Vladimir Zhirinovsky to Star in a Movie

MOSCOW, December 7, 1996 (AP) -- Audiences have roared at his campaign-trail antics and trembled at his saber-rattling tirades! But that was just real life. Are they ready for -- Zhirinovsky, The Movie?

Ready or not, Russian viewers are about to see Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the ultranationalist bad boy of Russian politics, make his film debut.

The flamboyant member of parliament and three-time presidential contender is starring in a Russian made-for-television movie along with Hitler, Stalin and Lenin -- or at least actors made to look like them.

``I hate all these people here!'' Zhirinovsky, who often has been accused of being a fascist, screeched gleefully to reporters. ``They rouse my hatred! It's an inspiration to be with them!''

Zhirinovsky plays a police inspector in ``Ship of Doubles,'' which also features look-a-likes for Madonna, Michael Jackson and Margaret Thatcher.

But what could this strange collection of characters, this potpourri of the famous and infamous, possibly have in common? And how does Zhirinovsky's Inspector Zharov fit in?

The director, Valery Komissarov, isn't giving the plot away. But he promises plenty of ``fights, murders and other cataclysms.'' And he says Zhirinovsky fans won't be disappointed. According to Komissarov, he's a natural.



Catherine the Great to Feature in Playboy
The Times (UK), December 7, 1996
FROM RICHARD BEESTON IN MOSCOW

A SERIES of nude paintings depicting some of Russia's most famous heroines has prompted legal action by angry feminists and scholars against Moscow's newly opened Playboy magazine.

In what is building up into a battle between old and new cultures in Russian society, the prestigious Academy of Sciences and the Centre for Gender Issues have gone to court to seek damages for what they contend were degrading representations of some of Russia's most revered women.

Playboy, which started publishing a Russian edition 18 months ago, ran a series of portraits of Catherine the Great, Natalya Goncharova, Pushkin's wife, Feodosiva Morozova, a 17th-century religious dissident, and Sofia Kovalevskaya, a 19th-century mathematician, in various stages of undress.

In an open letter before it began its legal action, the Gender Centre said: "We call on all of you who disagree with the image of a masturbating woman mathematician, a topless Catherine the Great, and a religious dissident in sexual heat ... to support our campaign."