How the TV series "Gangster Petersburg" was filmed and from whom the main characters were written off

In 2000, the TV series "Bandit Petersburg" began to be released on the NTV channel, which became super-popular with Russian viewers — as well as the melody "The City that does not Exist", written by Igor Kornelyuk. We tell you who was the author of the script, how bandits participated in the filming and how much the performers of the main roles earned. 

Under the heading "Bandit Petersburg" there was a series of articles by criminal reporter Andrey Bakonin about organized crime in the city. The journalist, who worked under the pseudonym Andrey Konstantinov, headed the Investigative Journalism Agency, researched the history of crime and lectured at the journalism faculty, and also wrote popular action-packed novels.

Director Valery Ogorodnikov wanted to be the first to screen Konstantinov. At his request, the journalist wrote a script based on his novels "Lawyer" and "Lawyer-2", but there was no money for filming. After some time, the rights to the film adaptation were bought from Ogorodnikov by director Vladimir Bortko. Together with Konstantinov, they finalized the already existing material, in addition, the script for the novel "Journalist‑2" was completed.

The first "Journalist" had nothing to do with the series: it was dedicated to the work of the main character as a military translator. Konstantinov wrote off the main character of both "Journalists" Andrei Obnorsky from himself: he graduated from the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad University and worked in South Yemen and Libya, and then went into criminal journalism.

In the role of journalist Obnorsky, the script writer saw only Alexander Domogarov, but he had to defend the actor before the director: Bortko unexpectedly saw Dmitry Nagiyev in this role. They made a deal: Domogarov plays Obnorsky, but then Olga Drozdova played Katya, whom Konstantinov did not see in the role of the femme fatale. Katya had a prototype, but in the script the heroine is depicted as more cunning and dangerous than the real woman.

After the release of the first part called "Baron", a scandal broke out. In the story, the journalist Obnorsky learns from an old thief that a valuable painting was stolen from the Hermitage a long time ago, and a copy hangs in the museum itself, and this is not the only copy in the museum. This provoked indignation from the director of the Hermitage, he accused Konstantinov of defamation and made a loud denial in the media. The plot was taken from life: in 1985, a crazy museum visitor threw sulfuric acid on Rembrandt's "Danae", and the painting was under restoration for 12 years.

The Baron from the first part of the series had a prototype - the thief-in-law Yuri Alekseev, nicknamed the Hunchback. He knew antiques well and "worked" on it, and got the nickname for changing his appearance, imitating a hump and letting the police on the wrong track. Humpback participated in high-profile antique cases, but at the same time actively prevented the export of art objects abroad. During his last prison term, the thief gave an interview to Konstantinov and even told about the secrets of the Hermitage storerooms. The director wanted to take Oleg Efremov for his role, but the actor could not play for health reasons, and Kirill Lavrov became the Baron.

A sinister Antibiotic, the godfather of the St. Petersburg underworld, Viktor Pavlovich Govorov, was also written off from a real character. There are several versions of who it is, but Konstantinov keeps a secret: "The prototype of the Antibiotic was one of the most serious people in St. Petersburg, and I will not name him just because artists and officials of the highest rank were friends with him." But it is known that the image of an authority named Gurgen is associated with the figure of Otari Kvantrishvili.

Mikhail Ulyanov was invited to the role of an Antibiotic without a trial, but he could not act, and then Lev Borisov was approved without a trial. The antibiotic became the main and most striking character in the actor's filmography. Lev Borisov tried to play him so that the soul and conscience could be felt in this hero - the personification of evil. The actor did not expect that after the release of the series he would become an idol of bandits all over Russia: they approached him, thanked him, asked for autographs and offered services.

Athletes, security guards, and bandits themselves were filmed in Bandit Petersburg. Konstantinov had a lot of acquaintances in criminal circles, and they were happy to come to participate in episodes and extras: to have fun, create the right atmosphere, and in some places to consult actors. Olga Drozdova was very worried before filming a fight in prison: her rival had to be a girl with a criminal past. At the appointed hour, she did not arrive, and the actress was relieved to "fight" with the director's assistant.

For the sake of economy, "Bandit Petersburg" was filmed on videotape — it gave less clarity of the image, but it cost much cheaper. Almost no duplicates were made: it was not for nothing that the director carefully selected an experienced team. At the same time, the actors were filmed for pennies — for example, the supporting actor Oleg Basilashvili received $ 100 per shooting day. The main actor Dmitry Pevtsov earned $ 300 a day, and he and Armen Dzhigarkhanyan were among the highest paid actors.

The music for the series was created by composer Igor Kornelyuk. Vladimir Bortko asked him to write as for a melodrama. The director said that this is not a TV series, but a "long movie", and not a criminal one, but about love. After the Bandit Petersburg, the song "The City that Doesn't Exist" became so popular that there was a constant hype around it: the author was accused of plagiarism, the record company sued for the soundtrack with the creators of melodies for mobile phones, and figure skater Evgeny Plushenko made an arbitrary program for this music.

By the third part of Bandit Petersburg, Vladimir Bortko switched to preparing for the filming of The Master and Margarita, and Viktor Sergeev became the director of The Collapse of the Antibiotic. The work did not go so smoothly, half of the actors in the new plot were no longer there, and in the midst of filming, Olga Drozdova also left the series: the actress was bitten by a dog on the set, and after treatment she did not return. After the release of the third part, interest in the series began to weaken, and Konstantinov was so dissatisfied with this work that he removed his name from the credits.