Pussy Riot Goes Hollywood! ‘Independence Day’ Director Throws Bash For Russian Protesters
Pussy Riot, the Russian punk-protest-anti-Putin collective, rolled into Hollywood Sunday — or at least, the group’s two most visible members did — where they were guests of honor at a celebrity-filled soireé hosted by popcorn flick director Roland Emmerich. The Pussy Riot pair, Maria Alyokhina, 25, and Nadya Tolokonnikova, 24, were swinging through Los Angeles to raise funds for their new activist group dedicated to the rights of prisoners, Zona Prava.
But naturally, while in L.A., they also “took meetings.” Because that’s what you do in Hollywood.
Reportedly, several film producers are exploring the possibility of turning the Pussy Riot story into a major motion picture. While the two women of Pussy Riot went through the usual snaps with celebs, including Jim Carrey and Jeff Goldblum, appearing generally unimpressed, they say that the possibility of selling their story to Hollywood is indeed on the table.
“We’re thinking about those things, but we don’t have any concrete plans yet,” said Pyotr Verzilov, who is both Tolokonnikova’s husband and the acting spokesperson for the two Pussy Riot members.
But according to The Hollywood Reporter, TriStar Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman spent at least 10 minutes talking about the possibility of a Pussy Riot film and even told Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova, “I should make a movie about you two.”
TriStar is a division of Sony Pictures.
Emmerich, 58, perhaps best known as director of the 1996 alien-invasion blockbuster Independence Day, hosted the star-studded bash for Pussy Riot at the West Hollywood eatery Acabar, which he owns.
But even though Emmerich is best known for over-the-top action movies — his other works include 2013’s White House Down, and the 1998 Americanized remake of Godzilla — he has recently focused his lens on more serious, topical subject matter. Emmerich, who is gay and has long been public about his orientation, is currently developing a film dramatizing the 1969 Stonewall riots, generally considered the start of the gay rights movement.
Emmerich himself donated $100,000 to the Pussy Riot prisoners-rights cause, and expressed his admiration for the group’s unrelenting stance against the government of Vladimir Putin.
“Putin is the most dangerous man in the world. He just sacked another country,” said the director of Eight-Legged Freaks.
Earlier in the week, the two Pussy Riot members met with another celebrity of sorts, Hillary Clinton, who may become the next President of the United States if she runs as expected in the 2016 election.
A photo of Clinton with Pussy Riot became a viral sensation with over 9,200 retweets.
Image: Eric Charbonneau
