Development in 1939 In May 1940, film director
Sergei Eisenstein wrote to Minister of Cinematography
Ivan Bolshakov about two screenplays he planned to co-write with
Lev Sheinin. The first was about British World War I officer
T. E. Lawrence and the second was about the
Beilis affair, the 1913 trial of a Jewish man who was falsely accused of killing a gentile boy. Additionally, Eisenstein had a film about Russian poet
Alexander Pushkin in mind. When Bolshakov did not reply, Eisenstein and Sheinin wrote directly to Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin on 31 December, expanding on their ideas for a Beilis film, but this project was rejected in January 1941. That month Eisenstein met with
Andrei Zhdanov, Chairman of the
Russian Supreme Soviet, who instead commissioned on Stalin's behalf a film about the Russian tsar Ivan IV, commonly known by his epithet "the Terrible". Stalin admired Ivan IV, considering him to be a "great and wise" ruler. He was interested in rehabilitating Ivan's reputation as the founder of the modern Russian state.
Ivan the Terrible was among a number of historical films produced during the 1930s and 1940s, intended to draw parallels between Russian historical figures and contemporary Soviet politics. Other such works included
Vladimir Petrov's
Peter the Great,
Vsevolod Pudovkin's
Minin and Pozharsky, and Eisenstein's previous film,
Alexander Nevsky. An official campaign to commission works of art depicting Ivan the Terrible in a positive light was launched in the winter of 1940–1941. At the same time as the commission of Eisenstein's film, a play about Ivan was commissioned, to be written by
Alexey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, and several
operas about Ivan were in the works. The operas were abandoned following the
German invasion of the USSR in 1941. made by Eisenstein for the film. Elizabeth was intended to have been portrayed by
Mikhail Romm.|alt=Sketch of Queen Elizabeth made by Eisenstein. The queen is laughing, while a handsome young youth sits on her lap. Eisenstein began research on the film in early 1941. Among his sources were
Heinrich von Staden and Andrey Kurbsky, who wrote about their lives in Ivan's court, as well as Ivan's correspondence with Kurbsky. Additionally, Eisenstein read the biography of Ivan by
Robert Wipper and the writings of historians
Sergei Solovyov,
Vasily Klyuchevsky,
Alexander Pypin, and
Igor Grabar. Eisenstein filled over a hundred notebooks with his ideas for the film. Eisenstein submitted the first draft of the
Ivan the Terrible screenplay to film studio
Mosfilm in May 1941. After the invasion of the USSR in June 1941, he planned to modify the screenplay to emphasize the antagonistic nature of the Germanic forces of the
Holy Roman Emperor, the
Livonian Knights, and the Hanseatic League and to downplay the role of Poland as Russia's enemy; Eisenstein also planned to show more of Ivan's positive relations with the English. Bolshakov requested that he remove the scenes with the English from the script, due to historical inaccuracy. Eisenstein complied, although he would shoot the scenes anyway. Due to the invasion, Mosfilm was evacuated to
Alma-Ata. Eisenstein moved there in October 1941 and completed the screenplay in December. It was approved in September 1942.
Casting Casting for the film began in early 1942. Eisenstein invited Nikolay Cherkasov, who had previously performed the title role in Eisenstein's
Alexander Nevsky, to play Ivan IV. The 39-year-old Cherkasov portrayed Ivan from the ages of 17 to 53; for the portrayal of 17-year-old Ivan, makeup artist Vasily Goriunov used adhesive to pull back the flesh on Cherkasov's face. Mikhail Zharov, who had wanted to perform the role of Kurbsky, was instead offered the role of Malyuta. Mikhail Nazvanov was cast as Kurbsky in the summer of 1942. Erik Pyryev, son of director
Ivan Pyryev, performed the role of the young Ivan, while his mother,
Ada Voytsik, played the role of Ivan's mother, Elena Glinskaya. Eisenstein wanted Vsevolod Pudovkin to play Pimen, but Pudovkin was filming
In the Name of the Fatherland at the time; then he suffered a heart attack and could not accept the role. He ultimately played the holy fool Nikola. Aleksandr Mgrebov was then considered for the role of Pimen. Unknown to Eisenstein, he was seriously ill with tuberculosis. When Eisenstein learned about Mgrebov's illness, he organized medical treatment for the actor, who later credited Eisenstein with saving his life. Eisenstein began to consider Mikhail Kuznetsov for the role of Fyodor Basmanov after noticing his performance in
Mashenka. After Kuznetsov, along with most actors working with Mosfilm, evacuated to Alma-Ata, Eisenstein offered him the role. Kuznetsov, who had studied at the
Moscow Art Theatre and was trained in the
Stanislavski method, continually clashed with Eisenstein over acting method. Eisenstein in turn grew frustrated when Kuznetsov would question the reasons for performing a scene in a specific way. Kuznetsov would later reflect that although he held great respect for Eisenstein, he felt that the director understood little about acting, and added that actors in Eisenstein's films were "in the cage of his imagination". For the role of Vladimir Staritsky, Eisenstein had wanted
Nikolay Okhlopkov, but he was too old for the part. Therefore Kadochnikov, who had arrived in Alma-Ata to film
The Defense of Tsaritsyn, was invited to play Vladimir. He also played the role of a clown in the miracle play in
Part II, and was meant to play the role of Evstafy, a kinsman of Philip, in
Part III. He was also considered for the role of King Sigismund. Ultimately, that part went to Pavel Massalsky. The actresses for Anastasia and Yefrosinya were found 6 months after filming began. Eisenstein convinced ballerina
Galina Ulanova to do several screen tests for the role of Anastasia, however filming conflicted with her dancing career, leading her to reject the role. Ultimately, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, who was Zharov's wife, was cast as the tsarina. Eisenstein wanted to cast
Faina Ranevskaya as Yefrosinya, but
Ivan Bolshakov, who had final say on casting choice, insisted that Ranevskaya, as a Jewish actress, was an unsuitable choice to play the boyarina. After several months of attempting to receive approval to cast Ranevskaya, Eisenstein relented. The role then went to Serafima Birman. Birman was unpopular with the rest of the cast and crew, and frequently clashed with Eisenstein about the correct way she and the other actors should perform their roles. Nazvanov complained to his wife at one point that Birman "delayed things terribly with her endless conversations, proposals, and rehearsals".
Music The score for the films was composed by
Sergei Prokofiev, with whom Eisenstein had collaborated on
Alexander Nevsky. Eisenstein wrote to Prokofiev in March 1942, asking him to compose the score for
Ivan the Terrible; Prokofiev arrived in May. Prokofiev incorporated music from an unrealized production of an adaptation of
Boris Godunov into the score. He did not finish writing the score of
Part I until August 1944. In January of 1945, he suffered a concussion, and was too ill to work. In spite of Prokofiev's request that Eisenstein instead work with
Gavriil Popov, Eisenstein insisted on working with him. He recovered by October of that year and was able to complete the score for
Part II.
Filming Filming was delayed until April 1943 due to the ongoing invasion of the USSR. Since 1924, Eisenstein had worked exclusively with cinematographer
Eduard Tisse for his feature films. In 1942, Eisenstein became friends with
Andrei Moskvin, and began to consider hiring him as cinematographer, as he wanted a different look for
Ivan. However, Eisenstein was concerned that Tisse, without his protection, could be arrested for his "Germanic" name. Cinematography was therefore divided between the two: Tisse shot the exteriors, and Moskvin, who became director of photography, filmed all interior scenes. The color sequences of
Part II were also filmed by Moskvin. Eisenstein was a demanding director—he would have his actors hold difficult poses while he continuously reshot scenes. Mikhail Nazvanov, who played Kurbsky, recounted that at one point, when Cherkasov was hysterically crying from exhaustion, Eisenstein "looked coolly on, while eating his dinner". Nazvanov also commented that he had to "admire Eisenstein's iron tenacity as he literally tramples people's hearts and even their bodies in striding toward his goal in creating, in such hellish conditions, a monumental work of art." However, the cast members recalled that Eisenstein kept the mood light-hearted on set, and that he inspired both cast and crew to believe they were engaged in one of the most significant projects of their lifetime. Most of the production was shot in Kazakhstan, in
Alma-Ata; several scenes were shot in the town of
Kaskelen, 30 kilometers from Alma-Ata. Filming was done at night, since electricity was limited during the day. Food was difficult to access; to hide the malnutrition of the actors, the costume designer sewed cotton "muscles" into the costumes. Eisenstein had planned to finish the film by 1944, however, production was continually delayed due to wartime shortages and illness of the personnel. By July 1944, Eisenstein still had not finished filming. Production of the film was transferred to Moscow. Bolshakov ordered Eisenstein to complete both Parts I and II by the end of 1944. Eisenstein finished editing
Part I in August. By February 1945, one-third of
Part II still needed to be filmed. Shooting was scheduled to begin on May 15, but could only commence on June 26. The delay was down to Moskvin not being available at that time and Eisenstein insisting on working only with him, in spite of pressure from Mosfilm to work with a different cinematographer. Although most of the film was shot in black and white, there are color sequences of a dance and banquet in the second part, which are part of the very last scenes which were shot for the film. Eisenstein filmed these scenes in Moscow, as Prokofiev's score for the scenes was not ready before Mosfilm ended their evacuation in Alma-Ata. While waiting for Prokofiev, Eisenstein attended a conference on color in film, and was so impressed by the vivid red colors in a documentary on the
Potsdam Conference that he shot his final scenes in color. Shooting was completed that year.
Mikhail Kalatozov, head of Mosfilm, ordered Eisenstein on 21 December to complete editing of
Ivan and submit
Part II to Mosfilm by 5 January 1946; Eisenstein submitted the film on 2 February.
Planned third part Eisenstein had originally planned to make only two parts to the film. However, by 1944, he had too much footage for two parts. He was also concerned that the reception of the film would suffer, as
Part I would seem unfinished and
Part II lacked a triumphant ending. He therefore asked for, and received, permission to divide the film into three parts. The third part, which began production in 1946, was abandoned after the second part was banned. Its plot was to include Ivan's growing paranoia of his followers, his attack of
Novgorod and a battle against Livonian troops which Ivan wins, thus gaining access to the Baltic Sea at the cost of Malyuta's life.
Part III would have also introduced the characters of the oprichnik
Heinrich von Staden and
Queen Elizabeth I, played by
Oleg Zhakov and
Mikhail Romm respectively. on 16 November 1581'' by
Ilya Repin, made in the 1880s. Eisenstein considered writing an ending where Ivan dies alone after murdering his son. |upright=0.75 While the published screenplay ends with Ivan walking triumphantly toward the sea, Eisenstein contemplated several more endings for
Part III. One had the aged tsar contemplating the future of Russia, and a second had him dying alone after murdering
his son. Another ending had Ivan seeing a prophetic vision of
Peter the Great conquering the
Baltic Sea, having himself lost the sea just weeks after conquering it. ==Themes and analysis==