Nikita Mikhalkov

Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov (Russian: Никита Сергеевич Михалков; born 21 October 1945) is a Russian filmmaker and actor. He made his directorial debut with the Red Western film At Home Among Strangers (1974) after appearing in a series of films, including the romantic comedy Walking the Streets of Moscow (1964), the war drama The Red and the White (1967), the romantic drama A Nest of Gentry (1969) and the adventure drama The Red Tent (1969). His subsequent films include the romantic comedy-drama A Slave of Love (1976), the drama An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (1977), the romantic drama Five Evenings (1978), the drama Without Witness (1983) and the romantic comedy-drama Dark Eyes (1987). Mikhalkov then directed, co-wrote and appeared in the adventure drama film Close to Eden (1991), for which he received the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination.

Following the Soviet Union's dissolution, Mikhalkov directed, co-wrote and starred in the historical drama Burnt by the Sun (1994), for which he won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He received the "Special Lion" at the Venice Film Festival for his contribution to the cinematography and an Academy Award nomination for the legal drama 12 (2007).

Mikhalkov is a three-time laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1993, 1995, 1999) and Full Cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland". In honor of his 80th birthday, in 2025, he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called, Russia's highest state award.

Mikhalkov was born in Moscow into the noble and distinguished Mikhalkov family. His great-grandfather was the imperial governor of Yaroslavl, whose mother was a princess of the House of Golitsyn. Nikita's father, Sergey Mikhalkov, was best known as writer of children's literature, although he also wrote lyrics to his country's national anthem on three occasions spanning nearly 60 years – two sets of lyrics used for the Soviet national anthem, and the current lyrics of the Russian national anthem. Mikhalkov's mother, poet Natalia Konchalovskaya, was the daughter of the avant-garde artist Pyotr Konchalovsky and granddaughter of another outstanding painter, Vasily Surikov. Nikita's older brother is the filmmaker Andrei Konchalovsky, primarily known for his collaboration with Andrei Tarkovsky and his own Hollywood action films, such as Runaway Train and Tango & Cash.

Mikhalkov studied acting at the children's studio of the Moscow Art Theatre and later at the Shchukin School of the Vakhtangov Theatre. While still a student, he appeared in Georgiy Daneliya's film Walking the Streets of Moscow (1964) and his brother Andrei Konchalovsky's film Home of the Gentry (1969). He was soon on his way to becoming a star of the Soviet stage and cinema.

While continuing to pursue his acting career, he entered VGIK, the state film school in Moscow, where he studied directing under filmmaker Mikhail Romm, teacher to his brother and Andrei Tarkovsky. He directed his first short film in 1968, I'm Coming Home, and another for his graduation, A Quiet Day at the End of the War in 1970. Mikhalkov had appeared in more than 20 films, including his brother's Uncle Vanya (1972), before he co-wrote, directed and starred in his first feature, At Home Among Strangers in 1974, an Ostern set just after the 1920s civil war in Russia.

Mikhalkov established an international reputation with his second feature, A Slave of Love (1976). Set in 1917, it followed the efforts of a film crew to make a silent melodrama in a resort town while the Revolution rages around them. The film, based upon the last days of Vera Kholodnaya, was highly acclaimed upon its release in the U.S.

Mikhalkov's next film, An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (1977) was adapted by Mikhalkov from Chekhov's early play, Platonov, and won the first prize at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. In 1978, while starring in his brother's epic film Siberiade, Mikhalkov made Five Evenings, a love story about a couple separated by World War II, who meet again after eighteen years. Mikhalkov's next film, A Few Days from the Life of I. I. Oblomov (1980), with Oleg Tabakov in the title role, is based on Ivan Goncharov's classic novel about a lazy young nobleman who refuses to leave his bed. Family Relations (1981) is a comedy about a provincial woman in Moscow dealing with the tangled relationships of her relatives. Without Witness (1983) tracks a long night's conversation between a woman (Irina Kupchenko) and her ex-husband (Mikhail Ulyanov) when they are accidentally locked in a room. The film won the Prix FIPRESCI at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival.

In the early 1980s, Mikhalkov resumed his acting career, appearing in Eldar Ryazanov's immensely popular Station for Two (1982) and A Cruel Romance (1984). At that period, he also played Henry Baskerville in the Soviet screen version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. He also starred in many of his own films, including At Home Among Strangers, A Slave of Love, and An Unfinished Piece for Player Piano.

Incorporating several short stories by Chekhov, Dark Eyes (1987) stars Marcello Mastroianni as an old man who tells a story of a romance he had when he was younger, a woman he has never been able to forget. The film was highly praised, and Mastroianni received the Best Actor Prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for his performance.

Mikhalkov's next film, Urga (1992, a.k.a. Close to Eden), set in the little-known world of the Mongols, received the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Mikhalkov's Anna: 6–18 (1993) documents his daughter Anna as she grows from childhood to maturity.

Mikhalkov's most famous production to date, Burnt by the Sun (1994), was steeped in the paranoid atmosphere of Joseph Stalin's Great Terror. The film received the Grand Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, among many other honors. To date, Burnt by the Sun remains the highest-grossing film to come out of the former Soviet Union.

In 1996, he was the head of the jury at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.

Mikhalkov used the critical and financial triumph of Burnt by the Sun to raise $25 million for his most epic venture to date, The Barber of Siberia (1998). The film, which was screened out of competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, was designed as a patriotic extravaganza for domestic consumption. It featured Julia Ormond and Oleg Menshikov, who regularly appears in Mikhalkov's films, in the leading roles. The director himself appeared as Tsar Alexander III of Russia.

The film received the Russian State Prize and spawned rumours about Mikhalkov's presidential ambitions. The director, however, chose to administer the Russian cinema industry. Despite much opposition from rival directors, he was elected the President of the Russian Society of Cinematographers and has managed the Moscow Film Festival since 2000. He also set the Russian Academy Golden Eagle Award in opposition to the traditional Nika Award.

In 2005, Mikhalkov resumed his acting career, starring in three brand-new movies – The Councillor of State, a Fandorin mystery film which broke the Russian box-office records, Dead Man's Bluff, a noir-drenched comedy about the Russian Mafia, and Krzysztof Zanussi's Persona non grata.

In 2007, Mikhalkov directed and starred in 12, a Russian adaptation of Sidney Lumet's court drama 12 Angry Men. In September 2007, 12 received a special Golden Lion for the "consistent brilliance" of its work and was praised by many critics at the Venice Film Festival. In 2008, 12 was named as a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film for the 80th Academy Awards. Commenting on the nomination, Mikhalkov said, "I am overjoyed that the movie has been noticed in the United States and, what's more, was included in the shortlist of five nominees. This is a significant event for me."

He also served as the executive producer of an epic film 1612.

Mikhalkov's first wife was renowned Russian actress Anastasiya Vertinskaya, whom he married on 6 March 1967. They had a son, Stepan (born September 1966).

With his second wife, former model Tatyana, he had a son Artyom (born 8 December 1975), and daughters Anna (born 1974) and Nadya (born 27 September 1986).

Mikhalkov is actively involved in Russian politics. He is known for his at times Russian nationalist and Slavophile views. Mikhalkov was instrumental in propagating Ivan Ilyin's ideas in post-Soviet Russia. He authored several articles about Ilyin and came up with the idea of transferring his remains from Switzerland to the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow, where the philosopher had dreamed to find his last retreat. The ceremony of reburial, also of Anton Denikin, a general whose slogan was ‘Russia, one and indivisible’ was held on 3 October 2005.

In October 2006, Mikhalkov visited Serbia, giving moral support to Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo. In 2008, he visited Serbia to support Tomislav Nikolić who was running as the ultra-nationalist candidate for the Serb presidency at the time. Mikhalkov took part in a meeting of "Nomocanon", a Serb youth organization which denies war crimes committed by Serbs in the 1992–99 Yugoslav Wars. In a speech given to the organization, Mikhalkov spoke about a "war against Orthodoxy" wherein he cited Orthodox Christianity as "the main force which opposes cultural and intellectual McDonald's". In response to his statement, a journalist asked Mikhalkov: "Which is better, McDonald's or Stalinism?" Mikhalkov answered: "That depends on the person". Mikhalkov has described himself as a monarchist.

Mikhalkov has been a strong supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin. In October 2007, Mikhalkov, who produced a television program for Putin's 55th birthday, co-signed an open letter asking Putin not to step down after the expiry of his term in office.

Mikhalkov's vertical of power-style leadership of the Cinematographers' Union has been criticized by many prominent Russian filmmakers and critics as autocratic, and encouraged many members to leave and form a rival union in April 2010.

In 2015, Mikhalkov was banned from entering Ukraine for 5 years because of his support for the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. Despite his support for the annexation of Crimea he also called for the release of imprisoned Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov.

On March 9, 2011, Nikita Mikhalkov registered a nikitabesogon account in LiveJournal, which was sold to another user in 2020. According to Mikhalkov, he chose a nickname named after his heavenly patron Nikita Besogon (Nikita, the exorcist). The video blog has become the format of communication. At the same time, the channel "Besogon TV" was registered on YouTube. After the account was advertised by famous bloggers, Mikhalkov's magazine gained popularity (in one month it was added to friends by more than 6 thousand users) and in terms of the number of views, he was in the top ten of the rating. In the videos, Mikhalkov answered users' questions, refuted various, in his opinion, untrue information on the Internet, spreading various conspiracy theories. In May 2011, he started a page on the VKontakte social network.

Later, on this basis, the Besogon TV program appeared, which was broadcast once a month by the Rossiya-24 TV channel from March 8, 2014, to May 1, 2020, without copyright and financial remuneration from the creators. The TV channel did not air the program twice.:

In December 2015, due to ethical considerations, an issue devoted to the critical statements of the sports commentator of the Match TV channel Alexei Andronov about "lovers of Novorossiya and the Russian world" was not released; in February 2016, the conflict was resolved.;

In May 2018, for unknown reasons, an episode about "communication difficulties in the modern world" and "officials who do not hear the people" was taken off the air; however, this episode, which was scheduled to be shown on May 5 and 6, was nevertheless shown twice by the TV channel on May 4.

Since January 20, 2019, the Besogon TV program has been broadcast on the Spas TV channel.

In the author's program "Besogon TV" Mikhalkov repeatedly quoted various conspiracy theories. For example, in the issue "Who has the state in their pocket?", released on May 1, 2020, as part of the Besogon TV video blog on YouTube, he announced Bill Gates' alleged plans to reduce the world's population through vaccination against COVID-19; about chipping through certain vaccinations, with which a person can allegedly turn into a controlled robot; that prolonged isolation and distance learning is being introduced, possibly with the aim of creating a "digital addiction" among citizens. Ilya Varlamov, a Russian journalist and public figure, criticized Mikhalkov's statements about chipping:"Patent 666" is actually called "A cryptocurrency system using body activity data." Microsoft has patented a scheme in which a certain cryptocurrency system can set tasks for the user and monitor their implementation using a gadget. (…)

What makes Mikhalkov think that this is a nanochip that is implanted into the human body through a vaccine? It will be more like a fitness bracelet or a headband like the one that big headphones have, or some kind of mini camera on a laptop or VR helmet that will monitor the movement of the pupils.

Why did Mikhalkov assume that this technology would be mandatory for all 7 billion people living on Earth? And for no reason, this is pure speculation. Like, try to refute it!

What makes Mikhalkov think that this technology will ever be used? As for patents, it's a special culture in America. A huge number of large and small companies are trying to patent any nonsense, so that they can compete to see how much money they can make from whom. This forces everyone to patent literally everything.In September 2020, Mikhalkov shared a conspiracy theory about the protests in Belarus. According to Mikhalkov, some of the people in the photos from the protest were drawn using computer graphics, while Mikhalkov said that he could be trusted because he "says it as a professional.".

In 2020, Nikita Mikhalkov was nominated for an anti-award for promoting conspiracy theories. The anti-award, titled "Honorary Academician VRAL" (a satirical "academy" of pseudoscience), is organized by the project Anthropogenesis.ru as part of the scientific and educational forum "Scientists Against Myths". According to the results of the public voting stage, which concluded on 13 October 2020, Mikhalkov received the highest number of votes. However, at the final ceremony held on 1 November 2020, the award was instead given to Galina Chervonskaya, a Russian anti-vaccination activist.

Awards of the USSR and the Russian Federation

"Honored Artist of the RSFSR" (December 31, 1976) — for his services in the field of Soviet cinematography.

Lenin Komsomol Award (1978) — for creating images of contemporaries in cinema and high performing skills.

"People's Artist of the RSFSR" (March 28, 1984) — for services to the development of Soviet cinematography.

Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III class (October 17, 1995) — for services to the state, a great personal contribution to the development of cinematography and culture

Member of the Presidium of the World Russian Council (1995).

Member of the Russian Commission for UNESCO.

Chairman of the Jury of the 46th Berlin Film Festival (1996).

President of the Russian Cultural Foundation (since 1993). Member of the Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Culture and Arts.

Member of the Expert Council under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Maternal great-grandfather: Vasily Surikov (1848–1916), artist.

Maternal grandfather - Pyotr Konchalovsky (1876–1956), painter, People's Artist of the RSFSR (1946).