Over from Russia today we have the announcement of the cast for the latest big screen adaptation of legendary WAR AND PEACE world's most famous novel ever written by Leo Tolstoy and you can also check out the first images depicting the lead characters of the timeless story. Director Sarik Andreasyan, who directed Eugene Onegin two years ago, is preparing the lavish historical movie which should arrive into cinemas in February 2027.
Stanislav Bondarenko as Prince Andrei Bolkonsky
Famous hero of WAR AND PEACE prince Andrei Bolkonsky will be portrayed by young Stanislav Bondarenko, while the role of antagonist
Polina Guchman as Natasha Rostova
Anatol Kuragin was given to Matvey Lykov. Their colleague Aleksandar Metelkin will play Nikolai Rostov, while Natasha Rostov will be portrayed by
Matvey Lykov as Anatol Kuragin
Polina Guchman which is, to be honest, most unusual and rather strange choice for a role of a female character of incredible beauty and charm. As you
Aleksandar Metelkin as Nikolai Rostov
all know in the classic novel, against the backdrop of the war of 1812 and the conflicts preceding it, the fate of the Russian aristocracy unfolds.
We are international today, starting with news from Netflix who have cast crazy gorgeous Svetlana Khodchenkova whom you have seen in Wolverine and numerous Russian blockbusters over the years, as the lead for their first Russian original series ANNA K a contemporary version of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. It will be a lavish retelling of the literary classic, set in modern Russia. It centers on Anna Karenina, the wife of the soon to become governor of St. Petersburg, who enters a life changing love affair with Vronsky, the dashing heir of an aluminum empire. Their affair quickly careens out of control, threatening the delicate balance of their familial bonds and social relationships. Set between cosmopolitan Moscow, historic St. Petersburg, and Russia’s rugged countryside, the drama explores themes of passion and loyalty. Stay tuned for casting news on Vronsky! Will it be one of our favourite Russian gents? Rinal, Petrov, Markov?
MARGRETE: QUEEN OF NORTH
FIRST EPIC TRAILER IS HERE!
I was probably among the first ones to inform you about this one last winter but now we have the first trailer
Margrete will hit Scandinavia this Autumn
and poster for Danish epic movie MARGRETE: QUEEN OF THE NORTH about their famous queen who united Denmark, Norway and Sweden into one kingdom. It is the untold story of Margrete I (Trine Dyrholm), a visionary monarch ahead of her time. The year is 1402, and Margrete I has achieved what no man has managed before. She has gathered Denmark, Norway and Sweden into a peace orientated union, which she single handedly rules through her young, adopted son, Erik. The union is beset by enemies, however, and Margrete is therefore planning a marriage between Erik and Princess Philippa of England. An alliance with England should secure the union’s status as an
Trine Dyrholm takes the lead role in the historical drama
emerging European power, but a breathtaking conspiracy is under way that could tear Margrete and all she believes in apart. Directed by Charlotte Sieling the film, also starring Norway's Jakob Oftebro, arrives this September.
SENDS GUGU MBATA RAW AND SAM WORTHIN GTON TO CRIMEAN WAR
She already played a daring real life woman of colour in Belle, a role which made her name known around the globe, and now Gugu Mbata Raw will join Sam Worthington in SEACOLE historical drama, a true life story of Mary Seacole. She will take the lead role of the pioneering Jamaican nurse who became known during the Crimean War for her care of wounded British soldiers. Seacole’s self-sacrifice on the front lines and fierce, adversarial relationship with Florence Nightingale during the war made her famous in her time. Spiderman's Numan Acar will play The Pasha, a high ranking officer in the Turkish army, a lover not a fighter, who helps Mary build her hotel.
Sylvia Hoeks and Sean
It
is not known whom will Australian star Sam Worthington, who is
currently shooting Avatar sequels, play in the period set movie Seacole.
Delaney will also star in the film to be directed by Charlie Stratton film later this year in UK and Romania.
'ANNA KARENINA'
HITS SMALL SCREENS AGAIN?
There were a lot of Karenina film adaptations recently
Good news, people, as Deadline reports, a new small screen version of famous Russian classic ANNA KARENINA is in works, the bad news, it will be done by Gwyneth Hughes, who massacred Thackeray's Vanity Fair recently over at ITV turning it into one of the most dull series we've seen in recent times. Fingers crossed she does not rape and kill Tolstoy's novel the same way. It is a complex story which follows dozens of major characters similar to his War and Peace. It mainly follows Russian noble woman Anna Karenina who has an affair with a dashing cavalry officer that scandalizes Saint Petersburg social circles. The pair initially flee to Italy before returning to Russia, where their lives further unravel. I'm guessing it will also be at ITV as Hughes is doing a Keeley Hawes thriller for them currently.
The series was produced by Russian, Ukrane, Portugal
This one has already aired in motherland Russian earlier this year, and is currently airing over in Ukraine, but I'm guessing it has been airing around the world as well since I remember it was a huge hit among the buyers at last year's Mipcom. MATA HARI is a 12 episode period set drama with an international cast that includes Vahina Giocante, Oisin Stack, Rutger Hauer, Gerard Depardieu, John Corbett, Rade Serbedzija, Christopher Lambert, Pasha Sol, Alexey Guskov and Svetlana Hodchenkova!
Vahina Giocante plays the lead role of Mata Hari
LOVE AND SURVIVAL
Margaret McLeod is penniless and out on the streets after her husband
leaves her and gains custody of her only daughter. With no other means
of making a living, she decides to become an exotic dancer. Under the
stage
The series features Mata Hari's steamy choreographies!
name of MATA HARI, Margaret soon wins fame and notoriety, becoming
extremely popular with the European elite. She becomes a regular guest
of luxury villas and magnificent mansions, her every performance
creating a real
The name Matahari means 'eye of the day' in Indonesian and Malay
sensation. But the year is 1913 and the world is on the
verge of a war that will change the entire course of history. MATA HARI
cannot even imagine what fateful role she is to play in these coming
events.
'ROAD TO CALVARY'
SERIES CELEBRATING 100 YEARS FROM RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
The series is an epic adaptation of Alexey Tolstoy novel
Another of the Russian television series has, meanwhile, been a hit at this year's Mipcom, which was held last year in Cannes. ROAD TO CALVARY is an epic TV series adaptation of Alexey Tolstoy's novel to be broadcast on the 100 year anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1917.
St. Petersburg, 1914. The capital city lives as if in anxious
expectation of some fatal day. Russia strives for changes. The central
characters in the story are the Bulavin sisters. The young Dasha (Anna Chipovskaya) is stern and
The series is set in the six years that have changed the course of Russian history
idealistic, while the married Katya (Yulia Snigir)
is careless and unhappy in her marriage. Both girls fall in love with a
Decadent poet Alexey Bessonov, the
Road to Calvary follows the lives of two different sisters
master of minds, who is hopelessly
disappointed in life.
The love drama turns into a tragedy as World War I begins. The whole
country is bestirred, a flow of fateful events carries the sisters away,
separates them, destroys their families
Road to Calvary features battle scenes depicting tragedy of war
and puts them on the different
sides of the barricades. The characters’ paths often cross and diverge
again. But out there, at the end of this continuous walk of pain, the
light of hope and of a new and never-before-seen world is shining.
Now here's something exquisitely lavish for your delight today coming straight from the good old Imperial Russia! Earlier this month Russian national broadcaster has started airing their new historical mini series ANNA KARENINA! The story of the eight episodes is based on the legendary literary classic by one of world's greatest writers Leo Tolstoy, his story "On the Japanese War" and the cycle "Stories about the Japanese War" by V. V. Veresaev.
In the new television production, director Karen Shakhnazarov presents viewers with a new look at the great novel.
COUNT VRON- SKY'SSTORY 1904 year. The Russo Japanese War. Manchuria. Together with the army,
the hospital train departs. Doctor Sergei Karenin takes over the management of the hospital as
the senior resident. The hospital is located and settled
in a semi abandoned Chinese village. Karenin operates on a wounded colonel.
Hearing the name of his surgeon, the colonel shudders, he knows him.
The wounded colonel is Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky. At night Sergey
Karenin comes to the ward to Vronsky and asks him to tell him why his
mother, ANNA KARENINA, whom the Count knew thirty years ago, rushed
under thetrain. Count Vronsky, in turn, learns that the doctor is the
very Sergei Karenin. After some doubts, the count agrees to tell the
story of his tragic love with Anna Karenina, noting that people remember
only what they are comfortable remembering. Vronsky begins the story ...
SERIES CROWNED WITH A MOVIE
In a tradition characteristic for many Slavic countries, the end of the airing of the television series on the small screens will be marked by the cinematic release of a movie version of the same story. The big screen version titled ANNA KARENINA: VRONSKY'S STORY should arrive into Russian theatres this summer June 8th and the producers will start seeking foreign distributors after the domestic release! The movie and the eight part series were shot and produced at the very same time. The movie wasn't cut from the series material, it was rather shot following a separate script written for the big screen version. If I got it right and if my Russian serves me right, the story of Levin, which makes a huge part of the novel, has been omitted in the series to give more space and focus on the love story between Anna, Vronsky and Karenin. The lead actress Elizaveta Boyarskaya has admitted that it took her about half a year to prepare for the role and study the script and the backstory. Most of the movie, which is considered one of the most lavish ones in the post Soviet Era, was shot under natural lighting including the famous scene of the legendary ball with the biggest number of props and decorative items in any Russian television project in history. Candles that burn for more than eight hours have been produced specially for the shooting and it took about 45 minutes to light them all on the ballroom chandeliers.
STARS IN THE CAST Elizaveta Boyarskaya plays Anna Karenina, Maxim Matveyev is Aleksey
Vronsky, Vitaliy Kishenko is Aleksey Karenin, Kiril Grebenshchikov plays
their grown up son Sergey Karenin thirty years older than in Tolstoy's
saga.Tatiana Lutaeva is Countess Vronskaya, Ivan Kolesnikov is Stiva
Oblonskiy while Victoria Isakova is Dolli Oblonskaya. Anastasia Makeyeva
is Princess Tverskaya, with Alexander Gorbatov as Prince Yashvin. Yuriy
Beleyev plays emperor Alexander II of all Russia! Above is the series trailer, below the movie one!
