MovieChat Forums > Gorky Park (1983) Discussion > POLAR STAR adaptation

POLAR STAR adaptation

posted 17 years ago by Focke_Wulf
3 replies | jump to latest

I'm a little hazy on the timing for this, but sometime in the late eighties to the mid nineties, my wife and I saw a trailer, in the theaters no less, for a film of POLAR STAR. Hurt was reprising his role as Arkady Renko, Charlotte Rampling played the wildlife biologist and Brian Dennehy was the corrupt and expedient American businessman. (I'm stretching a bit here. . . it's been years since I saw the trailer, let alone read the book, but I think I have those roles correct.) Never saw it in the theater, which is surprising since they'd gone so far as to be showing previews of it in the theaters. IMDb has no listing for it. Don't know if it went straight to cable and disappeared, or what. Anyone know what became of the project? They had enough footage in the can to present a trailer and set the scene credibly, so I'm not sure what happened. Any clues you can come up with would be appreciated. . .

I've discovered from other threads here that Martin Cruz Smith has written as many as five Arkady Renko novels. I'll have to get cracking to play catch up!

"I'm not from here, I just live here. . ."

-James Mc Murtry

[–] joonas1038 17 years ago

did arkadi renko Lived In Merihaka at film < Not pasila

[–] KNolan007 16 years ago

James:

How I wish you could be right about this, but I think you and your wife must have imagined it, or it was some other movie. Brian Dennehy's character, of course, was killed in "Gorky Park," so I doubt they'd cast him in a Renko sequel, even as someone else. This would be confusing.

But if you ARE right, I sure would love to hear about it as well. Anyone know anything about this?

[–] bronzescag 14 years ago

Polar Star was never made into a movie so your wife must be imaging some other film. But how I wish someone would make it into a film. Fantastic novel. I wish they would also make the book after Polar Star - Red Square where Arkady and Irina are united (in Cuba, I think). Excellent book.