Photo: Vasily Yakushev
While the trend towards nostalgia and retromania is gaining momentum, KP.RU continues to write about film adaptations of Soviet literature, which modern producers intend to exploit on the big screen. A new version of the Soviet “Confrontation” based on the novel by Yulian Semenov is due to be released soon. A film was made based on Vladimir Zheleznikov’s story “Everyone Dreams of a Dog.” And now another famous work by the Soviet author is being filmed: “Scarecrow” – the same one about which Rolan Bykov, who had no children, made an amazing film. By the way, the second part of “Scarecrow” has already been filmed. But it never came out.
Photo: Vasily Yakushev
Ilya Khotinenko (“Varyag”, “Psychology of Crime”), son of the famous director Vladimir Khotinenko, has presented a completely new work.
“I didn’t watch the old Scarecrow film, nor did I read the story,” the director admits without hesitation. “This is because as a child I had access to a VCR. I watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Godfather and other serious films. And in the context of, for example, “Star Wars,” Russian cinema didn’t appeal to me at all. I know that we will be criticized for touching on the sacred Soviet cinema. But I think that remaking films is a normal life practice. It is necessary to renew old stories. And in this case it is easier for me to do it because I don’t know the original source and I can work with new material. Our “Scarecrow” is not a remake, but we synchronize the old story with the present.
Photo: Nikolay Smolyakov
The authors insist that the modern film “Scarecrow” was made for teenagers, that is, in their language, so the film contains a lot of music, social networks, modern features, special effects and even animation. The names of the characters have also been changed: instead of Lena Bessoltseva, Anya (Maria Simonova), her father is simply her father (Kirill Kyaro), and he is not a war veteran at all, instead of Somov, Misha ( Maxim Karushev), instead of teacher Margarita Ivanovna – Chaika (Kristina Asmus): this is what the students call teacher Valentina Petrovna Chaikina.
Photo: Vasily Yakushev
Yes, the heroes have many nicknames: Grizzly (Dayana Goodz), Fedus (Nikita Zinchenko), Zyablik (Igor Tsurkan), Greek (Daniel Akopyan), etc. Apparently, to make it clearer for young people.
The plot remained the same: a new girl in class, bullying, envious people and vultures among us. Inside the film there will not be just one musical leitmotif, as in Bykov’s film (composer Sofya Gubaidulina), but eight different clips will be assembled, allowing the viewer to feel the slightly dual nature of what is happening.
Filming took place in Tarusa, where Zheleznikov wrote Scarecrow, and also in Moscow, Borovsk, Malakhovka and other picturesque places, including the Kolomenskoye apple orchard.
Photo: press service of the film company “Telesto”
“Our task was to create eight different living spaces in one place to film a scene in which the guys, each sitting in his own room, are talking,” explained production designer Dmitry Bukovsky (“Rock, Paper, Scissors,” “Throne”). — To implement this idea, we created a daisy-shaped set: eight rooms that spread out like petals from the center, where the camera will be located. In some places we imitated the view from a window, in others we imitated the view from a door, which allows us to achieve the effect of presence in all spaces at the same time. All this was embodied in the first Mosfilm pavilion. Filming not in different prefabricated apartments, but accumulating and combining them into one set turned out to be an interesting decision both from the point of view of production and as an artistic experiment. In addition, it was a difficult task to create eight different characters and stylistic worlds in one set through the furnishings of the rooms. One of the final shots I think will be particularly impressive: the camera moves, the children leave their spaces and meet on the street, creating a vanishing point.
Next year Zheleznikov’s story will turn 100 years old; The premiere of the film will coincide with this anniversary.
