2023-11-20 16:53:00
Gaidai’s comedies are perhaps the best thing that happened to Soviet cinema. No, we, of course, have many wonderful paintings. But almost all of Leonid Iovich’s works are masterpieces. We know them by heart, we quote them, we revise them. And of course we love them.
True, many of them may not have been the same as they turned out to be in the end. And the script was rewritten, and scenes were changed, and something was cut from the finished films. And the actors might not be the ones we are used to seeing.
For example, in “Shurik’s adventures” the main character might not be Shurik, but Vladlen. And it was not Alexander Demyanenko who might play him, but Evgeny Petrosyan. But he himself refused.
A similar story happened in the case of “12 chairs”. Gaidai had been nurturing the idea of filming the legendary novel by Ilf and Petrov for a long time. And when I received permission for it, the choice of candidates for the role of Ostap Bender was very limited. Andrei Mironov, Valentin Gaft, Evgeny Evstigneev, Mikhail Kazakov, Vladimir Vysotsky were candidates for the role. The last one was chosen. It was Vladimir Semenovich who was supposed to become Ostap. He was approved, everything was discussed with him. And they even started filming.
But almost immediately Gaidai had to look for a “new” Bender. At first there were rumors that the authorities, who had already approved the casting, recommended that the director abandon Vysotsky. But everything turned out to be much more banal – the famous singer simply went on a drinking binge and did not come to the set. “Unfortunately, on the first day of filming, Vysotsky did not show up to the set. He went on a spree… It became clear to Lena that he mightn’t make such a film with him,” remembered Gaidai’s widow, actress Nina Grebeshkova.
As a result, the choice fell on the Georgian artist Archil Gomiashvili, who had previously played Ostap Bender in the provincial theater. He took on the role organically. But following the film was released, he remained offended by Gaidai. The fact is that they decided to re-voice Gomiashvili’s hero without the participation of the actor. The director himself said in an interview with Nedelya: “Our plan was “on fire”, they invited Archil Gomiashvili. He made an interesting Bender, but what kind of person might Vysotsky have made him… Believe me, Ostap would have been amazing!”
As for Vysotsky himself, this was his second chance to play Bender. He first auditioned for the role of the great schemer in 1968 in “The Golden Calf” by Mikhail Schweitzer. But then he simply did not suit the director.
Can you imagine Vladimir Vysotsky in the role of Ostap Bender? Seems like this might get pretty interesting.
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