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EASTERN PROMISES |
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By : Suzanne Philips |
Movie Reviews List | |
| VIGGO MORTENSEN AND DAVID
CRONENBERG TEAM UP FOR A SECOND TIME IN "EASTERN PROMISES" by Suzanne Philips After the success 2005's A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen have re-teamed for the upcoming film EASTERN PROMISES. Screenwriter Steven Knight was looking for a follow up to his first feature film, (DIRTY PRETTY THINGS) and had originally been hired to write a telefilm about the world of Eastern European human trafficking. He then began to explore the motives of the people involved in the trade. "The sex-trafficking trade is a huge industry in the U.K." says Knight. "The reality is so upsetting and bizarre that I had to tone it down for the script. Slavery usually happens in normal suburban streets; you don't see it, yet it is going on all around you." When Cronenberg read the script he was"immediately sucked into this intense little world of criminal subculture in London. What I also found was that it offered a wonderful character study - particularly of Nikolai - and that I wanted to bring these characters to life". When it came time for casting, Cronenberg says there was only one actor he ever considered for the role - Viggo Mortensen. "After our experience on A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, I wanted to work with him again. In reading the script, I immediately thought of him. Viggo is a brilliant actor, beyond what people realize, and I believe with EASTERN PROMISES, that is going to be more evident." Mortensen immersed himself in Russian culture to prepare for the role. He traveled to Russia and spent weeks touring the country, watching Russian television and films and reading and re-reading books by famous Russian authors. He even researched the sex-trafficking industry and Russian gangs in the country. Screenwriter Knight says of Mortensen, "He went away and immersed himself in that world and spent time with a lot of very disreputable Russian people! I wrote the lines, but the heart and soul of Nicolai is really from Viggo." Rounding out the cast are Naomi Watts as the English midwife Anna, becomes involved with Nicolai; Armin Mueller-Stahl as the mob boss Semyon and Vincent Cassel as Semyon's troubled son Kirill. The city of London becomes a character as well with the sub-culture of the sex-traffickers going on in a city of thousands of people going about their daily lives. The locations for the film add to the realism of the film. A big piece of the film centers around the tattoos that the mobsters have covering their bodies which they use as a way of identifying each other. In Russian jails, the tattoos tell the life story of the prisoner - what crimes you have committed, what gang you are affiliated with, what jails you have been in. They are a way to communicate with others in the underworld. As the tattoos would be a particularly vital visual element in EASTERN PROMISES, Viggo Mortensen studied THE MARK OF CAIN - Alix Lambert's documentary and book on Russian prisons and the tattoo subculture. Cronenberg notes "Viggo sent me books on Russian criminal tattoos which were filled with not just photos and diagrams but also texts about the meanings of tattoos. There is this whole hidden world of symbolism that is immediately fascinating." It took makeup artists over 4 hours to apply the 43 tattoos that cover Mortensen's body for the full body scenes. The tattoos were so realistic that when he visited a Russian restaurant, diners fell silent thinking that an actual mobster had entered. When he began to speak English, however, they visibly relaxed. "Although" says Armin Mueller-Stahl, "I heard that some of them actually left!" EASTERN PROMISES is a crime drama with intense character development. Mortensen sums it up by saying, " EASTERN PROMISES is a logical follow-up to A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE; there are identity issues, explorations of the traditional family structure, people dealing with perilous situations and moral dilemmas, and the question "Is violence ever justified?". EASTERN PROMISES opens in the U.S. nationwide on September 21st and in the U.K. and Australia in October. |
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