The Master and Margarita - 2017
Logos Film Company
On February 14, 2017, the Russian press agency TASS announced that the screen adaptation rights for The Master and Margarita have been granted to Svetlana Migunova-Dali, co-owner of the Moscow based production house Logos Film Company, and Grace Loh, who is the head of the production company New Crime Productions in Hollywood.
Svetlana Migunova-Dali
Grace Loh
Both ladies would produce the film together, with the help of Nevin Shalit, Andrey Furmanchuk and Michael Lang, the co-creator of the legendary Woodstock Music & Art Festival in 1969.
Of course, we'll have to wait and see if the two ladies will be more successful than their predecessors Federico Fellini, Roman Polanski, Ray Manzarek and Scott Steindorff, each of which had to drop their plans to film The Master and Margarita.
Updates
December 11, 2019
For almost three years we haven't had any news on this project, but on December 11, 2019, the Deadline Hollywood news site reported that Migunova-Dali and Loh have signed a partnership agreement with renowned director Baz Luhrmann to make it happen.
Luhrmann is known for his films Romeo + Juliet and The Great Gatsby, both with Leonardo DiCaprio, and for Australia and Moulin Rouge!, both with Nicole Kidman. He was also previously mentioned as a possible director for The Master and Margarita when producer Scott Steindorff acquired the film rights for the novel in 2010.
Baz Luhrmann
When we announced the news about Baz Luhrmann as a director on our Facebook page, the link was massively shared, although the reactions were very different. They ranged from «Fantastic» to «Oh my god. I am afraid». The skeptics fear that Luhrmann is too obstinate to respect the spirit of author Mikhail Bulgakov's work. We'll keep you posted.
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February 10, 2020
There appear to be links between the producers of this film and the producers of a film being prepared in Russia. Click on the arrow below to read more about it.
May 28, 2024
On January 25, 2024, Michael Lockshin's film The Master and Margarita premiered in Russian cinemas, and Baz Luhrmann went on to direct his Oscar-nominated Elvis biopic, and now has stepped back from the project entirely.
June 5, 2025
When the distribution company Luminosity Pictures wanted to distribute Michael Lockshin's film in the United States, Svetlana Migunova-Dali and Grace Loh opposed it because they were convinced that they had the rights to adapt the novel. On February 11, 2025, Luminosity Pictures filed a lawsuit against both Migunova-Dali and Loh in the California court to lift their blockade.
The impact of the court's ruling could be broader than just the interests of the distributor. After all, Luminosity Pictures argues that the novel The Master and Margarita is in the public domain and that therefore no one can claim rights to it. If the court follows this reasoning, anyone wishing to make an adaptation of the novel in the future – film, theatre, opera or whatever – would be permanently freed from the suffocating claims of Sergei Shilovsky, Bulgakov's self-proclaimed «grandson». Click on the arrow below to read more about it