Just Push Play

In spite of what you've just seen, HITLER KAPUT! is really a very sweet, almost innocent film. Not that that is paramount on my mind just now. I'm trying to calculate how many hours I've been up. Let's see, this entire effort just ended a couple of hours ago. I only dozed for an hour or so sometime around 5am while waiting for an export to finish... So, what is that, roughly 36 hours. Sounds rather incredible but sometimes it comes to that in this business. You don't just burn the midnight oil, you dry the lamp, smash it on the floor, smelt it down, and use the hot glowing slag to work by.

The actors in the movie are truly some of the biggest names in Russia. By any definition it's a star-studded cast. As well, it's not possible to overstate how novel this kind of movie is here in Russia. Without hyperbole, they've never seen anything like it. Yes, sure, they've seen the odd American import, such as TOP SECRET or 'NAKED GUN' but those weren't theirs. It's also not possible to overstate the scale of importance the Russian experience in World War II is. Everything about it is sacred. More, the idea of dictatorships resonates very powerfully with the Russians. Now, with Russians experiencing remarkable freedoms, the idea of being liberated from the the boat anchor of their own history is thrilling. Because for a Russian, history is everything. To be able to look at Hitler and World War II and to be able to laugh about it is something never attempted here before. When people come into the editing room and we show them scenes, many of them just sit there with their mouths on the floor. And then they start laughing, and some have tears filling their eyes.

Now if you'll excuse me there's a square pillow with my name on it.