The historical drama film The Birth of the Empire has arrived in Russian cinemas, dramatising the transformation of the Tsardom of Muscovy under young Tsar Peter the Great.
Alexander Gorbatov plays the young monarch alongside co-stars Milos Bikovic and Yulia Peresild in the wide-release feature, which debuted ahead of Russia's National Unity Day holiday, newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva reported.
The production reached cinema screens following a difficult five-year development cycle marked by major changes in casting and leadership. Director Alexey Nuzhny was originally attached to guide the project, and Bikovic was initially considered for the lead role of Peter before transitioning to play the tsar's closest confidant, Alexander Menshikov.
Director Andrey Kravchuk, whose previous credits include the epic films Viking and The Admiral, ultimately took over the production. Kravchuk had previously directed the docudrama Peter the Great: The Last Tsar, during which he consulted military historians and specialists in Petrine culture, religion, and everyday seventeenth-century life.
Historical timeline and battlefields
The film spans a critical era of Russian history, beginning with Peter's return from his diplomatic Grand Embassy to western Europe and culminating in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. The narrative follows the monarch through defining military trials, moving from the initial disaster at Narva to decisive victory over Swedish forces at Poltava.
Rather than dwelling inside royal palaces, which did not yet exist during the era, the story follows Peter across battlefields, muddy trenches, and military tents. The script details the heavy social cost of imperial modernization, including Peter's decision to melt church bells into bronze cannons and his confrontations with orthodox clergy.
The plot also navigates external warfare and domestic conspiracies. Peter faces Swedish King Charles XII and royal adviser Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld, alongside the treachery of Ukrainian Cossack Hetman Ivan Mazepa and widespread divisions across the military ranks.
Portraying Peter the Great across cinema history
Gorbatov, an actor with Moscow's Vakhtangov Theatre, stepped into a role shaped by a long tradition of Soviet and Russian screen legends. Early cinema saw Pyotr Voinov portray the monarch in the 1910 silent film Peter the Great, followed by Nikolai Simonov's acclaimed performance in the two-part 1937 and 1938 adaptation of Alexei Tolstoy's novel Peter the First.
Later decades produced distinctly varied interpretations. Alexei Petrenko brought a volatile charisma to director Alexander Mitta's 1976 comedy How Tsar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor, while Vladlen Davydov offered a lighthearted portrayal in the 1972 musical The Tobacco Captain. Dmitry Zolotukhin became a recurring Peter during the 1980s across The Youth of Peter, At the Beginning of Glorious Days, and the television serial Young Russia.
Other prominent actors have left their mark on the historical figure. Alexander Lazarev depicted Peter guiding Ural mining expansion in the film Demidovs, Nikolai Karachentsov starred in Svetlana Druzhinina's television series Secrets of Palace Revolutions, Alexander Baluev led the 2011 mini-series Peter the Great: The Testament, and Maxim Averin took up the crown in the 2021 drama Cathedral.
Alexander Gorbatov on crafting a human tsar
Gorbatov sought to avoid a simplistic folk-print caricature of the monarch, choosing instead to present an emotionally vulnerable man burdened by immense responsibility. Born in Zaporizhzhia to a father who served as a Soviet military officer, Gorbatov brought a distinct physical presence to the role. Kravchuk noted that Gorbatov's height of 198 centimetres, combined with his fierce internal energy and difficult temperament, made him ideal for capturing Peter's contradictory nature.
Filmmakers deliberately rejected heavy prosthetic makeup, relying on the actor's natural features paired with a period moustache and a subtle hairpiece accentuating his receding hairline. Gorbatov explained that he and Kravchuk knitted the character together like a heavy sweater using only the written script as their guide.
The production shows the young tsar digging earthworks and charging into combat alongside rank-and-file soldiers. Gorbatov admitted feeling intense personal anxiety during demanding scenes, including Peter's initial meeting with Marta Skavronskaya, the future Empress Catherine I. In those private moments, Peter abandons his royal posture, allowing Marta to soothe his nerves, while a quiet domestic scene during the flooding of Saint Petersburg shows the couple saving a small dog.
Milos Bikovic and the supporting cast
Bikovic portrays Alexander Menshikov as a quick-witted prankster who defuses tense encounters with humor while remaining vulnerable to worldly temptation. In one comedic sequence, Menshikov arrives before the tsar walking on his hands. Bikovic described Menshikov as a devoted hound who occasionally snaps at his master without crossing the boundary into genuine insubordination.
Menshikov's audacity takes center stage during the assault on the fortress of Oreshek, where he storms the fortifications and enters a cannon duel. Bikovic revealed that an allergy to horses forced him to take medication before filming equestrian scenes. Kravchuk observed that Bikovic's ironic composure provides an effective counterweight to Gorbatov's impulsive intensity.
The film's female leads offer contrasting influences on the tsar. Yulia Peresild portrays royal favourite Anna Mons as a cheerful seductress, while Ksenia Utekhina presents Marta Skavronskaya with an understated inner strength that provides Peter a refuge from state affairs.
The surrounding ensemble includes Alexey Guskov as sly courtier Boris Sheremetev, Sergei Garmash as Prince Romodanovsky, and Alexander Yatsenko as industrialist Nikita Demidov. Sergei Shakurov appears unrecognizable as Patriarch Adrian, Alexander Yatsko plays the turncoat Hetman Ivan Mazepa, and Italian actor Mate Kabe, who has Georgian roots, portrays King Charles XII.
Battle recreations, stunt work and visual effects
To capture the authentic scale of eighteenth-century warfare, Kravchuk inspected the historic site of Kulikovo Field before selecting filming locations in Tula Oblast. Crews assembled expansive practical sets across the Aleksinsky and Zaoksky districts, building period villages, redoubts, chapels, and Peter's field headquarters, alongside specialised sets that included a water tank for scenes depicting the siege of Narva.
Hundreds of historical reenactors participated in the combat sequences, though digital artists relied on computer graphics to multiply live formations into armies of tens of thousands. Stunt performers handled dangerous falls, sword fights, and cavalry charges. Bikovic offered to perform a risky 4.5-metre jump from a fortress wall himself, but stunt coordinator Alexander Stetsenko persuaded him to yield the leap to a professional double.
Kravchuk acknowledged that coordinating fragmented combat footage into a coherent narrative required extensive visual effects work. The film carries a 12-plus age rating and highlights the historical gulf between Russian and western European court mentalities, presenting an educational and patriotic examination of the price paid to establish an empire.
