In March 1985, during the spring school holidays, a wonderful gift was made to all the children of the Soviet Union — the first run of the children's feature film from the 5 episodes “A Guest from the Future”. The actors who starred in it woke up in the morning with the idols of millions of boys and girls. But the main love of both the children and adults of the country was Alice Selezneva, the main character of the film.
Filming ended in 1984, so this year and next year, the film "Guest from the Future", whose actors have become so loved by the audience, celebrates its 30th anniversary.
There might not have been a film
The film “Guest from the Future”, whose actors instantly became the idols of millions of viewers, is very loved and known. But few people know what effort he cost the crew. Before him, science fiction films have already successfully appeared on the screens of the country. But the USSR is a country of triumphant realism, and its leadership looked suspiciously about the fascination with science fiction. Not such films were believed to be needed by the audience, not an empty passion for the future, but a reflection of what is happening now. It was necessary to sing the labor feat of the people, and not to tell him tales. Therefore, few people believed in the success of the film “Guest from the Future”.
Scenario
The film “A Guest from the Future” was shot based on the novel of the same name by the country's most famous science fiction writer, Alice's “father” - Cyrus Bulychev. The scenario for the shooting was greatly changed in many places. Somewhere it was the will of the director, in other cases - a banal lack of funds.
A guest from the future - Alisa Selezneva - is sent to the past to return a valuable scientific device, which she without question took from her father, a cosmobiologist. She needed him to read the thoughts of animals in the zoo. By an incredible combination of circumstances, in the future there is a guest from the past - Kolya Gerasimov. He attacks the trail of space pirates and sees how they are trying to steal a myelophone - the same device. Kolya manages to capture him first and is hiding from pirates in the past. They follow him. Alice, realizing how many troubles the pirates can do in the future, and even having received a myelophone that can read the thoughts of people and other creatures of the Galaxy, rushes in pursuit. So the plot of the film develops.
Difficulties making a movie
Now with the help of special effects created on computers, you can create anything you want - from prehistoric dinosaurs to the spaceport of the future. In the 1980s, the director had only decorators and combined shooting at hand. I had to invent a lot and spend up to a month of time on the second effect on the screen.
The film was supposed to amaze from the very beginning, to make the viewer believe that the hero of the film really moved a hundred years ahead. According to Bulychev’s book, it’s for a whole century that Kolya looked into the future. The fake department had to literally create the technology of the future from improvised trash. Scarce funding made it very difficult. Due to lack of money, it was not possible to realize many of the ideas that were in the script.
Spaceport, CosmoZoo and Rubik's Cube
The first place where Kolya Gerasimov ended up was the Institute of Time. No funds were allocated for its creation, so I had to build a modest model 50 cm high. He was suspended in the air over a clearing and filmed using perspective shooting. The beauty of the institute’s corridors, amazing in those days in beauty, was made using frosted glass and ordinary bulbs.
CosmoZoo turned out to be completely different from what Bulychev described it. There was no money for the scenery, and I had to shoot in an ordinary park. It didn’t work out very well with the crocodile dummy. It turned out to be very light and constantly popped up.
The creation of a spaceport brought a lot of headache. They used everything possible to create the desired futuristic effect, even glass tubes that were used in chemical plants.
But it was especially difficult with the creation of a time machine. For her, she needed to use shiny plastic, which was very difficult to make. By the way, a Rubik's cube was used in the design of the device.
Alisa Selezneva - a girl with amazing eyes
Probably everyone who watched the movie in childhood was primarily struck by Alice's surprisingly beautiful eyes. Director Arsenov spent a long time searching for a heroine for his film.
All participants in future filming were found, but Alice was not there. And once they brought a short, shy girl with bottomless eyes to him. And the director understood - here she is, Alice.
Natasha Guseva (Murashkevich), at the age of 12, who first got straight from school to the set, still did not know what success awaited her in the future. Assistant directors were looking for a girl for the main role everywhere - in filing cabinets of film studios, in children's theaters and in ordinary schools. They asked to show children who can read poetry well. Natasha knew how. So she got to a fateful meeting with Arsenov and was approved for the role of the main character of the film.
The main characters of the wonderful children's film "Guest from the Future"
There are many characters in the film - schoolchildren, a sports coach, a doctor and a nurse in the children's department, a robot Werther, but the main characters are undoubtedly the space pirates and Kolya and Alice.
Kolya is the main character. “A Guest from the Future” is a film in which he performs rash acts that lead to big problems not only for him.
He is an unremarkable student of the 6th grade, not an excellent pupil, the middle peasant. His main hobby is writing poetry. His classmate Fima, fond of science fiction, asked his friend to follow along with him a suspicious girl. They follow her to the basement of an abandoned house. There Kolya saw a time machine, and could not resist the temptation to go to the future.
The space pirates brilliantly played by Mikhail Kononov and Vyacheslav Nevinnoy turned out to be so convincing that they caused real fear with their cruelty and meanness. If you choose from them, then it is Rats - the main character. “A Guest from the Future,” a film in which Kononov literally reincarnated as a pirate, occupies a worthy place in his filmography.
I must say that all the actors coped well with their roles. Now, watching a movie, I don’t feel like dividing them into main characters and secondary ones. They are all gorgeous.
The fate of the actors. “Guest from the Future” - a film that gave them fame
It so happened that of all the children who played beautifully and professionally in the film, no one became an actor in the future, although many of them came to shoot from children's theaters or theater groups. Some of them left the country and now lives on a different continent, many artists are no longer alive - Innocent, Kononov, Fomkin. It is unfortunate that such wonderful actors left.
A guest from the future is now completely unrelated to the world of cinema. Natasha Guseva (Murashkevich), who played Alisa, starred in several films about the adventures of a girl from the future and left the movie for good. Since childhood, she did not dream, like many peers, about the career of an actress, she was interested in something completely different - the world of insects. And by nature she was very shy.
After graduation, Natasha, without hesitation, entered the institute as a biotechnologist. She still does not change her profession and works in a company that produces enzyme immunoassay. He is the head of production. We can say that in real life Natalya Guseva (Murashkevich) repeated the fate of her heroine Alice. She, too, was preparing to become a biologist.
Marianna Ionesyan, who played Julia Gribkova, now bears the name Gray and lives in the United States. He emigrated to Israel and works there as a seller Semyon Buzgan (Kolya Sadovsky). Categorically does not want to communicate with journalists and is engaged in the construction business Ilya Naumov, aka Fima Korolev. Kolya Sulima, or Anton Sukhoverko, became an economist.
Alexey Fomkin: a broken fate
In fact, hiding from the pirates and Alice Gerasimov, Kolya is an actor. “A guest from the future”, a film in which the fate of characters and real people was strangely intertwined. The fact is that the actor who created this image on the screen turned out to be very similar to his hero in life. They had the same hobbies.
Kolya, the deceiver and poet of the film, is actually Alyosha Fomkin. His fate was tragic. From childhood, he studied at the Children's Puppet Theater, and a little later - at the theater studio. He read poetry so well that he delivered them at a ceremonial meeting of the government and was shown on television. He was unlucky in the samples of the movie "Scarecrow", but in the base at the studio his photographs remained, and he was invited to shoot in "Jumble". In some of the issues of the humorous magazine, director Arsenov noticed him.
So successfully began the journey of Alexei in a big movie. After the film “A Guest from the Future,” whose actors gained all-Union popularity, he played several more roles. And then in the life of the actor problems began. Instead of a school certificate, he received a certificate with the record "listened". The path to the university was closed to him. With grief from uselessness, drugs appeared in his life for no one. And without waiting for new roles, Alexei goes to the army. And, as a mockery of fate, invitations for samples begin to come to him. Of course, he could not desert, and after the army he was no longer needed. Then there was a long period related to alcohol, an attempt to work at the Moscow Art Theater, from where he was fired for systematic absenteeism.
In the end, Alexei managed to pull himself together. Alcohol was over, and the failed actor himself went to a village in the Vladimir region. He worked as a miller, wrote poetry, just like his hero Kolya. Then he got married, went to his wife in Vladimir. In 1996, during the celebration of February 23, the apartment in which he was with his wife and friends caught fire. Everyone was saved, except for Alexei. A site is dedicated to him, on which he is the only and main character. “A Guest from the Future” is that bright film, according to which the audience will remember Alyosha Fomkin for a long time.
The Irony of Fate
“Guest from the Future” - a film whose actors have not continued their career in big movies, nevertheless made a small exception. No one noticed the little girl, Inna Churkin, who played a tiny role in the spaceport scene. And meanwhile, it was she who later became the actress Inna Gomez. The modern viewer most of all remembered her on the set of the show "The Last Hero". Now on her account more than 20 roles.
Why is the movie still loved by viewers?
The film “A Guest from the Future”, whose actors are still loved by the audience, despite its fantastic genre, turned out to be sincere and bright.
There is nothing adult in this film - neither politics nor propaganda. It is completely devoted to one topic - friendship and trust, even if its heroes share a whole century. Therefore, despite the past years, it is still interesting for young viewers, and for the older generation it causes warm nostalgia for childhood.