MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/. Russian movie producer Leonid Vereshchagin and film director Alexei Sidorov have put forward a motion picture project about the 1978 World Chess Championships match, on which Nikita Mikhalkov’s Trite Studio intends to work. Plans are in store to invite Milla Jovovich to star in the movie, the filmmakers said at Thursday’s presentation involving Russia’s leading film companies that seek the Cinema Foundation’s support.
"We will open a new chapter in the history of chess and sports movies. There are plans to invite world famous stars, it would be interesting to work with Milla Jovovich," Sidorov noted.
According to Vereshchagin, since the movie will star popular actors and have a prominent legendary director, the filmmakers request 350 mln rubles ($5.5 mln) from the Cinema Foundation.
"We will tell a story of one of the most dramatic world chess championship matches that took place during the Soviet era, in 1978. [Soviet chess player Anatoly] Karpov became the 12th World Chess Champion after [US player, the 11th champion Robert] Fischer had deprived the Russian chess school of the title, though it had dominated the field for a quarter of a century. Karpov became the world champion but never got to play against Fischer," the producer said.
Russia’s Cinema Foundation was established in 1995 to support the nation’s movie industry, bolster its competitiveness, and lay the groundwork for making quality movies in addition to promoting Russian films domestically and overseas.