''Azazel'' () is a Russian

made for TV A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrestr ...

adaptation of

Boris Akunin Grigori Chkhartishvili (; ka, გრიგორი ჩხარტიშვილი), better known by his pen name Boris Akunin (, born 20 May 1956), is a Georgian and Russian writer residing in the United Kingdom. He is best known as a write ...

's introductory '

Erast Fandorin Erast Petrovich Fandorin () is a fictional 19th-century Russian detective and the hero of a series of Russian historical detective novels by Boris Akunin. The first Fandorin novel (''The Winter Queen'', Russian: ''Азазель'') was publishe ...

' novel '' The Winter Queen''.

Plot summary

This historical detective story features a young police inspector, Erast Fandorin. Fandorin's adventures take place in the Russian Empire of the late 19th century, and he regularly finds himself at the center of key historical events, including development of Masonic and Revolutionary movements. The hero is a young man, newly enlisted in the police force of the 1870s. This is a world with no forensic science, a rigid social structure and rigid proprieties, and police investigation techniques which respect the intuition of the intelligent amateur or newcomer. Fandorin is inexperienced, naive, downwardly mobile (the family fortune having evaporated), but cultured, intelligent, diligent, and desperately enthusiastic. He doesn't so much want to impress as want to succeed ... by a process of blind self-confidence and a youthful self-delusion that he is acting logically and scientifically. Fandorin is invited to investigate the suicide of a rich student. The young man has shot himself in public, but something seems strange about the suicide. Fandorin quickly exposes the murderous intrigue which has led to the death ... and opens up a can of worms which will have him crossing Europe in search of a mastermind ... or maybe even the godfathers behind a terrorist plot.

Cast

*Ilya Noskov – Erast Petrovich Fandorin *

Sergey Bezrukov Sergey Vitalyevich Bezrukov (; born 18 October 1973) is a Soviet and Russian film and stage actor, singer, People's Artist of Russia, the laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation. He currently works at Tabakov Studio (the theatre of ...

– Ivan Franzevich Brilling * Marina Aleksandrova – Elizaveta von Evert-Kolokoltseva *

Oleg Basilashvili Oleg Valerianovich Basilashvili (born 26 September 1934) is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was awarded People's Artist of the USSR in 1984. Biography Childhood He was born to a family of mixed Russians, Russian, Pol ...

– General Mizinov *Sergei Chonishvili – Ippolit Alexandrovich Zurov *

Marina Neyolova Marina Mstislavovna Neyolova (; born 8 January 1947) is a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress. She has appeared in 37 films since 1969. She was awarded the People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1987. She is a leading actress at Sovremennik Th ...

– Lady Esther *Yuri Avsharov – Georg *Felix Antipov – Xavery Feofilaktovich Grushin *Larisa Borushko – Amalia Kazimirovna Bezhetskaya *Dmitry Burkhankin – Kokorin *Valentin Golubenko – Klaus *

Yevgeni Grishkovetz Yevgeni Valeryevich Grishkovetz (; born February 17, 1967, in Kemerovo) is a popular Russian writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings a ...

– Achimas Velde

Remake

English-language version

Dutch film director

Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch filmmaker, who has worked variously in the Netherlands, the United States, and in France. He is known for directing genre films with strong satirical elements, often featuring graphic violence and ...

was set to film an English-language

theatrical film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation ...

remake of ''Azazel'', titled "The Winter Queen", with

Dan Stevens Daniel Jonathan Stevens (born 10 October 1982) is an English actor. He first drew international attention for his role as Matthew Crawley in the ITV period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2012). He also starred as David in the thriller ...

set to star as Fandorin and the leading female role to be played by

Milla Jovovich Milica Bogdanovna Jovović; ; ( ; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovovich (), is an American actress and former fashion model. Her starring roles in numerous science fiction film, science-fiction and action films led th ...

. This movie was cancelled.http://www.millaj.com/film/winterqueen.shtml MillaJ.com interview

New Russian Version

In August 2022, Plus Studios has announces the completion of the filming of the new Azazel adaptation based on the bestseller by

. An aspiring detective lives in an alternative year of 2023, with modern technology and robotics helping him investigate. At the same time, Russia is still a monarchical system, since the only revolution that the country has experienced is technological. It was premiered on Kinopoisk HD streaming service in January 2023. According to the sources, the official synopsis is that The October revolution did not take place, the Bolsheviks did not come to power, and

Czar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

Nicholas III (played by Maksim Matveev) shares the government of the country with the progressive

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Dmitry Orlov (Evgeniy Stychkin). At this time, 20-year-old Erast Fandorin begins his career in the detective police department. Being engaged in not the most interesting work, he learns strange news: the owner of an oil pipeline company, a young millionaire, shoots himself in the temple in the center of

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

in front of dozens of people. Suicide falls on the camera recording of the police robot. Fandorin suspects that the case is more complicated than it seems, and takes on his first serious investigation. The showrunner of the project is Alexandra Remizova (who worked on “Trigger”, “Patient Zero”), the director is Nurbek Egen (“Alibi”, “ Sherlock in Russia”). The series also stars Mila Ershova, Alexander Semchev, Milena Radulovich (from " Balkan Frontier"), Artem Bystrov, Grigory Vernik. Erast Fandorin was played by Vladislav Tiron .

References

External links

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Trailer
and

{{DEFAULTSORT:Azazel (Film) Films based on works by Boris Akunin Channel One (Russia) original programming Fictional portrayals of the Moscow City Police 2002 television films 2002 films 2000s Russian films 2000s Russian-language films Russian crime drama films Russian-language crime drama films Russian television films 2002 crime drama films Russian crime television series 2002 Russian television series debuts 2002 Russian television series endings Russian television miniseries