Doctor Zhivago
Doctor Zhivago (
Russian:
Π"ΠΎΠΊΡΠΎΡ ΠΠΈΠ²Π°Π³ΠΎ) is a
1965 film directed by
David Lean and based on the famous novel by
Boris Pasternak.
*
Taglines:
A love caught in the fire of Revolution.and
In a land of guns and ice, there is the great sound of battle and the greater silence of loversThe famous film version by
David Lean was created for various reasons. Lean, coming off of the huge success of
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), wanted to make a more intimate, romantic film to balance the action- and adventure-oriented tone of his previous film. One of the first actors signed onboard was
Omar Sharif, who had played Lawrence's right-hand man Sherif Ali in
Lawrence. Sharif loved the novel, and when he heard Lean was making a film adaptation, he requested to be cast in the role of Pasha (which ultimately went to
Tom Courtenay). Sharif was quite surprised when Lean suggested that he play Zhivago himself. (
Peter O'Toole, star of
Lawrence, was Lean's original choice for Zhivago but turned the part down.)
Rod Steiger was cast as Komarovsky after
Marlon Brando and
James Mason turned the part down.
The film version was faithful to the book in a general sense, though some of the subplots - particularly regarding the novel's historical/political facets - were glossed over or edited down. Many have criticized the film in particular for reducing the depiction of
World War I to a mere five minute narration sequence. A subplot involving Yevgraf's (
Alec Guinness) interview of the child of Lara and Yuri (played by
Rita Tushingham) several decades after the story's main events was added as a narration/framing device to help move along the story. Omar Sharif later joked that it was added to reassure the audience that Yuri and Lara
would ultimately get together, even though they would have to wait until two hours into the film for it to happen.
The movie was filmed largely in
Spain, with the entire
Moscow set being built from scratch outside of
Madrid. Most of the winter sequences were filmed in
Finland (though the "ice castle" was also in Spain, a house covered in frozen beeswax). The movie was also filmed in
Canada.
Despite being a huge box office hit (and being nominated for, and winning, several
Academy Awards),
Zhivago also gained a staggering amount of criticism from reviewers, largely for its length and depiction of the romance between Zhivago and Lara. Lean took these criticisms very personally, and claimed at the time that he would never make another film again. Though he would make
Ryan's Daughter (1970) a few years later, he then went fifteen years before his final film,
A Passage to India (1984).
Nonetheless, Lean's production of
Zhivago has stood the test of time. The film left an indelible mark on popular culture and fashion, and to this day remains an extremely popular film:
Maurice Jarre's haunting score - particularly
Lara's Theme - became one of the most famous in cinematic history. Over the years, the film's critical reputation has gained in stature, and today
Zhivago is considered to be one of Lean's finest works, along with
Lawrence and
Bridge on the River Kwai.
Primary cast
*
Omar Sharif : Dr. Yuri Zhivago
*
Julie Christie : Larissa/Lara Antipova
*
Geraldine Chaplin : Tonya
*
Rod Steiger : Viktor Komarovsky
*
Alec Guinness : Gen. Yevgraf Zhivago
*
Tom Courtenay : Pavel "Pasha" Antipov/Strelnikov
*
Siobhan McKenna : Anna
*
Ralph Richardson : Alexander Gromeko
*
Rita Tushingham : The Girl, Lara's daughter
*
Adrienne Corri : Amelia
*
Klaus Kinski : Kostia Amourski
*
Gerard Tichy : Liberius (Partisan leader)
*
Noel Willman : Razin (Partisan commissar)
*
Bernard Kay: Kuril (Bolshevik deserter)
*
Jack MacGowran: Petya (Varykino groundskeeper)
Awards
*
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama *
Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture –
David Lean*
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama -
Omar Sharif*
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture -
Robert Bolt*
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay -
Robert Bolt *
Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -
John Box,
Terry Marsh,
Dario Simoni*
Academy Award for Original Music Score -
Maurice Jarre *
Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture -
Maurice Jarre*
Golden Globe Award for Original Music Score -
Maurice Jarre*
Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color -
Freddie Young *
Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Color -
Phyllis DaltonAward nominations
*
Academy Award for Best Picture*
BAFTA Award for Best Film from any source*
Cannes Film Festival -
Palme d'or*
Academy Award for Directing -
David Lean*
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor -
Tom Courtenay*
Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female -
Geraldine Chaplin*
Academy Award for Film Editing -
Norman Savage*
Academy Award for Sound -
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer :
A.W. Watkins &
Franklin MiltonAdjusted for inflation,
Zhivago is the 8th highest grossing movie ever to be released in the United States. Current US
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts named
Zhivago as one of his favorite films during his confirmation hearings (see
here for context).
Academy Awards
 |
Keira Knightley as Lara in Doctor Zhivago (2002). |
Doctor Zhivago is also a
miniseries with
Hans Matheson,
Keira Knightley, and
Sam Neill, first appearing on the British
ITV network in November
2002 and
Masterpiece Theatre in the US, in November 2003.
An eleven-part Russian miniseries was released in
2006.
A made-for-cable film remake had been announced in 2002, which would have had
Joseph Fiennes as Zhivago and
Jeremy Irons as Komarovsky, but was ultimately scrapped. It's unclear whether this evolved into the Masterpiece Theatre production or was an entirely different version altogether. [
1]
The first film version of
Zhivago was actually a made-for-TV version produced in Brazil in 1959, which is currently unavailable. [
2]
Zhivago, a musical adaptation of the story, features music by
Lucy Simon ("The Secret Garden"), a book by Michael Weller ("Hair," "Ragtime" screenplays), and lyrics by Michael Korie ("Doll" and the "Harvey Milk" opera libretto) and Amy Powers ("Lizzie Borden" and songs for "Sunset Boulevard"). It was a direct adaptation of Pasternak's novel rather than Lean's film.
It made its debut at the
La Jolla Playhouse in 2005 as a Page-To-Stage workshop, and then in a main-stage production which opened in May 2006. A Broadway debut is planned sometime in 2007.
Cast:
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Ivan Hernandez as Zhivago
*
Jessica Burrows as Lara
*
Rena Strober as Tonya
*
Matt Bogart as Pasha
*
Tom Hewitt as Komarovsky
*
Maureen Silliman as Anna Gromeko
*
Edward Conery as Alexander Gromeko
* Ensemble:
Dominic Bogart,
Sandy Campbell,
Ryan Drummond,
Mark Emerson,
David Carey Foster,
Jason Heil,
Melissa Hoff,
Christopher Kale Jones,
Rebecca Kaasa,
Melina Kalomas,
David McDonald,
Spencer Moses,
Eduardo Placer,
Graham Rowat,
Tina Stafford,
Nick Ullett,
Melissa van der SchyffVariety Review*
Masterpiece Theatre | Doctor Zhivago*
Pasternak, Boris: Doctor Zhivago*
ΠΠΎΡΠΈΡ ΠΠ°ΡΡΠ΅ΡΠ½Π°ΠΊ/Π"ΠΎΠΊΡΠΎΡ ΠΠΈΠ²Π°Π³ΠΎ | site in Russian*
Π‘Π΅ΡΠΈΠ°Π» Π"ΠΎΠΊΡΠΎΡ ΠΠΈΠ²Π°Π³ΠΎ (2005) | site in Russian*
Homegrown Doctor Zhivago to Debut on Russian Television 
