U.S. directors have long dreamed of filming inside Russia, but red tape and KGB censorship made that all but impossible. No longer. Desperate for hard currency and Western cinematic expertise, the Soviets have begun aggressively courting Hollywood moviemakers. In the past few months, two Soviet companies have set up shop in Los Angeles in search of deals. Last winter the stars of “Russia House,” based on John le Carre’s.best seller, were shooting scenes in Red Square. At least two other films are now in production in the U.S.S.R., and a dozen more are being developed.
It’s a remarkable change from just a couple of years ago, when the KGB vetted all movie scripts and U.S. directors had to fake Russian scenes. Taylor Hackford, whose 1986 film “White Nights” starred Mikhail Baryshnikov as a defecting ballet star, sent a camera unit to Leningrad posing as documentary filmmakers to shoot exteriors. Michael Apted, who made the 1983 thriller “Gorky Park,” plastered Helsinki with Lenin posters to simulate Moscow. Now, says Yuri Spilny, president of the L.A.-based USSR Film Service: “You can do anything–except a movie portraying Lenin getting pulled out of his mausoleum.”
The new mood has spawned a crop of joint ventures. Some Soviets are paid flat I dollar fees for providing services in Russia including hotels, crews and catering. Others finance in-country costs in exchange for Soviet distribution rights or a share of the profits. Alberto Grimaldi (producer of “Last Tango in Paris”) has cut a deal with the Soviet government to make “The Siege of Leningrad,” a $25 million World War II drama. Producer Jack Schwartzman (“Never Say Never Again”) hopes to travel to Moscow to shoot “Stars My Destination,” a $40 million space odyssey. “I can get $20 million worth of production value for a fraction of the cost,” he says.
Heart attack: Filming in the Soviet Union still has its perils, including unmotivated workers, shoddy equipment and unreliable Soviet partners. Consider the case of “Captive in the Land,” a coproduction of Moscow’s Gorky Film Studio, ASK/Soviet American Films and the British company Gloria Productions. The saga of a Soviet and a U.S. airman stranded in the Arctic Circle, it began shooting last winter. First Soviet crews slowed down filming. Next the Russian star had a conflicting theater engagement and took off for Irkutsk without telling anyone. Then the same actor suffered a heart attack–and Gorky threatened to put the film on ice. “Captive” finally wrapped up in June, months behind schedule.
The Soviets are struggling to overcome their reputation for inefficiency. SoyuzLinoservice, the Soviet government agency which has a stake in USSR Film Service, just signed a deal with London-based Cameras Ltd. to import modern cameras, trucks and special-effects equipment. To motivate Russian crews, Spilny says his company is prepared to pay “three times the going rate [in rubles].” Despite the hassles, U.S. filmmakers are plunging ahead. Just months after Carolco’s crew wraps up in Kruchatov, the city will submit to another American invasion. The leader? Producer Larry Schiller, who plans to use the same reactor to shoot his new movie, “Chernobyl.”
