At one time, Edmond Keosayan was considered an incapable director and even a loser. Fortunately, he managed to prove that he can make films just brilliantly. Keosayan actually possessed an extraordinary talent. He knew how to change the subject of his films with enviable speed, he could easily move from a tape with chases to a touching comedy. However, in all his works there was one common feature. This is kindness. All the films of Edmond Keosayan were permeated with this feeling.
Stubborn student
Edmond Gareginovich Keosayan was born in mid-autumn 1936. At one time, in 1915, his ancestors left their homeland and lived in Siberia. During Stalin's purges, the father of the future director, a former tsarist officer, was arrested and later shot. Therefore, little Edmond grew up and was brought up in one of the villages of the Altai Territory. This is where his family was sent.after the death of his father.
In the post-war period, family members moved to the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. There, young Edmond graduated from the school of working youth, and after that he went to Moscow. He was only sixteen at the time.
In the capital, the future director was going to join the student fraternity of VGIK. He wanted to enter the acting department of the institute. However, the examination committee decided not to take him to the university. There was only one reason - Keosayan's Armenian accent. At the same time, he hardly spoke Armenian.
Despite such a setback, Edmond did not lose heart. In order not to leave the city, he entered one of the capital's economic institutions. After some time, he nevertheless became a student at a theater university, but this time in Yerevan. At the same time, he worked in the republican pop orchestra. Keosayan worked as an entertainer there.
A few years later, the stubborn young man again began to storm the selection committee of VGIK. And now he has succeeded. He became a student. He then studied at the director's course of E. Dzigan. In 1964, Keosayan nevertheless received the coveted crusts and became a certified director.
Director's debut
While still a student, Edmond managed to make a film called "Ladder". The painting was his term paper. And despite this, the tape got to the famous film festival in Monte Carlo. The debutant was awarded the first Grand Prix. A year later, the young novice director finished work on his second film - "Three Hours of the Road". This film was also shown at Cannes.honored with a prestigious award. Thanks to these international awards, Keosayan was offered to work at the Yunost film studio. She functioned at Mosfilm. Of course, the director agreed.
And a few years later, on the eve of the half-century anniversary of the October Revolution, he received an offer to make an adventure film based on P. Blyakhin's book "Red Devils". But this story began long before filming.
Backstory
In the 30s. Soviet cinema began to create adventure films. However, these plans were interrupted by the Great Patriotic War. The Soviet Union then needed patriotic films. After the war, in 1962, the famous picture, the western "The Magnificent Seven", was released in domestic distribution. The film was a huge success. After that, the head of state Nikita Khrushchev also reminded everyone that it was time to start making good, high-quality adventure films in the USSR.
To implement the plan of the Secretary General, the Central Committee of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League chose just the work "Red Devils". Recall that this story has already been filmed. The film appeared in 1923. The director was I. Perestiani. The apparatchiks decided that the plot was more than suitable for an adventure film and began looking for a director.
First, Alexander Mitta received an offer to film the book. However, for some reason, he was forced to refuse. And it was then that Edmond Keosayan was invited. By this time, the director had already shot the film “Where are you now, Maxim?” and completed the film "The Cook", in which V. Vysotsky and S. Svetlichnaya.
Getting Started
The working title of the new film was The Sign of the Four. During filming, Keosayan made a huge amount of changes to the literary material. So, there were three main characters in the book. To them, the director added the high school student Valera, who often adjusts his glasses on the bridge of his nose. And Blyakhin's Chinese, the Negro in Perestiani's film, turned into a gypsy Yasha.
The big problem in the film was that the main roles were to be played by teenagers. Actor Viktor Kosykh, who played Danka, was found very quickly. Before the Keosayan project, he had already starred in several films, among which is the legendary film "Welcome, or No Trespassing." With other candidates for the role of the tape, the situation, as it turned out, was much more complicated.
So, the famous actor V. Nosik auditioned for the role of Valerka. But the director seemed too mature. After that, Kosykh suggested that Keosayan take off his friend. His name was Misha Metelkin. As a result, he passed the test. By the way, it was these two friends who helped the director come up with a new title for the film. It was now called The Elusive Avengers.
The search for the gypsy lasted a very long time. Keosayan had to see about 8,000 children throughout the Soviet Union. And only after that he saw Vasya Vasiliev. He lived in the Vladimir region, in a real gypsy camp. He had 13 brothers and sisters. He studied well, danced, sang and rode horseback.
Ksanka was also searched for a long time. Edmond Keosayan needed an actress whowould have good athletic training. In addition, she must look like a boy. Valya Kurdyukova at that time was engaged in gymnastics, had a sports category. She also loved boyish games. Actually, that's why the director chose her.
Shooting process
In the film "The Elusive Avengers" by Edmond Keosayan, almost 40 stunts were planned. Moreover, the actors had to perform them themselves. For several months they were intensively engaged in swimming, balancing act, car driving, sambo, playing billiards and, of course, horse riding. However, it was not without injury. So, Kosykh would have crashed a little more during the episode of rescuing children. He stopped the cart with the rushing horses. In another scene, the car with the characters raced through the glass pharmacy windows at a very high speed. As a result, Vasiliev and Metelkin received scars and cuts. And Kurdyukova did not want to lag behind her partners. She dived a lot and ended up in a hospital bed as a result. Her ears hurt.
Furor
Be that as it may, the film "The Elusive Avengers" was released in domestic distribution. The picture managed to create a real sensation. Almost fifty million moviegoers watched this work. Moreover, many specifically went to the cinema several times.
After such a triumph, Edmond Gareginovich Keosayan intended to make a new film. It was called "Antarctica - a distant country." The scriptwriters were A. Tarkovsky and A. Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky. However, these plans were not destinedcome true. The fact is that the "elusive" received a huge profit. That is why Goskino once again turned to Keosayan. He received an order to continue the picture. And this work - "New Adventures of the Elusive" - was again a huge success. True, after the premiere, rather critical notes appeared in the media. The director always followed these new articles and was very worried. As a result, he went to his homeland, to Armenia.
New projects
Arriving at home, director Edmond Keosayan immediately received a new interesting offer - to shoot an Armenian film. And the director managed to film a kind, touching and ironic picture. It was called "Men". By and large, in his work, this tape opened a completely new page, which revealed his talent to moviegoers from an unexpected side. By the way, Keosayan's wife, Laura, also got her role in this film. By the way, as Edmond Keosayan's biography tells, the director's personal life has developed just fine. He and his beloved wife raised two sons - David and Tigran, who also managed to achieve a lot.
A few years later, in 1978, the historical film drama directed by Star of Hope came out. The film told about the liberation war of the Armenian people against the Turkish conquerors. The last work of Keosayan was the autobiographical painting "Ascension". The tape tells about his childhood, which he spent in exile in Siberia. And he dedicated it to a woman - Baba Nyura. It was she who once sheltered members of his family and helpedthem to survive. Keosayan considered her a second mother.
Recent years
During the last years of his life, Keosayan tried to realize two more directorial ideas. This is a film about the Armenian folk hero named Andranik and a picture about his generation. He even came up with a name - "City guys". This tape was supposed to tell about those people with whom he grew up, about his friend Dnipro, about a trophy car … But the director did not have time …
Death of a master
Edmond Keosayan, whose filmography is quite impressive, was known as a passionate smoker. At first he preferred cigarettes and cigarettes. A little later he started smoking a pipe. He didn't part with her at all. Doctors gave him a terrible diagnosis - throat cancer. Unfortunately, they were unable to save him. Edmond Keosayan died in April 1994. They buried him at the Kuntsevo churchyard in Moscow.
