Malibu resident Paul Maslansky has just returned from Moscow after an invitation to present an award stemming from his long- time friendship with the Russian film community. The veteran American filmmaker bestowed a lifetime achievement award at the Moscow International Film Festival, a glittering, nationally-televised event. Maslansky was personally invited to present the award to international film star and friend Franco Nero, who has acted in scores of movies throughout his decades-long career. Maslansky’s invitation to present at the ceremony watched by millions was a nod to his many years working in cinema and the four films he’s made in Russia.
Saying it was nice to be recognized for his work, Maslansky, who has called Malibu home for more than four decades, commented, “It’s exciting going to a film festival of that caliber — that you’re a part of — not just a witness to. It was a wonderful experience.”
The 83-year-old, who is still working as a producer, has had a long career in the movie business. He first went to Russia in 1968 during the height of the Cold War when it was part of the USSR to make “The Red Tent,” starring Sean Connery, Peter Finch and Claudia Cardinale, about Italian efforts in polar exploration.
His second film to be made behind what was once the Iron Curtain starred Elizabeth Taylor and was directed by the celebrated George Cukor in the first joint Soviet/American production. During the 1975 filming of “The Blue Bird,” Taylor was asked to speak with American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project — the first joint U.S. /Soviet space flight during the period of détente when relations between the two countries were thawing. Maslansky recalled the event, recalling, “The Russians gave us souvenir food that they eat in space.”
In the 1990s, Maslansky returned to make blockbuster “The Russia House,” starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer — based on the John le Carré spy novel.
A few years later, he was back for “Police Academy — Mission to Moscow,” the seventh in Maslanksy’s most successful franchise.
Maslansky spoke to The Malibu Times about the contrast between the Russia he once knew and what he recently witnessed.
“Moscow now is one of the most beautiful cities in the world,” Maslansky shared. “When I first arrived in 1968, the main color was gray. Everything was gray. Only the Kremlin had lights. Every time I go back it gets better — more beautiful. Moscow has never looked as beautiful as this.”
Maslansky said the lights were not the only change he saw while visiting Russia.
“I saw more smiles than I’ve ever seen in Russia — it used to be grim, I mean, really grim,” Maslansky described, “because there was a period there when there were lines everywhere to get tomatoes, cucumbers — carrots. They used to call it the Queue-SSR because of the lining (queueing) up all the time.”
This is a stark contradiction to when Maslansky lived in Russia years ago while filming “The Red Tent” aboard an icebreaker near the North Pole for nearly a year. Calling that time in his life as “incredible,” Maslansky, a lifelong musician, noted that he also played trumpet in a Dixieland band at the Hotel Metropol in Moscow. He later went on to play with the Hollywood insider band turned TV favorites “The Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band” with George Segal and Conrad Janis for 25 years.
The festival, Maslansky described, was “brilliant.”
“It was a wonderful affair brilliantly produced. It was five days of wonderful films — films from all over the world,” he said, “but, more importantly, I saw all my old friends going back from 1968 that are still there. Some are still in the business. I’m known there in the film business because I’ve shot there in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Moscow and other places. I was the American film producer that was acceptable in a way over time. We’ve become friends.”
MIFF Director Nikita Mikhalkov introduced Maslansky at the awards ceremony.
“In his opening remarks, he talked about the friendship that I have with him personally as well as the friendship for the Russian film industry,” Maslansky described. “My job was to give Franco Nero — the honored guest — the only actor being honored — a lifetime achievement award — to present the award to him not only because of my connection to Nero, but because of my connection to Russian and Soviet cinema. I’m the only American producer that’s made so many films there going back to 1968.
“It was very flattering,” Maslansky said, laughing. “It was worth buying a tux for.”
