Red Serpent (2003)

A powerful drug cartel in Moscow wants to use American businessman Steve Nichols in a smuggling scheme and ensures his cooperation by kidnapping his daughter. So Nichols solicits the help of a former KGB agent.

Director:

Gino Tanasescu

Writers:

Drew Fleming, Alex Kustanovich (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael Paré, Roy Scheider, Oleg Taktarov

Cast

Credited cast:
Michael Paré	...	Steve Nichols
Roy Scheider	...	Hassan
Oleg Taktarov	...	Sergei
Irina Apeksimova	...	Sasha
John Mastando	...	Dylan Navarre
Alexander Nevsky	...	Peter aka Terminator
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ignat Akrachkov	...	Agney
Anna Artsibashewa	...	Kate Nichols
Alia Avdeyeva	...	Club dancer #1
Olga Dubarova	...	Club dancer #3
Yuriy Dumchev	...	Shifty
Ekaterina Goltyapina	...	Maria Popova
Georgiana Grasu	...	Los Angeles Pool Girl
Nicolas Grasu	...	Hawaiian dude
Yuriy Grinin	...	Shifty gang

Storyline

An American businessman is coming to Moscow to conclude a contract. Little he knows that this will be just a cover for a drug-trafficking operation, where the drug supplier - "Red Serpent" doesn't take no for an answer. It seems that the situation is hopeless, however, the Red Serpent has an enemy in Sergey Popov, a former FSB agent with a vendetta of his own.

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Plot Keywords:

cia central intelligence agency | moscow russia | secret agent | kidnapping | kgb | 

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Taglines:

You Never Know When He'll Strike.

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Genres:

Adventure | Action

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and some sexuality

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in BadComedian: Red Serpent (Nevsky. The Beginning) (2017)

User Reviews

A partial mea culpa.

I did get paid to script-doctor "Red Serpent." It "starred" Roy Scheider (before he died; although that could've been optional I think). They flew him into Moscow for two days and had him read lines off a cue card into a cell phone in front of the Kremlin.

Then I got a call to script-doctor the project. My assignment: "We don't want this to be too 'Russian.'" Notice I'm not in the credits. As a Script Doctor, that's not how it works usually. It's a day-job with no credits or residuals. (Damn! If I got residuals I could probably SuperSize at McDonald's some day!) But it was worse -- 2 hours worse -- before I got it.

Half of it had been shot (all of the Scheider scenes and most of the action stuff). I contributed to pasting the existing stuff into something vaguely coherent. I was not entirely successful in that enterprise.

Plot holes! I scoff at plot holes! They gave me plot canyons! 'Cause y'know, an hour of Roy Scheider talking into a cell phone with the Kremlin looming in the background and everyone else in the cast (except for Michael Pare) reading their lines phonetically with heavy Russian accents... it's one of my prouder moments and actually paid the rent for most of a year.

And you shoulda seen some of the pages that didn't make the final cut! I tell ya, it had a chance to be really really.... not awful.

Not really.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Russia Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 September 2003 (Argentina)

Also Known As:

Red serpent

Filming Locations:

Moscow, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kremlin Films, Rex Media

Technical Specs

Color:

Color