When There Are No More Actors

Russia used to have a really phenomenal tradition of acting. Soviet actors had to learn to perform well in the absence of money for complicated (or even tolerable) makeup, special effects, and expensive costumes. Money for takes and editing was very limited. The actors knew that if they didn’t have talent to carry them through a scene, nothing could be used to substitute for an artistic gift. This is one of those situation where lack of money preserves a craft.

Now that Hollywood-like strategies of film-making have penetrated into Russia and money has become plentiful, there are no more good actors in Russia. Pretty, photoshopped dolls who can’t portray an emotion or a thought for love or money have filled the screens. As a result, the desperate film-makers are forced to cast older, Soviet-era actors in the roles of young people.

A TV series based on Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina recently came out in Russia, and what a joke it is! The actress playing Anna Karenina is fifty. The actor who plays Levin is 51. (And remember that Russian hard-drinking 51 looks older than the American 71). Levin is supposed to be in his early thirties in the novel, while Anna is about 28-29. The actor playing Vronsky is 40. The 18-year-old Kitty is played by a 36-year-old actress.

Sadly, two of the actors playing in the series have already died since it was filmed.