Chekhov for Keanu. What Russian books do foreign stars love?

Classical Russian literature is known around the world. Do you know that there are a lot of his true fans among the foreign stars? AiF.ru is about Western actors who read and fell in love with Russian classics.

Actor Keanu Reeves has a deep love for Russian literature. Among his favorite authors are Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In addition, Reeves has been associated with the Russian language in several film roles. In the films John Wick and The Professional, he needed to be fluent in Russian to some extent. It is interesting that the actor managed to read Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” in Russian.

American actor David Harbor has not stayed away. He read books by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Bulgakov. “From the amazing books by these authors, I learned that Russians have a very big heart, they are very emotional, they have a bright personality, and they can be determined to make their dreams come true.” Harbor said in a recent interview with the Metro newspaper.

German actress Nastassja Kinski was named after two heroines of the novel “The Idiot” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Nastasya Filippovna and Aglaya Epanchina (the artist’s middle name). Kinski showed a special love for Russian literature throughout his life. Even her children she gave the names Alyosha and Sophia, in honor of Dostoevsky’s heroes. In addition, the actress was interested in film adaptations of Russian classics, among which “Spring waters” by Jerzy Skolimovsky according to Ivan Turgenev, “And the light shines in the dark” by the Taviani brothers according to Leo Tolstoy , as well as Andrei “Humiliated and insulted” of Espai by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

During a meeting with journalists Jared Leto, American actor and leader rock bands Thirty Seconds to Mars, said one of his favorite books is Evgeny Zamyatin’s “We” dystopia. The artist believes that this literary work is relevant out of time, so it can be counted among the samples of great literature.

British actor Tom Hiddleston, best known for his super villainous role as Loki, considers Anton Chekhov to be a genius playwright. According to the artist, Chekhov’s heroes suddenly realize that life is an hourglass, while the very action of his pieces is based on the presentation of a specific episode in the life of a person who is at a certain time in a certain place. As a fan of Chekhov’s drama, Hiddleston was lucky enough to star in the British interpretation of the play “Ivanov” based on the writer’s work of the same name.

Johnny Depp also shows sympathy for the work of Russian classics. Speaking of favorite books, to which it is interesting to return again and again, alongside “Fleurs du mal” by Charles Baudelaire and “On the road” by Jack Kerouac, he also mentions “Notes du métro” by the Russian writer. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. .

World-famous French actor G̩rard Depardieu loves the work of classics of Russian literature of the golden age РAlexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov.

Bossy TV presenter Oprah Winfrey adores Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. In his opinion, this is the most exciting love story.

The talent of Tolstoy is also of particular interest to Hollywood actor Jude Law. He read Anna Karenina after he was offered to star in the film adaptation of the novel. The work left an indelible impression on the actor, so that the reading of the book was followed by the reincarnation of Lowe as Alexei Karenina.

Daniel Radcliffe has repeatedly declared his love for Russian culture and, in particular, literature. Still a teenager, he read Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, then Gogol, Zamiatine and many other writers.

British actor Ralph Fiennes is also a fan of Russian literature. He thinks that writers like Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev, Lev Tolstoy, Alexander Pushkin are surprisingly wise. Fiennes himself has repeatedly become the hero of the works of Russian authors. “What I like about your writers – Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev – is that they surprisingly explore and show the human soul. Therefore, they are always read and executed. I played in Chekhov’s play on stage, I played Eugene Onegin in the cinema, ”he said in an interview. In 1999, the actor played the role of Eugene Onegin in the film Onegin, and in 2015 he played Rakitin in the film Two Women by Vera Glagoleva, based on Turgenev’s play A Month in the Country.