Director and producer John David Coles, who participated in the filming of House of Cards, Sex and the City, and Sinners, will be working on a multi-part project on the October Revolution in Russia. It is reported by Deadline.

The series, related to the genre of noir thriller, was called "Emerald Eye". The plot is based on a cycle of seven novels under the general title “Inspector Pekkala” by Paul Watkins (when working on these books, the writer performed under the name Sam Eastland). The cycle was translated into 22 languages ​​and sold with a total circulation of more than a million copies.

The main character, Arno Pekkala, is a brilliant secret agent, serving in the service of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II personally. According to the plot of the series, the monarch sends the agent to his homeland, in Finland, where he has to carry out sabotage inside the cell of the Bolsheviks.

The screenwriter of the project Tom Williams (“How to Marry a Billionaire”, “Kajaki: A True Story”) emphasized the significance of the 1917 revolution in the context of world history and noted that such events should be told:

“ The series“ Emerald Eye ”will offer a look at our time through the prism of the events of the greatest revolution in history. This plot - in equal proportions combining elements of a genre thriller with a well-developed world, character analysis and a chic visual presentation - needs to be told as soon as possible, ”he said.

Finns Markku Flink and Pauli Pentti are announced as producers of the new project. The filming process will take place under the auspices of three studios: this is the British Clipper Media, the Finnish Luminoir, where Flink and Pentti work (by the way, this is the company's first work in English), as well as Talking Wall Pictures, led by John David Coles.

Clipper Media specializes in international projects: the company's assets include tapes for German, Swedish and, above all, Chinese media markets.

One of Coles' most famous works remains the political thriller Card House, released in 2013-2018 on the Netflix platform.

The plot of the "House" is built around the story of Frank Andrerwood - the US Congressman, who, together with his equally ambitious wife Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), is fighting for power in the highest political circles of the country.

In 2018, the already popular “House of Cards” didn’t leave the media because of a sex scandal involving leading actor Kevin Spacey. Before the start of the final season, Netflix management decided to remove the actor from the project, killing his character.

Historical perspectives

Although the series and books describe the same hero, Eastland's works cover the later period of Pekkala's life. So, the very first book in the series describes the events of the late 1920s.

  • Writer Sam Eastland (real name - Paul Watkins)
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © David Levenson

The main character from prison is summoned to Stalin - the general secretary offers Pekkale freedom in exchange for help. The agent must track down the people who killed the imperial family and find royal treasures. The narrative is also seasoned with a love line.

In other books in the series, the adventures of the Eastland hero unfold against the backdrop of World War II and World War II.

Nevertheless, as is often the case in American tradition, the writer presents the facts in a very free interpretation.

Eastland emphasized that it was important for him to create the image of a foreigner whom the emperor would trust more than his compatriots from his inner circle.

The writer explains the Finnish origin of the character, firstly, by political ties: before the revolution, Finland was part of the Russian Empire for more than a century. Secondly, it seems to the author, the Finns seemed mysterious Russian people, endowed with almost superpowers - at least, Eastland believes, this impression should have developed from the neighbors due to Finnish mythology.

Thus, the future series has several different options for implementation, depending on how the authors of the on-screen version convert Eastland's texts: from the so-called “cranberry” on a pseudo-historical background with a superhero in the center of the story to a gloomy bondian with Russian coloring that is exotic for the Western viewer.