“Taras Bulba” Will Be Released On Gogol’s Anniversary

The premiere of the long-expected film “Taras Bulba” is coming soon. The official release was rescheduled several times; most recently the November 2008 release was moved forward to spring 2009. It is planed for April, 2 2009 to the 200th Gogol’s anniversary.


The film was directed by Volodymyr Bortko who is known as the director of the TV-adaptations of Dostoyevskiy’s “Idiot” and Bulgakov’s “Master and Margarita.”

Taras Bulba is a historical drama film based on Gogol’s novel of the same titile starring Bogdan Stupka in the title role, and Igor Petrenko as his son. Mikhail Boyarsky, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Gosha Kutsenko and Marina Aleksadrova had also acted in the film. Ada Rogovtseva People’s Artist of Ukraine has played the wife Taras Bulba. Sergyj Yakutovych the famous Ukrainian painter was a Production Designer of the film. The movie has been filmed on different locations in Ukraine such as Zaporizhia, Khotyn and Kamianets-Podiskyi as well as in Poland.

The talk about the making of the movie started a long time ago, and for a while Gerard Depardieu was supposedly going to play the main part. However, he was later withdrawn from the project, and his place was taken by Bohdan Stupka.

The novel “Taras Bulba” has been made into a movie several times before, with the most famous adaptation being the film by J. Lee Thompson, made in 1962, starring Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis.