Fiddler on the Roof
Short description
Set in a small Ukrainian village during the early twentieth century, this drama follows Tevye, a poor Jewish milkman. As he attempts to find suitable husbands for his daughters, he faces conflict between his traditional values and the desires of his children. While navigating these family tensions, Tevye and his community must also deal with increasing antisemitism and violence under the Russian Empire, eventually leading to forced exile.
Directed and produced by Norman Jewison, this was the sixth of 19 films he directed, following The Thomas Crown Affair and preceding Jesus Christ Superstar. The film features a screenplay by Joseph Stein and stars Topol as Tevye, alongside Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, and Rosalind Harris, with a total credited cast of 76.
Produced by United Artists, The Mirisch Company, and Cartier Productions, the movie had a budget of 9 million USD and earned 83 million USD at the worldwide box office. It is well-received by audiences and critics alike, holding an 8/10 rating on IMDb from 46,481 votes and a 7.7/10 rating on TMDB from 670 votes. Film critics gave the movie a rating of 7.9/10 based on 77 reviews, which is consistent with the general audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film's title is taken from a painting by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) depicting a funeral and a man on a rooftop playing the violin.
- The film crew traveled all over Europe in search of a filming location. Permission to film in the USSR was not granted (the film's action took place in pre-revolutionary Russia, in Ukraine, south of Kyiv), and the producers ultimately settled on Yugoslavia (now Croatia). Much of the villages there had been destroyed by 1919 during the Russian Civil War, and hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed and displaced.
- The first television broadcast in the United States attracted 40 million viewers.
- Jewish customs and traditions are depicted in the film with particular care.
- Hundreds of candles, not electric lighting, were used in the sunrise and sunset scenes.
- Several times throughout the film, people touch a box attached to the doorframe. Inside is a parchment scroll made from the skin of a kosher animal, containing a portion of the Shma prayer (a Jewish liturgical text consisting of four quotations from the Pentateuch; daily recitation of the prayer is prescribed as a commandment in Deuteronomy). Verses from the two parts of the Shma prayer (Deut. 6:4-9 and Deut. 11:13-21) are inscribed on the inside of the scroll. It is traditionally affixed to the doorpost in Jewish homes.
- Marble dust was used to simulate snow.
- Topol played the role of an old milkman aged 35.
- The film unexpectedly became very popular in Japan, where the audience resonated with the theme of the destruction of a centuries-old way of life.
- To ensure greater authenticity, the film's artist, Robert F. Boyle, studied the plans of a hundred synagogues that existed in Ukraine at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and then constructed the one that was filmed.
- Director Norman Jewison made Tutte Lemkov, who played the violinist, try seven different instruments until he found the one that suited him best.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
