Defector-dancer faces unplanned homecoming

Press, 27 February 1986, Page 10

Defector-dancer faces unplanned homecoming

You have heard the music now the film, “White Nights,” is about the screen.

The director, Taylor Hackford, used hit tunes to promote his last two films, “An Officer and A Gentleman” and “Against All Odds.” Now two songs from his latest, "White Night,” are saturating the airwaves. But the Phil CollinsMarilyn Martin duet, “Separate Lives,” and Lionel Richie’s “Say You, Say Me” are just part of the musical ingredient in “White Nights.” Hackford has melded the idiosyncratic worlds of ballet and tap-dancing in casting Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines in the leads.

Baryshnikov, considered to be one of the

finest classical dancers around, defected to the West in 1974.

“It had nothing to do with politics,” he said at the time. “I found myself at an artistic crossroads.” He has since danced with the best companies in the world, and is artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre.

Baryshnikov’s acting debut in “The Turning Point” gained him an Academy Award nomination.

Gregory Hines has been tap-dancing since he was two. He grew up dancing the family’s tap act, and made his Broadway debut in “Eubie,” for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.

Films such as “The Cotton Club” have reinforced comparisons to a young

Fred Astaire. “White Nights,” produced and directed by Hackford, co-stars Isabella Rossellini, Helen Mirren, Jerzy Skolimowski, and Geraldine Page. The screenplay is by James Goldman and Eric Hughes, based on a story by Goldman.

The title refers to, the white-out conditions which force a LondonTokyo flight into an emergency landing at a Soviet military air base. On board the plane is a Russian ballet dancer, Kolya (Baryshnikov), who defected some 10 years earlier. In the Soviet Union, Kolya is considered a criminal because of his illegal departure. Hines portrays an American dancer who several years earlier fled

to Russia in a moral protest against America’s involvement in. Vietnam.

Having fallen out of favour with the Soviet authorities and relegated to performing in the provinces, Hines is given a chance for redemption when .he and his wife, Darya (Rossellini), are assigned to convince Kolya to remain in Russia.

The authorities want to use Kolya as symbol of the repentant, returnig defector, and pressure him to rejoin the Kirov Theatre for a special performance.

But after a passage from • antagonists to friends, Kolya and Raymond conceive the daring plan that will enable them, along with Darya, to obtain their freedom.

Isabella Rossellini, the daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, tackles her first major film role already famous. An exclusive modelling contract to Lancome cosmetics has made hers one of the most recognised faces in the fashion world. Helen Mirren comes to “White Nights” fresh from success at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, where she won the Best Actress award for “Cal” (seen briefly at last year’s Christchurch Film Festival).

The London-born Mirren is herself the daughter of a Russian emigre. She plays a prima ballerina and former lover of Kolya. Director-turned-actor, Jerzy Skolimowski, plays the K.G.B. “baddie,” Colonel Chaiko. Skolimowski, who is Polish, most recently directed “Moonlighting,” starring Jeremy Irons.

Geraldine Page has had a distinguished career as a character actress on the stage, in movies and television.

Over 30 years before the cameras, she has earned seven Academy Award nominations for Best Actress (including “Interiors”) and Supporting Actress (“Pete ’n Tillie”).