From Russia with love
EMPIRE CHECKS INTO HOTEL-SET HISTORICAL SERIES A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW WITH STARS EWAN MCGREGOR AND MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD
IN THE PIAZZA of the Hotel Metropol, Ewan Mcgregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead are saying a touching goodbye. The lights are dimmed, a double bass twanging a bluesy shuffle, the hotel guests dancing casually. “Would you do me the honour of one last dance?” asks Mcgregor. The pair stand, embrace, sway. There are hushed whispers of travel documents, a declaration of love, a kiss — before Winstead wrenches herself away, not looking back as she strides towards the foyer, leaving Mcgregor stood alone.
And cut. This isn’t a surprisingly dramatic moment in Mcgregor and Winstead’s real-life marriage that Empire has inadvertently stumbled upon — it’s a pivotal scene in upcoming Paramount+ drama A Gentleman In Moscow, a decades-spanning epic that intertwines romance and political intrigue against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution. Based on Amor Towles’ bestselling novel, it sees Mcgregor’s aristocratic Count Rostov spared the firing squad — instead sentenced to life imprisonment in the Metropol. Winstead’s film actress Anna Urbanova is one of many life-changing relationships the hotel offers him — and the pair’s off-screen chemistry is palpable as they replay their farewell multiple times over.
In his trailer later that day, scene firmly in the can, Mcgregor seems remarkably composed.
“It’s such a joy working with Mary that I could be doing it all day long,” he tells Empire. Months later, Winstead remembers it differently. “In-between takes we were just bawling our eyes out,” she chuckles. “It was so beautiful to get to play the scene and make that moment feel so real. But it was really, really hard for us as well.” Even the mere memory of playing it turns emotional. “For us, being real-life partners, saying goodbye to one another… I’m about to cry just talking about it,” she laughs, tearily. “It was the most emotional day. It’s so silly, I can’t even get through talking about it.”
Recreating the Moscow-bound Metropol in Manchester (Bolton doubled for the Bolshoi,
while the Kremlin scenes shot in, er, Leeds), the soundstage of Space Studios hosts a sprawling purpose-built hotel — Empire walks through its front doors, past reception, through the foyer, beyond the bar, up the stairs, and back down to the restaurant and piazza. It’s a vast creation befitting the scope of the story. “I love the old-fashioned nature of the drama,” says Mcgregor, who also produces, having loved Towles’ book (he recalls “the prevailing dread” he felt at turning its last page; he coped by immediately buying War & Peace).
“Old-fashioned” and “epic” are words that arise too for Winstead, the breadth of the drama encompassing all elements of a life. “These characters are going through these very universal struggles at a time that was very dark — they’re finding hope and humanity in that darkness, and lightness and joy,” she says. Director Sam Miller promises a “multifaceted tonal range” to the show. “It’s got strong magical elements and childlike elements at play,” he tells Empire between takes, “as well as the heaviness of what’s happening.”
While the Count is transformed by his on-off relationship with Anna (“There’s quite a lot of cold-shoulder in the early days,” laughs Mcgregor. “It was so funny being snubbed by her”) and becoming a father-figure to multiple children in the hotel, Russia transforms outside the Metropol’s windows. “It’s about the making of the Russia that we know now,” states Mcgregor. “It starts in 1921 after the Revolution, and everybody’s in turmoil. There’s a lot of discussion about belief in something — people who believe in the Communist movement and people who don’t, and what it does to their lives.”
The personal relationships anchor it, though. “Anna is a very modern woman. And the Count is a very un-modern man,” Mcgregor explains. “Years and years go by, and you can never really pin down what this relationship is. But of course, it turns into the greatest love of either of their lives.” While the pair channelled their real-life partnership into the show, they took a little something home in return. “We bought a house in Scotland, and we were furnishing it at the time,” says Winstead. “Everywhere [on set] was inspiration. ‘Wow, that chair would look great. That wallpaper’s amazing!’ We took a ton of inspiration — and maybe even kept a few pieces of furniture. Just for, you know, posterity’s sake.” All’s fair in love and war.
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW IS ON PARAMOUNT+ FROM 29 MARCH