Milla Jovovich on Arbatskaya and Matt Damon in Krylatsky. Moscow in foreign films

From the most popular to little-known ones — 10 foreign films featuring Moscow — sham Moscow shot in Europe or the real one.

The Bourne Supremacy, directed by Paul Greengrass. USA, Germany. 2004

The first film about a former CIA agent, professional killer Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), 'The Bourne Identity', was released in 2002. Two years later, in 2004, there was a sequel to the acclaimed thriller released, 'The Bourne Supremacy'. Like with 'The Bourne Identity', the sequel was based on the same-name novel by American writer Robert Ludlum. The fake Russian passport in the name of Foma Kiniaev, found by Bourne in the first part, was to unfold into a full-fledged spy trip to Moscow in 'The Bourne Supremacy'.

This part of the film is quite short, but packed with events. After his mishaps in Goa, Naples and Berlin, Bourne comes to Moscow to meet Irina Neski (Oksana Akinshina). Her parents were killed by Bourne while on a special mission many years ago. The main character arrives in Moscow by train from Berlin, breaking all the logic of the Russian railways, as instead of the Belarussian railway station, he leaves his train at Kievsky station. But it is not due to the shooting crew's ignorance —  Shukhov's platform looks much more impressive. This is not the only inaccuracy one can notice in the film: many Moscow scenes were actually filmed in Berlin.

But the most famous part of the film — the Moscow car chase after Russian bad guys speaking poor Russian and have very cumbersome names  —  was filmed in Moscow. In Frunzenskaya Street, near the Moscow Palace of Youth, Bourne jumps into an empty taxi and rushes along Ivanovskaya Gorka, Rozhdestvensky Boulevard, Trubnaya Square, Tarasa Shevchenko and Raushskaya embankments. Bourne's destination is Otradnaya Street, that is, Otradnoye district. But in fact, the shooting took place in Krylatsky. The impressive blue and white high-rise buildings every Muscovite knows so well were featured in a Hollywood film for the first time.

Russian stuntman Viktor Ivanov staged this scene. A couple cars were crushed then, but not in vain,  as the chase received the Taurus award in the 'Best Car' category.

Never Let Me Go, directed by Delmer Daves. USA. 1953

To make a Hollywood film about the life of an American citizen in the USSR in the 1950s, in the midst of the Cold War, in the times of Senator McCarthy's propaganda and the black lists of secret Communists and their fellow travellers, was very challenging indeed. However, 'Never Let Me Go' by Delmer Daves did not face any problems, as it shows the Soviet Union as a hellish totalitarian machine one can escape only with enormous efforts.

The story begins on 9 May 1945 in Moscow. An American journalist Philip Sutherland (Clark Gable) has been living in Moscow for several years. He has covered military events, and now he enjoys the prospect of highlighting peaceful life only. He soon meets the love of his life, a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre Maria Lamarkina (the beautiful Gene Tierney). Maria agrees to marry the American citizen, but after they register their marriage in the U.S. Embassy, they learn that the bride is not allowed to leave for her husband's homeland. To introduce Mrs. Sutherland to her American father- and mother-in-law, Philip has to be patient and resourceful, he must wait for the tour of the Bolshoi Theatre in Tallinn, come to the show dressed as a doctor and take a 'fainted' ballerina allegedly to the hospital.

To come to the USSR during the Cold War to make a film about the impact of this war on the lives of ordinary people was inconceivable. That is why we see historical records of Moscow, its Red Square, only at the beginning. Much of the location filming was in the United Kingdom.

Destroy All Monsters, directed by Ishiro Honda. Japan. 1968

'Destroy All Monsters' was the ninth film about a prehistoric lizard Godzilla who came back to life as a mutant because of the hydrogen bomb tests. Ishiro Honda directed almost all of them, including the first one. To date, almost three dozen films about the destructive adventures of Godzilla, furious with technological progress, have been shot in Japan.

'Destroy All Monsters' is set in 1999. Godzilla and eight other giant monsters are caught and sent to a small Japanese island to undergo a study. But the aliens subdued the monsters, freed them and set on the largest cities in the world: New York, Beijing, Paris, London and Moscow. Thus, Radon, a giant black pteranodon, appeared in the capital of the USSR, pre-programmed to destroy ancient domes and towers.

Visual effects of 1968 may seem ridiculous to present day audience enjoying the most advanced technology. Cities, including Moscow, are toy cities, actually. The film is specific, it possesses rather historical than artistic value, but if you like Japanese films, it is worth watching. In addition to the mechanical creatures, it starred the first kaiju (Japanese monster movies) films' actors Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki and Yoshio Tsuchiya. 

Heart of a Dog, directed by Alberto Lattuada. Italy, Germany. 1975

It's hard to believe, but the first film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's 'Heart of a Dog' was released not in the USSR, but in Italy. 13 years before the film released by Vladimir Bortko, Italian neorealist Alberto Lattuada engaged in the story of the transformation of Sharik the dog into the proletarian Polygraph Polygraphovich. Actually, Lattuada filmed  many of the Russian classics, from 'The Overcoat' by Gogol to the 'Captain's Daughter' by Pushkin.

Lattuada and Bortko start the film's action the same way. In both films it features Moscow in snowstorm, and a dog talking about the proletariat's fate and its pathetic life. The first scenes in the Kalabukhov's house show at once the differences between two films: Lattuada's Professor Preobrazhensky performed by Max von Sydow is cynical and tough, doctor Bormenthal is a jealous and unpleasant man, and humanised Bobikov (Sharikov's name in the Italian version) is not a disgusting tike, but a naive and adorable savage, 'poor little devil’, as Zinusha, Preobrazhensy's maid, calls him. One of the scenes is really outstanding, the one in which Bobikov's creators snatch  Engels-Kautsky's correspondence out of his hands and throw it into the fire. It emphasises clear association: according to Lattuada, the fascism ideas arise in such intellectuals as Preobrazhensky and Bormenthal.

The image of Moscow in the 1920s is not true-to-fact in the film. Location shooting took place partly in Leningrad, with most of the scenes filmed at the Cinecittà Studio in Rome. Everything is very artificial, so it is very interesting to watch the details shot by shot. Thus, among the graffiti covering 'Moscow' street walls  in the Italian film, you may encounter very interesting and unexpected ones, for example, a 'свёкла' word (beetroot) graffiti.

Moscow on the Hudson, directed by Paul Mazursky. USA, 1984

It is one of the few American films that managed to avoid stereotyped images of Russia, due to the director's family history. Paul Mazursky's grandfather emigrated from Kiev to the United States in the early 20th century. By the age of 50, pondering the fate of Russian immigrants in America made Mazursky produce one of his most striking films. Robin Williams starred as Volodya Ivanov, and he did it so convincingly that the absence of his Russian roots was put to doubt.

Despite the fact that your musical career in the circus orchestra has reached its heyday, but in stores you have to stand in huge queues to buy hard-to-find shoes, Ivanov has no complaints about life in the USSR. However, he seizes the accidental occasion to stay after touring in New York. Quickly enough, the musician realises that the beautiful picture of the American dream is not true, and the foreign country is not as friendly as it seemed to be at the first sight, but he does not come back. Moreover, he even makes a KGB (Committee for State Security) agent sent after him to settle near the Hudson River.

It was impossible to get permission to shoot in the USSR an anti-Soviet film, so Munich was chosen to play Moscow's part. Although, the film engaged a lot of Russian actors who had emigrated to the United States shortly before, such as Savely Kramarov, Alexander Beniaminov and Ilya Baskin. Mikhail Shufutinsky who had lived in the United States for more than 20 years, from 1981 to 2003, starred in an episode as a singer.

Red Heat, directed by Walter Hill, USA, 1988

Perhaps, the 'Red Heat' is the first film that comes to mind at the mention of Hollywood film shot in Moscow. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an incorruptible policeman, the terminator in papakha (sheepskin hat) with a cockade speaking lame Russian with a frozen face is very impressive indeed. But do not treat this Schwarzenegger's role as a trifle one, as the actor prepared very carefully to play this part. He emphasised many times that he sought inspiration in the old Hollywood film 'Ninotchka' with Greta Garbo starring a stern Communist party member Nina Yakushova arrived from the Soviet Union in Paris on business matters. As the action proceeds, comrade Nina falls in love with a Parisian, discovers an abyss of unexpected emotions and becomes Ninotchka. Working on the role in 'Red Heat', Schwarzenegger decided that his police captain Ivan Danko would also undergo this transformation through communication with an American colleague.

Captain Danko chases Georgian mobster Viktor Rustavili who is trying to establish illicit drugs' sale in the Soviet Union. The film’s action starts in Moscow, then Danko moves after Rustavili in Chicago, where he has to work with his exact opposite, jolly police chap Art Ridzik (James Belushi).

Shooting in Moscow took place mostly on Red Square. However, film had to be shot by hand-held camera, with shots rather vague, as film creators did not have clear understanding what had been allowed to shoot, so they had to be too cautious. Schwarzenegger was filmed on the Red Square for just a few seconds at the very end of the film. The main part of 'Moscow' location filming took place in Europe, in Budapest.

Two Soviet actors who had emigrated to the United States starred in the film. Oleg Vidov stars as a Danko's partner, Savely Kramarov plays a part of an employee of the Soviet Consulate.

Master and Margarita film series, directed by Maciej Wojtyszko. Poland. 1989

In Poland, this renowned novel by Bulgakov is very popular, it is even included in the school curriculum. Prior to Maciej Wojtyszko, another Polish director, Andrzej Wajda, made the film 'Pilate and Others' focusing on the Yershalaim line of the novel. But this is not a screen version, but rather a free interpretation. Wojtyszko had managed to fit the entire text of the novel in four series that was highly appraised by film critics and Bulgakov researchers for the careful attitude towards his novel.

Anna Dymna (Margarita, or Małgorzata), Gustaw Holoubek (Voland), Władysław Kowalski (Master) and Janusz Michałowski's (Koroviev) performance received appreciation, too. But visual effects of the film were rather weak, due to scarce budgeting. The series was videotaped, and the filming crew had to save on everything. So, Moscow, shot in Warsaw, looks as unconvincing as Margarita's flight over the city. But the rest of the film adaptation is rather interesting indeed.

Police Academy — 7: Mission to Moscow, directed by Alan Metter. USA. 1994

Permanent producer of the 'Police Academy' Paul Maslansky wanted to shoot sixth part of the film in the USSR, but he failed to agree it with Russian authorities. But he succeeded when shooting the final part of the film: Alan Metter's comedy was filmed in Moscow, though it was already not the Soviet, but Russian capital.

Police Academy managed by Commandant Lassard (George Gaynes) arrives in Moscow. It helps Moscow police to catch godfather Konstantin Konali (Ron Perlman), who has decided to take over the country through the popular game named 'The Game' operating as a computer virus. Absolutely crazy, but kind and fair police officers, having enlisted support of the Russian militia, smoke the criminal out. He will never see the Red Square and the Mausoleum! But the audience will, and not just them, as the camera captures also the Balchug Hotel with its surroundings, the main building of Moscow State University, Bolshoi Theatre, Novodevichy Monastery, Gorky Park, 38 Petrovka Street (Moscow Criminal Investigation Department's building) and many other famous facilities.

Resident Evil: Retribution, Paul Anderson. USA, Germany, Canada, France. 2012

Milla Jovovich in her interviews often calls herself Russian. Her mother Galina Loginova is a Soviet and an American actress. Milla together with her husband Paul William Anderson attended the premiere of the fifth part of the 'Resident Evil' in Moscow, and it was her idea to shoot part of its scenes in Moscow. The film crew was allowed to shoot the Red Square for five hours, but what is more surprising, they were allowed to film the Moscow metro (with its Arbatskaya station featured in the film), despite the fact that it was very difficult to get there, not only for foreign film crews, but for Russian ones as well. Maybe it was Milla Jovovich's origin to smooth the way, or her love for Russia, we do not know.

Despite the Falling Snow, directed by Shamim Sarif. UK, Canada. 2016

Director and writer Shamim Sarif filmed a spy drama 'Despite the Falling Snow', based on her own novel. Most of the action takes place in Moscow of the 1950s. A girl Katya (Rebecca Ferguson) lost her parents during Stalin's purges. She hates Stalinist policies and becomes an American spy. Unfortunately, you will not see the real Moscow, as the filming took place in Belgrade, but you will see real Charles Dance — Tywin Lannister from ‘The Game of Thrones' — in one of the episodes.