And so the summer passed... Rehearsals, classes, film screenings—all of it resumed. Andrei found himself once again in the company of Irma Rausch, and the feeling of love had taken hold of his entire being. Only the shooting of The Killers kept the whole enterprise on track. There was a great deal of work to be done, especially since this was a real film—however short a short film might be. Actors had to be chosen and confirmed. And that is where the arguments between me and Andrei began. He proposed that Ole Anderson, the boxer, be played by Volodya Kurilenko, one of his friends from school and a member of a theatre circle—tall, well-built, in a word, magnificent. I wanted Vasiliy Shukshin. In the end, Andrei convinced me. "What a reliable friend! Well then, have it your way!" I felt hurt to the core, but I had no intention of picking a fight before we had even properly begun. We