!
CURIOUS
What Ivan the Terrible whispered to the “boyarian” Zina
One of the iconic scenes of the comedy is that of Ivan Vasilyevich whispering something in the ear of the charming Zinochka. She laughs seductively. Director Yakin simply cringes with jealousy. But what funny thing did the king say to the beauty?
“Everyone asks about this moment,” actress Natalia Selezneva later said. She-Me she said: “Natasha, I have 10 minutes, I’m late for the show!” I understood what it was like to be late for a performance, but at the same time I had to flirt and laugh uncontrollably!
TO THE POINT
Drama by Sergei Filippov
Swedish ambassador Sergei Filippov (right) played brilliantly. He has his own, dramatic story. In “12 Chairs” he played Kisa Vorobyaninov. While filming, I suddenly started forgetting words. A brain tumor was discovered. They had an operation. The actor was ill for a long time and died alone. To support the veteran and encourage him, Gaidai gave him episodic roles in his films.
memorable phrases
The Tambov wolf is your boyar!
Walled in, demons!
This is what the life-giving cross does!
Wow, what a beauty! Lepota!
Vague doubts torment me…
Dance everyone!
Everything, everything he had acquired through backbreaking work, still perished! Three tape recorders, three foreign film cameras, three national cigarette cases, a suede jacket… three… jackets.
And you will be healed, and you also will be healed, and I will be healed…
Black, red caviar. Overseas caviar, eggplant!
The Tambov wolf is your boyar!
Well, king, we shuddered!
HELP “KP”
Shpak’s gramophone was stolen
Mikhail Bulgakov wrote the play “Ivan Vasilyevich” in 1935 for the Satire Theater. A dress rehearsal for the performance took place on May 13, 1936. With the participation of workers of the Central Committee of the All-Union Bolshevik Communist Party. The work was immediately banned. It was first published in 1965.
Many lines from the comedy, which the audience later laughed at, were Bulgakov’s:
“Leave me, old woman, I’m sad…”
“Vague doubts torment me.”
“Pack up, pack up… Like cherubs!”
“I don’t recognize you with makeup on.”
True, instead of “I demand the continuation of the banquet!” the drunken Bunsha said, “I demand that the dance continue!”
Since Bulgakov did not have recorders or suede jackets, the famous phrase of the stolen Shpak sounded like this: “A gramophone, a cigarette case, a lighter, a watch, a rug, a suit, a hat… everything he acquired through a exhausting work, everything was lost!…”
Foreign caviar and eggplant were not mentioned at all in the work.
