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Viggo Mortensen Presented With
'Best Russian' Award
NOV 9, 2007 -- RUSSIA! Magazine
is proud to present actor
Viggo Mortensen,
the star of David Cronenberg's
hit Eastern Promises,
with its inaugural Rolling R –
an annual award for the best
"Russian" performance by a
Hollywood actor. The official
citation commends Mortensen for
his "sensitive, multifaceted and
authentic" portrayal of Nikolai,
a morally conflicted thug.
"Unlike the Muslim, Jewish and
other communities, the Russians
have been historically docile
about being portrayed as drunk,
murderous plotters," explains
Michael Idov, the editor of
RUSSIA!, "But that's not the
offensive part. The offensive
part is being portrayed as a
drunk, murderous plotter with a
Czech name and a Transylvanian
accent."
"The bar for verisimilitude is
so low right now that, even in
an excellent film like The
Bourne Identity, Bourne's
'Russian' passport is filled
with random gibberish. We'd like
to reward the ones doing it
right. This year, we're proud to
acknowledge Mr. Mortensen, whose
star turn in Eastern Promises
is amazingly sensitive,
multifaceted, and above all
authentic. His character even
speaks a specific old-school
thief slang, and switches to
Ukrainian when comforting a
Ukrainian woman."
About the Award
Named after a hard-to-master
feature of Slavic pronunciation,
the Rolling R is playfully
described by its founders as an
award for "General Excellence In
Acting Russian." "Almost every
major American actor has, at
some point, tried on a Russian
accent," writes RUSSIA! Magazine
in its Fall 2007 issue. "Tom
Cruise? Spoke it in Mission:
Impossible. Bruce Willis?
The Jackal. Val Kilmer?
The Saint. Al Pacino? The
Devil’s Advocate. Almost all
of them sucked."
RUSSIA!'s own list of five
all-time best "Russian"
performances, published in
the same issue, has Nicole
Kidman at the top for her turn
in the little-seen Birthday
Girl. She is followed by
John Malkovich in Rounders,
Cate Blanchett in The Man Who
Cried, and the duo of
Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian
Schell in Little Odessa.
All future performances, the
magazine explains, will be
judged against these five. The
actual award consists of a
certificate and a round
mini-sculpture.
About Russia! Magazine
RUSSIA!, a quarterly, independent English-language glossy, defines
itself as devoted to "most
original coverage of people,
trends, ideas and events" taking
place in or around Russia.
The Fall 2007 issue is on
newsstands at major book
retailers, as well as online at
www.readrussia.com.
Press contact:
Michael Idov, 646-498-7873;
Ilya Merenzon, 718-755-6092
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