Nijinsky (1980)

Director:

Herbert Ross

Writers:

Hugh Wheeler (screenplay)
Romola Nijinsky (book)
(more)

Release Date:

24 September 1980 (France)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

Set in the early 1910s at a time of passionate artistic experimentalism, and based on biographical fact...

Plot Keywords:

Ballet | Homosexual | One Word Title | Gay Interest | Independent Film

Cast

Alan Bates	...	Sergei Diaghilev
George De La Pena	...	Vaslav Nijinsky
Leslie Browne	...	Romola de Pulsky
Alan Badel	...	Baron de Gunzburg
Carla Fracci	...	Tamara Karsavina
Colin Blakely	...	Vassili
Ronald Pickup	...	Igor Stravinsky
Ronald Lacey	...	Leon Bakst
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Sergei Grigoriev
Jeremy Irons	...	Mikhail Fokine
Frederick Jaeger	...	Gabriel Astruc
Anton Dolin	...	Maestro Cecchetti
Janet Suzman	...	Emilia Marcus
Stephan Chase	...	Adolph Bolm
Hetty Baynes	...	Magda
Siân Phillips	...	Lady Ripon
Charles Kay	...	Argentine Ambassador
Tomaso Milian Jr.	...	Young Boy on Beach (as Tomas Milian Jr)
Monica Mason	...	Maria Piltz
Valerie Aitken	...	Lydia Nelidova
Genesia Rosato	...	Ludmilla Schollar
June Brown	...	Maria Stepanova
Blaise Mills	...	Lisl
Kim Miller	...	Marie Rambert
Dean McMillan	...	Page
Mart Crowley
Olga Lowe	...	Signora Cecchetti
Geoffrey Hughes	...	Gavrilov
Patricia Ruanne	...	Doil
Ben Van Cauwenbergh	...	Max Froman

Directed by
Herbert Ross

Writing credits
Hugh Wheeler		(screenplay)
Romola Nijinsky		(book "Nijinsky")
Vaslav Nijinsky		(diary)

Produced by
Nora Kaye	....	producer
Stanley O'Toole	....	producer
Harry Saltzman	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Douglas Slocombe

Film Editing by
William Reynolds

Casting by
Rose Tobias Shaw		(as Rose Tobias-Shaw)

Production Design by
John Blezard

Art Direction by
George Richardson

Set Decoration by
Peter James

Costume Design by
Alan Barrett

Makeup Department
Pat Hay	....	hair stylist
Meinir Jones-Lewis	....	hair stylist
Ken Lintott	....	makeup designer (as Kenneth Lintott)
Joan Mills	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Al Burgess	....	production supervisor
Bernard Mazauric	....	production manager: Monaco
Luciano Pesciaroli	....	production manager: Sicily
Danilo Sabatini	....	production liaison: Sicily
Scott Wodehouse	....	production manager
Lindsley Parsons Jr.	....	executive production manager: Paramount (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yves Amoureux	....	assistant director: Monaco
Tony Brandt	....	assistant director: Sicily
Graham Cottle	....	assistant director: Monaco
Ariel Levy	....	assistant director
Christopher Newman	....	third assistant director (dance sequences only)
Luciano Palermo	....	assistant director: Sicily
Antoine Sabarros	....	assistant director: Monaco
Timea Veress	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Pier Luigi Basile	....	art director: Sicily (as Pierluigi Basile)
Tessa Davies	....	set dresser
Nicholas Georgiadis	....	ballet scenary: after the originals by
Geoffrey Guy	....	sets: for "Scheherazade" and "La Spectre de la Rose" after Leon Bakst by
Michael Murchan	....	construction manager
Ron Quelch	....	production buyer
Tony Roman	....	art director: Monaco
John Rose	....	sketch artist

Sound Department
Bill Barringer	....	assistant sound (as William Barringer)
William Hartman	....	sound editor
Godfrey Marks	....	dialogue editor
Theodore Soderberg	....	sound re-recording mixer
Richard Sperber	....	sound editor
Cyril Swern	....	sound recordist
Paul Wells	....	sound re-recording mixer
Douglas O. Williams	....	sound re-recording mixer
Colin Wood	....	boom operator
Mel Zelniker	....	adr recordist (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bert Cann	....	still photographer
David Hersey	....	theatrical lighting designer
Colin Manning	....	chief grip
Danny Shelmerdine	....	assistant camera
John Tythe	....	gaffer
Robin Vidgeon	....	assistant camera
Chic Waterson	....	camera operator
Cedric James	....	focus puller: second camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rosemary Burrows	....	wardrobe supervisor
Austin Cooper	....	wardrobe master
Nicholas Georgiadis	....	ballet costumes: after the originals by
Ken Lawton	....	wardrobe master (as Kenneth Lawton)

Editorial Department
Chris Barnes	....	editorial associate
Michael E. Polakow	....	assistant editor (as Michael Polokow)

Music Department
George Korngold	....	music editor
John Lanchbery	....	conductor
John Lanchbery	....	music adaptor
The Los Angeles Philharmonic	....	orchestra
John Neal	....	scoring mixer
James Walker	....	musician: flute solo
Sidney Weiss	....	concert master

Other crew
Irina Baronova	....	ballet mistress
Nicholas Beriosoff	....	restaging: of "Scheherazade" and "Prince Igor
Isabel Borwn	....	assistant: Nora Kaye
Isabel Brown	....	assistant: Nora Kaye
William Chappell	....	restaging: of "L'Après-midi d'un faune" (as William Chapell)
Hunt Downs	....	publicist
Ottó Elek	....	studio manager: Hungary
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer
Mikhail Fokin	....	choreographer (as Mikhail Fokine)
William Griffith	....	ballet coach
Louise Jaffe	....	script supervisor
Allan James	....	location manager
Peter Lancaster	....	head accountant
Kenneth MacMillan	....	choreographer: "Jeux" and "Le Sacre du printemps"
Vaslav Nijinsky	....	choreographer
Pat Pennelegion	....	assistant: Al Burgess
Lily Poyser	....	unit publicist
Mary Richards	....	assistant: Herbert Ross
Danilo Sabatini	....	production liaison: Sicily
John Sargent	....	accountant
Elisabeth Schooling	....	restaging: of "L'Après-midi d'un faune"
Vincent Winter	....	location manager

Thanks
David Bees	....	grateful acknowledgment: administrative director of the London Festival Bellet
Beryl Grey	....	grateful acknowledgment: artistic director of the London Festival Bellet (as Beryl Grey CBE)

Production Companies

• Hera Productions

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1980) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1984) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• CIC Vídeo (Brazil) (video)

Other Companies

• National Film Theatre, London  theatrical lighting: designed by arrangement with David Hersey
• London Festival Ballet  thanks (as The Artists of the London Festival Ballet)

Runtime:

UK:129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 | USA:R

Company:

Hera Productions

Trivia:

Executive producer Harry Saltzman had wanted to make a film about Nijinsky for many years, first attempting to produce a version in 1970 with partner Albert R. Broccoli, starring Rudolf Nureyev, written by 'Edward Albee', and directed by 'Tony Richardson I'. This project was eventually shelved. This 1980 version had a completely different script and cast.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Harry Saltzman: Showman (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

THE RITE OF SPRING

sumptuous ballet film

This little-seen film by Herbert Ross chooses to focus on the rise and fall of Vaslav Nijinsky, petulant and superb dancer, and his stormy relationship with his producer-lover, Sergei Diaghilev. This story from with the heart of Ballet Russes has been well-documented before and here we see the descent into madness of a great, if unhinged artist.

George De La Pena plays the title role, and his dancing is a dream. Alan Bates is excellent as Diaghilev, all repressed passion and deep thoughts. The film tries its best to portray this unorthodox relationship with the ballet at its core, but doesn't quite get there - a sign of the times, perhaps? A strength of 'Nijinsky' is the dance sequences which are replicated as they would have originally been performed, right up to the scandalous performance of the Fawn piece. The scenes where the unhappy dancer is confined to an asylum have less power but are as valid as any other sequence in the film.