The winner of the Russian State Prize for Cinema-2013 was Legend No. 17, dedicated to Valery Kharlamov, one of the brightest hockey players of the 70s. He played the famous forward of CSKA and the national team of the Union Danil Kozlovsky, for the sake of filming, he even learned to use a stick and a puck relatively well. But Kozlovsky is not the only famous actor to film a world-class sports star.
Champion champions
The Soviet Union could be proud not only of regular successes at the Olympics and world championships, but also of the appearance of the first feature film about the legendary athlete. Back in 1957, The Wrestler and the Clown was released, which told about, in many ways, not so much stellar as tragic, the life of the wrestler Ivan Poddubny. It was played by Stanislav Chekan. In 1985 at "Kazakhfilm" they created another film about the unofficial world champion of the late XIX - early XX century, Poddubny, called "Know Ours". But he did not receive much attention. But the main role was played by Dmitry Zolotukhin, who became famous in the dilogy about Peter I.
The story of such an ambiguous figure for his contemporaries as a wrestler, one of whose nicknames was "Ivan the Iron", was continued in Russian cinema. Mikhail Porechenkov became the Champion of Champions in the 2014 film Poddubny. One of the masterpieces of Soviet dramatic cinema of the 70s is "White Snow of Russia", dedicated to the undefeated chess king Alexander Alekhin. He did not go unnoticed also because the role of Alekhine was played by another Alexander - Mikhailov, who became famous after the painting "Love and Doves".
Bobrov one, Bobrov two
Several films at once, combined with a modern film by such a famous character in the world of big-time sports as Vsevolod Bobrov, turned out to be a kind of harbingers of "Legend No. 17". In the first, filmed in 64th by Vladimir Basov and called without fancy "Hockey Players", the role of the prima of hockey and football of the post-war years, in the film - Duganov, was performed by Vyacheslav Shalevich.
In 1991, Boris Shcherbakov will play Vsevolod Bobrov in the film "My best friend - General Vasily, son of Joseph". 22 years later, the same Shcherbakov will play the role of Valery Kharlamov's father in "No. 17". And the great Bobrov “will be” Alexander Yakovlev, whose first role was an embassy guard in the cult television series of the 70s about Stirlitz.
In addition to Shcherbakov and Yakovlev, Oleg Menshikov also participated in the "Legend", whose role is the senior coach of the national team Anatoly Tarasov. North American NHL stars Bobby Clarke with Phil Esposito were played by Russian American Andrei Runzo and German Otto Goetz. And a large team of Russian actors less famous than Menshikov and Kozlovsky "fulfilled the duties" of the Union national team players of those years - Vladislav Tretyak (Alexander Pakhomov), Alexander Gusev (Alexander Lobanov), Alexander Maltsev (Denis Serdyukov), Vladimir Petrov (Artem Fedotov), Boris Mikhailov (Timur Efremenkov). It is interesting that in the role of Alexander Ragulin, his son and namesake appeared on the site.
From Kharlamov to Kovalchuk
By the way, "Legend" is considered to be a kind of response to "Valery Kharlamov. Extra time”with Alexei Chadov. Coaches-winners of the national team of different years Tarasova and Viktor Tikhonov in Extra Time were played by Vladimir Sterzhakov and Vladimir Kuznetsov. And Tretyaka, Mikhailova and Petrov - Dmitry Arosyev, Kirill Karo and Sergey Zharkov. It is worth remembering the "Hockey Games" about the super series-72 between the national teams of the USSR and Canada. Young and aged Bobrov was shown in it, respectively, by Sergey Larin and Leonid Timtsunik, Tarasova - by Mikhail Filippov and Sergey Gazarov, and Kharlamov and Tretyak - by Gleb Isakov and Andrey Voroshilov.
The triumph of the Russian national team at the Sochi Olympics inspired actor Dmitry Dyuzhev, famous from the Brigada TV series, to create a film with the victorious title "Champions". The director decided to make seven famous Russian athletes, medalists and champions of the Olympic Games and world championships at once, his heroes. Biathlon father and son with the same names Nikolai Kruglov in Dyuzhev's tape were Andrei Smolyakov and Mark Bogatyrev. Figure skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze are Tatyana Arntgolts and Konstantin Kryukov. Taisiya Vilkova played the snowboarder Ekaterina Ilyukhina, and the speed skater Svetlana Zhurova was played by her namesake Khodchenkova. Finally, the role of the idol of thousands of young Russian hockey players, Ilya Kovalchuk, went to ex-Kharlamov, Alexei Chadov.
Harry Potter's Gold
"Bright sportsmen - bright actors". This system is used by Western directors, who, over time, also began to "sing" the idols of sports fans. For example, the legendary boxer Mohammed Ali was played by the popular Hollywood actor Will Smith in Michael Mann's film Ali. And his colleague Michael J. White created the screen image of another famous superboxer from the United States - Mike Tyson.
The hockey theme in Hollywood was continued by Kurt Russell, who played the coach of Herb Brooks, whose team - the US national team - sensationally defeated the then almost invincible Soviet team and won the title of the champion of the 1980 Olympics. The film about Brooks and the victory, christened in the USA "Miracle on Ice", was called "Miracle". The tolerant American film empire did not pass by the sensational story of the transsexual woman Renee Richards, born under the name Richard Ruskind. This athlete, her role in Anthony Page's film "Second Serve" was given to Vanessa Redgrave, was the only one in the world of tennis who managed to perform in the men's and women's category of the official tournament.
Europe also supported the Americans: two stories about the champions of the past appeared on the continent at once. In Germany, in particular, the drama "Max Schmeling: Fighter of the Reich" was released about the German champion of the planet among professional boxers in the early 30s. And in Great Britain they decided to glorify the two-time Olympic champion Sir Sebastian Coe. It is curious that the actor Daniel Radcliffe, who once played Harry Potter, was invited to play the role of athlete Coe in the film "Gold". But the boxer Schmeling was played by another German ring pro - Olympic champion-88 Henry Muske.
