Dramatic filming of iconic Christmas tales: The pregnant princess and Nastenka almost lost…

There is a huge number of legendary Christmas tales, on which not only younger, but also older generations grew up. However, filming them was often not so easy and the directors and actors often had to deal with various problems. So how were the beloved Czechoslovak and foreign Christmas tales created?

Three nuts for Cinderella

The legendary fairy tale starring Libuška Šafránková premiered in 1973. It is interesting that in the Soviet Union it was discovered two weeks earlier than in Czechoslovakia. It’s a fairy tale filmed at Moritzburg Castle in Germany. Although director Václav Vorlíček originally wanted to film in Slovakia, he could not find the right location that would meet his requirements.

During the filming, the crew he had to deal with several problems. Since they did not have enough snow, they had to use artificial snow. On the roofs of houses they even had to spray lime to create a wintry atmosphere.

The main representative of Cinderella (Libuše Šafránková) at first she did not want to accept this role. But her colleagues from the theater provoked her to do so. The interesting thing is that originally, the fairy tale was supposed to be filmed in the summerbut the script was changed and it was filmed in winter. However, not all costumes managed to be sewnso Cinderella rode a horse in only a thin dress and the prince in leggings.

In the movie several animals also performed, but they did not always want to cooperate with the crew. For example, the director had to poke the owl Rozárka in the eye with a blade of grassto blink. In turn, they scratched the horse Jurašek’s belly so that he would nod to Cinderella. And finally, for Cinderella’s dog to run into the forest, they had to throw a snowball at him.

Princess with a golden star on her forehead

For the first time, viewers could see this fairy tale seen before Christmas in 1959while the actors Jozef Zíma and Marie Kyselková presented themselves in the role of Prince Radovan and Princess Lady. Although Miriam Hynková was originally supposed to portray the princessshe gave up this role due to illness.

Kyselková she came to the audition as a 24-year-old medical school student and was only supposed to be a dancing extra. But the creators liked her and gave her the main role. During filming, she was pregnant, expecting her son Ondřej.

Both main representatives they had to wear a wig at first. Although the prince eventually got away with it, the crew constantly covered the actress’s hair with a deep orange wig. The star on Lada’s forehead and hair was glued early in the morning and taken off only in the evening, which is why it happened that the actress’s skin was burnt from the glue after filming.

Several actors were also injured during filming. You are Prince Radovan in one scene at the end of the fencing he was supposed to break his sword against his knee, but he turned it the wrong way and cut your skin. The king, played by Fantišek Smolík, was almost poked out in the eye by Princess Lada with her crown when she came to greet him in the morning.

Lady representative years later said that her it was a pity that she had to keep wearing a mouse fur and couldn’t try on several beautiful princess dresses. Josef Zíma, who played the prince, learned to swordsmanship at school, but King Kazivsvět had never held a sword in his hand before, so he didn’t like filming their fight scenes together.

For the fact that we can watch the fairy tale at all, we owe a lot to the actor who portrayed Baba Jaga. The filmed material was almost destroyed by a flood in the boiler room and the film reels were saved at the last moment by actor Georgij Milliar.

One of the most striking characters is Marfuša, played by Inna Čurikovová. During the casting, the director put a bowl of nuts in front of her and told her to nibble on them. Everyone laughed at her so much that they chose her immediately afterwards. Filming was not easy for her. When Marfuša was sitting under a tree in the forest and was supposed to eat apples, they forgot to put them in her bag. Therefore she had to crunch raw onionswhich she drank with milk.

On the board, you are in a legendary fairy tale only 15-year-old Natalya Sedykh played, who got into the film by complete accident. The director noticed her during her performance on ice, where she played a dying swan on skates. He liked her so much that you had her two months later he called for the filming of Mrázik.

The worst scene for her was when Nastenka had frostbite on her eyelashes. In fact, she had glue on her eyeswhich went down very hard. Actress she said she was in a lot of pain at the time and almost lost her eyelashes.

The fairy tale of Juraj Jakubiska in 2023 it also saw its sequel. However, the first part appeared on television screens for the first time 40 years ago. The film is inspired by a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm with the name Mrs. Winter.

The role of Perinbaby was played by the Italian actress Giuletta Masina, who she was already retired from acting and did not appear anywhere for 16 years. Although the director eventually talked her out of it, many scenes with her had to be repeated several times by the crew because there were mistakes in them. It was filmed in the Dobšinská ice cave, where there are many stairs that the actress would not be able to climb. Therefore, mountain porters had to carry it.

You are Jakubka singer Peter Nagy was originally supposed to play the role, but the German co-producer put Tobias Hoesl in the rolewho was Germany’s rising star. With actress Petra Vančíková-Kolevská, who played Alžbetka, however, they did not understand each other at all, even though they had to pretend to be in love.

Several injuries occurred during the filming of this film as well. When Jakubko flew from the sky from Perinbaba, the boy was beaten against the rocks, as he was only hanging thanks to the crane. Circus Bandolíro was originally supposed to fly only a meter above the ground, but in the end he was up to 10 meters in the air. Representative Dora (Milada Ondrášiková) she ended up unconscious after being thrown by a horse during training and her leg got stuck in the stirrup. He dragged her across the frozen field and she also fractured her vertebra.

The late Libuše Šafránková also played a princess in this Christmas fairy tale. Filmmakers filmed in the Low Tatras in the Demänovská ice cave. The crew thus found unique backdrops, which were ice stalactites. In the fairy tale of them they made underground salt reserves. In addition to the cave, filming was also done in Prague, Brno, Rožňava, Súľov, Lednice and Červený Kameni.

The musical ointment in the fairy tale is a joint song by Karel Gott and Marcela Holanová. The film was also broadcast in Germany, where it was called Salt Prince. Since Libuše Šafránková was a Czech actress, her Slovak dubbing was done by Jana Nagyová. The interesting thing is that in the Czech series Arabela, she was dubbed into Czech by Šafránková.

Boris Farkaš rode a horse for the first time in the film. He should have stopped right in front of the princess, but he did not succeed until the staff changed the horse. Trainer him then he stuck a twig into the ground, thanks to which he stopped in the right place.

This fairy tale was filmed in 1952 and shows scenes from several beautiful castles and chateaux in the Czech Republic. When Princess Krasomila threw the ball over the goal to Miroslav, she was at Hluboká castle and the prince was in Třebon. Gate she was just a backdrop held by two assistants. The communists also interfered with the filming, forbidding them to depict supernatural beings and witches in the fairy tale. In the end, they managed to agree on at least a singing flower.

Originally, there were more characters in the script, for example, Miroslav had a nanny, Krasomila a chambermaid, and the funny chief courtier Zajíc and the princess’s suitor Bojeslav were also to be added. The ending of the film was also supposed to be different, but because of the high costs, they decided to change it. Originally, it was supposed to culminate in a big wedding. Alena Vránová, who played the princess, fell in love with actor Vladimír Ráž during filming. But at that time she was married to the poet Pavel Kohout, and Ráž was also married to another actress.