Bekmambetov is 'Wanted' in H'wood

Few Russian directors ever cross the border to Europe, let alone to the States, but 46-year-old Kazakh-born Bekmambetov is a man of rare talent and intelligence.

His vision helped bring three of Russia's biggest movies to audiences hungry for local content with Hollywood-style quality, starting with 2004's fantasy-horror "Night Watch," based on a hugely popular sci-fi novel by Sergei Lukyanenko, which took in nearly $17 million at the domestic box office.

Its sequel, "Day Watch," broke all Russian box office records with receipts of nearly $32 million.

Not content, Bekmambetov took on a project many saw as a poisoned chalice: the remake of the cult 1970s Eldar Ryazanov romantic comedy "Irony of Fate."

Working closely with the producers he regards as close friends -- Konstantin Ernst, powerful boss of public television net First Channel, and Ernst's head of film Anatoly Maksimov -- Bekmambetov came up with a film that broke local B.O. records and reaped $49 million in Russia with another $4 million in the Ukraine.

This summer Russian audiences will be able to gauge how Bekmambetov does with Hollywood fare when Universal's "Wanted" -- a thriller starring Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy, based on Mark Millar's graphic novel -- hits theaters.

Perhaps only aficionados will notice some distinctive Bekmambetov touches -- Universal's online trailer focuses on a car chase with Jolie behind the wheel of an expensive little red sports car that performs elaborate moves. A similar red sports car also with a sexy driver is featured in "Day Watch."

But those who see Bekmambetov's Hollywood debut as just another skillfully made action movie also will not be wrong: The helmer cut his teeth on low-budget projects with Hollywood legend Roger Corman, such as 2001 female gladiator pic "The Arena," which shot in St. Petersburg.

He was also behind some of the iconic "world history" TV ads for Russia's Bank Imperial in the 1990s that scaled hitherto unseen heights of quality for television advertisements in the country.

Although personally reserved and famously work-obsessed (he says working with Corman taught him to value every dollar and cent spent), Bekmambetov's films have been packaged as part of a wider, very successful marketing effort that pitches his pics as events.

Speaking about "Night Watch," he recalls: "The idea was to be provocative, to create an event with the film and through its promotion and merchandising. We wanted people to both love and hate it; we wanted them to talk and argue over it."

That approach should serve him well in Hollywood and for upcoming Russian projects: The next is the Fox co-produced English-language "Night Watch 3," which will be released in Russia next year as "Dusk Watch."