Principal photography has now wrapped on Ralph Fiennes’ The White Crow, which has been shooting in locations across France, Russia, Croatia and Serbia since August. A new image has been released, featuring lead actor Oleg Ivenko as the legendary ballet star Rudolf Nureyev. Check it out below.
The White Crow was developed by BBC Films and Gabrielle Tana (The Duchess, Dancer, Philomena) who also produces with Carolyn Marks Blackwood through Magnolia Mae Productions together with Ralph Fiennes through Lonely Dragon Productions, and François Ivernel (The Queen, Slumdog Millionaire, The Iron Lady) through the French branch of his company, Montebello Productions. American artist and filmmaker Andrew Levitas (Lullaby, Georgetown, The Art of Getting By) is a producer and financier through his companies Metalwork Pictures and Rogue Black respectively.
Hanway Films is handling worldwide sales on the project. BBC Films, Hanway Films and The Fyzz Facility co-financed the film.
The White Crow is Fiennes’ third film as an actor/director, and his third partnership with producer Gabrielle Tana, following the award-winning Coriolanus and The Invisible Woman. The internationally-acclaimed cast also includes dancer Oleg Ivenko as Rudolf Nureyev, Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour), Louis Hofmann (Land of Mine, Alone in Berlin), Olivier Rabourdin (Of Gods and Men), Raphaël Personnaz (The Princess of Montpensier, Anna Karenina), Calypso Valois (Personal Shopper, Summertime), world-renowned dancer Sergei Polunin (Dancer, Murder on the Orient Express), distinguished Russian actress Chulpan Khamatova (Goodbye Lenin!) and ballet stars Anastasia Meskova, a First Soloist for the Bolshoi, and Anna Polikarpova, Senior Principal Dancer for Hamburg Ballet.
Written by two-time Academy Award-nominated David Hare (The Hours, The Reader), and based on the book “Rudolf Nureyev: The Life” by Julie Kavanagh,The White Crow delves into the most cinematic, cultural and politically charged chapter in the life of Russian dancer Rudolph Nureyev, a fearless, explosive personality both on and off the stage.
With a magnetic presence, Nureyev was the embodiment of balletic magnificence and by the 1950s had emerged as a young star in Leningrad. Ralph Fiennes intimately captures the raw physicality and brilliance of Nureyev, while David Hare’s script delivers a tight and thrilling insight into his dangerous defection to the West in 1961 Paris, choreographed by the dancer’s great friend, 21-year-old Parisian Clara Saint. In a finale at Le Bourget airport in Paris, THE WHITE CROW climaxes with that global event, re-enacting a day that captivated and stunned the world over and proved to be one of the West’s greatest propaganda coups during the Cold War.
Academy Award-nominated Production Designer Anne Seibel (Midnight in Paris) and choreographer Johan Kobborg, former Principal of the Royal Ballet, round out the key production team that also includes: BAFTA Award winner and Academy Awardâ nominated Costume Designer Madeline Fontaine (Jackie, Amélie); BAFTA Award nominated Director of Photography Mike Eley (Marley, Touching the Void); and BAFTA Award-nominated Composer Ilan Eshkeri (Dancer, Still Alice).
HanWay Films is selling the film at AFM where their slate also includes Alistair Banks Griffin’s The Wolf Hour starring Naomi Watts, James D’Arcy’s Made In Italy starring Bill Nighy and Jack Lowden, and Sebastian Schipper’s Caravan starring Fionn Whitehead and Stéphane Bak.
