Our Everything: How "The Prophet" with Yury Borisov as Pushkin was filmed

Shooting a film about Pushkin "Prophet", which will premiere in the capital on February 10, were like a rock concert, where the center of action was invariably the actor Yura Borisov. Then not yet an Oscar nominee, he read poetry for the great Russian poet and fully corresponded to what contemporaries wrote about Pushkin: a bully and a bully, whom men considered unattractive, and women went crazy about him. February 14, "The Prophet" will be released in wide hire, but "Izvestia" managed to visit the set of the film much earlier, when the work on the picture was in full swing. On what Borisov turned out of Pushkin and what is interesting modern reading of the history of "our everything" - in our report.

There would be no Pushkin without "Hamilton"

On a frosty December Sunday afternoon, people in formal historical tails, clutching paper cups with coffee, run out of the massive doors of the Polovtsov mansion, better known as the Architect's House on Bolshaya Morskaya, one after another. The ladies in crinoline dresses, who can barely keep up with them, have barely time to throw their down jackets on.

"I don't want to see any coffee from a mile away. Outside! Everyone! ", - in their backs comes the voice of a clearly angry caretaker of the house-museum.

The crowd scatters - mostly to take a place in the long line at the nearest van. It's not lunchtime, but people in similar costumes are walking towards us, carefully clutching containers of food or warming their hands on glasses.

The famous photos from the filming of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette immediately come to mind. The eye accidentally clings to the scarlet tie and the curly head of its owner, glimpsed in the crowd. A random passerby would definitely hold his gaze on his hands - the man's nails are long, although this manicure is not even close to being refined. But it seems that fussy Petersburgers do not pay extra attention to this portal to the middle of the XIX century, nor to the actor Yura Borisov, hardly recognizable in the image of Alexander Pushkin.

The Architect's House is a mecca for filmmakers who come to the northern capital for historical locations. Soviet "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson" and modern "Silver Skates", "The Empresses", TV series "Cerberus", "Shalyapin", "Stolypin", even the second part of "Holop " - interiors and buildings with varying degrees of recognizability can be seen in all these stories, and full-scale filming in St. Petersburg with large-scale street closures have not surprised citizens for a long time.

This time a luxurious mansion in the center of the city became the set of the new film "The Prophet. The Story of Alexander Pushkin" - a large production project from the creators of "Silver Skates". About what and about whom the new picture will be, it is not difficult to guess. Pushkin - a real rock star of his time, so the format of the narrative, the creators of the movie chose an ambitious. The mothballs from the image of the poet familiar from Kiprensky's portrait are erased by music.

The idea to put not quite typical biopic about a man in the immortal status of the Sun of Russian poetry came to producer Peter Anurov while working on "Silver Skates", more than five years ago. The starting point was a spontaneous excursion to Pushkin's museum-apartment at 12 Moika Street, where he ran in to warm up between shifts. And then immediately faltered: well, how now to make a movie about Pushkin, whose biography is full of naskomina since high school? Amazingly, but the realization of the idea of Anurova contributed to the composer Lin-Manuel Miranda and a couple of U.S. presidents.

- A month or two later I was in London, where I went to see the musical Hamilton. It's a very famous Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which is about America's founding fathers, the first presidents of the United States. It's all mixed with R'n'B music, and the actors themselves read rap music. The presidents of America are played by dark-skinned actors, although the historical figures were, of course, white. Then I had a thought: maybe this approach is the key to telling Pushkin's story without dust and without boredom," Anurov told Izvestia.

After a couple of years of languishing development "Prophet" decided to shoot as a musical movie, but not a musical in its usual sense. There were "Stilyagi", there was a trilogy "Ice", where Russian hits were remade into musical numbers. But when from scratch to write the text and music in the movie about "our everything", where the level of versification and should be if not Pushkin, then at least correspond to it, there is a risk of slipping into vulgarity. That's what the producers were most worried about.

- But we went a long way to make sure that it's not crazy, that it will look cool on the screen and will appeal to different audiences. The compositions were written by working with different musicians and composers. We ended up with eight tracks in total, which we will release separately. When we realized that everything was coming together, we tried to shoot a test scene. The question arose, who will play Pushkin? Will he look like him? And how will he look in general? We chose Yura Borisov, took Felix Umarov as director and went to St. Petersburg for three days to shoot the scene, to see how everything worked with the music. And that's where we are now," Anurov continues.

We are talking to the producer in the Oak Hall of the mansion, where the very strict woman-administrator periodically looks in. The caretaker complains that "actors are the most undisciplined people," and for the umpteenth time warns us not to even think about accidentally sitting on rare sofas.

Now this is the only location devoid of fuss, but later it will turn into a Chinese room. Oriental atmosphere is added by the Chinese lanterns already hanging. They even found authentic Chinese porcelain smoking pipes for this scene, but now the props are busy cutting candles. And all of them will burn. For the project they made a ton of them, if not more, told "Izvestia" production designer Sergei Zaikov.

In this part of the mansion Pushkin will meet with a fortune-teller. But later. Now in the neighboring Bronze Hall rehearsing the scene in which the poet paves the way to the high society. Pushkin performs his ode "Voluntariness" at a banquet at Princess Golitsina's house - and it's a rare occasion to hear Yura Borisov rapping.

How Yura Borisov became Pushkin

The reception at Golitsyna's house is so dense that it feels like the whole of St. Petersburg's social life has gathered here. Feathers, silks, dancers in outlandish gold outfits accompany the hostess of the evening. The majesticperson is played by Svetlana Khodchenkova, and at one of the tables, Ilya Lyubimov sits valiantly in a dazzling white suit (so white that during the breaks the actor is literally wrapped in polyethylene so that the outfit does not get dirty).

Lyubimov played the role of Vasily Zhukovsky - Pushkin's mentor and, to quote the actor, "a social lion who feels only art and the genius of the young poet." Pushkin in this scene is still 21 years old, he is in the company of his lyceum friends Konstantin Danzas and Ivan Pushchina, played by Roman Vasilyev and Ilya Vinogorsky. The former, according to the script, is trying to introduce Golitsina to his young friend, a poet, about whom, however, few people have heard yet. Identify it among the actors in the crowd manages to curly head. But exactly until Pushkin-Borisov does not jump on the table. Now, towering above the rest of the guests, he under the beat ardently recites the ode "Freedom":

Lords! To you the crown and the throne
By law, not by nature;
You are above the people,
But the eternal Law is above you.

At this moment it seems that "Voluntariness" was always created for recitative to the beat, and there is no other way to read it. The wow-effect works not only for journalists seeing this scene for the first time, but also in the script: Pushkin is picked up in their arms and begged to read more.

The authors of "The Prophet" took a difficult path, deciding to cover in the movie the entire life of the poet, starting with his studies at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and ending with a fatal duel with Dantes. 14-year-old Sasha Pushkin was played by Kai Getz, known for his role as young IgorGrom in the prequel blockbuster "Major Grom".

According to Peter Anurov, for the role of adult Pushkin initially considered only Yuri Borisov, who, it would seem, outwardly least associated with the poet, familiar to us from images in textbooks. Doubts at first and the actor himself, but soon fully immersed in the life of Alexander Sergeevich, got six wigs and even settled on the first floor overlooking the Neva.

- We know that Pushkin has certain signs of appearance, but it was more important for us to take an artist who at his age, state of mind, talent, drive, a combination of dark and light, lightness and high intelligence in principle able to pull this role, will not be some plastic and cardboard. Yura and I worked on Silver Skates, and I thought that he was one of the few artists of a generation who could try to play a genius. Because if you have that grain of genius in you, you can try to play it. If not, then similar or not similar, it will not work in any case, - convinced the producer of the movie.

Felix Umarov stares intently at the playback monitor while the second director once again asks for silence on the set. For the 30-year-old director, this is his first major project and a huge responsibility: since childhood, we have all lived side by side with Pushkin, who was invented for us. Is everyone ready to accept the new Pushkin, Yury Borisov's Pushkin?

Before full meter, Felix had come a long way in advertising and music videos. Producers were attracted by his vision of the frame, emotional connection and, like the hero of the movie, courage. The young director began by deciding not to make Pushkin a genius in the frame.

- The story of a man who, despite what others tell him, is always looking for his own voice and trying not to lose it. We look at Pushkin through a very domestic lens. For me, he is in this picture a person who lives a certain way, who grows up and makes mistakes. And if I saw him for myself as a genius all the time, I wouldn't be able to find that connection to a real personality. As soon as you see a hero as a genius, you lose his humanity," Umarov said.

They blocked the Moika embankment and piled the center with artificial snow

Each artist finds something different in the House of the Architect. The entourage of the mansion in "The Prophet" decided to change beyond recognition. The windows of the Bronze Hall are tightly curtained with heavy red curtains, the tablecloths on the round banquet tables are in the same color scheme, and the high ceiling is covered with scarlet fabric. According to Sergei Zaikov, because of the huge popularity of the House of the Architect, this location is trying to avoid, but the place is so cinematic that they still go to shoot there. The mansion has preserved picturesque textured walls, authentic props of the era. Biedermeier style furniture centuries old is in great condition thanks to the custodians of the place.

Before this scene, the set was filmed at the Lenfilm movie studio. Pushkin's apartment was built there, on the development of which the artists spent six months. Viewers will see in the frame and a lot of iconic places of the city on the Neva, for example, for the filming of the movie twice blocked Millionnaya Street and for a week the embankment of the Moika River. Snow then in the city was not at all, so for maximum winter scene had to fill the center of St. Petersburg his artificial substitute.

- Filming of the duel took place in the village of Vasilkovo near St. Petersburg. There is a stunning old humpback stone bridge there. There, everywhere you look, the frame compounds everywhere. This place has something that artists, cameramen and directors always love - a hilly perspective, like in Pieter Bruegel's "Hunters in the Snow". The elevation, the gradients, the river, the fallen old gnarled trees. When we arrived, we realized without words that we will shoot this scene here, - said Zaikov.

By the way, the weapons for the duel between Pushkin and Dantes - these are real guns brought from Europe. Made them still for the movie "Duelant" by Alexei Mizgirev. Artists "Prophet" under this prop additionally made all the paraphernalia needed for filming.

The creators adhere to the minimum use of computer graphics, so for the frame in which the butterfly sits on the flower, specially bred insects. Butterflies' legs were smeared with honey, but none of them suffered on the set, emphasize the artists.

In historical films, most directors strive for authenticity, competing in the academic accuracy of recreating the smallest details of the era. In "The Prophet" this documentary was avoided from the beginning in order to reduce the distance with the viewer and make Pushkin close to the modern audience. The new movie is a fantasy, so the mid-nineteenth-century party we attended is stylistically more like a twentieth-century party.