The Nureyev Valentino

Rudolph Valentino, Hollywood's legendary Great Lover, died in August 1926; fifty years later, in August 1976, Hollywood began to bring the legend back to life. A new Valentino rode out in front of the cameras. The portrayer of screen heroes himself became a screen nero - in a film which bears his name. Its star is Rudolf Nureyev, its director Ken Russell -two personalities known for their prodigious but idiosyncratic talents. This book describes the five-month encounter between the two men and portrays the remarkable film which resulted. It tells the story of its creation, from the first days in the office of a producer in Los Angeles, to the last shots in a studio outside London. Alexander Bland has talked to all the major figures involved in the multi-million dollar operation and describes the preliminary preparations - the overall budgeting, the casting, the set and costume designing; the atmosphere in the studio during shooting; and the problems posed by location filming - such as turning a gorilla cage in a Barcelona zoo into a set, burying 40 foot palm trees in concrete to withstand high winds and finding hairdressers to give a twenties haircut to 600 extras. He examines the