The series "Once Upon a Time in Rostov" today, many viewers and filmmakers call one of the best multi-part films based on real events. This is not surprising, because the talented actors and director were involved in the filming, and the idea of the film belongs to Sergey Zhigunov.
The idea of creating a series
After a successful premiere and flattering reviews about the series “Liquidation,” Sergey Zhigunov told one of the directors of NTV Nikolai Kartosiya about his idea of creating a criminal picture based on real events, no less dramatic than in “Liquidation”. And so began the process of creating the crime drama Once Upon a Time in Rostov. Sergei Zhigunov, a native of Rostov-on-Don, heard this story from his father, also a native Rostovite. It was he who told Sergei about the shooting of protesters in Novocherkassk in 1962 and the activities of the gang of “phantomasses”. While many knew about the bandit group of the Tolstopyatov brothers, the execution of Novocherkassk residents , including children, was classified as “secret”. Thus, the series Once Upon a Time in Rostov helped restore historical justice. During the filming in 2011, a memorial plaque was erected in this city in honor of those who died on that bloody day.
Director, screenwriter and producer of the film
The idea was grandiose, Elena Paradise offered to adapt the idea into a full-fledged scenario , and she did an excellent job with this task. For the most part, the whole film is a real story, but some touches are still fiction. First of all, it was necessary to connect the tragedy in Novocherkassk with the activities of the Tolstopyatov’s gang in the late 60s and early 70s. Some minor characters are also fictional.
The film was directed by the mega-popular Konstantin Khudyakov. As Sergei Zhigunov admitted, he had long wanted to work with this director, several times Konstantin refused the proposed scenarios, but this time he could not resist. After reading the script, Konstantin Khudyakov admitted that he had not encountered such an interesting, yet real story for a long time. He considers the series itself not as a crime of past years, but as a drama of the entire Soviet generation, embodied in the life of the characters. In addition, such an interesting story required maximum return. Thanks to the director, the series Once Upon a Time in Rostov, whose actors and roles have become truly iconic, has become one of the most successful film products of the new millennium.
The painting was sponsored by the production center of Sergey Zhigunov. According to Sergei, he considers the series Once Upon a Time in Rostov one of the best in his career.
Plot
The series tells about the activities in Rostov of a gang of “phantoms,” robbing state institutions and keeping the whole city in fear. Vyacheslav Tolstopyatov, having witnessed the brutal execution of protesters in Novocherkassk in June 1962, completely reinterprets his life and attitude to the state and government as such. Being a man of genius, he and his brother organize a gang, which from 1968-1973 has kept the whole city in fear. The series tells about daring and ruthless crimes, the interweaving of fates and the capture of criminals.
Casting Once Upon a Time in Rostov: actors and roles
Without a doubt, the success of the film was provided not only by a burning plot, but also by a well-chosen cast. The film attracted the stars of Russian and Ukrainian cinema.
Even episodic lines were given maximum attention in the film “Once in Rostov”. The actors and roles of the series are thought out so competently that even minor characters, such as the father of the main character, carry a huge semantic load.
The main storylines on the screen were embodied by such talented actors as Vladimir Vdovichenkov, who played Vyacheslav Tolstopyatov; Vladimir Rakov - Tolstopyatov’s brother; Alena Babenko - Tamara, wife of Vladimir Tolstopyatov. Law enforcement officials played: Sergey Zhigunov - officer Sergey Kolesnikov; Kirill Pletnev - captain of the Criminal Investigation Department, Roman Florov - operative, Vladimir Yumatov - head of the KGB department.
Also for the first time in a television series such movie meters as Bogdan Stupka, Evgeny Knyazev and Yuri Belyaev took part.
Interesting facts from the filming of the series
Work began on the film in 2009, and ended only in 2011. Such a long period of the filming process was caused by a gunshot wound to one of the main actors - Vladimir Vdovichenkov.
The film was shot in Rostov, Mariupol, Sevastopol, Novocherkassk and Moscow.
The series consists of 24 episodes.
In the film "Once Upon a Time in Rostov", the actors and whose roles did not leave indifferent a single spectator, a huge number of people were involved.
Bogdan Stupka on the set of the picture felt ill and went to Germany for an operation. After a difficult medical procedure, feeling very bad, the actor continued shooting.
Sergey Zhigunov several times refused the role, the scriptwriter persuaded him.
Vladimir Vdovichenkov said that in four years this is the first interesting scenario that fell into his hands.