The name of Andrei Tarkovsky stands next to such world cinema geniuses as Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Sergey Parajanov and Ingmar Bergman. One of his most interesting works is a picture intended as an adaptation of the story of the Strugatsky brothers “Picnic on the Sidelines”. Almost all the actors of the film "Stalker" (100% rating of the film, taking into account the ratings in English reviews published on Rotten tomatoes) are the brightest stars of Soviet and Russian cinema and, according to many authoritative critics, they own the lion's share of his success.
Content
"Stalker" is a film (actors and roles are presented below), which tells about events taking place in unreal time and in a fictional space somewhere on planet Earth. 20 years before the start of the picture, a meteorite fell, and anomalous phenomena began to be observed. The area called the Zone, where unexplained events take place, was surrounded by barbed wire and surrounded by military roadblocks. Nevertheless, rumors began to circulate among the population about the mysterious Room, in which the most cherished, sincere and long-suffering desires were fulfilled.
The main character - Stalker (A. Kaydanovsky) - recently left prison. He lives in poverty with his wife (Alice Freindlich) and a sick daughter. The only source of family income is the organization of dangerous illegal sorties into the Zone.
Once he is hired by a guide Professor (N. Grinko) and Writer (A. Solonitsin).
After long wanderings around the Zone (the actors of the film “Stalker” by Tarkovsky did a lot of work, as many scenes were shot in extreme conditions), the trinity reaches the Room. On the way to her, the Professor finds a powerful bomb once created by him. At the last moment, the Writer refuses to make a wish. He tells satellites that his goal was to find a way out of the creative crisis. As for the Professor, he announces that he entered the Zone to destroy the Room, as he is afraid that with its help people will begin to realize their most dangerous desires. Stalker hardly succeeds in convincing the scientist to abandon his intention. All three leave the Room without using its superpower. Stalker returns to his wife and daughter and complains to his wife that there is no faith left in people, which is necessary both for going to the Zone and just to continue living in a very changed world.
Kaydanovsky Alexander Leonidovich
Almost all the actors of the film “Stalker” by Tarkovsky at the time of the start of filming were already well-known in the cinema world.
In particular, the leading actor Alexander Kaydanovsky by 1979 had already played in 35 films. He was closely acquainted with the father of Tarkovsky - Arseny, whose poetry was extremely consonant with his soul. At the same time, he adored his director. According to the recollections of those who shot Stalker (film, photos of actors still do not leave high positions in ratings), when the project was threatened with termination of funding, Kaydanovsky got drunk and cried, complaining that he couldn’t be removed from anyone stupid than himself. Such respect and love were mutual. Suffice it to say that when in 1984 the actor decided to master the director's profession and entered the VKSR, Tarkovsky, who announced the admission to his studio, said that he would work only with Kaidanovsky and “with someone else who would be worthy of it.”
The actor considered his role in Stalker to be the most important in his career, and even before the end of filming, he said that everything he would play later would only be a fall in creative terms.
Anatoly Alekseevich Solonitsyn
The actor’s first meeting with Tarkovsky took place when he took a vacation at the Sverdlovsk Theater and came to the audition of Andrei Rublev. Although Stanislav Lyubshin was the main candidate for this role, the director was able to get Solonitsyn’s approval, especially since he was supported by a group of expert historians. The film was an incredible success abroad and was praised by Russian filmmakers. Like other actors of the film "Stalker", Solonitsyn did everything to not one iota to deviate from the plan of his beloved director, whom he considered a genius.
Since then, Tarkovsky invited him to all his works shot in the USSR, and even specially invented at least episodic roles for him, since the actor was a kind of talisman for him.
In 1972, Solonitsyn played the role of the scientist Sartorius in the fantastic drama “Solaris”. Then came a cameo in The Mirror (1974).
In 1976, the director decided to stage Hamlet on the Lenkom stage. He saw the protagonist of the play only as awkward and ascetic Solonitsyn. The actor was dissatisfied with his work, and soon the production was closed, since Inna Churikova, playing Ophelia, went on maternity leave.
Nikolai Grinkorevich Grinko
This talented front-line actor was also considered the "talisman" of Tarkovsky. Like other actors of the film "Stalker" - Solonitsyn and Kaydanovsky, Grinko was already shot by the director. Their first joint work was the debut film of Tarkovsky's “Ivan childhood”, the script of which, as the actor subsequently admitted, at first did not inspire him at all. Only after watching the picture did Grinko realize that fate had given him a meeting with a real master. Later, he was invited to the film “Andrei Rublev” for the role of icon painter Daniil Cherny and in “Solaris”, in which he played the father of the main character, creating a truly biblical image.
The most difficult career in his cinematic career was considered by Grinko to work in Stalker, since Tarkovsky made the actors endlessly repeat the scenes and tortured them with dubbing, trying to achieve the absolute truthfulness of the images.
Alisa Brunovna Freindlich
If other actors of the film "Stalker" - Solonitsyn, Kaydanovsky and Grinko - already had experience working with Tarkovsky before being invited to this picture, then for the actress she became the first acquaintance with his directorial methods. True, long before that, Andrei Arsenievich saw her in the production of the Warsaw Melody, and her play made a great impression on him. Anatoly Solonitsyn, a partner in the play, informed her about this, who also handed over a note in which the director invited Alisa Brunovna to her picture. Due to Freundlich’s employment, their collaboration did not take place this time. However, Tarkovsky did not forget about the actress. After 5 years, the same Solonitsyn informed Freindlich about the director’s desire to entrust her with the role of Stalker's wife. Alisa Brunovna accepted the offer and played in the literal sense of the word on the verge of her capabilities. In particular, in the scene, when she had to arrange a tantrum so as not to allow her husband to go into the Zone, the actress got so accustomed to the image that she almost lost consciousness. In addition, she practically improvised the final monologue, which became one of the most significant scenes in the film.
Fayme Yurno
Now that you know which actors of the film “Stalker” played the main roles in the film, it is worth saying a few words about the other participants in this creative ensemble. In particular, the Estonian actress Faime Jurno played the chic lady at the wheel of a convertible, which is present on the screen for 13 minutes. She was born in West Berlin in 1951 and moved to the USSR at the age of 6 years. While still a schoolgirl, the beautiful Faima was hired by the Tallinn Model House, where she was engaged in a demonstration of fashionable clothes until 1992, and was also actively filming for fashion magazines. Yurno received her first film role in 1974 in the film “Purely English Murder”. Director S. Samsonov invited Fayme to play Lady Camilla. Her partners on the set were A. Batalov, B. Ivanov, G. Taratorkin and other stars of Soviet cinema. In subsequent years, the model and actress played several episodic roles in various films, until in 1979 she found out that members of the film crew and actors of the film “Stalker” arrived in Estonia (where the tape was shot, read on). After some time, Faime received an invitation to take part in the work on the picture and played a cameo role of the lady behind the wheel.
Where was filming
The film "Stalker" (actors and roles presented above) was shot 25 km from Tallinn. For this, the area of the destroyed hydroelectric power station on the Yagala River was chosen, as well as several streets in the city itself, near the boiler room. The UN inscription still remains on its pipe, which was made to create a kind of decoration for the UN outpost. In 2006, a commemorative plaque was fixed on the pipe in English and Estonian that the film “Stalker” was shot in this corner of Tallinn. Separate scenes of the picture were shot near Leningrad, and the pavilion ones were shot at the Mosfilm studio.
Filming in nature took place in 1977-1978. The final shots when Stalker carries his daughter on his shoulders, as well as the industrial landscape from the open door of the bar, were shot in the Zagorodnoye Shosse area in Moscow. If you look closely, in the background you can see the pipes of the CHPP-20.
I must say that initially the film was going to be shot in the industrial city of Isfara in northern Tajikistan. However, in January 1977 there was an earthquake, and had to look for a new nature.
How was the shooting
Work on the painting began only in mid-February 1977. In the Mosfilm pavilion, the first scene of the film was shot, taking place in the Stalker house. Work in kind resumed in May in Tallinn. Since the first materials shown in the film turned out to be a marriage, the director left for 40 days to sort out the capital, and the actors of the Soviet film "Stalker" remained patiently waiting for his return. By July, filming resumed, and a month later the first version of the picture was ready in a draft. In this version, according to the reviews of the Strugatsky brothers, Kaydanovsky played a tough guy and a swindler.
The film crew suggested that Stalker could be closed, but in July 1977 A. Tarkovsky received permission from Goskino to increase the budget of the film to a two-part one. In September-October 1977, work was continued with the cameraman L. Kalashnikov and production designer Sh. Abdusalamov. However, the director rejected all the footage. In October, at the insistence of Tarkovsky, the Strugatsky rewrote the script for the 8th or 9th time, creating the image of the Stalker the holy fool. Tarkovsky liked this option, but due to the winter the shooting was suspended. In addition, in 1978, Tarkovsky suffered a heart attack and again began working with the third team in a row, which included cameraman A. Knyazhinsky. In the new version, the sci-fi entourage completely disappeared, and Kaydanovsky embodied a completely new image on the screen. The film was completely re-shot, and filming ended on December 19, 1978.
Actors of the movie "Stalker": reviews
This work of Tarkovsky does not belong to the category of paintings that appeal to a wide range of viewers.
Moreover, even those who liked the Strugatsky’s book “Roadside Picnic”, which originally shot the film, took the tape with hostility, since they did not find anything in common in these works except the concept of the Zone. At the same time, the actors of the film “Stalker” (audience reviews are both positive and negative) considered him a masterpiece, and their work in it was an absolute success and a gift of fate. Agrees with them and those for whom watching a movie is not just an opportunity to pass a few free hours. It was for such a deep and intelligent viewer that Andrei Tarkovsky worked all his life. As for the rest, then perhaps they will never understand the deep philosophical meaning of this work, which is too far from the “chewing gum” used by modern moviegoers. In addition, today there are very few professionals who can play like the actors of the film "Stalker".
Interesting Facts
- In two episodes of the picture, a piece of the tear-off calendar appears on the screen, on which the date is visible - December 28. The director was unable to explain why he needed these episodes. Perhaps this is a coincidence, but Andrei Tarkovsky left this world on December 29, 1986.
- The picture was shot in one of the most environmentally unfavorable areas of Tallinn. As it became clear later, a long stay in this “Zone” while working on the “Stalker” negatively affected the health of all who took part in it.
- In 1995, musicians Brian Williams and Robert Rich recorded a joint album, Stalker.
- Tarkovsky, his wife Larisa, who is the second director of the film, as well as the lead actor A. Solonitsyn, died of bronchial cancer.
- In the early 1990s, the film editor Lyudmila Feiginova died in a fire. Together with her, the draft versions of the first Stalker versions burned down.
- A. Kaydanovsky, known for his wild temper, unable to withstand the constant demands of the director for the hundredth time to retake one or another take, had a fight with Tarkovsky, but he forgave him.
- The working title of the script was the phrase “Desire Machine”.
- In 2008, the Tallinn City Hall was asked to name one of the sections of the road in the Rotterman area as Stalker Lane.
- In a scene of a rather long flight of the camera over water, the viewer can notice a fragment of the Ghent Altar by Van Eyck.
- Welcome to the start of the filming of the film was received by Tarkovsky from the chairman of the USSR Goskino, F. Yermash.
- In an article in The New York Times, Stalker was called a strikingly beautiful film.
Today we have neither Nikolai Grinko, nor Anatoly Solonitsyn, nor Kaydanovsky, nor cameraman A. Knyazhinsky, nor Andrei Tarkovsky himself. However, the memory of these great figures of Soviet and Russian cinema lives on and passes through the centuries, not least due to the painting “Stalker”. The film, whose actors became famous for other roles, is included in many ratings of the best cinematographic works of the 20th century and is considered a universally recognized classic.