Stalker

Сталкер (1979)

Timing: 2:42 (162 min)

8.097/10
2466

8.102/10
211548

8/10
156000

All about film

Video 6

Photo 119

Actors and characters

Release date

1979-05-25

Country

Production

Mosfilm

Genre

Science Fiction, Drama

Budget

$6 000 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Andrei Tarkovsky

Actors

Alisa Freyndlikh, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko, Natasha Abramova, Faime Jurno, Evgeniy Kostin, Raymo Rendi, Vladimir Zamanskiy
All actors and roles (9)

Scenario

Arkadiy Strugatskiy, Boris Strugatskiy

Producer

Aleksandra Demidova

Operator

Aleksandr Knyazhinsky

Composer

Eduard Artemyev

Artist

Audition

Editing

Lyudmila Feiginova
All team (25)

• The film is based on the novel "Roadside Picnic" (1972) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
• The Stalker was filmed in the vicinity of Tallinn (Estonia) in 1977–1978.
• The working title of the script was “The Machine of Desires”.
• In 2008, it was proposed to name one of the road sections in the Rotterman quarter of Tallinn Stalker Lane (Estonian: Stalkeri käik) in honor of the film “Stalker,” which was partially filmed in these locations.
• In February 1976, Tarkovsky officially received approval to begin filming from the Chairman of the State Cinema Committee of the USSR, Filipp Yermash.
• Tarkovsky himself, his wife Larisa (the film's second unit director), and the lead actor Anatoly Solonitsyn died from the same disease - bronchial cancer.
• Actor Alexander Kaidanovsky, known for his fiery temper, had a fight with Tarkovsky on the set of “Stalker,” but was forgiven, and the film was still completed.
• Initially, the required natural setting was found near the city of Isfara, in Tajikistan, but the city was destroyed by an earthquake. This circumstance did not interfere with the filming itself, but the film crew had nowhere to live.
• In two episodes of the film, a page from a tear-off calendar is fleetingly visible – “December 28th”. The director was unable to explain to anyone why this episode was needed, or what it had to do with that date. Andrei Tarkovsky died on December 29, 1986.
• The prolonged stay in the ecologically contaminated filming area negatively affected the health of all members of the film crew, including Andrei Tarkovsky himself. Only one person actually avoided illness and complications – the composer Eduard Artemyev, as he never visited the filming locations, working on the film's music in Moscow.
• Due to a conflict with director Andrei Tarkovsky, the name of the chief cameraman Georgy Rerberg was not included in the film's credits.
• Where the scene with the UN checkpoint was filmed, near the boiler room of the old Tallinn power plant, the inscription “UN” remains on the chimney to this day. In 2006, a commemorative plaque in Estonian and English was hung on the chimney stating that the film 'Stalker' was filmed in this location.
• Working on the film was fraught with great difficulties, accompanied by numerous problems, and took about three years.
• The film was reshot three times, with three different cinematographers and production designers, and the script continued to be rewritten during filming. As a result, the budget was significantly overspent due to constant revisions.
• On February 15, 1977, the first (studio) scene of the film was shot – the Stalker’s house. Location shooting in Estonia took place in May-August. Individual scenes were filmed near Leningrad, and studio shooting at the Mosfilm studio. The final scenes, as well as views of the industrial landscape from the open door of the bar, were filmed in Moscow, in the Zagorodny Shosse district. The pipes of TEC-20 are visible in the background.
• On August 9, 1977, several thousand meters of filmed material were irrevocably lost in the Mosfilm laboratories during film development. Various versions were put forward: from the substitution of film by ill-wishers to a tactical move by Tarkovsky, who wanted to completely remake the film that did not suit him. The film crew suspected that the film might be shut down, but as early as July, the director was able to obtain permission from Goskino to increase the budget.
• In April 1978, Tarkovsky suffered a heart attack and resumed work with the third team in a row.
• Filming was completed on December 19, 1978. Ultimately, the film's budget was overspent by 300,000 rubles, exceeding one million rubles.
• The film premiered in May 1980 at the 'Mir' cinema on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. In Moscow, the film was shown in only three cinemas, and 196 prints were distributed throughout the country. For the first few months after the premiere, the film's release went unmentioned in the Soviet press. Initial reviews and critiques only appeared in 1981—after the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
• In 1973, while still working on 'Mirror,' Andrei Tarkovsky wrote in his diary that he was intrigued by a new work by the Strugatsky brothers. In 1974, Tarkovsky first contacted the writers and informed them that he was interested in adapting their novella 'Picnic on the Side of the Road.'
• Although Tarkovsky was not credited as a screenwriter in the credits, he was considered one of three co-authors, and his role consisted primarily of rejecting material. Boris Strugatsky recalled that no other work had cost them so much effort compared to the film's script, and he described the work as endlessly exhausting. Due to 'Stalker,' the writing of the novella 'Beetle in the Anthill' was postponed. The Chairman of Goskino of the USSR, Yermash, warned Tarkovsky before final approval that the brothers had a reputation for being 'unfilmable,' especially after the failure of the previous attempt to adapt 'The Gadfly.' However, Tarkovsky stood firm.
• The director's fastidiousness exhausted the crew. Just staging a scene lasting only a few seconds on screen took the film's artists several days. Tarkovsky insisted that only green be visible on the lawn that would appear in the frame. Every blade of grass of the wrong shade was meticulously removed one by one.
• The film was shot on Kodak film stock, which was scarce in the Soviet era and was only issued to select directors.
• Stalker was Tarkovsky's last film made in the USSR; he worked abroad afterwards.
• The film is based on the novel "Roadside Picnic" (1972) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
• In 2008, it was proposed to name one of the road sections in the Rottermann Quarter in Tallinn Stalker's Lane (Estonian: Stalkeri käik) in honor of the film "Stalker", which was partially filmed in these locations.
• On February 15, 1977, the first (studio) scene of the film was shot – Stalker's house. Location shooting in Estonia took place in May-August. Individual scenes were filmed near Leningrad, and studio shooting at the Mosfilm studio. The final scenes, as well as views of the industrial landscape from the open door of the bar, were filmed in Moscow, in the Zagorodnoye Shosse area. The pipes of TEC-20 are visible in the background.
• On August 9, 1977, several thousand meters of filmed material were irrevocably lost in the laboratories of Mosfilm during film development. Various versions were put forward: from the substitution of the film by ill-wishers to a tactical move by Tarkovsky, who wanted to completely remake the film that did not suit him. The film crew suspected that the film might be shut down, but as early as July, the director was able to obtain permission from Goskino to increase the budget.
• The premiere of the film took place in May 1980 at the Mir cinema on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. In Moscow, the film was shown in only three cinemas, and 196 prints were distributed throughout the country. In the first months after the premiere, the release of the film was not noted in the Soviet press. The first reviews and critiques appeared only in 1981 – after the film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.
• In 1973, while still working on "Mirror", Andrei Tarkovsky left a note in his diary stating that he was interested in a new work by the Strugatsky brothers. In 1974, Tarkovsky first contacted the writers and informed them that he was interested in adapting the novella "Picnic on the Side of the Road".
• Although Tarkovsky was not credited as a screenwriter, he was considered one of three co-authors, and his role consisted mainly of rejecting material. Boris Strugatsky recalled that no other work had taken as much effort from them as the film's script, and he described the work as endlessly exhausting. Work on the novella 'The Beetle in the Anthill' was postponed due to 'Stalker'. The Chairman of the USSR State Film Committee, Ermash, warned Tarkovsky before final approval that the brothers had a reputation for being 'unfilmable', especially after the failure of the previous attempt to adapt 'The Devil from the Underworld'. However, Tarkovsky firmly stood his ground.
• 'Stalker' was Tarkovsky's last film made in the USSR; he then worked abroad.