The film is set in St Petersburg in 1904, at the onset of the Russian Revolution. The story follows Alexie Tolchev (Nolan Hemmings) as he carries out his plan to assist a young, idealistic revolutionary who is imprisoned in Cannes and about to be extradited to Russia to face the very real possibility of a death sentence for her part in an assassination.
JOHN DALY INTERVIEW:
After all these decades of producing, what compelled you to make your directorial debut with this movie?
I think seeing St. Petersburg and realizing that I had missed out on probably one of the most - if not the most - beautiful cities in the world. It was by accident that I went there and saw it. I was inspired so much by seeing the canals, the bridges, the palaces, and the history. I remembered a book that I had read and it inspired me to think about writing a screenplay and to make the picture.
How close do you stay to the novel that inspired the movie?
I stayed quite close. All the characters are the same, but I did take a few artistic liberties, especially with the ending of the film.
Without giving too much away, what did you change about the ending?
I gave a surprise. In my film, it's very romantic. It's beautifully photographed with beautiful costumes, and there are some characters and a bit of adventure and romance. I sort of rather felt that taking them on this journey, I should at least end it with a bit of hope. But it’s not so obvious - the ending - but if people are paying attention, they will see.
Do you think it's difficult to sell a period piece to an audience?
I think it's difficult to sell a film that is different from action and mayhem. That seems to be the current flavor, or certainly was this summer. So you are always asking, "Can you get the young people interested in seeing a story rather than a whole series of action and special effects?" I think the storytelling is really leaving films. It's all becoming accelerated mostly because children, or young cinemagoers today, have grown up the last five years on computers. It’s a whole different language. So when you tell a story that has a beginning, a middle and an end, that’s probably a little bit slow for them.
Did you run into any problems filming in St. Petersburg?
No, I got all the cooperation but they do work in very strange ways. They don't like to get up too early, but then it’s very cold so you understand that. They like to start at say 10 in the morning, and then they’ll work until 10 at night. We had some hilarious moments. When I needed 100 film extras for a big railway station scene, at 12:00pm I was wondering where were my 100 extras and I was told that 20 were on their way and the next 20 were being made up (laughing). I sort of quickly did a calculation that probably by the end of 10 hours, I would have my 100. There were a lot of those moments. I got told on the second day - when I did ask them if could they please speed things up - well, they didn't turn up. I was told they were stuck in a traffic jam. Then I was told, "But don't worry. The production manager has gone in her car to collect them." So there were some hilarious moments. It could have been the translations but, anyway, I had to live all through that. It was an incredible experience.
[They are] beautiful people who’ve been under communism for so many years and who are coming out over the last eight years and being given a chance to express themselves a little bit more. I hope that the film will not be judged too harshly. The Russian actors speak English, the English and American actors got on well with the Russians, and we put together a film that I’m very happy with.
