However, I do feel compelled to note that while these movies set out to first entertain, director Marius Weisberg and I have other game in our sights as well.
Marius was born and reared in Moscow. He was a Pioneer like every other Soviet child but ended up going to USC Film School. He's lived here in the U.S. for the past 17 years. But like the rest of us, he loves his home country but despises the hypocrisies and demagoguery that weigh like chains around the nation's ability to progress.
One of the most effective ways to dislodge a sacred cow is to make it foolish. Chaplin knew this when he made "The Great Dictator." And, in fact, we here in the U.S. have a healthy tradition of mocking our rulers. But in Russia, even today, this facility is not as available.
As the 'New York Times' piece below describes, a number of people in Russia were not too happy about "Hitler Kaput!" In fact, the mayor of Moscow had every single piece of "Hitler Kaput" outdoor advertising removed from every billboard, bus stop and taxi just a few days before opening day. But give petty tyrants points for consistency; they never understand the dynamics of oppression. The resulting publicity only served to drive record waves of people into the theaters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/world/europe/22spies.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Hitler%20Kaput!&st=cse
To this day, people still stop me on the streets in Moscow to talk about "Hitler Kaput!" (They love deep discussions and they love Americans.)
"Napolean Kaput!" is loosely based on "War & Peace". We're already seeing people standing on their pillars of outrage for daring to use Lev Nikolayevich in such an unholy way. And we haven't even shot it yet.
Nobody can convince me that the cinema is no longer relevant.
David
On Feb 24, 2010, at 9:45 AM, Wilson Chao wrote:
> Sounds like fun - congratulations!
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 12:12 PM, David Dodson
> <davidadodson@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>> Tomorrow, the feature I just finished cutting opens on over 1000 screens in Russia and Ukraine. In Russian, the movie is called "Любовь в большом городе 2". In Latin letters, something more like "Lyubov v bolshem gorode 2". And a rough English translation would be something akin to "Love In the City 2".
>>
>> The movie is a sequel to a movie I did last year. This original film was number one at the Russian box office for over a month so we're expecting big things from this sequel, as well. Before that I cut another Russian comedy called "Hitler Kaput!" which also stayed firmly perched on top of the box office for a month as well as being an official selection at Cannes last year.
>>
>> Just goes to prove that cinema is truly an international language since I don't speak Russian and these are most definitely Russian language films. Next up is the sequel to "Hitler Kaput!", currently titled, "Napolean Kaput!" We start shooting in May -- in 3D! (We shoot in Ukraine but will post here in Los Angeles)
>>
>> So if you're in Russia this week go see "Lyubov v bolshem gorode 2"! And as always, many thanks to the brilliant minds here on the L2. You got me out of more than one pickle on this movie and I suspect you'll do the same in the future.
>
>
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David Dodson
davidadodson@sbcglobal.net
------------------------------------
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