Going down in history: leaving one's handprints at the Star Alley near Mosfilm. Yesterday, actor Yevgeny Mironov and actress Chulpan Khamatova were given such an honor. The ceremony of nameplate embedment took place with an unprecedented excitement. Dozens of TV and photocameras, as well as friends, fans and cinema colleagues, were expecting the arrival of the actors, who are rare at Moscow's social gatherings.

Yevgeny Mironov was the first to arrive at the Star Alley. The actor was accompanied by his mother Tamara Petrovna, sister Oksana and nephew Timofei. The generally unsociable actor was amiable this time, posed willingly for the cameras and answered the journalists' questions. According to Mironov, the embedment of his nameplate at the Star Alley is no doubt a significant and pleasant event in his life. But speaking generally, "today is a difficult time for artists", especially the young ones and those whose moment of fame is already behind them, and he would like "artists to be remembered more frequently, not only in such festive moments". Tamara Petrovna, the actor's mother, also agreed to speak to the press. She said that "Zhenya has always been a goal-oriented boy. When he was young he was a Young Pioneers' guide, he studied well and attended music school". When he was old enough to understand he wanted to be an actor, he "began moving towards the goal, passing the theater-school entrance exams". That is why she is not surprised, she said, by her son's popularity. He really deserves it.

Unlike Zhenya, Chulpan Khamatova arrived at the ceremony on her own. She was amazed by the number of journalists gathered. "I did not expect everything to be so serious," the actress noted. As became clear afterwards, Chulpan and Yevgeny were not just colleagues but friends, and will soon be "rehearsing a play together". She was twice as happy, she said, to take part in the double embedment of their nameplates.

The ceremony itself did not take much time. After the official speeches were over, molds of hot gypsum were delivered to the improvised scene. With pleasure, the actors left their handprints in it and decorated the plates with their familiar signatures. When the gypsum solidifies and the plates are placed into the Star Alley curbstone, where Mikhail Derzhavin, Eldar Ryazanov, Vasily Lanovoy, Irina Skobtseva, Oleg Menshikov, Oleg Basilashvili and others have already left their handprints, two new stars will appear, of Chulpan Khamatova and Yevgeny Mironov. They are no doubt the most brilliant actors of their generation.