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breakingnews
The young American adventurer, Jane Callahan, arrives in Imperial Russia in the late 19th century where she is hired by an engineer to charm powerful General Radlov and convince him to back the inventor’s project – a lumber cutter called the ‘Barber of Siberia.’ Instead Jane falls in love with a young student of a military academy in Moscow, Andrey Tolstoy. They bask in wild romance, but Jane’s relations with the General run out of control after he proposes to her.
–Kim Basinger, Jodie Foster, Andy McDowell and Sharon Stone were considered for the role of Jane. Eventually Julia Ormond took it.
–Oleg Menshikov plays the 18-year-old Andrey. At the time of shooting the actor was almost twice as old as his character.
–Scenes of ‘maslenitsa’ festivities were shot in February on a frozen pond. A sudden thaw threatened to drown all the props, so the crew had to use liquid nitrogen to keep the ice strong enough.
| Marina Neelova | Mother of Andrey Tolstoy |
| Aleksey Petrenko | General Radlov |
| Oleg Menshikov | Andrey Tolstoy |
| Richard Harris | Douglas McCraken |
| Julia Ormond | Jane Callahan |
