The cult Soviet film could have looked completely different.
Casting actors for “The Irony of Fate” was not easy. Eldar Ryazanov had to reject many candidates in order to create the ideal picture. The director’s efforts were worth it – his work delights viewers every year during the New Year holidays.
Initially, the master assumed that the role of Hippolytus would be played by Oleg Basilashvili. Eldar Aleksandrovich once promised that he would cast him in every film, and always looked for a suitable role for the actor in advance. But Basilashvili lost his father shortly before filming and did not find the strength to work.
Then they began to consider Andrei Mironov for the role of the unlucky groom. But the artist refused, considering that the character was not charismatic enough. Perhaps the actor was simply offended that before that he was not allowed to play Zhenya Lukashin: Mironov failed the audition miserably. But Yuri Yakovlev fits perfectly into this story.
