Removed from screening: “The Master and Margarita” (1972, Italy-Yugoslavia)
The wonderful novel was first filmed in Germany in 1971. A year later, the second film adaptation of the work was released; It was directed by Yugoslav director Alexander Petrovich. He initially planned to make a film in Yugoslavia with financing from French producers, but the crisis in the local film industry did not even allow shooting to begin. As a result, Italians instead of the French acted as producers, and the film itself was released in two versions: Italian and Serbian-Croatian.
There were also problems with the casting: Gian Maria Volonte, who was invited to play the role of the Master, refused to film for political reasons, and Romy Schneider, who, according to Petrovich’s idea, was supposed to play Margarita, was replaced by an American. actress Mimzy Farmer.
But these were only the beginning: the Tuna Film studio, which co-produced the film, decided to withdraw it from distribution after two days of screening in Belgrade for “political reasons” – the work was considered strongly anti-anti-government. -communist. For several years, Petrovich’s name disappeared from everywhere – the director was no longer offered to shoot, and his films were no longer shown. In 1976 Petrovich was forced to leave his country and move to Germany.
On the shelf for more than 15 years: “The Master and Margarita” (1994, Russia)
The most dramatic story happened in the film adaptation directed by Yuri Kara. Rumor has it that during filming at Patriarch Ponds, a strange man approached the film crew and said: “Nothing will go well for you.” The prophecy turned out to be not entirely true: the film, which featured superstars of Russian cinema (Anastasia Vertinskaya as Margarita, Valentin Gaft as Woland, Mikhail Ulyanov as Pontius Pilate), remained on the shelf for more than 15 years, but was finally released.
All this time (from 1994 to 2011), the creators of the film were arguing with Bulgakov’s heirs about copyright, while at the same time trying to reach an agreement with the producers on the timing of the film. The problem with the varicose veins was resolved, but the producers remained determined. As a result, the length of the film, which was 3 hours and 20 minutes in the director’s cut, was reduced to two hours, so many stories had to be removed from the film, causing dissatisfaction among the actors. .
A series of actor deaths: “The Master and Margarita” (2005, Russia)
In 2005, the Rossiya TV channel premiered the 10-episode television movie “The Master and Margarita”, perhaps the best film adaptation of Vladimir Bortko so far. The director received an offer to direct the film in 1987, immediately after completing work on another novel by Bulgakov, “The Heart of the Dog”. Bortko later rejected the project, giving it to his friend Elem Klimov, who planned to make a film with Italians and Americans but did not realize the idea. In 2000, Bortko returned to the film adaptation of “The Master and Margarita” and, according to rumors, even approved Galina Tyunina, Dmitry Pevtsov, Sergei Makovetsky and Viktor Sukhorukov for the main roles. However, the director’s plans were interfered with by the author’s heirs, who resold the rights to the film adaptation to American producers, and Bortko was able to return to shooting only after the Rossiya TV channel bought the rights to the novel.
It is known that the director saw Oleg Yankovsky in the role of Woland, but he flatly refused, saying: “The Devil cannot be played like the Lord God.” Alexander Kalyagin, who was invited to play the role of Berlioz, did not take part in the project due to health reasons. As a result, Berlioz was played by Alexander Adabashyan and Woland was played by Oleg Basilashvili. Mystical or not, the actor lost his voice after filming Woland’s monologue in The Patriarch and was hospitalized with a diagnosis of bleeding on his vocal cord. Bortko himself did not believe in the “curse of the book”, but technical difficulties and problems with the actors took their toll: at one point, a priest was invited to the set to bless the film crew with equipment. With God’s help or not, the film was made, released on time, and attracted an impressive audience of 40 million.
It seems that everything is fine and there is no more mysticism. However, within a few years after the premiere, the actors involved in the project began to die one after another, and not all of them were of advanced age. In December 2006, Stanislav Landgraf (critic Latunsky) passed away, in 2007 – Kirill Lavrov (Pontius Pilate), in 2009 Alexander Abdulov (Koroviev) and Vladislav Galkin (Ivan Bezdomny) died, in 2012 Ilya Oleynikov (Grigory Rimsky) died. and in 2013 – Valery Zolotukhin (Nikanor Bosoy).
Pandemic, name change and budget problem: “The Master and Margarita” (2024, Russia)
The shooting of the film adaptation of The Master and Margarita, which will be released next week, was supposed to start in March 2020, but due to the pandemic and quarantine, it could only start in the summer of 2021. Initially, the producers wanted to attract Hollywood stars to the project: Olga Kurylenko for the role of Margarita and Gary Oldman for the role of Woland. However, very high fees were demanded and this idea had to be abandoned. “Crew” director Nikolai Lebedev was supposed to shoot the film, but due to financial problems and the epidemic, he could not continue working and left his seat to Mikhail Lokshin, the creator of “Silver Skates”.
During filming, the film changed not only the director but also the title from “The Master and Margarita” to “Woland”. The creators explained this decision by a change in the artistic vector – after making changes, the script “deviated” from the book. But in April 2023, the producers changed their minds and the project returned to its roots – on January 25, we will see the premiere of The Master and Margarita.