Before becoming a major Hollywood actor, Anthony Hopkins was offered a role in The Girl from Petrovka. Committed to his work, he searched for a copy of the original novel, written by George Feifer, so that he could play the character more faithfully. To the actor’s surprise, he could not find a copy of the book anywhere.

However, on one occasion, while walking in London, he saw an abandoned book on a park bench, and, of all the books lost in the world, it was precisely The Girl from Petrovka. But the anecdote does not end there because the actor met George Feifer himself during the filming. The writer commented that he did not have a copy of his own book, as he had once lent it to a friend who had lost it in London. So Hopkins took out his copy and showed it to him: of course, it was the same one.