Contract for a new film

May 15, 2010

Sergey Shilovskiy, grandson of Elena Sergeevna, the third wife of Mikhail Bulgakov, announced yesterday that he has signed a contract to grant the film rights for The Master and Margarita to the American production compa-ny Stone Village Pictures.

Since many years already, Sjilovskiy claims to be the heir of the writer. It is because of his actions, for example, that the film of Yuri Kara from 1994 was never officially released. As he said he wants to ensure that the screen adaptations of The Master and Margarita "are fully in line with the original, not like some interpretations of Bulgakov”. In practice, however, it rather seems the amount of the royalties he receives which "must be fully in line with his expectations”. And apparently the latter is the case, because after signing the contract with Stone Village Pictures it will not be allowed, “in any country, to make another film adaptation of The Master and Margarita” in the next ten years.   

Anyway, the contract is signed, and Baz Luhrmann, the director of Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, will soon travel to Moscow to discuss the script with Sergey Shilovskiy. Indeed Shilovskiy stipulated that he first has to approve the screenplay. Whether this is good remains to be seen. He is playing with the idea of “seeing the flight of Margarita in 3D.”

The shootings would take place in Moscow, Prague and the United States. The role of Margarita would be played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. According to Shilovskiy she looks very much like his grandmother Elena Sergeevna, who modeled for the character in the novel.