‘It was a very hard journey’: Master and Margarita director on its unlikely Russian success | Russia | The Guardian

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Michael Lockshin’s film adaption of Bulgakov’s anti-censorship masterpiece has become a box office hit in Russia against all odds I n an ironic twist, Russia’s wartime box office is being dominated by a blockbuster adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, a film that denounces censorship and was filmed by an American director who is “vocally anti-war”. One leading film critic, Anton Dolin, told the Guardian it was the “best commercial film ever shot in [Vladimir] Putin’s Russia”. A movie’s runaway success can work against it in Russia now: the film has had to run the gauntlet of pro-Kremlin propagandists and censors, and in true Hollywood fashion it has triumphed against the odds. Michael Lockshin, the director, said it was “a miracle” the film came out, on a call from Los Angeles where he lives. “It was a very hard journey getting there since the war started,” he said. For weeks after its release, Lockshin had mostly avoided the press. The reason was simple: an army of o

Michael Lockshin is vocally anti-war and remained outspoken throughout the production of the film – even though it added complications. Photograph: SvetaMalikova View image in fullscreen Michael Lockshin is vocally anti-war and remained outspoken throughout the production of the film – even though it added complications. Photograph: SvetaMalikova Russia This article is more than 2 years old Interview ‘It was a very hard journey’: Master and Margarita director on its unlikely Russian success This article is more than 2 years old Andrew Roth Michael Lockshin’s film adaption of Bulgakov’s anti-ce

‘It was a very hard journey’: Master and Margarita director on its unlikely Russian success | Russia | The Guardian

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