Paul Verhoeven is ramping up production on his long-gestating tsarist
Russian crime romp The Winter Queen, now called Azazel.
Shooting is set to begin this summer in St Petersberg and London after
Peter Hoffman's Los Angeles-based Seven Arts Pictures finalised
pay-or-play deals for Verhoeven and Milla Jovovich.
Verhoeven's long-time collaborator Gerard Soeteman, who wrote the
director's recent Dutch-language hit Black Book, adapted the
screenplay from Boris Akunin's Russian bestseller The Winter Queen.
Alan Marshall and Thomas Hedman are producing.
A casting announcement is expected shortly on the male lead, a 19th
century Moscow detective whose investigation into a suicide leads him
to a mysterious woman (Jovovich) who may or may not hold the key to an
international conspiracy.
'I am thrilled to start my next movie with the charming portrayal of a
diabolical and seductive woman who goes up against a handsome, gifted
and very lucky young detective,' Verhoeven said. 'It takes place in
Russia and London in the late 1800's, but its backdrop of world
intrigue - with suicide, murder and terrorism - is very fitting for
today's times.'
Beyond Azazel, Verhoeven is lining up a Dutch-language adaptation of
Jan Siebelink's biography Kneeling On A Bed Of Violets for NL Film &
TV.
Seven Arts is also financing and distributing the psychological
thriller Nine Miles Down starring Adrian Paul and Melissa George, set
to begin production in March in Tunisia and Hungary.
Russian crime romp The Winter Queen, now called Azazel.
Shooting is set to begin this summer in St Petersberg and London after
Peter Hoffman's Los Angeles-based Seven Arts Pictures finalised
pay-or-play deals for Verhoeven and Milla Jovovich.
Verhoeven's long-time collaborator Gerard Soeteman, who wrote the
director's recent Dutch-language hit Black Book, adapted the
screenplay from Boris Akunin's Russian bestseller The Winter Queen.
Alan Marshall and Thomas Hedman are producing.
A casting announcement is expected shortly on the male lead, a 19th
century Moscow detective whose investigation into a suicide leads him
to a mysterious woman (Jovovich) who may or may not hold the key to an
international conspiracy.
'I am thrilled to start my next movie with the charming portrayal of a
diabolical and seductive woman who goes up against a handsome, gifted
and very lucky young detective,' Verhoeven said. 'It takes place in
Russia and London in the late 1800's, but its backdrop of world
intrigue - with suicide, murder and terrorism - is very fitting for
today's times.'
Beyond Azazel, Verhoeven is lining up a Dutch-language adaptation of
Jan Siebelink's biography Kneeling On A Bed Of Violets for NL Film &
TV.
Seven Arts is also financing and distributing the psychological
thriller Nine Miles Down starring Adrian Paul and Melissa George, set
to begin production in March in Tunisia and Hungary.
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