Starring
Hugo Weaving - David Wenham - Natalia Novikova
Rebecca Frith - Sacha Horler - Helen Dallimore
LOG LINE
When Harvey is asked to marry his best friend's mistress to keep her in the country, his life spins out of control. But was it ever in control?
SYNOPSIS
Harvey, a neurotic private investigator and wannabe crime writer, plans to marry his girlfriend. That is until, while solving a standard case of husband straying/adultery, he makes the painful discovery that the adulterer is cheating with Harvey's very own beloved. He wallows in despair and booze and the odd disastrous blind date.
Meanwhile, Katia, a Jewish young woman from St Petersburg, arrives in Sydney after answering an ad with an international Jewish match-making agency. But instead of true love, she finds her prospective groom dead on arrival.
At her lowest ebb, fortunately, she meets Ethan, Harvey's married best friend who takes her under his wing.
Several months later, when Ethan tells Harvey of his affair with Katia, his friend is appalled. Ethan and Miriam were the only examples he knew of marital bliss. Was nothing sacred? Whatsmore, Ethan asks him to enter a marriage of convenience with Katia, just to keep her in the country.
Disgusted with the idea, Harvey eventually weakens. After all, it's only a platonic flat-mate he'll acquire.
The flamboyant Katia moves in, turning his life upside down. Harvey's reluctant agreement to marry her does not suffice; she insists it has to be a Jewish wedding. When Ethan's wife, Miriam, discovers their plans, she insists on turning it into a grand scale affair. What's an atheist loner to do with two dynamos running the show? Go with the flow, of course.
Frustrated by Ethan's commitment to his work and family, Katia is becoming dissatisfied with their relationship and one night takes Harvey for a big night out. His feelings of resentment give way to attraction. Under his awkward exterior, she finds a warm intelligent romantic.
By the wedding day Katia and Harvey have fallen for each other even though neither wants to admit it. But once they discover their true feelings, will they still want to go through with the wedding?
PRODUCTION NOTES
GENESIS: A MARRIAGE OF TWO IDEAS
When co-writer/producer of Russian Doll, Allanah Zitserman first met co-writer/director Stavros Kazantzidis at a French Film Festival in Sydney in 1998 she asked him to help her with another project she had written with girlfriends, Kissing Friends, a contemporary romantic comedy. That fell through around the same time that he had decided to abandon the idea of making Revolver, a film that expressed his darker edge, which he sold to Mushroom Pictures. He started writing a script about a lonely private investigator.
Zitserman decided she wanted to focus her energies on something close to her own heritage: a story about Russian Jews in Bondi. Even though films about various ethnic groups 'Greeks, Italians' had been made in Sydney, no one had attempted to capture a more recent wave of migration of Russians that had made the area around the famous landmark of Bondi Beach a colourful surfie, Jewish and tourist enclave - their home. The cultural collision offered wonderful narrative and comic possibilities.
She persuaded Kazantzidis to attend her grandfather's 75th birthday party at the Russian Roulette Club in Bondi. "I wanted him to experience this unique world," she says. "It's a pretty amazing place; they play all this tacky music and everyone no matter what age, gets up to dance, and there's food everywhere."
He realised that Russian Jews and Greeks had a lot in common. "They're both food-oriented, expressive, guilt-ridden, gregarious and emotionally-volatile cultures," he says. "I've always been interested in honing in on sub-cultures in my work although previously these were more age-related (university students, young adults). I agreed that this vibrant sub-culture would make a very interesting film."
They decided to marry their respective concepts: Russian Doll became a story about a private investigator who reluctantly becomes involved with a Russian émigré.
THE RUSSIAN ROULETTE OF LOW BUDGET FILM-MAKING
The first draft of Russian Doll was completed at the end of April, 1999. The story focused on a lonely private eye and wannabe writer to be played by long-time Kazantzidis friend and collaborator, Hugo Weaving, (Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The Matrix) a very much in-demand actor in both arthouse and commercial films. "We go back a long way," says Kazantzidis. "I love the mix of masculinity and fragility, credibility and integrity Hugo brings to a role."
But Weaving was scheduled to shoot Rolf de Heer's The Old Man Who Read Love Stories in October. By June, Zitserman and Kazantzidis knew they had to move fast.
"We had no time to apply for funding through official government financing channels," says Zitserman. "We had to find the money independently and to shoot super low-budget." Kazantzidis was used to both scenarios. They scrambled to re-write the script, eliminating unnecessary expenses, characters, locations, sub-plots stripping it down a leaner but more effective story.
LOW BUDGET STAR CALIBRE
Their next mission was to find a Russian actress in Australia to play Katia. "We wanted the real thing, no fake accents. After an extensive search we found Natalia Novikova in Melbourne, " says Zitserman.
Weaving was instrumental in enlisting other actors on board. His agent, Anne Churchill Brown, suggested David Wenham for the part of Ethan. With this line-up they were able to secure financing for pre-production and the shoot.
The budget was secured through Kazantzidis' personal financial investment along with seven Melbourne investors headed by executive producer Bruno Charlesworth. A four- week pre- production commenced in August.
They spiced up Harvey's sensual potential through the character of a promiscuous Russian woman who finds him irresistible, jolting Katia to acknowledge her real feelings. One of Australia's best acting talents, double AFI award winner (Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in 1999), Sacha Horler was enlisted for the cameo. The cast was by no means commensurate with budget; Russian Doll was becoming a star-studded Australian A-list ensemble.
The four week shoot, commenced in early September 1999, was a major challenge especially the crowd scenes shot with a skeleton crew. The crowd scenes of the shoot were manic. The filmakers' tiny flat became production office, make up studio, wardrobe and catering.
"Do you know what it's like to have no first or second assistant director to control extras when you've got 120 Russians - between the ages of 5 and 95 - who've never made a film before, all dressed in their Sunday best, dripping with jewels, who are screaming with excitement because they think this is their shot at stardom in boiling heat with no air conditioning?" asks Kazantzidis, deadpan.
"To have 120 Russians on set but be losing count because they've brought more friends in to share the fun, many of whom don't speak English, who don't understand the meaning of 'silence', and refuse to read the 'DO NOT EAT!' signs because the food has been sprayed with preservatives?"
LOW BUDGET: HIGH FASHION
"Do you know what it's like to owe favours all over Bondi," Zitserman echoes. "Begging became my middle name."
Zitserman's mother and relatives pitched in. The Temple Emanuel offered the synagogue for locations. But the problem was juggling the shooting around the Jewish holidays and sabath.
But the greatest value-for-money assistance came from Sydney's top fashion designers and hairdresser to the stars, Joh Bailey, who volunteered his services gratis for the wedding reception scene. "We had to have someone who could do B-I-G hair, " says Zitserman. "And he understood exactly what was required. He really got in the spirit of things."
Fashion designers - Alex Perry, Carla Zampatti, and Saint Theresa as did men's top Melbourne designer Callibre- all lent clothing to the production.
But by the end of the shoot, money had run out before they could shoot the final ten minutes of the film.
"This was when the real struggle began," says Zitserman. "We showed the film to a number of government film agencies and private film investors to try to raise the money to complete it. For a few months it looked like we were never going to find the post- production funds as one rejection followed another."
The rescue package was initiated by Gary Hamilton, General Manager of Beyond Films. "He loved the incomplete version of Russian Doll and with his support we were able to get the Film Finance Corporation to agree to back the project with A$500, 000."
They shot the end scene in January 2000. By then actors Sacha Horler and David Wenham were working on other projects. "We managed to get them for one hour, " says Zitserman. The entire final scene was shot in three hours, shorter than most actual Jewish weddings.
HUGO WEAVING: LEAD ACTOR/CO PRODUCER
"I've had along association with Stavros," says The Adventures of Priscilla and Matrix star, Hugo Weaving whose collaboration with Kazantzidis began at film school on his first short film, Terminal, and continued on every project the film-maker has directed Road to Alice, True Love and Chaos as well as Strange Planet which he wrote and produced. "Now it's virtually assumed if he's doing a film that I'll be involved, " the actor adds.
"I think he's one of Australia's most under-rated producer/writer/directors and one of those extraordinary characters who managed to tackle Mission Impossible' low budget projects and somehow pull them off. As an actor, I really appreciate his sensitivity and generosity," says Weaving. "I really enjoy working with him."
On the attractions of playing Harvey : "The nerd' loser in love - hasn't been tackled much in Australian cinema so I guess there was the attraction in doing that. Stavros is the springboard into that character."
" Harvey's a bit of a loser; a nice guy trying to get his writing going who gets caught up in other people's worlds and can't say no; a role I haven't played before."
"I enjoyed playing a pathetic character. I do find a lot of actors these days bring attitude to selecting roles, concerned about the strength of the next part, feel the necessity to show balls. It's more pronounced elsewhere but is even creeping in here, though to a lesser extent. So to play the opposite end was refreshing and enjoyable."
"I've always fancied the comedies of the 30s and 40s and Russian Doll, though contemporary in feel, had echoes of those," he said.
KEY CAST
HUGO WEAVING (HARVEY) - LEAD ACTOR/ CO-PRODUCER
Multi-awarded NIDA graduate (81) Hugo Weaving is one of Australia's best actors who first gained acclaim in the Kennedy Miller mini-series Bodyline (84) and Bangkok Hilton (86).
His prolific body of work spans across top calibre theatre, television and film. He won his first Australian Film Institute award for Proof, invited into official selection in Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991.
Three Years later, he was catapulted into the international spotlight in Stefan Eliot's outrageous comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert invited midnight screeening at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994. He made Bedrooms and Hallways (97) in the UK his Hollywood studio debut in the Wachowski Brothers' international blockbuster hit, The Matrix, shot at Sydney's Fox Studios in 1998 which has consolidated his international cachet. He is scheduled to reprise the role of Agent Smith in upcoming sequels Matrix II and III to be filmed early next year.
In 1999 he filmed Russian Doll prior to travelling to South America for Rolf de Heer's The Man Who Read Love Stories. Currently he is shooting Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings in New Zealand as Elrond before returning tot he stage in The White Devil.
Weaving has adroitly juggled the media and an eclectic slate of film work in a diversely successful career.
DAVID WENHAM (ETHAN)
One of Australia's best known actors, David Wenham graduated from Theatre Nepean and was catapulted to international acclaim for his performance in Rowan Woods' The Boys in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. A versatile theatre and television performer, domestically he enjoyed huge popularity as Diver Dan, the male lead in one of the country's best loved dramas, ABC series Sea Change.
On stage he has worked with Belvoir Street director Neil Armfield, whose company B for years included Geoffrey Rush and Cate Blanchett in its ensemble.
His Australian feature film credits include David Caesar's Greenkeeping and Idiot Box, Mark Joffe's Cosi, Peter Duncan's A Little Bit of Soul, and Joanthan Teplitzky's Better than Sex. In recent years Wenham Œs repertoire has broadened to larger international/studio films directed by antipodean directors such as Paul Cox's Molokai (Father Damien), Alex Proyas' Dark City, Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge and currently in production, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
Wenham has won the Australian Film Critics' Circle award for The Boys for which he was also nominated for an AFI award, and the Best Actor in a Leading Role in a TV Drama for Simone de Beauvoir's Babies.
NATALIA NOVIKOVA (KATIA)
Born in Russia, Natalia attended NIDA graduating in 1994. She has worked predominantly in theatre including Belvoir Street productions of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Stranger and The Proposal, Sydney Theatre's Pentecost as well as numerous independent stage and school performance tours. Her television credits include a guest appearance in Sea Change.
Russian Doll is her first feature film.
REBECCA FRITH (MIRIAM)
Frith gained international acclaim as the older of two sisters vying for the attentions of a lecherous DJ in Shirley Barrett's Camera D'Or winning debut, Love Serenade, screening in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996. For the role she was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci prize for Best Actress, Debut Performance by the Beaux Arts Soociety in New York.
Since graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1987, Frith has worked with some of Australia's leading theatre directors, (Sydney Theatre Company and Belvoir Street) and appeared in a diversity of TV shows (Water Rats, GP, Country Practice, Flying Doctors)
Last year she played the female lead in Manuela Alberti's The Missing produced by Lynda House (Muriel's Wedding, Proof), support to Rachel Griffith in Pip Karmel's Me Myself I. Next she will be seen in A Wreck A Tangle.
In Russian Doll she plays Nathan's (Wenham) pushy/assertive but diplomatic wife.
SACHA HORLER (LIZA)
One of Australia's most talented young actresses, Horler like fellow thesps Cate Blanchett, Toni Colette, Judy Davis and Mel Gibson trained at the prestigious National Institute of DramaticArt (NIDA), graduating in 1993.
She's worked in theatre and television but after minor roles in film (Blackrock, Babe II) catapulted into critical notice/limelight last year with an unprecedented double win at last year's Australian Film Institute awards voted Best Actress her performance as Cynthia in John Curran's Praise and Nadia, on of the three sisters in Chrisitna Andreef's Soft Fruit.
Horler, is soon to be seen in Mark Lamprell's My Mother Frank, selected for Panorama at the Berlin Film Festival and Shirley Barrett's (Golden Camera for Love Serenade) Dreamworks' Walk the Talk produced by Palme D'Or winning producer Jan Chapman.
HELEN DALLIMORE (ALISON)
Multi-talented Dallimore has ten years' acting and singing experience as a soprano (trained in opera, musicals and jazz) prior to graduating from NIDA in 1995.
Since then she has appeared in some of Australian leading TV series (All Saints, Home and Away, GP, Water Rats) and feature films The Sugar Factory and Yahoo Serious' Mr Accident. Russian Doll is her third feature
When Harvey is asked to marry his best friend's mistress to keep her in the country, his life spins out of control. But was it ever in control?
SYNOPSIS
Harvey, a neurotic private investigator and wannabe crime writer, plans to marry his girlfriend. That is until, while solving a standard case of husband straying/adultery, he makes the painful discovery that the adulterer is cheating with Harvey's very own beloved. He wallows in despair and booze and the odd disastrous blind date.
Meanwhile, Katia, a Jewish young woman from St Petersburg, arrives in Sydney after answering an ad with an international Jewish match-making agency. But instead of true love, she finds her prospective groom dead on arrival.
At her lowest ebb, fortunately, she meets Ethan, Harvey's married best friend who takes her under his wing.
Several months later, when Ethan tells Harvey of his affair with Katia, his friend is appalled. Ethan and Miriam were the only examples he knew of marital bliss. Was nothing sacred? Whatsmore, Ethan asks him to enter a marriage of convenience with Katia, just to keep her in the country.
Disgusted with the idea, Harvey eventually weakens. After all, it's only a platonic flat-mate he'll acquire.
The flamboyant Katia moves in, turning his life upside down. Harvey's reluctant agreement to marry her does not suffice; she insists it has to be a Jewish wedding. When Ethan's wife, Miriam, discovers their plans, she insists on turning it into a grand scale affair. What's an atheist loner to do with two dynamos running the show? Go with the flow, of course.
Frustrated by Ethan's commitment to his work and family, Katia is becoming dissatisfied with their relationship and one night takes Harvey for a big night out. His feelings of resentment give way to attraction. Under his awkward exterior, she finds a warm intelligent romantic.
By the wedding day Katia and Harvey have fallen for each other even though neither wants to admit it. But once they discover their true feelings, will they still want to go through with the wedding?
PRODUCTION NOTES
GENESIS: A MARRIAGE OF TWO IDEAS
When co-writer/producer of Russian Doll, Allanah Zitserman first met co-writer/director Stavros Kazantzidis at a French Film Festival in Sydney in 1998 she asked him to help her with another project she had written with girlfriends, Kissing Friends, a contemporary romantic comedy. That fell through around the same time that he had decided to abandon the idea of making Revolver, a film that expressed his darker edge, which he sold to Mushroom Pictures. He started writing a script about a lonely private investigator.
Zitserman decided she wanted to focus her energies on something close to her own heritage: a story about Russian Jews in Bondi. Even though films about various ethnic groups 'Greeks, Italians' had been made in Sydney, no one had attempted to capture a more recent wave of migration of Russians that had made the area around the famous landmark of Bondi Beach a colourful surfie, Jewish and tourist enclave - their home. The cultural collision offered wonderful narrative and comic possibilities.
She persuaded Kazantzidis to attend her grandfather's 75th birthday party at the Russian Roulette Club in Bondi. "I wanted him to experience this unique world," she says. "It's a pretty amazing place; they play all this tacky music and everyone no matter what age, gets up to dance, and there's food everywhere."
He realised that Russian Jews and Greeks had a lot in common. "They're both food-oriented, expressive, guilt-ridden, gregarious and emotionally-volatile cultures," he says. "I've always been interested in honing in on sub-cultures in my work although previously these were more age-related (university students, young adults). I agreed that this vibrant sub-culture would make a very interesting film."
They decided to marry their respective concepts: Russian Doll became a story about a private investigator who reluctantly becomes involved with a Russian émigré.
THE RUSSIAN ROULETTE OF LOW BUDGET FILM-MAKING
The first draft of Russian Doll was completed at the end of April, 1999. The story focused on a lonely private eye and wannabe writer to be played by long-time Kazantzidis friend and collaborator, Hugo Weaving, (Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The Matrix) a very much in-demand actor in both arthouse and commercial films. "We go back a long way," says Kazantzidis. "I love the mix of masculinity and fragility, credibility and integrity Hugo brings to a role."
But Weaving was scheduled to shoot Rolf de Heer's The Old Man Who Read Love Stories in October. By June, Zitserman and Kazantzidis knew they had to move fast.
"We had no time to apply for funding through official government financing channels," says Zitserman. "We had to find the money independently and to shoot super low-budget." Kazantzidis was used to both scenarios. They scrambled to re-write the script, eliminating unnecessary expenses, characters, locations, sub-plots stripping it down a leaner but more effective story.
LOW BUDGET STAR CALIBRE
Their next mission was to find a Russian actress in Australia to play Katia. "We wanted the real thing, no fake accents. After an extensive search we found Natalia Novikova in Melbourne, " says Zitserman.
Weaving was instrumental in enlisting other actors on board. His agent, Anne Churchill Brown, suggested David Wenham for the part of Ethan. With this line-up they were able to secure financing for pre-production and the shoot.
The budget was secured through Kazantzidis' personal financial investment along with seven Melbourne investors headed by executive producer Bruno Charlesworth. A four- week pre- production commenced in August.
They spiced up Harvey's sensual potential through the character of a promiscuous Russian woman who finds him irresistible, jolting Katia to acknowledge her real feelings. One of Australia's best acting talents, double AFI award winner (Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in 1999), Sacha Horler was enlisted for the cameo. The cast was by no means commensurate with budget; Russian Doll was becoming a star-studded Australian A-list ensemble.
The four week shoot, commenced in early September 1999, was a major challenge especially the crowd scenes shot with a skeleton crew. The crowd scenes of the shoot were manic. The filmakers' tiny flat became production office, make up studio, wardrobe and catering.
"Do you know what it's like to have no first or second assistant director to control extras when you've got 120 Russians - between the ages of 5 and 95 - who've never made a film before, all dressed in their Sunday best, dripping with jewels, who are screaming with excitement because they think this is their shot at stardom in boiling heat with no air conditioning?" asks Kazantzidis, deadpan.
"To have 120 Russians on set but be losing count because they've brought more friends in to share the fun, many of whom don't speak English, who don't understand the meaning of 'silence', and refuse to read the 'DO NOT EAT!' signs because the food has been sprayed with preservatives?"
LOW BUDGET: HIGH FASHION
"Do you know what it's like to owe favours all over Bondi," Zitserman echoes. "Begging became my middle name."
Zitserman's mother and relatives pitched in. The Temple Emanuel offered the synagogue for locations. But the problem was juggling the shooting around the Jewish holidays and sabath.
But the greatest value-for-money assistance came from Sydney's top fashion designers and hairdresser to the stars, Joh Bailey, who volunteered his services gratis for the wedding reception scene. "We had to have someone who could do B-I-G hair, " says Zitserman. "And he understood exactly what was required. He really got in the spirit of things."
Fashion designers - Alex Perry, Carla Zampatti, and Saint Theresa as did men's top Melbourne designer Callibre- all lent clothing to the production.
But by the end of the shoot, money had run out before they could shoot the final ten minutes of the film.
"This was when the real struggle began," says Zitserman. "We showed the film to a number of government film agencies and private film investors to try to raise the money to complete it. For a few months it looked like we were never going to find the post- production funds as one rejection followed another."
The rescue package was initiated by Gary Hamilton, General Manager of Beyond Films. "He loved the incomplete version of Russian Doll and with his support we were able to get the Film Finance Corporation to agree to back the project with A$500, 000."
They shot the end scene in January 2000. By then actors Sacha Horler and David Wenham were working on other projects. "We managed to get them for one hour, " says Zitserman. The entire final scene was shot in three hours, shorter than most actual Jewish weddings.
HUGO WEAVING: LEAD ACTOR/CO PRODUCER
"I've had along association with Stavros," says The Adventures of Priscilla and Matrix star, Hugo Weaving whose collaboration with Kazantzidis began at film school on his first short film, Terminal, and continued on every project the film-maker has directed Road to Alice, True Love and Chaos as well as Strange Planet which he wrote and produced. "Now it's virtually assumed if he's doing a film that I'll be involved, " the actor adds.
"I think he's one of Australia's most under-rated producer/writer/directors and one of those extraordinary characters who managed to tackle Mission Impossible' low budget projects and somehow pull them off. As an actor, I really appreciate his sensitivity and generosity," says Weaving. "I really enjoy working with him."
On the attractions of playing Harvey : "The nerd' loser in love - hasn't been tackled much in Australian cinema so I guess there was the attraction in doing that. Stavros is the springboard into that character."
" Harvey's a bit of a loser; a nice guy trying to get his writing going who gets caught up in other people's worlds and can't say no; a role I haven't played before."
"I enjoyed playing a pathetic character. I do find a lot of actors these days bring attitude to selecting roles, concerned about the strength of the next part, feel the necessity to show balls. It's more pronounced elsewhere but is even creeping in here, though to a lesser extent. So to play the opposite end was refreshing and enjoyable."
"I've always fancied the comedies of the 30s and 40s and Russian Doll, though contemporary in feel, had echoes of those," he said.
KEY CAST
HUGO WEAVING (HARVEY) - LEAD ACTOR/ CO-PRODUCER
Multi-awarded NIDA graduate (81) Hugo Weaving is one of Australia's best actors who first gained acclaim in the Kennedy Miller mini-series Bodyline (84) and Bangkok Hilton (86).
His prolific body of work spans across top calibre theatre, television and film. He won his first Australian Film Institute award for Proof, invited into official selection in Directors Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991.
Three Years later, he was catapulted into the international spotlight in Stefan Eliot's outrageous comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert invited midnight screeening at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994. He made Bedrooms and Hallways (97) in the UK his Hollywood studio debut in the Wachowski Brothers' international blockbuster hit, The Matrix, shot at Sydney's Fox Studios in 1998 which has consolidated his international cachet. He is scheduled to reprise the role of Agent Smith in upcoming sequels Matrix II and III to be filmed early next year.
In 1999 he filmed Russian Doll prior to travelling to South America for Rolf de Heer's The Man Who Read Love Stories. Currently he is shooting Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings in New Zealand as Elrond before returning tot he stage in The White Devil.
Weaving has adroitly juggled the media and an eclectic slate of film work in a diversely successful career.
DAVID WENHAM (ETHAN)
One of Australia's best known actors, David Wenham graduated from Theatre Nepean and was catapulted to international acclaim for his performance in Rowan Woods' The Boys in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. A versatile theatre and television performer, domestically he enjoyed huge popularity as Diver Dan, the male lead in one of the country's best loved dramas, ABC series Sea Change.
On stage he has worked with Belvoir Street director Neil Armfield, whose company B for years included Geoffrey Rush and Cate Blanchett in its ensemble.
His Australian feature film credits include David Caesar's Greenkeeping and Idiot Box, Mark Joffe's Cosi, Peter Duncan's A Little Bit of Soul, and Joanthan Teplitzky's Better than Sex. In recent years Wenham Œs repertoire has broadened to larger international/studio films directed by antipodean directors such as Paul Cox's Molokai (Father Damien), Alex Proyas' Dark City, Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge and currently in production, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
Wenham has won the Australian Film Critics' Circle award for The Boys for which he was also nominated for an AFI award, and the Best Actor in a Leading Role in a TV Drama for Simone de Beauvoir's Babies.
NATALIA NOVIKOVA (KATIA)
Born in Russia, Natalia attended NIDA graduating in 1994. She has worked predominantly in theatre including Belvoir Street productions of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Stranger and The Proposal, Sydney Theatre's Pentecost as well as numerous independent stage and school performance tours. Her television credits include a guest appearance in Sea Change.
Russian Doll is her first feature film.
REBECCA FRITH (MIRIAM)
Frith gained international acclaim as the older of two sisters vying for the attentions of a lecherous DJ in Shirley Barrett's Camera D'Or winning debut, Love Serenade, screening in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996. For the role she was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci prize for Best Actress, Debut Performance by the Beaux Arts Soociety in New York.
Since graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1987, Frith has worked with some of Australia's leading theatre directors, (Sydney Theatre Company and Belvoir Street) and appeared in a diversity of TV shows (Water Rats, GP, Country Practice, Flying Doctors)
Last year she played the female lead in Manuela Alberti's The Missing produced by Lynda House (Muriel's Wedding, Proof), support to Rachel Griffith in Pip Karmel's Me Myself I. Next she will be seen in A Wreck A Tangle.
In Russian Doll she plays Nathan's (Wenham) pushy/assertive but diplomatic wife.
SACHA HORLER (LIZA)
One of Australia's most talented young actresses, Horler like fellow thesps Cate Blanchett, Toni Colette, Judy Davis and Mel Gibson trained at the prestigious National Institute of DramaticArt (NIDA), graduating in 1993.
She's worked in theatre and television but after minor roles in film (Blackrock, Babe II) catapulted into critical notice/limelight last year with an unprecedented double win at last year's Australian Film Institute awards voted Best Actress her performance as Cynthia in John Curran's Praise and Nadia, on of the three sisters in Chrisitna Andreef's Soft Fruit.
Horler, is soon to be seen in Mark Lamprell's My Mother Frank, selected for Panorama at the Berlin Film Festival and Shirley Barrett's (Golden Camera for Love Serenade) Dreamworks' Walk the Talk produced by Palme D'Or winning producer Jan Chapman.
HELEN DALLIMORE (ALISON)
Multi-talented Dallimore has ten years' acting and singing experience as a soprano (trained in opera, musicals and jazz) prior to graduating from NIDA in 1995.
Since then she has appeared in some of Australian leading TV series (All Saints, Home and Away, GP, Water Rats) and feature films The Sugar Factory and Yahoo Serious' Mr Accident. Russian Doll is her third feature
STAVROS KAZANTZIDIS (CO-WRITER / DIRECTOR)
Born in Cyprus, Kazantzidis moved to Australia in 1980. He graduated from AFTRS IN 1992. His short film, Road to Alice, was the winner of the 1992 Australian Film Institute Best Short Film award also scooping Channel Four Young Filmmaker of the Year award at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
In 1997 he wrote and directed True Love and Chaos, which was invited into official selection at the Venice Film Festival. He was also the producer and co-writer of Cannes market hit Love and Other Catastrophes (1996) and Strange Planet (1999).
ALLANAH ZITSERMAN (CO-WRITER / PRODUCER)
Born in Russia, Allanah Zitserman came to Australia as a refugee in 1980. While studying Marketing and Communications at university, she worked as a radio DJ and managed a nightclub for two years. At 21, she set up Screen Artists, a film development and production company with Stavros Kazantzidis. Russian Doll is their first collaboration. Currently she is developing Highlights, a black comedy with Mushroom Pictures.
BRUNO CHARLESWORTH (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)
Melbourne-based Charlesworth has executive produced Kazantzidis previous projects Love and Other Catastrophes and Strange Planet as well as Ted Emery's Jimeoin -starrer The Craic.
JUSTIN BRICKLE (CINEMATOCRAPHER)
A graduate of Melbourne's Swinburne School of Film and Television (now Victorian College of the Arts), Justin Brickle has worked mostly in short films and features.
Russian Doll is Brickle's fourth feature, continuing a close association with Stavros Kazantzidis with whom, as producer, he collaborated on Love and Other Catastrophes and Strange Planet. His other feature is Matthew George's Four Jacks.
PETER GRACE (SOUND)
Multi-awarded sound recordist Peter Grace has worked on some of Australia's best TV drama, winning the Penguin award for Best Sound for Come in Spinner (90), and Best Soundtrack/Audiomix at the New York Festival of International TV Programming for acclaimed The Leaving of Liverpool (92) and Police Rescue (95).
Graces feature film debut, Rowan Woods The Boys earned him an AFI award nomination and The Australian Screen Sound Guild Best Achievement in Location Recording award in 1998, the same year that he was nominated for US Golden Reel award by the US Motion Picture Sound Editors for Babe, Pig in the City (Additional Unit, sound recordist).
He has also worked on Secret Weapon (UK), Looking for Alibrandi, The Goddess of 1967, and La Spagnola.
ELIZABETH MARY MOORE (PRODUCTION DESIGNER)
Has extensive experience in commercials (Pizza Hut, Macdonald's, Opera Australia, corporate videos, theatre and short films including the directorial debut of acclaimed actress Rachel Griffiths', Tulip (10 mins).
Russian Doll is her first feature.
ANDREW MACNEIL (EDITOR)
A graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, Macneil's second year student film, The Space Between the Door and the Floor, was selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990.
Since graduating in 1991, Macneil has worked predominantly in quality television drama, culminating with Part II of The Day of the Roses, a mini-series depicting the 1977 Granville train disaster that was awarded the Gold Logie (Australian Emmy equivalent) for Best Mini Series and AFI awards for Best Television Drama and Best Direction in which director Peter Fisk singled out Macneil's creative contribution for weaving together dramatic reconstruction and archival footage.
Russian Doll is Macneil's debut as a feature film editor.