Nutcracker–The Untold Story, Good, Hellboy

A-List Celebrities in Hungary

As we reported earlier, Andrey Konchalovsky's Nutcracker adaptation is being made in Hungary, with John Turturro cast in the role of the evil Mouse King. The 65 million dollar project, originally set to kick off at the beginning of April, was postponed until July because the producers were unable to reach an agreement with the actors, Hungarian co-producer József Cirkó revealed. Hellboy and Good are underway.

Head of production company HCC Media, József Cirkó, confirmed to us information obtained by Variety, that John Turturro (Barton Fink, Box of Moon Light), Nathan Lane (The Birdcage, The Producers) and Elle Fanning (Babel) will play the lead roles (9-year old Fanning will play the lead little girl, Turturro the evil Mouse King, and Lane the uncle who gives the nutcracker to the protagonist) in the Tchaikovsky adaptation directed by Andrey Konchalovsky. The 65 million dollar fantasy musical will almost entirely be produced in Hungary: studio shooting will take place at Stern Studio in Pomáz, while townscapes will be shot among sets erected in the former Soviet army base in Szentendre, József Cirkó informed fimhu.

The film requires serious CGI effects, 30 to 40 percent of which will also be produced in Hungary,  the producer said. ”Several companies will be working on computer animation with two or three Hungarian lead experts, and they will get to work in August, immediately after shooting starts, and t will be working on the effects for almost a year,” József Cirkó told filmhu.

We have also been informed that other local creative crew members are joining the shooting due to go on until late October: alongside art director János Szabolcs there will be two Hungarian cameramen in the crew. Gábor Forgács will be working alongside the English lead cameraman, while Balázs Bélafalvi will be flying the Hungarian colours in the second unit. The local producer estimates that the crew of Nutcracker–The Untold Story, an English-Canadian-Hungarian co-production lead by Noisette Film Productions from England, will leave 30% of its whole budget, around 27 million dollars, in Hungary.

Shooting for Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy 2, with a 72 million dollar budget, slightly bigger than Nutcracker's, will get underway at Korda Film Studios in Etyek at the weekend. The „proof of the pudding” at the recently opened studio will also be star studded: John Hurt will appear as a cameo alongside lead actor Ron Perlman, according to the directors official fansite.

Siófok will not be left without stars: filmhu has been informed that shooting for the Holocaust movie Good, which started in May in Budapest, starring Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings), will be relocating to the capital of lake Balaton and its environs. The film adapted from C. P. Taylor's award winning play is directed by Vicente Amorim. According to imdb.com one of the art directors of the film is Adrienn Asztalos of Taxidermia fame (alongside Andreas Olshaussen), while costumes were designed by Györgyi Szakács (The Eighth Day of the Week, Rokonok, Fateless). Péter Fancsikai (Mansfeld; Young, Dumb and Full of Love) and Máté Haumann (Miscalculation) will also appear in the film.