At least once a year, but on domestic television they show world-famous films directed by Igor Maslennikov regarding the adventures of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. And now it’s hard to imagine that the immortal hit might be completely different.
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Now there are various rumors regarding how the studio and the director of the project selected actors for the main roles of the domestic film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels. According to some sources, Igor Maslennikov initially planned to call Vasily Livanov, with whom he had previously worked on the painting Yaroslavna, Queen of France. According to other sources, Maslennikov also doubted regarding this artist, but cameraman Yuri Veksler convinced him of the final decision.
However, it is known for sure that representatives of Lenfilm did not want to invite Livanov to the project, fearing at times an uncontrollable artist. Maslennikov was offered to consider for the role of Holmes such famous actors as Oleg Yankovsky (he would later play one of the characters in The Hound of the Baskervilles), Sergei Yursky and Alexander Kaidanovsky. However, everything turned out so that it was Livanov who played the detective.
Another interesting detail is that Vasily Borisovich might have been replaced by Boris Klyuev already during the filming. By that time, Maslennikov realized that the fears of the Lenfilm representatives were not accidental. Livanov often did not perceive the director as his boss, because of which tension constantly reigned between them.
At one of these moments, a proposal was made to replace Livanov with another colorful artist. But Vasily Borisovich quickly pulled himself together. The filming of the tape continued, and Klyuev eventually played Mycroft Holmes.
It is noteworthy that the studio did not want to approve the performer of the role of Dr. Watson chosen by Maslennikov. So, if Livanov scared everyone with a complex character, then Vitaly Solomin seemed like an unsuitable candidate for filming because of his too Slavic appearance. Maslennikov was offered Oleg Basilashvili, Alexander Kalyagin and even Leonid Kuravlev instead. However, the director firmly stood his ground. And as time has shown, he did not lose.
Photo source: Legion-Media, Legion-Media, frame from the movie “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson”
