Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future

Ivan Vasilievich Changes His Profession (Иван Васильевич меняет профессию) is a Soviet comic science fiction film directed by Leonid Gaidai in June 1973. In the United States, the film has sometimes been sold under the title Ivan Vasilievich: Back to the Future. This film is based on the play Ivan Vasilievich by Mikhail Bulgakov. It was one of the most attended films in the Soviet Union in 1973, with more than 60 million tickets sold.

Plot
The story begins in 1973 Moscow, where engineer Aleksandr "Shurik" Timofeyev (Aleksandr Demyanenko) is working on a time machine in his apartment. By accident, he sends Ivan Vasilievich Bunsha (Yury Yakovlev), superintendent of his apartment building, and George Miloslavsky (Leonid Kuravlyov), a burglar, back into the time of tsar Ivan IV "The Terrible". The pair is forced to disguise themselves, with Bunsha dressing up as tsar Ivan IV and Miloslavsky as a knyaz (prince) of the same name. At the same time, the real Ivan IV (also played by Yury Yakovlev) is sent by the same machine into Shurik's apartment, and he has to deal with modern-day life while Shurik tries to fix the machine so that everyone can be brought back to their proper place in time. Superintendent Bunsha and Tsar Ivan IV are lookalikes but have completely different personalities, which results in funny situations of mistaken identity. As the militsiya (police), tipped off by a neighbor who was burgled by Miloslavsky, close in on Shurik, who is frantically trying to repair the machine, the cover of Bunsha and Miloslavsky is blown and they have to fight off the Streltsy (tsar's guard), who have figured out that Bunsha is an impostor. The film ends with Bunsha, Miloslavsky, and Ivan IV all transported back to their proper timelines, although the entire episode is revealed to be a dream by Shurik... or was it?

Cast

 * Yury Yakovlev (Ivan the Terrible/Ivan Vasilievich Bunsha, building superintendent)
 * Leonid Kuravlyov (George Miloslavsky, burglar)
 * Aleksandr Demyanenko (Aleksandr 'Shurik' Timofeyev, inventor)
 * Savely Kramarov (Feofan the diak)
 * Natalya Seleznyova (Zinaida, Shurik's wife)
 * Natalya Krachkovskaya (Uliana Andreevna Bunsha, superintendent's wife)
 * Natalya Kustinskaya (Yakin's mistress)
 * Vladimir Etush (Anton Semyonovich Shpak, dentist)
 * Mikhail Pugovkin (film director Yakin)
 * Sergey Filippov (Swedish ambassador)
 * Edward Bredun (black market seller)
 * Natalia Gurzo (Shpak's dental nurse)
 * Nina Maslova (Tsaritza Marfa)
 * Viktor Uralsky (Police sergeant-major)
 * Ivan Zhevago (Psychiatrist)

Film locations

 * Moscow, Russian SFSR. The modern Moscow location is New Arbat Avenue, formerly Kalinin Prospekt – then, and perhaps still now, a fairly prestigious location of Moscow, which is not too far from the Kremlin.
 * Rostov Kremlin, Rostov, Russian SFSR
 * Yalta, Crimean Oblast, Ukrainian SSR

Props
The time machine for the film was created by the artist, wood sculptor and cartoonist Vyacheslav Pochechuev. The original version of the time machine, manufactured by a special bureau, turned out to be an expressionless layout of a standard computer. Pochechuev sketched a new model and, with the help of a designer, a locksmith and a glassblower, created a new time machine in a few days, causing the audience to feel a miracle. Pochechuev received a prize of 40 rubles, and in the certificate from the accounting department it was written: "The money was issued for the invention of a time machine."

Soundtrack
Nina Brodskaya performed the song "Zvenit yanvarskaya vyuga" (Звенит январская вьюга) for the film. It was also recorded by Sofia Rotaru. In 2014, Italian pop punk band Vanilla Sky recorded a cover of this song along with music video.

Lev Polosin & Boris Kuznetsov and the Moscow Military District Choir performed the song "Kap-Kap-Kap" ("Marusya"). Valery Zolotukhin performed the song «Razgovor so schast'em» (Разговор со счастьем).

In mass media
On September 21, 2016, Google celebrated the 43rd anniversary of the film with a Google Doodle.

In November 2020, Sberbank released an advertisement in which George Miloslavsky went to Moscow on a time machine in the sample of 2020. The image of Miloslavsky was recreated using Deepfake technology.