If you could remake 'Nicholas and Alexandra'....

[Nicholaievna]

Of course if Hollywood ever did something like these they'd probably cast Britney Spears and Sarah Michelle Gellar as part of OTMA or something.

[olga]

For actresses I would say that Liv Tyler is an absolute MUST for either Olga or Tatiana. . .

Whaaat? Liv Tyler looks NOTHING like OT Nikolaevna.

Ick.

[Elisabeth]

For actresses I would say that Liv Tyler is an absolute MUST for either Olga or Tatiana. . .

Keira Knightley would also be excellent as one of our beloved grand duchesses. . . I'm thinking of her as Olga, and Liv Tyler as Tatiana because she reminds me of Tatiana with those interestingly haunting eyes and dark hair.  

I agree that Liv Tyler would make an excellent Tatiana, but I'm not sure about Keira Knightley for Olga, too beautiful and way too bland. I'd like to see an actress with more character and intelligence in her face for that role. How about Scarlett Johanson as Olga? She was brilliant in "Lost in Translation."

[Michelle]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by Keira Knightley being "too beautiful" for Olga. :-/

[Lanie]

It'd be hard trying to find a good, physical resemblance to people...but I guess if someone TRIED and cast people for a) their acting ability and b) at least looking somewhat like who they're supposed to be, it'd work!  I'm just sick of the cookie-cutter OTMA and A, but then again, they're supposed to be like that in movies.  Bah.

[Annie]

Kiera looks much more like Maria. It's no offense to Olga, she just looks more like Maria. However, she recently cut off all her pretty hair to play a bounty hunter and looks very different. Maybe she can play Maria a couple months after OTMA got their heads shaved bald.

[Michelle]

I still see more of a resemblance to Olga in Keira than to Maria.  I didn't know she cut off her hair.    But if not Keira, then who else for Olga?  I'm pretty much sold on her, because Anne Hathaway is WAY more Maria-ish then Keira Knightley.  KK plus has more of an Olga personality--independent, passionate.  AH has the Maria personality down pat--flirtatious big time, very sweet, very friendly.

[Vardykai]

Who I would pick...

Nicholas: ? Ian McKellan, perhaps? I knew he played him in some movie, and they look pretty similar, once McKellan's grown a beard and died everything.

Alexandra: Vanessa Redgrave ALL THE WAY.

Olga:Thora Birch (NEARLY IDENTICAL- just get her a little more pudgy around the face and without the heavy make-up.)

Tatianna:Cate Blanchett (Big age difference, I know, she's like thirty something, but look at the eyes and the mouth...very similar.)

Marie: I would say Kate Winslet, but she's a tad too old, so I'm going to have to go with Anne Hathaway for the nose, eyebrows and lips.

Anastasia: This one was tough, but I decided onKirsten Dunst- they have similar chins, thin lips, and eyes the same.

Alexei: Haley Joel Osment. He's too old now, but what the heck, who else is there?

Ahhh... couldn't resist. I've been wanting to make a movie about the Romanovs since I was like eight.  

[Marlene]

[Dame DIana Rigg as Marie Feodorovna

[Johnny]

Meryl Streep (10-15 years ago) would have been perfect for Alix. Even Ella. She has such an ageless and flexible face, and with her acting abilities, she can both young and older Alix. Anne Bankroft would make a perfect MF.
I also think that Anna Vyrubova was 100% essential to make the original movie right.

[Martyn]

Meryl Streep (10-15 years ago) would have been perfect for Alix. Even Ella. She has such an ageless and flexible face, and with her acting abilities, she can both young and older Alix. Anne Bankroft would make a perfect MF.
I also think that Anna Vyrubova was 100% essential to make the original movie right.

You are absolutely right about Meryl Streep; she would have made an excellent Alix.  I think that you need a small woman to play MF, a small woman with an iron backbone.  Although I hate that Ingrid Bergman film about Anastasia, the woman who played MF captured some of the essence of her - was it Helen Hayes?  I also liked Olivia de Havilland as MF in that rather dreadful TV miniseries about Anastasia with Amy Irving, but then Olivia de Havilland is quite simply marvellous anyway.
What about someone like Leslie Caron as MF, small, remains of gamine beauty, capable of great strength of character (certainly good actress)?
Diana Rigg as MF would be like driving a tank through the Romanov clan!  Great actress, way too tough for this...

[Colleen]

If "Nicholas And Alexandra" were to be remade, I would show communists for what they really were at that time and include many significant characters that were not in the orignal version.  I would show more of the Imperial daughters and try to cast actresses who actually resemble them (no offence to the actresses in N&A).  The performers all of you have listed as possible characters to portray is very interesting and informative, especially suggesting Keira Knightely for one of the daughters.  She was excellent in the TV remake of "Dr. Zhivago". :-/

[Elizabeth]

It's interesting, Colleen, that you mentioned "Dr. Zhivago" on this N&A thread.

I recently read a book about Sam Spiegel and his production of N&A.  It seems that he wanted to do "Dr. Zhivago" all along, but that David Lean/Carlo Ponti beat him to it, and so he wanted to do "something" Russian to "outdo" Zhivago (it just took him awhile to find it since Massie's book didn't come out until 1967).  Since Zhivago was about two lovers during the Russian Revolution, Spiegel told people that it would be the same with his movie -- N&A.

The writer of the Spiegel book thought the movie wasn't as successful as it COULD have been since the "big" movie BLOCKBUSTERS that Lean had made so famous in the 50's and 60's (Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago) were not "in fashion" by the early 1970s.  People no longer wanted to see a "costume epic," and if you remember, shortly after N&A came out, the big budget DISASTER movies started (Poseiden Adventure, Earthquake, etc.).

Yes, the movie N&A was my first introduction to Russian history and it changed my life.  But looking at it 30+ years later, I tend to fault it too much -- their early lives are completely ignored, historical sequences are out of order (Stolypin had already been dead by two years when the 300th anniversary took place), the cookie-cutter OTMAs, and the scenes of them CONSTANTLY walking down that long hallway (N&A go to Mama's b-day party, N&A come home from reviewing the troops, N comes home from the war).    

Just my two cents worth . . .

E--

[Martyn]

I've just remembered who I had at the back of my mind for MF; it needs to be somebody like Claire Bloom or Jean Simmonds.  Both small and attractive, delicate of feature but capable of playing women with character.

[anna]

Martyn, that's a good suggestion. Didn't play Clair Bloom the part of Alexandra in the mini series "Anastasia" with Omar Sharif as Nicholas?

Anna