If you try to make a list of the most beloved of the spectators of the characters of Soviet cinema, I am convinced that customs officer Pavel Vereshchagin from the movie "White Sun of the Desert" in it will take one of the highest lines. "You know me, Abdulla, I do not take a bribe, I'm offended by the power ..." These words from the lips of a retired customs officer have sunk into the hearts of more than one generation of spectators
Even while working on the script Motyl thought about who will be able to translate this role on the screen. And Luspekaev was one of his main candidates. That's only in the participation in the filming of Pavel Borisovich could not believe - four operations for amputation of the feet did not leave any chance.
Who else was considered for the role? Efim Kopelyan, Boris Livanov and even weightlifter Yury Vlasov were invited to the tests. But none of them arranged the director. And Motyl risked all the same to go to Luspekayev, who at that time learned to walk anew. The director suggested that Luspekaeva be removed on crutches: Vereshchagin is a former officer, invalid of the First World War. Or a customs officer wounded by smugglers in both legs.
- Come on, Volodya, first I will play what is written in the script, and only then some disabled person. Let my feet do not bother you. I came up with boots with metal stops inside, - said Pavel Borisovich.
He kept a diary. Here is a fragment from it: "The film-makers just left, they offer to try for a small but very interesting role." I started, I talked a lot, I'm worried that my legs can not be taken off. "
And he played. And How! Despite the pain in the legs, on daily transitions in the heat, in sand dust, leaning on the stick and the shoulder of Inna's wife. And all by himself. Without substitutions. Only one moment is in the film, where he was replaced by stuntman Alexander Massarsky: Vereshchagin kicks the thugs overboard with his feet. Vereshchagin's boots are shown close-up. And the socks of Luspekaev's boots bent under the stop, and it would be seen on the screen. And after the shooting day, Luspekaev went to the seashore, took off his shoes, lowered his feet into the water and sat for hours to let the pain go. And sometimes he tied metal fins to his feet and swam away from the shore for a kilometer or two. He was shouted: "Drown!" He weaned: "Drown - remember ..."
This role in the script of the film was conceived as a simple episode in which he only needed to drink vodka without bother, bending over a bowl of black caviar. But after the arrival of Luspekayev, it was significantly expanded, making Vereshchagin one of the key characters
But he has a real historical prototype. Script writer Valentin Yezhov, collecting material for the script, came across a biography of an officer of the Russian border guard Mikhail Pospelov. On the eve of the Civil War, staff captain Mikhail Pospelov was also known and feared by all the smugglers and leaders of bandits from Persia who were operating at the hundred-mile stretch of the Russian border in the zone of responsibility of the German border detachment of the Trans-Caspian Frontier Brigade. Heading this detachment, he received from the violators of the border the nickname "Red Shaitan" for the magnificent fiery-red mustache and the ability to suddenly appear with his border guards on the secret trails of smugglers. Exactly the same oasis in the desert as the Veshchaginsky farmstead was the garden created by Pospelov, in which walnut, apple, pear, cherry, apricot, cherry plum grew. There was also a man-made pond, although without sturgeon, but with carp. Like Vereshchagin, Pospelov in times of anarchy turned his house into a small fortress, armed with a machine gun, grenades and even a "bomb", teaching Sophia and his wife to manage all this "economy".
Sensing his powerlessness to stop the basmachic excesses with a handful of border guards remaining in the detachment, the experienced commander, like his movie, silenced the longing of a tried and tested Russian tool - a strong "pervak". And most importantly - Mikhail Pospelov was also insulted for the power, because he did not leave in 1917 through the cordon or into the interior of the country, like many officers and soldiers of the Trans-Caspian Frontier Brigade. And this offense in his Veshchaginsky manner resulted in the energy of action. In conditions when dozens of versts from the Germans were still hosted by the Socialist-Revolutionaries, when the fierce fighting of the Red Army men with the British occupiers took place behind Chardzhou and Mary, the protection of the state border was restored in the sector of the Pospelov detachment. He gathered in the detachment of sensible local horsemen, taught them how to use weapons, bought for their money forage and food. Perhaps, that is why the Soviet government left Pospelov as commander of the detachment. In 1919 he became commander of a border battalion, and in 1921 - commander of a border regiment, who was under the care of the entire Soviet-Persian border. And Colonel Mikhail Pospelov managed to create a junior commander's border school. The experience of the border guard, the firmness of his character helped in the twenties to successfully conduct Karakum expeditions of academicians Alexander Fersman and Dmitry Shcherbakov to search for sulfur and other minerals.
For Luspekayev shooting in the "White Sun ..." became a ticket to return to the profession. Motyl suggested that he star in his next film Les for Neschastlivtsev, Konchalovsky offered the role of Astrov's doctor in Uncle Van, Lioznova regarded him as one of the candidates for the role of Mueller, Tovstonogov was invited to Othello and Boris Godunov
But ... 18 days after the premiere of the White Sun of the Desert, on April 17, 1970 Pavel Luspekaev died ...
Sources ... ]
The redesigned posts Vereshchagin from the White Sun of the Desert, Pavel Luspekaev on the set of the movie "The White Sun of the Desert," As Pavel Luspekaev became Vereshchagin in the "White Sun of the Desert"
The article is based on materials .
Comments
Post a Comment