Bitter-sweet memory or How I was to not to become a star

This film has some bitter-sweet memories for me. 21 years ago my mother brought me to Mosfilm. All was new and exciting. I passed the first round of screening - I liked to perform, to play and didn't feel inhibited by the presence of other hopeful young lads or the director, filming the antics, which he asked us to perform. After several more screenings, I was told that I passed to play the role of Vasja - the boy-child in the family. Then there were preparations for the filming, the costume, new hair style. Then, a month or so before filming should have started, I was told that my role was cut in favour of a girl, whose parents had connections with the director. Tolstoy's work was rewritten to exclude the boy-child and create a place for that girl. The boy has thus suddenly become a girl...

After my mother expressed her displeasure, I was kept in one filming session, as a "child of a family friend" at the funeral. The filming took a couple of days and that was it. That was my learning of the world of cinema - both of its exciting and interesting parts and its darker sides.

And as for me in the final cut - I occupy less than a second, starting at 2 hours 24 minutes 36 seconds into the film. You can view a frame with what have become of "Vasja" below (I am in the upper left corner):

http://www.stanislavs.org/Ja%20v%20Kreitserovoj%20sonate.png