Neuigkeiten

Dutch Estonian novelist Sana Valiulina investigates the life of her father who was compelled to betray Stalin’s Soviet Union by serving the Nazi war machine

Aliona van der Horst’s documentary tells an impossibly painful and sad story from the second world war; it is an extraordinary tale, arguably worthy of Boris Pasternak and David Lean. It is presented by Dutch Estonian novelist Sana Valiulina, born in Soviet-era Tallinn and resident in Amsterdam since 1989. All her life, she reveals, she has been obsessed with the memory of her father, Sayar, a cold and distant figure when she was growing up, because for 15 years after the war he had been imprisoned in the gulag and made to internalise a grotesque sense of shame for having allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Nazis after the battle of Smolensk in 1941; Stalin had told his troops to die in combat rather than submit to this dishonour.

Former 90 Day Fiancé star Natalie Mordovtseva’s new nose job has caught the attention of observant fans, although she tried her best to hide it. Natalie was last seen in 90 Day: The Single Life season 3, in which she tried to make her relationship with Josh Weinstein work while still being married to Mike Youngquist. Natalie’s life did change a lot since she left Mike within a year of their April 2020 wedding. Natalie underwent significant weight loss to get rid of the pounds from stress eating and managed to look different after moving from Sequim to Florida.

However, Natalie looked all the more unrecognizable to fans who stumbled upon her new Instagram post on New Year’s Eve. Natalie smiled for a selfie and quoted from a Russian poem by Boris Pasternak in her caption. It looked like she was seated in an auditorium, as 90 Day Fiancé cast...

Click here to read the full article.

Everyone loves the Hollywood holiday classics — from It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story to Home Alone and Die Hard (yes, it is a classic, too – don’t get us started).

But after the 100th rerun, one’s holiday spirit can start to sag, and nostalgia for those festive evergreens can turn toxic.

So The Hollywood Reporter‘s international team has come up with this alternative list of holiday favorites from outside the U.S.

Our eclectic dirty dozen, including a French murder mystery, a Canadian horror classic and an anime retelling of the Christmas story, are the perfect counterprogramming for anyone looking for new ideas this festive season.

Merry Christmas

2005

‘Merry Christmas’

Christian Carion’s World War I drama, about the real-life Christmas truce that broke out on the Western Front in 1914 — amid the horrors of the war, a true holiday miracle — features Diane Kruger,...

Click here to read the full article.

Lucy Simon, the composer and sister of pop superstar Carly Simon who received a Tony nomination in 1991 for her work on the long-running Broadway musical The Secret Garden, has died. She was 82.

Simon died Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York, after a long battle with breast cancer, a family spokesperson announced.

She and Carly began their careers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, as The Simon Sisters, and their folk act opened for the likes of The Tarriers in Greenwich Village nightclubs. Their recording of “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” reached No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.

Lucy Simon became the rare female composer to have a show on Broadway when The Secret Garden debuted in April 1991. Starring Rebecca Luker, Mandy Patinkin, Alison Fraser and Daisy Eagan and based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved children’s novel, the musical ran for 709 performances on Broadway, won...

It may well be an unconscious impulse but the writers are directly or indirectly influenced by their socio-political millieu, even when opposing it, and you don’t need to be a Marxist to acknowledge that.

As Edward Said showed in his examination of ‘Orientalism’, or recent works showcasing the overt or covert politics of such literary figures as William Wordsworth (Jonathan Bate’s "Radical Wordsworth: The Poet Who Changed the World") and Jane Austen, politics can intrude into the poetic realm or comedies of manners — or other forms of fiction, too. And this can span the entire gamut from literary classics to pulp fiction.

The Cold War is a fitting example. As two contrasting systems of social and political organisation vied for global influence, the conflict for influencing hearts and minds underpinned the diplomatic and military manoeuvres.

Duncan White’s "Cold Warriors: Writers Who Waged the Literary Cold War" (2019) offers...

It is difficult to parse how exactly David Lean's "Doctor Zhivago" holds up to postmodern standards, given it is an epic historical drama that intertwines the personal with the political in a rather uneven way. The movie is based on Boris Pasternak's novel, which was banned in Russia during the time of production, and both versions end on a note of multiplicity, featuring unconventional ways to conclude a historical romance and highlighting the apolitical nature of Dr. Yuri Zhivago's poetry. While Lean's "Doctor Zhivago" still manages to sweep audiences away with its grand scale and decade-spanning central romance, how well does it perform through a politically-charged...

The post Doctor Zhivago Ending Explained: An Artist's Legacy Lives On appeared first on /Film.

Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon biopic has long been considered the greatest film the director never made, but now cinephiles can add “Doctor Zhivago” to that list thanks to a recently discovered letter from six decades ago in which Kubrick wrote to “Zhivago” author Boris Pasternak asking for rights to the epic novel. The discovery was made by British film historian James Fenwick (via The Guardian) during his research for two upcoming books, “Stanley Kubrick Produces” and “Shadow Cinema: The Historical and Production Contexts of Unmade Films.”

According to Fenwick’s research, Kubrick and producer James B. Harris were interested in acquiring the rights to “Doctor Zhivago” as early as December 1958. The two men were in discussions with Kirk Douglas’ production company Bryna Productions to mount the “Zhivago” adaptation as a Hollywood production, years before David Lean started work on his famous adaptation in the U.K. The plan was for...

Director wrote to Boris Pasternak in late 1950s, previously unpublished material reveals

It is one of the greatest British films of all time, directed in 1965 by David Lean with an A-list cast that included Julie Christie, Omar Sharif and Alec Guinness. But the epic adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak’s classic love story set against the Russian revolution, might never have happened if a planned US production had got there first.

James Fenwick, a British film historian, has discovered that two of cinema’s most revered film-makers – Hollywood star Kirk Douglas and director Stanley Kubrick – had tried in vain to acquire the movie rights earlier, in the late 1950s.

Exclusive: London and La-based production and management firm 42 is on a roll. Latest movie Ironbark, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, was yesterday snapped up by Lionsgate at Sundance in a mid-seven figure deal, while feel-good comedy pic Military Wives was one of the sparkier U.S. acquisitions at Toronto.

Today, we can reveal that Netflix has re-upped its first-look movie deal with the company for another two years. After features including In Darkness and In The Shadow Of The Moon, 42 is now making Anthony Mackie sci-fi Outside The Wire and Adam Randall’s Night Teeth for the streamer. Company co-founder Ben Pugh is currently in pre-production in New Orleans on the latter.

It’s a busy time for 42, which is expanding on both sides of the pond. Head-count has grown to 50. New La hires include former Imperative Entertainment and Paramount Pictures staffer Kari Hatfield who has joined as Director Of Development, Film...

Quibi has announced its latest drama project. The short-form video platform, founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, has put into development Charlemagne, a drama based on the wild life of the Roman emperor, from Vikings, Camelot and The Tudors creator Michael Hirst.

Written by Hirst, Charlemagne is based on the wild life of Charlemagne, emperor of the Romans, who united Eastern and Western Europe amidst navigating a salacious, complicated personal life.

Hirst is currently executive producing the sixth and final season of History’s Vikings, which will premiere later this year. Deadline previously reported Hirst and studio MGM Television have been in talks with History about extending the Vikings franchise with a new follow-up series which would continue the Vikings saga. Hirst also has teamed with Sherlock producer Hartswood Films and Wild Bunch TV to adapt Boris Pasternak’s classic novel Doctor Zhivago for TV as an eight-part series.

Joint venture between Hartswood Films, Bryncoed Productions will resonate with contemporary events.

Wild Bunch TV has boarded sales on Michael Hirst’s upcoming eight-part adaptation of Nobel prize winner Boris Pasternak’s classic tale of love, war and revolution, Doctor Zhivago, ahead of Miptv.

The series is a joint venture between two of the UK’s hottest TV production companies. Beryl Vertue and Sue Vertue at Hartswood Films are producing in association with Foz Allan’s Bryncoed Productions.

Set in the period between the First World War and Russia’s post-revolutionary civil war (1917-1922), the epic romance follows the trajectory...

Vikings and The Tudors creator Michael Hirst has teamed with Sherlock producer Hartswood Films and Wild Bunch TV to remake Doctor Zhivago.

Hirst is adapting Boris Pasternak’s classic novel for TV as an eight-part series. It is being produced by British indie Hartswood Films, which is producing forthcoming BBC drama Dracula, and Bryncoed Productions. French outfit Wild Bunch TV is distributing and will be talking to broadcasters at Mip.

In the epic tale of love, war and revolution, Hirst will bring Pasternak’s book to screen depicting the drama and immense scope of the Russian Revolution through the story of the gifted physician-poet, Zhivago; the revolutionary, Strelnikov; and Lara, the passionate woman they both love. Caught up in the overwhelming events of politics and war that will eventually destroy him and millions of others, Zhivago clings to the private world of family life and love, embodied by the magical Lara.

The Ink Factory and Marc Platt Prods. are joining forces to adapt “We Were Never Here,” the highly anticipated novel from Lara Prescott based on events surrounding the publication of Boris Pasternak’s “Doctor Zhivago.”

The project sets up a high-caliber partnership between The Ink Factory, the team behind BBC and AMC series “The Night Manager” and the upcoming “The Little Drummer Girl,” and Platt, the Oscar-nominated producer of “La La Land” and “Bridge of Spies.” The partners have just sealed the deal for the book and are now assessing whether it will be a movie or series adaptation.

“We Were Never Here” is a thriller and love story set in the 1950s, during the Cold War. It centers on a CIA plan to engineer the publication of “Doctor Zhivago” in Pasternak’s home country of Russia. The authorities there had ordered the manuscript destroyed and the book banned because...

The Ink Factory, the London and L.A.-based banner behind BBC/AMC hit The Night Manager, is partnering with Oscar-nominated producer Marc Platt (La La Land, Bridge of Spies) and Adam Siegel (Drive, 2 Guns) on an adaptation of We Were Never Here. As yet, it is unknown if the adaptation will be for TV or film.

The debut novel by Lara Prescott, We Were Never Here, is based on events surrounding the publication of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and the role the CIA played in using the book as a weapon of propaganda for the West. It has already been sold ...

The Ink Factory, the London and L.A.-based banner behind BBC/AMC hit The Night Manager, is partnering with Oscar-nominated producer Marc Platt (La La Land, Bridge of Spies) and Adam Siegel (Drive, 2 Guns) on an adaptation of We Were Never Here. As yet, it is unknown if the adaptation will be for TV or film.

The debut novel by Lara Prescott, We Were Never Here, is based on events surrounding the publication of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and the role the CIA played in using the book as a weapon of propaganda for the West. It has already been sold ...

Drama commissioning club unveils roster at La Screenings.

Atrium TV, the drama commissioning club with member companies in Europe, Latin America and Asia, has unveiled a development slate including projects from David Simon, Michael Douglas and Michael Hirst.

The four projects on the slate – described by UK- and Us-based Atrium as being in “advanced development” – were pitched to representatives from the club’s members at this week’s La Screenings event.

The members include the UK’s BT TV, Latin America’s Televisa, Viaplay from the Nordic region, France’s Orange, Movistar+ from Spain, Deutsche Telekom from Germany, Iflix from Asia,...

Atrium TV, the drama-commissioning club for pay-tv platforms and telcos, has set out a new slate that includes shows from Michael Douglas, Ava DuVernay, David Simon, and the producers of “Sherlock.” “Quasimodo,” which was shown to Atrium members last October, will also move forward, joining the already-announced moon-landing project “One Giant Leap” from veteran producer Mike Medavoy.

Atrium TV was created by former Sony boss Howard Stringer and Jeremy Fox and is owned by Mtg’s London-based distributor Drg. It has members from different regions who are presented with projects that they can co-fund and market locally as originals. The members, including Televisa, Viaplay, BT TV, and Deutsche Telekom, gathered in L.A. on Sunday to get a first look at a new slate of projects.

The streets of San Francisco will look very different in Michael Douglas-produced “Silo,” one of the new shows in Atrium’s lineup. A high-concept drama,...

Fifty years ago this week, on December 22, 1965, David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago had its world premiere at the Capitol Theatre in New York. Contrary to current practices, it was reviewed in The New York Times the following day. (In his first paragraph the redoubtable Bosley Crowther notably refers to it as “Robert Bolt’s dramatization of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago” rather than Lean’s, though he later mentions the “skillful direction of David Lean.” No auteurist, he.)The Capitol, which had stood on Broadway just north of Times Square since 1919, was one of New York’s first movie palaces, and was a flagship theater for MGM. It was the theater in which the Wizard of Oz had its first New York run and in 1964 it was converted for the presentation of Cinerama films. (It closed in 1968 not long after the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey.) All of which...

With real contemporary relevance, this 50th anniversary rerelease reminds us it’s impossible not be swept along by David Lean’s epic film

David Lean’s epic and yet daintily detailed movie version of Boris Pasternak’s forbidden novel, adapted by Robert Bolt, is now on rerelease for the 50th anniversary. Zhivago conjures grand romance and a gigantic, almost panoptic vision of the Russian landscape; Lean and Bolt pay tribute to a Tolstoyan ambition in Pasternak’s samizdat novel, and also to a real contemporary relevance: the story of a suppressed writer.

Related: Loved but not lost: David Lean’s Brief Encounter and Dr Zhivago

Continue reading...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Back on the big screen in cinemas UK-wide from 27 November 2015

An epic romance set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution, director David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago, based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Boris Pasternak and featuring a stand-out cast led by the late Omar Sharif alongside iconic British actress Julie Christie, is one of cinema’s greatest love stories.

On 27 November, in celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary and as part of the BFI’s 2015 blockbuster Love: Films To Fall In Love With… Films To Break Your Heart, in partnership with Plusnet, it will be back on the big screen in cinemas across the UK in a beautiful new 4K digital restoration.

Doctor Zhivago won 5 Academy Awards and is the eighth most successful film of all time at the Us box office[1]. ‘Lara’s Theme’, the musical motif created by composer Maurice Jarre,...

How times have changed. Five decades ago, the biggest screen spectacle didn't involve Jedis or carefully managed tie-ins with licensed products, and was firmly aimed at adults. David Lean's epic, three-hour-plus adaptation of Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago" was an event, going on to win five Oscars, and becoming a staple of the cinematic canon, regarded as one of the director's finest achievements. And now, the movie is coming back to the big screen (at least in the U.K.) where it deserves to be seen. BFI has unveiled an utterly gorgeous new trailer for the fiftieth anniversary release of "Doctor Zhivago." Digitally restored, and being presented in a 4K Dcp print, the movie has never looked better, and will be shown in its original, 200-minute, uncut version. There is no better movie to head into the winter with, so for those who can make it, be sure to...

BFI to release new 4K digital restoration of David Lean’s epic starring Omar Sharif as part of its upcoming Love project.

David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago is to be re-released in the UK to mark the film’s 50th anniversary and form part of a major new project from the British Film Institute (BFI) based around love stories.

The BFI will release a new 4K digital restoration of David Lean’s epic romance set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution, starring the late Omar Sharif alongside Julie Christie, on November 27.

The film, based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, won five Academy Awards and remains the eighth most successful film of all time at the Us box office (adjusted for inflation).

Doctor Zhivago will be one of the cornerstone theatrical releases for Love, the BFI’s major new project set to run from October to December that will centre on love stories in film and...

Omar Sharif, the Egyptian-born actor known for his classic roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago, passed away Friday in a Cairo, Egypt hospital after suffering a heart attack. Both the actor's agent Steve Kenis and the head of Egypt's Theatrical Arts Guild Ashraf Zaki confirmed his passing;  Sharif was 83. It was recently revealed that the Golden Globe-winning actor was also suffering from Alzheimer's disease, Variety reports.

After beginning his career as a major star in Middle Eastern cinema, Sharif was cast to play Sherif Ali in 1962's epic Lawrence of Arabia,...

Acting great Omar Sharif has died at the age of 83.

The Egyptian actor was best known for his leading role in Doctor Zhivago and major supporting role in Lawrence of Arabia.

Omar Sharif 1932-2015: Lawrence of Arabia star's incredible career in pictures

His agent Steve Kenis confirmed today (July 10): "He suffered a heart attack this afternoon in a hospital in Cairo."

In May, Kenis had revealed that the actor had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

After starring in over 20 Egyptian movies, Sharif made his English language debut in David Lean's 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.

Omar Sharif 1932-2015: Tributes and reactions from the stars

He won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for the performance, and also picked up an Oscar nomination.

Several other major roles followed, and Sharif reunited with Lean in 1965 to lead his adaptation of Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago.

Sharif's last big...

As far as the immersive powers of cinematic spectacle go, it’s doubtful any will come close to rivaling the achievements of Russian auteur Aleksei German, a figure many have hailed as the post important director in his country following Tarkovsky. And yet, he is still largely unknown, at least in comparison to the worldly renown of his comparable peers. Over his five decades as a filmmaker, German only produced five films, a perfectionist whose later works far outshine the fastidiousness displayed in the comparable methods of someone like Stanley Kubrick.

Obtaining a serviceable print of his titles often proves difficult (though the tenacious may yet unearth bootleg copies here and there), which hasn’t helped audiences acclimate to his idiosyncratic style. Passing away while working on the finishing touches of his last film, Hard to Be a God, a sci-fi epic taken as representative of the director’s work,...

Independent film producer and CEO of Branded Pictures Entertainment J. Todd Harris ("The Kids Are All Right," "Bottle Shock") has been feeling an easterly pull back to his theatre roots over the past year. Having started in the theatre right out of college running the repertory company TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, the producer of nearly 40 films, is now producing the stage musical adaptation of Doctor Zhivago based on the Nobel Prize-winning Boris Pasternak’s novel, which also served as the basis for the 1965 Academy Award-winning David Lean film starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie (and Rod Steiger, Geraldine Chaplin and Tom Courtenay). I had chance to catch up with this bi-coastal whirlwind last week after he returned from the show’s opening on Broadway.

Peter Belsito : Isn’t independent film hard enough? What got you interested in Broadway?

J. Todd Harris : (laughing). I didn’t think anything could be harder than independent films, but I was wrong. The fact is my wife Amy Powers is a co-lyricist on the show and has been working on it for over a decade after its first try-out at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2005. Four years ago, we moved to Australia for our way “out of town” run and I felt I could help raise a bit of money, so I was an associate producer. When word came in last year that it was going to Broadway, I told them I thought I could raise a million dollars and serve as one of the producers.

Pb : Did you raise your share? And how does it compare to raising money for a film?

Jth : I did, and then some, from about thirty individual investors. In that sense, it’s not unlike a lot of independent films that are financed with equity. It’s a different eco-system, but the concept is pretty similar. And, just like a lot of independent films, you don’t make money up front! It’s all about ownership, so you really hope the show breaks even soon. The authors – book, lyrics, composer – all get a royalty off the top. No nonsense like the movie business. This contributes to my love for my wife.

Pb : What is the show’s budget, if I may ask?

Jth : About 15M, it’s a Big Broadway show. There are well over one hundred investors and probably 30 credited producers. When A Gentleman’s Guide to Murder won the Tony Award last year, I thought the stage was going to collapse so many producers went up to collect the award. But, you know, it takes a village. Sometimes a small city. It’s okay to reward and acknowledge the backers of a show. It’s a huge risk and without these backers we’d be a poorer culture. They’re like modern day patrons. Why not give them a moment in the sun?

Pb : How did you get the rights to Doctor Zhivago? Such a big title!

Jth : I cannot take credit for that. Composer Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden) originally got the rights well over ten years ago and started working with a creative team, but before the La Jolla production the team changed and that’s when my wife was recruited to co-write the lyrics with Michael Korie ( Grey Gardens) and joined the team that included book writer Michael Weller (Loose Ends, screenplays for Hair and Ragtime ) and director Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys). Des was artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse at the time. And the show’s lead producer Anita Waxman was involved very early on providing the seed capital for La Jolla and then putting the financing together for Australia and now Broadway.

Pb : That’s a long gestation period, even compared to Hollywood, isn’t it?

Jth : It is one of the longer ones, but these things can literally take years as creative teams gel, script and music mesh, and planets align for talent, money and – not least importantly – a theatre. The strange alchemy that gets a Broadway show a greenlight isn’t all that different than the weird science of getting a big Hollywood movie off the ground.

Pb : Sounds like a lot of cooks in the kitchen.

Jth : There are, but from a producing angle, there’s usually a small group of lead producers who make the major financial decisions and every creative team finds its own rhythm. Writers and composers are accorded a lot more respect in theatre; that’s the major difference from movies.

Pb : Are you happy with how the show has come out?

Jth : Thrilled. Of course, it’s hard to claim crystal clear perspective when one is as emotionally invested in the show as I am in Doctor Zhivago, but I think the creative team has taken an epic story and distilled it to its emotional and political core. Lucy Simon has written melodies that will live forever in the musical theatre firmament. Des has done a masterful job of staging a huge and complex show. Ambition doesn’t begin to describe it. We got mixed reviews, but so did Phantom, Cats and Wicked. The final arbiter is audiences, and the dozen or so times I’ve seen the show at the Broadway Theatre, there have been copious cheers and tears.

Pb : You also did a show last year?

Jth : Yes, I was part of the producing team that developed and produced Heathers The Musical, based on the Daniel Waters script directed by Michael Lehmann back in 1988. It was a great experience working with a very tight creative and producing team. Andy Fickman directed a script, book and music by Kevin Murphy and Larry O’Keefe. It ran off Broadway for about 5 months and we hope we can adapt that to the screen and go back to Broadway.

Pb : Do you find a lot of talent crossing over from Hollywood to Broadway?

Jth : More and more, that is the case. Not just writers, directors and actors, but also material. Broadway is flooded with adaptations of movies – Aladdin is running strong, Honeymoon In Vegas recently closed, and last year Bridges of Madison County and Big Fish had nice runs on Broadways as musicals. I definitely have my eye on other fare to crossover from screen to stage.

Pb : Can you tell us what you’re working on?

Jth : Not yet, but some very recognizable titles that I think are ideal for the Great White Way.

Based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, Doctor Zhivago is directed by Des McAnuff Jersey Boys, with a book by Michael Weller Ragtime, music byLucy Simon The Secret Garden, lyrics by Michael Korie Grey Gardens and Amy Powers Ella Enchanted, and choreography by Kelly Devine Rocky. The musical officially opened at the Broadway Theatre last night, April 21, 2015, and BroadwayWorld was there for the big night. Check out interviews with the full gang after the curtain went downbelow...

Based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece,Doctor Zhivagois directed by Des McAnuff Jersey Boys, with a book by Michael Weller Ragtime, music by Lucy Simon The Secret Garden, lyrics by Michael Korie Grey Gardens and Amy Powers Ella Enchanted, and choreography by Kelly Devine Rocky. The musical officially openedat the Broadway Theatre lastnight, April 21, 2015, and BroadwayWorld was there for the big night. Check out photos from the curtain call below...

Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff Jersey Boys, with a book by Academy Award nominee Michael Weller Ragtime, music by two-time Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon The Secret Garden, lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael KorieGrey Gardens and Emmy Award nominee Amy Powers Ella Enchanted, and choreography by Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine Rocky. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the production below...

92Y presents an evening of conversation and musical performances from the cast and creative team of the new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago, as they discuss bringing this timeless tale of romance and revolution to the Broadway stage. Stars Tam Mutu Yurii Zhivago and Kelli Barrett Lara Guishar perform songs from the new show they also join composer Lucy Simon a two-time Grammy winner and Tony nominee for The Secret Garden and director Des McAnuff the Tony-winning director of Jersey Boys to discuss bringing Boris Pasternak's classic tale to the stage, and making Doctor Zhivago sing. The conversation is moderated by Howard Sherman, U.S. correspondent for The Stage in London.

Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff Jersey Boys, with a book by Academy Award nominee Michael Weller Ragtime, music by two-time Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon The Secret Garden, lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie Grey Gardens and Emmy Award nominee Amy Powers Ella Enchanted, and choreography by Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine Rocky. BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the production below...

Monday, February 16, 2015, at 10am, tickets will be available for the new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago at The Broadway Theatre box office 1681 Broadway. Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, stars Tam MutuDonmar Warehouse's City of Angels making his Broadway debut as the passionate Doctor and poet Yurii Zhivago, Kelli Barrett Wicked as the alluring Lara Guishar, Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt Rocky Horror Show as the cynical bourgeois magistrate Viktor Komarovsky, Paul Alexander Nolan Jesus Chris Superstar as political radical Pasha Antipov, and Lora Lee Gayer as Tonia Gromeko, Zhivago's devoted wife.Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos of the company in the BroadwayWorld.com series 'In The Spotlight' by acclaimed photographer Walter McBride...

Monday, February 16, 2015, at 10am, tickets will be available for the new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago at The Broadway Theatre box office 1681 Broadway. Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, stars Tam MutuDonmar Warehouse's City of Angels making his Broadway debut as the passionate Doctor and poet Yurii Zhivago, Kelli Barrett Wicked as the alluring Lara Guishar, Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt Rocky Horror Show as the cynical bourgeois magistrate Viktor Komarovsky, Paul Alexander Nolan Jesus Chris Superstar as political radical Pasha Antipov, and Lora Lee Gayer as Tonia Gromeko, Zhivago's devoted wife.Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos of the company in the BroadwayWorld.com series 'In The Spotlight' by acclaimed photographer Walter McBride...

The new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, will arrive on Broadway on Friday, March 27, 2015, with opening night set for Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at the Broadway Theatre 1681 Broadway. This sweeping musical romance, which revolves around five intertwined lovers set against a panoramic portrait of a nation in upheaval, is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuffJersey Boys, with a book by Academy Award nominee Michael Weller Ragtime, music by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon The Secret Garden, lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie Grey Gardens and Emmy Award nominee Amy Powers Ella Enchanted, and choreography by Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine Rocky.Below, check out a first listen of 'Now,' featuring Tam Mutu, who is making his Broadway debut as the passionate Doctor and poet Yurii Zhivago, and Kelli Barrett Wicked as Lara. Listen to...

Robert Redford movies: TCM shows 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' 'The Sting' They don't make movie stars like they used to, back in the days of Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner, and Harry Cohn. That's what nostalgists have been bitching about for the last four or five decades; never mind the fact that movie stars have remained as big as ever despite the demise of the old studio system and the spectacular rise of television more than sixty years ago. This month of January 2015, Turner Classic Movies will be honoring one such post-studio era superstar: Robert Redford. Beginning this Monday evening, January 6, TCM will be presenting 15 Robert Redford movies. Tonight's entries include Redford's two biggest blockbusters, both directed by George Roy Hill and co-starring Paul Newman: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which turned Redford, already in his early 30s, into a major film star to rival Rudolph Valentino,...

Milos Forman was looking for the best writer to adapt the hippie anti-war musical Hair for the big screen. The Czech filmmaker already had a growing U.S. following in the wake of The Firemen’s Ball and Taking Off when 1975’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest took home five Oscars including best film and best director. And while Michael Weller had zero experience as a screenwriter, he did have a reputation for plays that cast a gimlet eye on the generation that came of age in the era of protest against the Vietnam War and for civil rights. His works included Moonchildren (1971), Loose Ends (1979) and Spoils Of War (1988), which interwove the intensely felt political and personal obsessions of Baby Boomers on the cusp of adulthood.

For Forman, Weller would write two of the most underrated films of their time, Hair (1979) and, two years later, Ragtime. Like his...

Tam Mutu, who is making his Broadway debut as the passionate Doctor and poet Yurii Zhivago, Kelli Barrett Wicked, Tony Award nomineeTom Hewitt Rocky Horror Show, and Paul Nolan Jesus Chris Superstar will be joined by Lora Lee Gayer as Tonia Gromeko, Zhivago's devoted wife, in the new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago. Based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, Doctor Zhivago will feature Jacqueline Antaramian and Jamie Jackson, with Heather Botts, Wendi Bergamini, Melody Butiu, Josh Canfield, Julian Cihi, Briana Carlson-Goodman, Bradley Dean, Michael Brian Dunn, Drew Foster, Kira Guloien, Robert Hager, Ericka Hunter, Denis Lambert, David McDonald, Joseph Medeiros, Pilar Millhollen, Gary Milner, Spencer Moses, Julius Sermonia, Jacob L. Smith and Jesse Wildman in a cast of 32.

The new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, will star Tam Mutu making his Broadway debut as the passionate Doctor and poet Yurii Zhivago, Kelli Barrett Wicked as the alluring Lara Guishar, Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt Rocky Horror Show as the cynical bourgeois magistrate Viktor Komarovsky, and Paul Nolan Jesus Chris Superstar as political radical Pasha Antipov. Full casting to be announced soon.

The new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, will star Tam Mutu making his Broadway debut as the passionate Doctor and poet Yurii Zhivago, Kelli Barrett Wicked as the alluring Lara Guishar, Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt Rocky Horror Show as the cynical bourgeois magistrate Viktor Komarovsky, and Paul Nolan Jesus Chris Superstar as political radical Pasha Antipov. Full casting to be announced soon.

As BroadwayWorld first reported, the new Broadway musical Doctor Zhivago, based on Boris Pasternak's Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic Russian masterpiece, will begin performances on Friday, March 27, 2015, and open on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at the Broadway Theatre 1681 Broadway. This sweeping musical romance, which revolves around five intertwined lovers set against a panoramic portrait of a nation in upheaval, is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff Jersey Boys, with a book by Academy Award nominee Michael Weller Ragtime, music by Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Lucy Simon The Secret Garden, lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie Grey Gardens and Emmy Award nominee Amy Powers Ella Enchanted, and choreography by Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine Rocky. Doctor Zhivago will be produced on Broadway by Anita Waxman, Tom Dokton, Latitude Link, Ted HartleyRKO Stage and Chunsoo Shin, with Joe Corcoran, J. Todd Harris, The Pelican Group and John Frost.

The Russian romance of Doctor Zhivago is officially coming to Broadway with performances beginning in spring 2015. The Des McAnuff-directed production of the musical, which is based on Boris Pasternak's novel, will occupy the Broadway Theatre with previews beginning March 27, 2015. It will open April 21, 2015.  McAnuff, who directed Jersey Boys, first helmed the show when it premiered at 2006 La Jolla Playhouse. It was later tinkered with and staged in 2011 in Sydney also under McAnuff. "The creators of 'Doctor Zhivago,' the musical, have apparently learned much from their 2006 run at La Jolla Playhouse, where audiences reportedly felt history dwarfed the central story,...

Doctor Zhivago is heading to Broadway this spring. The new Broadway musical — based on Boris Pasternak’s Nobel Prize-winning 20th-century epic, which also became a beloved 1965 David Lean film — will begin previews on March 27 before an April 21 opening at the Broadway Theatre. The Russian romance centering on five intertwined lovers is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys), with a book by Oscar nominee Michael Weller (Ragtime), music by Grammy winner and Tony nominee Lucy Simon (The Secret Garden), lyrics by Tony nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens) and Emmy nominee Amy Powers

read more...

This week Simon Russell Beale takes on the royal role in a revival by Sam Mendes at the National Theatre. Here's a look back at Lear on film

Reading on a mobile? Click here to view

One of the earliest film versions of King Lear (retitled Re Lear) was made in Italy in 1910 with Ermete Novelli as King Lear. What takes over three hours on stage was packed into a dense 16 minutes of action that remains haunting many decades on.

Reading on a mobile? Click here to view

Almost 80 years before the 1997 movie A Thousand Acres based on Jane Smiley's novel, which transposed the play to contemporary Iowa, French director Louis Feuillade was doing something similar in Le Roi Lear Au Village, a 1911 adaptation in which Lear becomes a blind French farmer who foolishly gives over his land to his two heartless daughters. Alas, I couldn't find any footage online.

Dr Zhivago

By Kieran Kinsella

British TV specialists Acorn Media have decided to capitalize on the wintery weather by releasing the critically acclaimed 2003 version of Boris Pasternak’s snow swept epic Dr Zhivago. This 2 disc set is for mature audiences only and includes the unedited UK version of the 225 minute revolutionary drama. Additionally, the box set includes 70 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage including cast interviews, and you also get a mini-biography of Pasternak.

As an avid fan of the 1965 film version of this same book, I was a little bit skeptical when I first heard about the small screen version. However, my fears were without foundation as this ITV production is just as enthralling as David Lean’s version and many people would argue that it is also closer to Pasternak’s book. That being said, BBC veteran writer Andrew Davies does a very good job of converting the wordy dialogue...

For those who swear by classic love sagas, there is Dr. Zhivago on January 12 at PVR Rare Film Club.

Based on the novel ‘Dr. Zhivago’ by Boris Pasternak, the 1965 film directed by David Lean is a love story set during the Bolshevik Revolution. The poet/physician Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) is married to Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin), but carries on an affair with Lara (Julie Christie) who has been raped by a politician Komarovsky.

Dr. Zhivago is ranked 7 in the American Film Institute’s ‘America’s Greatest Love Stories’ and 39 in America’s Greatest Movies. As of 2010, Doctor Zhivago was the 8th biggest grossing film of all time.

The film that became immensely popular wasn’t received well by the critics. It is said that David Lean was so deeply affected by the criticism that he swore to never make a film again. Before Dr. Zhivago, Lean has made the epic...

(Grigori Kozintsev, 1964/ 1971, PG, Mr Bongo Films)

Grigori Kozintsev (1905-1973) was a prominent figure in Soviet cinema from his late teens until his death, making ambitious political films until after the second world war when he turned to literary adaptations, concluding with his classic versions of Hamlet and King Lear. Both were shot in black-and-white and widescreen on austere Estonian locations beside the Baltic using Boris Pasternak's translations (with Shakespeare's text as subtitles) and music by Shostakovich, and they're based on years of thought and study as revealed in Kozintsev's book Shakespeare: Time and Conscience. The great Russian actor Innokenti Smoktunovsky is a forceful, sane, sensitive Hamlet trapped in a prison of political intrigue, and the film, set in a Tudor Denmark, is vigorous, intelligent and visually stunning. Lear is played by the Estonian actor Jüri Järvet (dubbed into Russian) and is truly old, mad and heartbreaking, and the picture...

Forty-five years after Doctor Zhivago hit the big screens, earning it 10 Academy Award nominations and winning five of those, the film remains a romantic epic, which in the hands of David Lean, much like his Lawrence of Arabia, means it is a very long, drawn-out and slow-paced affair (197 minutes), but earns its renown with an old-school style of complex (and symbolic) storytelling and beautiful cinematic talent. Doctor Zhivago (Omar Sharif) is a poet caught up in the midst of the Communist Revolution and subsequent civil war in Russia. Much like Boris Pasternak’s novel, the film’s source material of the same name, the film uses Russia and war as a backdrop, but the tale is more about romance. Zhivago is caught between the love of his wife, Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin), and the passions and subject of his greatest body of poems, Lara (Julie Christie). The tale also deals with...

Chicago – David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago” is one of the most beloved films of all time and it has been masterfully transferred to Blu-ray courtesy of the best studio in existence when it comes to ushering timeless classics on to the next generation format. Warner Brothers has done it again with a must-own for classic movie fans.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Ask ten people to name a classic “epic” and several will list “Doctor Zhivago” (with maybe only another Lean film, “Laurence of Arabia” beating it out for the first to mind.) The 1965 film based on the novel by Boris Pasternak was such a cultural phenomenon when it was released that it stands as the eighth highest grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation (at $987 million, just behind “Jaws” and just ahead of “The Exorcist”).

Doctor Zhivago was released on Blu-Ray on May 4th, 2010.

Photo credit: Warner Brothers Home Video

Like a lot of films,...

This imaginative speculation about Russian poet Joseph Brodsky is a resonant, beautifully made film, writes Peter Bradshaw

Andrey Khrzhanovsky's rich, resonant and deeply satisfying movie is a fantasy about the life of Joseph Brodsky, the dissident poet expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972, who came to enjoy fame and a Nobel prize in the west. The film fantasises about Brodsky passionately delving into the memories of youth in St Petersburg: this upstream journey back in time happens in parallel with a (wholly fictional) attempt to return to Russia and to his beloved parents. Part of the film's message is that we are all exiles – banished, Housman-like, from the country of our past. Khrzhanovsky's camera gives the poet's youth a dewy, soft-focus look, switching to a nouvelle vagueish monochrome as he becomes the rebellious poet and hipster and finally a neutral documentary feel, as the aged Brodsky appears in the post-Soviet...

9th Annual Festival to Present 85 Feature-Length and 47 Short Film Selections from April 21 – May 2, 2010

***

Tribeca Film Festival Virtual and Tribeca Film Boost Festival Reach

New York, NY [March 10, 2010] – The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, the Founding Sponsor of the Festival, today announced the first 34 films to be presented among the 85 feature length and 47 short films at this year’s Festival. The 34 titles include 24 World Narrative and Documentary Competition films, as well as out-of-competition feature film selections in the Showcase and Special Events sections.

The 2010 Tff will take place from April 21 to May 2 in lower Manhattan. The 2010 film selection encompasses feature films from 38 different countries, including 45 World Premieres, 7 International Premieres, 14 North American Premieres, 6 U.S. Premieres and 12 New York Premieres, among which are 7 titles which are part of the fourth annual Tribeca/Espn Sports Film Festival. 96 directors will be presenting feature works at the Festival, with 38 of these filmmakers presenting...