MOSCOW Russian helmer Sergei
Bodrov, most recently in the international eye for the success of his Genghis
Khan epic "Mongol," is starting his own production company, Bodrov
Film Production, with a slate of five films in preparation.
He
may be working on future projects with CTB producer Sergei Selyanov, who was
partly behind "Mongol," and exploiting both Russian public and
private funding, as well as international coin.
For
the director himself, the "Mongol" follow-up (provisionally titled "The
Great Khan") is likely the first task. " 'Mongol 2'
will be ready next year. I want to direct it. Money will come from Russian
public and private sources, Kazakhstan and the U.S. Many of our 'Mongol'
distributors are ready to participate in the next film," Bodrov said.
Projected
budget is around $35 million.
The
other main epic project on Bodrov's new slate is "Sultan Bey Bars,"
due to be shot in Arabic, on a similar $35 million budget. "It's a
great story written by Ermek Tursunov, a young scriptwriter from Kazakhstan, a
historic epic movie set in Egypt, Syria and Jordan. We are finishing the script
and will go to pre-production at the end of the year — we haven't
confirmed the director yet.
The
connections to Central Asia, in particular Kazakhstan, remain close. Bodrov made
his first two films at Almaty's Kazakh Film Studios, went back there to
complete another epic, "The Nomad," two years ago, and has been
developing local talent, such as Guka Omarova, co-writing and producing her
debut pic "Schizo" as well as her upcoming "The Native
Dancer."
Future
projects may bring him closer to Russia, though. "I'm also
developing the script of 'Hope Against Hope' — about the
Russian poet Osip Mandelshtam, who was killed in Stalin's gulag. This
movie was on my wish list for years."
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