Director Stanislav Govorukhin couldn't choose an actress for the role of Katya from two musical school students, Anna Sinyakina and Yuliya Nachalova (a pop singer who had already started her career at the time), and asked Mikhail Ulyanov to help. The latter picked Sinyakina.
Anna Sinyakina revealed she was replaced by a body double in the rape scene. "At the time of filming, I was a minor and refused to undress categorically. The naked body parts in the film are not mine. I originally asked for a stunt double. And even here the point is not that I wasn't allowed to be naked. Having received parental consent, I was able to undress, but I was very shy. We thought a lot about how to replace me with a stunt double. I was lying on the bed and suddenly I grabbed the blanket and threw it over me so I couldn't be seen. The solution has been found. Another girl was hiding under a blanket," Sinyakina said.