Career
Konchalovsky studied for ten years at the Moscow Conservatory, preparing for a pianist's career. In 1960, however, he met Andrei Tarkovsky, whom he collaborated with on Ivan's Childhood and Andrei Rublev.
His first own full-length feature, The First Teacher (1964), was favourably received in the Soviet Union and screened by numerous film festivals abroad. His second film, Asya Klyachina's Story (1967), was suppressed by Soviet authorities. When issued twenty years later, it was acclaimed as his masterpiece. Thereupon, Konchalovsky filmed adaptations of Ivan Turgenev's A Nest of Gentle Folk (1969) and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1970), with Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the title role.
In 1979 he was a member of the jury at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival. His epic Siberiade upon its 1979 release was favourably received at Cannes, particularly for its scene featuring the binding and abuse of a Siberian Lynx, and made possible his move to the United States in 1980.
His most popular Hollywood releases are Maria's Lovers (1984), Runaway Train (1985), based on a script by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (who had written it as an adaptation of Dostoevsky's "House of the Dead"), and Tango & Cash (1989), starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell. In 1985, Ned Tanen wanted to hire Konchalovsky to direct The Godfather Part III, but the other executives at Paramount Pictures concluded the film could not be made without Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo's involvement. In the 1990s, Konchalovsky returned to Russia, although he occasionally produced historical films for U.S. television, such as his adaption of The Odyssey (1997) and the award-winning remake, The Lion in Winter (2003). In a 2023 SAG-AFTRA Foundation interview, Emily Blunt stated that she auditioned for a role in the latter film, and said of Konchalovsky that "he was vile... he was really horrible," and that he was "really cruel during the audition and loved taking me down a peg or two." Blunt claimed that he promoted a "very misogynistic sort of vibe, and I was a shell of my former self by the time I came out."
Konchalovsky's full-length feature, House of Fools (2003), with a cameo role by Bryan Adams as himself, set in a Chechen psychiatric asylum during the war, won him a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
In 2010, Konchalovsky released a longtime passion project of his, The Nutcracker in 3D, a musical adaptation of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet. A musical film, it mixed live action and 3D animation, and starred Elle Fanning, John Turturro, Nathan Lane, and Richard E. Grant. The film was scored with music from the ballet, with additional lyrics by Tim Rice. The film was universally panned by critics and audiences.
In the same year, Konchalovsky also featured in Hitler in Hollywood, a bio-doc about Micheline Presle which evolves into a thrilling investigation of the long hidden truth behind European cinema. This mockumentary thriller uncovers Hollywood's unsuspected plot against the European motion picture industry. The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and was nominated for a Crystal Globe award in July 2010.
In 2012, Konchalovsky wrote, directed and produced The Battle for Ukraine, which provided an in depth analysis of how Ukraine to this day struggles to escape from the close embrace of its former big brother, Russia. This extensive study lasted for almost three years and involved an array of Ukrainian, Russian and American historians, politicians and journalists, as well as the ex-President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski, the ex-President of Slovakia Rudolf Schuster, the ex-President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, the ex-Prime Minister of Russia Viktor Chernomyrdin, and the businessman Boris Berezovsky.
In 2013, Konchalovsky co-produced Royal Paintbox, a documentary directed by Margy Kinmonth. The film features Charles III, then Prince of Wales, exploring the history of artistic activity within the British royal family. It includes works created by members of the royal family across several countries, including watercolours by the Prince of Wales., and was filmed at various Royal Estates.
His film The Postman's White Nights won the Silver Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. The script is centered around the true story of Aleksey Tryaptisyn, a real life Russian Post officer based in a remote Russian Far North village surrounding Lake Kenozero.
In 2016, Paradise directed by him won the Silver Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. It was selected as the Russian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 89th Academy Awards.
In 2020, Konchalovsky directed Dear Comrades!, a historical drama about the Novocherkassk massacre. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Anthony Lane, writing for The New Yorker, called the film Konchalovsky's "masterpiece."
