The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| Bolshoi dancer who played villains admits acid attack Posted: 06 Mar 2013 04:31 AM PST
Pavel Dmitrichenko, who has danced the crazed monarch in Ivan the Terrible and the villain in Swan Lake, was detained yesterday for a crime that shocked Russia and blackened the reputation of the world-famous theatre. Haggard and unkempt, Dmitrichenko was shown in a police video confessing to plotting the attack, in which a masked man threw a jar of sulphuric acid in the face of artistic director Sergei Filin late on Jan. 17. "I organised this attack, but not to the extent that it happened," he said, apparently meaning he did not intend the attack go so far. Two other men who had no known connection to the Bolshoi also confessed in the video released by police. One said he had thrown the acid at Filin and the other that he had driven the getaway car. Dmitrichenko, who is in his late 20s, said he had given the reasons for the attack in a written statement to police but did not say what they were on camera. A source at the Bolshoi confirmed media reports that the outspoken dancer was angry that his partner, ballerina Anzhelika Vorontsova, had missed out on top roles including the lead in Swan Lake. "Filin certainly squeezed out Vorontsova, but that is not a reason to throw acid in someone's face," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Before flying to Germany for treatment last month to save his sight, Filin, 42, said he believed he knew who was behind the attack and that he thought it was connected with his work. He is recovering and is expected back at work this summer. IVAN THE TERRIBLE The management of the Bolshoi, which declined to make any comment today, had been hoping none of the ballet company was involved in the attack. The theatre is now in turmoil. Dmitrichenko, born in Moscow to a family of dancers, had been at the Bolshoi since 2002 and was to dance in "Sleeping Beauty" this month. He could face jail and the end of his dance career. He and the two other accused are due to appear in court tomorrow. LifeNews, a Russian website with close ties to the police, said the suspected attacker Yury Zarutsky and his driver Andrei Lipatov had been found by tracking cellphone calls made from the crime scene. Newspapers published photographs today of a scowling Dmitrichenko in costume as Ivan the Terrible, the mad tsar who killed his son and heir. An aide to Filin suggested Dmitrichenko had identified with the characters he played. "That Dmitrichenko constantly threatened everyone as though he really were Ivan the Terrible or (Swan Lake's) evil genius - roles he played with depth and clear pleasure ... is without doubt," said Dilyara Timergazina. In a recent interview with Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper, Dmitrichenko praised Ivan's rule, under which the Russian empire expanded across Asia. "Ivan the Terrible is a strong personality ... at that time there was much war and we are still benefiting from (his) harsh measures," he was quoted as saying. In a 2011 interview, Dmitrichenko said "a theatre falls apart without dictatorship, especially ballet", but described himself as an unruly student in ballet school. "I threw firecrackers at teachers - and ballet requires discipline," he told the news website Chastny Korrespondent in February 2011. "I didn't get serious until I was 16." Dmitrichenko said his father had wanted him to play ice hockey, but his mother coaxed him into taking a ballet school entrance exam when he was seven by promising him a candy bar. "I'm not a careerist or even a ballet fanatic, really. It's just that, at the moment, dancing makes me feel good," he was quoted as saying. "And I think you should do what you like in life, if it does not bother others." HISTORY OF INTRIGUE As artistic director, Filin had the power to make or break careers. Tales of his uncompromising grip on the troupe and disagreements with dancers have been widely reported. The theatre has been no stranger to intrigue since it was founded in 1776, and the ballet troupe has gone through five artistic directors since 1995. General Manager Anatoly Iksanov came under fire over scandals in the past decade and for what critics say are falling standards at the theatre. He argued publicly with veteran dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who challenged him for his job. In 2003, Bolshoi bosses were criticised for trying to fire ballerina Anastasia Volochkova for being too heavy. In 2011, deputy ballet director Gennady Yanin, seen as a candidate for the artistic director post, quit after pornographic images of him appeared on the Internet. The theatre reopened to great fanfare in 2011 after a six-year, US$700-million (RM2.1 million) renovation that restored its tsarist opulence but was criticised for going far over budget. — Reuters |
| ‘Daily Show’ host Stewart to direct feature film Posted: 05 Mar 2013 08:11 PM PST  US President Barack Obama participates in a taping of the Daily Show with Stewart at the Comedy Central Studios in New York, October 18, 2012. – Reuters pic LOS ANGELES, March 6 — Comedian Jon Stewart will take a break as host of satirical television news show "The Daily Show" beginning in June to direct a serious film about a journalist's imprisonment in Iran, network Comedy Central said yesterday. The exact dates of Stewart's hiatus have yet to be finalized, but he will miss eight weeks of original episodes of the popular show that has turned the 50-year-old comedian into a prominent political and social voice. British comedian John Oliver, 35, who is also a correspondent on the Emmy-winning series, will fill in as host while Stewart takes a break from comedy to direct his first feature film - "Rosewater." The film centres on Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari who was working for Newsweek magazine when he was arrested in Iran and held in prison for four months following the country's disputed 2009 election that drew mass protests against the government. Stewart also wrote the script for the adaptation of Bahari's 2011 memoir Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity and Survival. The book details Bahari's imprisonment, which he said included beatings and psychological stress. The comedian became linked to Bahari after an interview the journalist gave to one of the programme's fake correspondents ended up as evidence the Iranian government used to accuse Bahari of espionage. Bahari was freed on US$300,000 bail in October 2009 and left Iran. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom. – Reuters |
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