Biography
In the quarter century that spanned between his early era writing and shooting Russian dramas and his later years turning out star-studded pictures for American studios, filmmaker Sergei Bodrov never let much time go by without turning out a new project. The USSR-born director established himself as a creative constant in Europe in the 1980s, before moving to the United States to claim the same sort of grandeur. While Bodrov maintained an attachment to foreign language pictures long past his relocation to America, he showed off an interest in stateside cinema as well, taking charge on the Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges picture "Seventh Son" (2015). Sergei Vladimirovich Bodrov was born on June 28, 1948, in Khabarovsk, Khabarovskiy Krai, in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (presently Russia). Following a one-off acting job in the romance film "Pervoye svidaniye" (1960), Bodrov kicked off a career behind the camera in Russian cinema in the mid-to-late 1970s, making his screenwriting debut on the dramatic comedy "Balamut" (1979), and his directing debut on the rom-com "Sladkiy sok vnutri travy" (1984) shortly afterward. The decade to follow saw Bodrov helm a number of films that gained international attention, including "Neoprofessionaly" (1987), "Freedom Is Paradise" (1989), and "White King, Red Queen" (1992). The last film would be the first of several features in which Bodrov cast his son, actor Sergey Bodrov Jr. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Bodrov emigrated to the United States, laying his claim to notability in American cinema in the mid 1990s. One of Bodrov's earliest English-language films as a screenwriter was the Harvey Keitel- and Rosie Perez-starrer "Somebody to Love" (1994). From there, Bodrov alternated between European and American movies, directing and co-writing the Russian film "Prisoner of the Mountains" (1996), followed by the French historical drama "Est - Ouest" (1999), and then the American crime drama "The Quickie" (2001), starring Jennifer Jason Leigh. In 2002, Bodrov faced tragedy when his son, actor and director Sergey Bodrov Jr., died in an avalanche while shooting a film titled "The Messenger." The late 2000s saw Bodrov tap into his Buryat lineage to shoot the film "Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan" (2007) and contribute to the socially conscious anthology film "Stories on Human Rights" (2008) with a segment titled "The Voice." Noteworthy artists like Marina Abromavic, Hany Abu-Assad, Jasmila Zbanic, and many others also devoted short films to the piece. Collaborating with big name American stars Julianne Moore and Jeff Bridges, Bodrov directed a fantasy epic "The Seventh Son" (2014), based on the 2004 novel The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney.
