K-19: The Widowmaker
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K-19: The Widowmaker is a movie released July 19, 2002, about the first of many disasters that befell the Soviet submarine K-19. The movie was directed by Kathryn Bigelow; the screenplay was written by Christopher Kyle based on a story by Louis Nowra.
The movie cost $100,000,000 to make but only grossed $35m in the US, making it a box-office bomb. The film was not financed by a major studio making it the most expensive independent film to date.
The Hotel class submarine K-19 was played by the Juliett class submarine K-77, which was significantly modified for the role.
Klaus Badelt wrote the film's militaristic score.
Controversy about the script
The movie's script aroused considerable ire when it was read by the original crew of K-19. Two open (freely reprintable) letters were sent to the actors and production team, one from several officers and crew members, the other from the boat's captain.
The producers made significant changes to the script and the revised portrayal of the Soviet crew was more respectful. Several scenes were cut and the names of the crew were changed at the request of the crewmembers and their families. When the film was premiered in Russia in October, 2002, 52 veterans of the K-19 submarine were flown in to the St. Petersburg premier. Despite many technical and historical issues that remained (caused by the need to appease the general theatre-going audience), the film and Ford's performance in particular received high marks from them.
Cast
- Harrison Ford: Cpt. Alexis Vostrikov
- Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson: Viktor Gorelov
- Joss Ackland
- George Anton: Konstantin Poliansky
- Shaun Benson: Leonid Pashinski
- Christian Camargo: Pavel Loktev
- Dmitry Chepovetsky: Sergei Maximov
- Steve Cumyn: Oleg Falichev
- Svetlana Efremova: Elena
- JJ Feild: Andrei Pritoola
- James Ginty: Anatoly Starkov
- Michael J.X. Gladis: Yevgeny Borzenkov
- Kristen Holden-Reid: Anton Malahov
- Ravil Issyanov: Igor Suslov
- Mark Antony Krupa: Georgi
- Liam Neeson: Capt. Polenin
- Steve Nicolson: Yuri Demichev
- Peter Oldring: Vanya Belov
- Sam Redford: Vasily Mishin
- Christopher Routh: Oleg Argunov
- Tygh Runyan: Maxim Portenko
- Peter Sarsgaard: Vadim Radtchenko
- John Shrapnel
- Lex Shrapnel: Mikhail Kornilov
- Sam Spruell: Dimitri Nevsky
- Austin Strugnell: Yakov Rakitin
- Donald Sumpter: Dr. Savran
- Gerrit Vooren: Dmitri Voslensky
- Tim Woodward