That’s an interesting topic. I am actually going to major in film and this was one of the projects I've always dreamt of doing. I don't know if I would title the movie Nicholas and Alexandra (probably something more creative), but I definitely think that there should be a movie portraying the last family. I've read several ideas for what should be put in the movie, and they all sound really good. However, I would not do a 7 hour mini series (all though that would be interesting to watch). I have several reasons for this. Number one there are ALOT of people that are sadly uninformed of the last Imperial Family. For this reason it would not be as exciting for some people-- especially in the future because of short attention spans. Also the longer the movie the harder it would be to watch multiple times (I have a hard time watching Lord of the Rings straight through, even though I love the movie). Yeah a mini series might be great for us Romanov fans, but no one else would care to see all that extensive interesting facts, at least until there is a GOOD movie to introduce them to the Family in the first place. I want to portray a story that people would be pulled into and want to research further.
I DO think it is very possible to do a movie that’s about 2 1/2- 3 hours long (look at all the information that was in the Lord of the Rings... and trust me there’s a lot, and they could do it). If a future movie would be called N&A it makes sense to concentrate the story mainly around N&A as well as the Children. Yeah you might say what about all the other characters involved with the family’s life...well you can still have them, but it would be unwise to go into detail of every person that was connected to the family. I guess one example I could use would be the Titanic. Now I would've loved to have a movie that had most of the passengers on the ship portrayed. Obviously, that would be unrealistic; there were 2,200 people on board. In the case of the Romanov’s there were fewer people, but there is SOOOO much to tell.
As hard as it might be, the family’s story would need PROPER editing (and I don't mean just cutting parts of the story out just because). It would probably be good to shot scenes that showed dramatic moments, like when the Standart hit some rocks and N&A couldn't find Aleksey. Otherwise, showing multiple scenes of the family picking daisies or walking in the woods would be kind of boring. I would actually like to reenact footage and pictures that the family took, like the footage of the Grand Duchesses and Aleksey spinning in a circle on board the Standart. It would not be a long scene just something I think Romanov fans would enjoy. Obviously, it would be shot on location, and hopefully the sets would look authentic. The actors/actresses should fit there parts very well, and it would be nice if they looked similar to there characters. I think it's also very important not to get too wrapped up in romanticizing the family, as I think they often times are portrayed in other movies. History should speak for itself. The communists should not appear to be doing justice towards the family by making them (the family) look like the bad guys. The communist deadly actions were not any better then some of the deadly mistakes that Nicholas had allowed.
It’s something that would take a lot of research, and that’s what I'm doing now-- it’s a project I'm willing to take on, and I hope it would encourage more people to take interest in the subject. One last note: I have been thinking of a different title then N&A for a movie-- any ideas-- I don't think the title should be gloomy, deadly, a cliché, or really long (for instance: Bloody Nicholas, Russia's Last Imperial Family, The Last Tsar, etc...) I would like a title that includes more than just Nicholas and Alexandra, but also there children-- It should not give away the families demise directly-- you know how when you see a movie title and you don't know where they got the title from like, Cinderella Man, or October Sky. That’s how I would want this title to be...any thoughts... sorry for the long message
Nick
