Master and Margarita to get Hollywood treatment

Hollywood has its eyes on Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic Soviet-era novel The Master and Margarita, with an American take on the enigmatic tale in the pipeline.

According to Russian news agency TASS, the project will be a collaboration between Russian producer of the 2013 biopic Legend No. 17 Svetlana Migunova-Dali and American producer Grace Loh, known for Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) and Grace is Gone (2007).

“We are in negotiations right now about a huge American version, we are counting on a great feature film, with a budget of $50-100 million. It will depend on the director and the actors,” Migunova-Dali told TASS, adding that while the idea for the screen adaptation came about over a decade ago, difficulties in obtaining the rights for making the film posed a considerable obstacle to any swift progress. Writers are now working on the script, however.

“Bulgakov’s writing is complicated and we will try to uncover what he could not say openly in his time, and explain the implications. We will try to present the film to the western audience without losing the drama. Quite a large number of A-list Hollywood actors turned out to be Bulgakov fans and have expressed their interest in being part of the project,” Migunova-Dali explained.

Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita was written between 1928 and 1940 but only published in 1966, mixing fantasy and satire in its exposition of a visit by the devil to Moscow. The novel has been made into numerous TV series and feature films.

Source: TASS