Eastern Promises is a new film, directed by David Cronenberg ( A History of Violence ), starring Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, and Vincent Cassel. It provides insight into the life of the Russian mafia—"vory v zakone"—in London, through a captivating plot and skillful cinematography. The film is colored by dark images of the underground life, involving crime, violence, and callous language.
Anna (Naomi Watts)—a midwife from a public hospital—descends into this foreign and menacing world in order to find the relatives of a baby whose mother died on Anna's delivery table, leaving behind only a few hints in her heartbreaking diary. There Anna oddly befriends Nikolai, a driver(Viggo Mortensen) for the Russian mob. But will that friendship save her from violence and the vengeance of vicious criminals?
The film is full of suspense and authentic Russian characters and speech, providing a powerful backdrop for the development of the main characters. One of the most striking scenes is a nude fighting scene, where Nikolai confronts killers in a bathhouse. Though abundant with action and excitement, Eastern Promises also shows the complex nature of characters and life in modern society, highlighting such issues as human trafficking and crime. Eastern Promises premiered last Saturday at Toronto Film Festival, and we had a chance to talk with the creators of the film.
Naomi Watts on the complexity of her character: That's the thing that draws me to any piece of material I take on—a transformation, if you will, an opportunity to explore every side of the character. We are all complicated people, as strong as we may seem in one direction, we have total contradictions within ourselves. And it was there in the text, and I loved that: I went from a fairly depressed young woman, not really connecting with anything, hiding behind her work, and then, just on this one particular day of her work, her whole life changes, and she not only awakens herself, but she starts connecting with other people, and the background. That's what you hope for in a script.
Viggo Mortensen on the complexity of life:
I think, there are some directors who like to explore how unpredictable people are, how complicated their life is and how few answers there really are for life's problems, but very few of them know how to get that on the screen. David does it really well in all his movies, and certainly in this one, which is true to life—he in a way shows us that not only is life complicated, but it is impossible to completely get to know someone else, it is impossible to get to know yourself. We are all going to die, we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, and what's the point of continuing all these things, knowing the things we do.
Vincent Cassel on learning Russian:
My main concern at the beginning of the shoot was to be believable as a Russian speaking English, because obviously English is not my first language. But then, I have to confess, that I don't speak Russian still today. I did two movies in Russia, and still… As actors, you know, we learn things, we use them, and then it's gone, because we have to do something else, because we can't keep all the information. Of course in the film, Russian people speaking together would not speak English—they would speak Russian. So every day on the set with Viggo [Mortensen] we tried to put more Russian in the dialogues, and David was always: "what did you say?"
Viggo Mortensen on playing a Russian:
I was interested, like most people, in Russian literature and music. I thought I knew something about Russian history, but I learned a lot more. I have to say that speaking the language on top of whatever else you have to prepare, you feel different, it's not just the facial thing that you are using—like different facial muscles—but somehow it affects your posture and the way you present yourself, and that helps. If you believe it, then maybe they'll believe it too.
Naomi Watts on being a mother:
I am only six weeks into motherhood, so we'll see how things evolve, but I think, I can say for certain is that the first questions I will need to ask [about future roles] are how long? Where? And at what point? And there will be a discussion with Liev about whose turn it is to work, or if they overlap, for how long? But in terms of the content, I don't see that changing. I am not going to start making movies for kids. That's just not how I ever really approached my work. It's just what I respond to what's truthful, what speaks to me. My choices are often driven by the director, and the directors are our teachers and guides. So for me, that will stay the same.
Eastern Promises will open in theatres in the United States on September 21, 2007.
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