 Yuri Nikulin (qv) was first considered to play Yury Detochkin and  almost signed the contract, but his Circus sent him on tour to South  America for almost half a year. The project could not be postponed  for such a long period, so Oleg Yefremov (qv) was invited, but  after long debates the role was given to  Innokenti Smoktunovsky (qv), and Yefremov became Maxim  Podberezovikov.