The Barber of Siberia
He's Russian. That explains a lot.
Production
Budget
$35 000 000
Box office
$18 718
Director
Actors
Julia Ormond, Oleg Menshikov, Aleksey Petrenko, Richard Harris, Vladimir Ilin, Marat Basharov, Georgiy Dronov, Nikita Tatarenkov, Artyom Mikhalkov, Daniel Olbrychski
All actors and roles (10)
All actors and roles (10)
Scenario
Rospo Pallenberg, Nikita Mikhalkov
Producer
António da Cunha Telles, Michel Seydoux, Nikita Mikhalkov, Leonid Vereshchagin, Armand Barbault, Oldřich Mach
Camera operator
Pavel Lebeshev
Composer
Artist
Jindřich Kočí, Vladimir Aronin, Martin Martinec
Audition
Editing
Enzo Meniconi
Whole Team (61)
Whole Team (61)
Short description
Douglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant. On her travels, she meets two men who would change her life forever: a handsome young cadet Andrej Tolstoy with whom she shares a fondness for opera, and the powerful General Radlov who is entranced by her beauty and wants to marry her.
What's left behind the scenes
- The actors playing officers and cadets were trained for several months at the Kostroma Military School in the drill and guard service regulations of the late 19th century.
- The total budget of the film (including the post-production stage) amounted to over $40 million. Thus, this film became the highest-budget production in the history of Russian cinema at that time (the record for the Soviet era is considered to be Sergei Bondarchuk's 'War and Peace').
- Specifically for the film, at Mikhalkov's request to President B.N. Yeltsin, the internal lighting of the Kremlin stars visible from Vasilyevsky Spusk was turned off for 10 hours, and horse-drawn tram rails were laid through the Iverskie Gates. Prior to this, the stars' lighting had been turned off only once—at the start of the Great Patriotic War.
- Since the winter of 1997 was surprisingly snowless, hundreds of tons of artificial snow had to be used to film the snow-covered Red Square and Moscow streets.
- The film was shot at several locations. Siberian scenes were filmed in Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk, and Nizhny Novgorod. Studio shooting (decorations of the school, apartments, etc.) was carried out in the Czech Republic, as the cost of renting a studio was significantly lower there than in Russia. 'American' episodes were filmed in Portugal, and Moscow—in reality in Moscow, including on Cathedral Square in the Kremlin.
- The army gas masks shown in the film simply did not exist in 1905, as there were no chemical warfare agents at that time. Gas masks only appeared during World War I, 10 years later.
- Actors playing officers and cadets were trained for several months at the Kostroma Military School according to the drill and guard duty regulations of the late 19th century.
- According to those involved, the filming of the movie resembled a large-scale military operation. It involved more than 250 actors, several thousand extras, 40 crews, and several planes and helicopters. Around 80 vehicles served the crew daily.
- All the tableware used in the film was custom-made by Czech glassblowers.
- The total budget of the film (including post-production) exceeded 40 million dollars. As such, this film became the most expensive production in the history of Russian cinema at that time (the Soviet-era record is held by Sergei Bondarchuk's "War and Peace").
- In the 2008 American film 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,' a Soviet fantasy logging machine, destroying trees left and right, clears the road in the South American jungle in 1957 for a column of KGB military vehicles. This is Spielberg's parody of the Siberian steam logging mechanism from Nikita Mikhalkov's film.
- At the beginning of the film, after the title card '1905,' a close-up shows the American flag on a flagpole in a military camp, but it is a modern flag: it has 50 stars (representing the number of states) arranged in 6 rows of 6 and 9 rows of 5. In 1905, the United States consisted of only 45 states, and the flag had the same number of stars, arranged in 6 rows of 8 and 7 stars per row.
- About 10 years passed from the writing of the screenplay for "The Siberian Barber" to the completion of its film adaptation. This lengthy period was primarily due to difficulties in securing financing for such a large-scale project.
- The first Russian film shot in the most modern Panavision format with sound recorded in Dolby CPD mode.
- The "Siberian Barber" machine itself—a state-of-the-art harvester—was built specifically for the film at a secret military plant near Nizhny Novgorod. There was an attempt to steal the machine from the set, but the thieves were unsuccessful; they lost control and drove the "Barber" into a ravine, from which they could not escape and were forced to flee in disgrace.
- During the filming of Maslenitsa at the Novodevichy Pond, the temperature rose to 12 degrees Celsius. To prevent the rapidly melting ice from giving way with the actors and props, it was continuously covered with dry ice and sprayed with liquid nitrogen.
- Filming, according to those involved, resembled a large-scale military operation. It involved more than 250 actors, several thousand extras, 40 film crews, and several airplanes and helicopters. Approximately 80 cars served the group daily.
- The film's protagonist, Jane, begins her journey to Russia in 1885. She speaks only English, although she is reading Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” on the train, which will not be translated into her native language until two years later – in 1887.
- Approximately 10 years passed between the writing of the screenplay for 'The Siberian Barber' and the completion of its filming. This lengthy period was mainly due to the difficulties in securing funding for such a large-scale project.
- Since the winter of 1997 was surprisingly snowless, hundreds of tons of artificial snow had to be used when filming snowy Red Square and Moscow streets.
- During the filming of Maslenitsa at the Novodevichy Pond, the temperature rose to 12 degrees Celsius. To prevent the rapidly melting ice from collapsing along with the actors and sets, it was continuously packed with artificial dry ice and sprayed with liquid nitrogen.
- In the 2008 American film 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,' a fantastic Soviet logging machine that crashes through trees left and right clears a path through the 1957 South American jungle for a column of KGB military equipment. This is Spielberg's parody of the Siberian steam-powered logging mechanism from Nikita Mikhalkov's film.
- The 'Siberian Barber' machine itself – a state-of-the-art forestry harvester – was built specifically for the film at a secret military factory near Nizhny Novgorod. Thieves attempted to steal the machine during filming, but were unsuccessful – they couldn't handle it and drove the 'Barber...' into a ravine, where they became stuck and fled in disgrace.
- Specifically for the film's shooting, at the request of Mikhalkov, the internal illumination of the Kremlin stars was switched off for 10 hours by order of President B.N. Yeltsin. They were visible from Vasilyevsky Spusk, and rails were also laid for a horse-drawn tram through the Iverskiye Gates. Before this, the stars' illumination had been switched off only once—during the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
- The television version has a runtime of 275 minutes.
- Filming lasted 11 months, 6 days a week, with workdays ranging from 12 to 16 hours.
- The film was shot at several locations. The Siberian scenes were filmed in Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk, and Nizhny Novgorod. Studio shoots (sets for the school, apartments, etc.) took place in the Czech Republic, as the cost of renting a studio there was significantly lower than in Russia. The "American" episodes were filmed in Portugal, and Moscow was filmed in Moscow itself, including the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin.
- The role of General Radlov was to be played by Yuri Bogatyrev, who suddenly died at the age of 41 in 1989.
- The filming period lasted 11 months, six days a week, with working days ranging from 12 to 16 hours.
- The role of General Radlov was to be played by Yuri Bogatyrev, who died suddenly in 1989 at the age of 41.
Similar movies
8.7/10
8.6/10
8.6/10
8.6/10
8.5/10
8.5/10
8.3/10
8.3/10
8.2/10
8.2/10
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
