How the film "Pirates of the 20th Century" was filmed: footage from the filming and 22 interesting facts about the film (27 photos)

The film "Pirates of the 20th Century" (1979) is the first full-fledged Soviet action film, which became the absolute champion at the Soviet box office.





1. The idea for the script for the film came to Stanislav Govorukhin after he read a newspaper article about sea bandits who attacked an Italian ship and stole 200 tons of uranium ore.

Govorukhin was so impressed by this story that he decided to create an action film with stunts and karate, which was new to the Soviet audience, who were not accustomed to this genre.



Stanislav Govorukhin

But despite the fact that he put his whole soul into the script he wrote, Govorukhin himself refused to shoot the film himself, as he was busy filming the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed.” Therefore, he decided to give the script to his friend - director Boris Durov, with whom he once made the film "Vertical".





2. But despite the fact that the script was ready in full, filming did not begin immediately. The fact is that before filming began, the script had to be censored. And that's where the problems started.

The censors didn't like the fact that pirates were stealing uranium ore, so they ordered it replaced with something else. Then uranium ore was replaced by opium, which was necessary for the pharmaceutical industry. But even here the censors killed this idea, as they considered that the mention of opium in the film would be direct propaganda of drugs.



Govorukhin was so angry at the censors’ refusal that he heatedly said something like the following:

"What should they bring then? Forms of party cards?"

Such a daring statement by Govorukhin shocked the censors, but after thinking a little, they still allowed the opium to remain.

3. A huge number of actors auditioned for the role of “Grandfather”, among whom were Grigory Martirosyan and Viktor Gordeev. But Martirosyan was rejected due to the fact that he did not fit the type, but he was offered the role of Klyuev, which he agreed to.



But Viktor Gordeev turned out to be too young for this role, while “Grandfather” should have been played by a more mature and brutal man. But Gordeev was still not pushed aside, but was offered the role of the young sailor Yura Mikoshi.



As for Nikolai Eremenko Jr., he himself came to the audition in order to get this role. According to him, he wanted to play a brutal action hero, and not just another romantic hero. True, the director didn’t really want to take Eremenko to the main role.



But to get this role, he went to great lengths, even volunteering to personally perform all the stunts during the filming of the film. Well, the actor’s excellent physical training played a significant role in getting the role.

4. Filming of the rescue of the barmaid Masha and the librarian Aina took place in the outdoor swimming pool of the Yalta Hotel in the spring. This was real torture for Natalia Khorokhorina and Maia Eglite, as they were afraid to dive under water. Moreover, the water was quite cold. because it was spring outside. But they got off lightly, since they were replaced by stunt doubles for most of the underwater filming.



But Nikolai Eremenko Jr. participated in this scene without understudies from beginning to end. For a week, the poor actor spent several hours a day in and under water to film the scene. It even got to the point where the blood vessels couldn’t stand it, and Nikolai Nikolayevich’s nose was bleeding.



5. The role of the cruel pirate Saleh went to actor Talgat Nigmatulin, who received it largely thanks to his knowledge of karate, which he deftly applied on the set without the help of understudies.

Nikolai Eremenko Jr. knew Talgat Nigmatulin long before filming the film “Pirates of the 20th Century.” They studied together at the same film institute and lived in the same dorm room, thanks to which they became very good friends. True, during filming, the friends had to beat each other up pretty hard, since the fight scenes between “Grandfather” and Saleh were filmed without the use of doubles.



In life, Talgat was completely different from his character. Nigmatulin was quite a romantic person and even dreamed of making his own film. But, unfortunately, he ended up in a destructive sect, where he was deprived of his life.

6. While writing the script, Stanislav Govorukhin met the founder of the central karate school, Alexei Shturmin. He was so impressed by the fighting technique shown by Sturmin’s students that he decided to use karate in his film.

Among other things, the head coach of the Shturmin school, Tadeush Kasyanov, was invited to play the role of boatswain Matveich, who happily agreed to play this role.



Alexey Shturmin and Tadeush Kasyanov

And in general, Tadeush Kasyanov not only played the role of the boatswain, but also became the director of the battle scenes in this film. He taught karate to almost all the actors, including those who played pirates.

Even the scene where the boatswain breaks the board in half with one blow was very real. According to the actors and other members of the crew, the board was not sawed, and the blow was indeed strong and clear.



7. Fashionable, scarce jeans were prepared especially for Nikolai Eremenko, or rather his hero, which he wore on camera. But he was so afraid of ruining them that during active scenes (for example, underwater) he changed his jeans to simpler pants of a similar color. And after finishing filming the film, Eremenko bought these same jeans.



8. The role of the islander Maa went to the Uzbek actress Dilorom Kambarova, who did not know how to swim before filming the film. But according to the plot, her heroine was supposed to be a good swimmer. Then her old friend Talgat Nigmatulin came to the rescue, who taught the actress to float on the water and even swim underwater.



9. Despite the fact that women play an important role in the film, they were rather deprived of lines. Each of the actresses says literally 3 phrases during the film.



10. To film the scene where “Grandfather” hits Salekh’s head with the door, a special safety nail was driven into the wall, to which a chain was attached so that the door would stop at the right moment, without harming Talgat Nigmatulin himself.



The first few takes were unsuccessful, so the director demanded to shoot another one. But during the filming of the next take, a nail fell out of the wall, which is why Nigmatulin received a powerful blow from the door. Therefore, the actor’s emotions at that moment were the most real. And it was this take that made it into the final version of the film.

11. During the filming of one of the scenes, actor Dzhikhangir Shakhmuradov, who played one of the pirates, accidentally broke the rib of Pavel Remezov, who played the ship’s doctor.



12. The scene where Saleh beat the barmaid Masha, performed by Natalya Khorokhorina, with a stick was also filmed interestingly. It was impossible to film the scene without using force, as everything looked too fake. Then it was decided to place a folded piece of cloth on the actress’s back (under her shirt) to soften the real blows.



The scene turned out to be gorgeous and very believable, but the next day Khorokhorina had a huge bruise all over her back.

By the way, for some reason Natalya Khorokhorina's last name was spelled incorrectly in the credits - with an "A".



13. Most of the scenes were filmed in Crimea in the Black Sea. But the seizure of the ship by pirates at the beginning of the film was filmed in the Sea of Azov near the city of Zhdanov (Mariupol).

And by the way, the Azov Shipping Company provided two ships specifically for the filming of the film - the cargo ship "Fatezh" and the motor ship "Admiral Lunin", which in the film were named "Nezhin" and "Mercury".



By the way, during the filming of the scene with the storming of a cargo ship by pirates, an Italian ship entered the Zhdanovsky port, the crew members of which were not warned about the filming of the film. The Italians decided that a real capture was taking place here, so they hastened to go down into the hold so as not to fall under attack. Only after the end of filming were the poor Italians explained the whole situation.

14. To create black smoke during the capture of the Nezhin ship, pyrotechnics were placed in different places in containers with resin, which were then set on fire.



15. The actor Pavel Remezov himself came up with the idea to insert the scene with the razor. And director Boris Durov liked this idea, because in this way it was possible to explain why the heroes do not grow stubble. And certainly no one wanted to bother with additional makeup.



16. Actor Reino Airen, who played the Master, sported his own custom-made suits during filming.

17. The distance from the shore to the ship was too great, so it was impossible to jump. In order to bring such a jump to life on screen, we had to film two different takes. In the first take, Eremenko jumped into the water, and in the second he was already clinging to the fence.



As Eremenko himself said, during the filming of this scene he almost died. The fact is that when he jumped into the water, he began to be pulled under the blades. But fortunately, he managed to swim out.

However, the film's cameraman later said that this was just a joke that was invented to increase interest in the film.

18. Nikolai Eremenko had to go through a certain part of the scenes with a bare torso, so he devoted a lot of time to the bench press in order to constantly keep himself in shape. Moreover, sometimes he did this right during filming, while he himself was not in the frame



Even the Italians, who sailed into the port and saw the scene of the attack on the ship, were surprised that during the capture someone was calmly doing push-ups on the deck to the side.

19. According to the stories of members of the film crew, one of the mines (naturally, a dummy) floated out to sea, and no one could find it. The administration of the film informed the leadership of the Black Sea Fleet about this, which caused a big scandal. But in the end, the fake mine was never discovered. Maybe to this day this fake mine is floating somewhere in the sea, or maybe this is just another tale for advertising the film.

20. After the film was ready, it was sent for approval to the Komsomol Central Committee, but there the film was considered harmful due to the large number of fights, foreign alcoholic drinks, etc.



And perhaps the film would never have been released if Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev had not watched it. The Secretary General liked this film so much that he not only gave the go-ahead for its release in cinemas, but also recommended that it be done as soon as possible.



21. During its release, the film was watched by more than 87 million people, thanks to which the film “Pirates of the 20th Century” became the highest-grossing film in Soviet film distribution. Since then, not a single Soviet film has been able to surpass this figure.



Spectators stormed the cinemas from the very morning, as it was almost impossible to get tickets. It was definitely a success, which might not have happened if the censors had not let the film pass.

22. After the success of the film “Pirates of the 20th Century,” Stanislav Govorukhin decided to make a sequel to “Pirates of the 20th Century,” and even invited Nikolai Eremenko Jr. and Talgat Nigmatulin to play the leading roles. But the actors, having read the script, unanimously refused, because they simply did not like it.

Then Govorukhin decided to remake the script for other actors, and also cut off all ties with “Pirates of the 20th Century”. This picture was called "The Secrets of Madame Wong", but it could not even come close to the success of "Pirates of the 20th Century".