Russias own Doctor Zhivago

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

Russia has finally begun filming its own screen version of Doctor Zhivago. The Boris Pasternak novel, which tells of adulterous love amid the injustices of the Russian Revolution, was banned in the Soviet era. A 1965 U.S. film starring Omar Sharif won five Oscars and was a worldwide hit, but Russians today say Sharif’s portrayal was not authentically Russian. This month, filming began on a Russian miniseries starring Oleg Menshikov, one of Russia’s top actors. “Doctor Zhivago is a story about the Russian intelligentsia,” said director Alexander Proshkin. “The role of the Russian intellectual needs instinct and human mystery. That is Oleg’s forte.”