Russians have good reason for irony and caution: Most Western productions of Russian classics have been questionable, from the kitschy "Doctor Zhivago" to the dismal recent television series "War and Peace." Despite this, a Hollywood insider magazine has just announced that Stone Village Pictures, a large U.S. studio, has bought the rights to "The Amphibian Man," the sci-fi novel written in 1928 by the Russian writer Alexander Belyayev.
The novel, set in an imaginary Latin American country, tells the story of Ichtiander, a young man whose father equipped him at birth with fish gills to save the boy from a breathing disorder, effectively making him an amphibian. The further plot involved a damsel in distress and an ensuing love triangle, as well as the capitalists' ruthless hunt for Ichtiander, whom they intended to employ as the ultimate pearl diver.
The popularity of the novel was further boosted by a Soviet movie of 1962, shot at beautiful locations in Crimea, with an unforgettable score by Andrei Petrov. Vladimir Korenev, the heartthrob who played Ichtiander, became a star, especially popular among female audiences. Mikhail Kozakov, who played the villain, is now one of the most sought-after and respected Russian actors.
Belyayev was a prolific and inventive sci-fi author. His works were not adapted for screen on a larger scale mostly because of technical constraints: His novel, "The Head of Professor Dowell," involved several "talking heads" in the very literal sense of the word and several instances of head-and-body exchanges -- exactly the stuff that makes today's blockbusters.
With the dearth of plots in Hollywood ever more obvious, the remake of "The Amphibian Man" -- and any other of Belyayev's novels, come to think of it -- can only be applauded. Even the anti-capitalist tone of the novel strikes a chord with today's climate of anti-globalism and eco-sensibilities. Besides, it is a wiser choice than Mikhail Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita," also in development at Stone Village. So far, nobody has come close to successfully transferring Bulgakov's masterpiece to the screen.
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