September 17: In memory of director Igor Maslennikov, author of "Sherlock Holmes" and "Winter Cherry"
On September 22, 2022, the director and screenwriter died in St. Petersburg. Igor MaslennikovHe was 90 years old. Maslennikov is the author of the cult Sherlock Holmes films and the Winter Cherry trilogy.
Art will begin at the moment when the one who deceives begins to believe his own lies.
Nizhny Novgorod, Leningrad, Chelyabinsk
Igor Maslennikov was born in 1931 Nizhny NovgorodHe was not even a year old when the family moved to LeningradThe engineer father was then offered a position at the Izhora plant.
He spent the years of the Great Patriotic War in ChelyabinskThere, my father headed the design bureau for the production of T-34 tanks.
Years on Leningrad Television
In 1954, Maslennikov graduated from the Faculty of Philology at Leningrad State University. He spent the next 11 years working in the youth editorial office of Leningrad Television. He reported at the World Festival of Youth and Students, and filmed documentary essays while traveling abroad.
Maslennikov was also one of the directors of the first "Blue Lights" program, broadcast from Leningrad. He also produced the television magazine "Young Leningrader" and television plays.
However, in 1964, the television film "I Am a Taxi Driver," produced at the Leningrad television studio, was deemed "ideological sabotage" in the USSR. The film was destroyed. After this, Maslennikov decided to "give up editing."
Igor Maslennikov, director of Lenfilm
In 1967, Maslennikov graduated from the Higher Directing Courses at the Lenfilm Studios and got a job there as a director. His debut film, The Personal Life of Valentin Kuzyaev (co-authored with Ilya Averbakh) talked about high school students.
Success came in 1978 with the release of the adventure musical Yaroslavna, Queen of France.
How Sherlock Holmes Was Filmed
In 1979, Maslennikov received the script for "Sherlock." Over the next eight years, he produced the series, which became beloved not only in the USSR but also abroad. In 2006, Vasily Livanov He was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his best performance as Sherlock Holmes in film.
The director found the lead actor in his previous film:
I noticed Livanov in “Yaroslavna, Queen of France,” where he played a shaggy, drunken robber.
However, after filming ended, he and Livanov disliked each other. Maslennikov called him "a very average actor," while Livanov called him "a mediocre director." Vasily Livanov recalled:
When Vitaly Solomin and I were improvising, Maslennikov kept repeating, “You’ve guessed the director’s secret plan.”
Winter Cherry and the Attack on Capitalism
Between filming episodes of Sherlock, Maslennikov shot Winter Cherry, which later grew into a trilogy.
The ministry ironically called the story "a portrait of an unknown woman with a child."
In total, he directed around 30 films and television series. The director considered "Letters to Elsa" from the early 2000s his best work, calling it "an attack on capitalism." His last film was "Bankrupt," based on Ostrovsky's play "Our People—Let's Settle Accounts."
My audience is children and women. The male theme—all that masculinity, the shootings, the chases—doesn't bother me much.
Studio, teaching, and a letter to Putin
For over 30 years, Maslennikov was president of the St. Petersburg studio "Troitsky Most." He also served as chairman of the Union of Cinematographers.
He also taught at VGIK and led a workshop at the Higher Directing Courses at the St. Petersburg Film and Television Institute. Maslennikov is the author of several books, poetry albums, and cartoons.
In 2016, together with other cultural figures - Boyarsky, Freundlich, Kryuchkova — He signed a letter to Putin opposing the privatization of film studios. After that, privatization was temporarily suspended.
People used to go to the cinema to grow up, but now it’s to munch on popcorn.
The unfilmed fourth Winter Cherry
In 2015, Maslennikov wrote the script for the fourth episode of "Winter Cherry." However, he was unable to raise the funds for filming.
We don't ask the state for money—we're wasting our time. It'll take you through all the authorities, and I'm 85.
The funds raised through crowdfunding turned out to be "paltry." Ultimately, he managed to film only a few scenes in 2017, and the project has been "on hold" since then.
Igor Maslennikov assessed his creative legacy modestly: “Sweet, honest films of an honest guy.”
