Mary Elizabeth Winstead Joins Cast of Showtime's 'A Gentleman in Moscow'
Mary Elizabeth Winstead in FX drama "Fargo"
(Photo: FX Networks)
Showtime's buzzy upcoming adaptation of A Gentleman in Moscow has found its leading lady: Star Ewan McGregor's real-life wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
Based on Amor Towles's bestselling 2016 novel of the same name, A Gentlemen in Moscow is set during the early 1920s and follows the story of Count Alexander Rostov (McGregor), an aristocrat on the wrong side of the Russian Revolution. Exiled (more like imprisoned, really) in the attic of a lavish hotel, and forbidden to leave it upon pain of death, he spends the next three decades within the walls of the Hotel Metropol, living without the luxuries he has previously been accustomed to, building relationships with the other residents, and hearing secondhand about the world-changing events taking place in the city outside.
Winstead will play Anna Urbanova, a character described as a glamorous, independent, and self-made film actress. Enigmatic and mysterious, she easily uses her beauty and wit to dazzle Rostov but is reluctant to reveal much of her true self. And while their chemistry is apparent from the moment they meet, is it true love or just the latest in a long line of roles she's taken on?
McGregor's involvement in the project was first reported last summer, but Winstead's casting was just announced this week as production on the show gets underway. This will make the third time the real-life pair have worked together, first on the third season of the FX drama Fargo and again on the DC superhero film Birds of Prey (though they don't share a lot of screen time in the latter.) The duo became romantically involved in 2017 and reportedly married last year.
The series' logline reads as follows.
In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Count Alexander Rostov finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol, threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family, and love.
A Gentleman in Moscow is written by showrunner and executive producer Ben Vanstone (All Creatures Great and Small) and will be directed by Sam Miller (Surface). It is the first project from eOne's first-look deal with Tom Harper's (Peaky Blinders) production company, Popcorn Storm Pictures, and Harper will also executive produce with Xavier Marchand (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris)
No premiere date has been set, other than the title being touted as part of Paramount+'s ambitious 150 international releases for 2023. The series will debut on Showtime in the U.S. and stream in conjunction on Paramount+ in additional markets around the world.
