Instead, actress Elena Bond was cast to play the role. While ethnic Armenian
Alen Melik-Grigoryan played Georgia's president Saakashvili.
Ukraine and Georgia have both protested against Mitrofanov's project, and
Ukrainian media has spread a rumor that a gay porn film featuring look-alikes
of Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Ukrainian PM Viktor Yanukovich
is being made as a result.
Mitrofanov dismissed all the criticism as groundless. He told the media that
'Yulia' is a film that will take foreign relations to new heights - literally
and figuratively. "Political erotics are a new genre that I have discovered,"
he said. "The film is about politics. It makes a political statement, they
don't just [have sex]."
 
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia
Timoshenko, left, and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili who have
been spoofed in the porn movie. |
"Is the film 'The Interpreter' propaganda or big cinema?" Mitrofanov asks. "Is
the film JFK propaganda or big cinema? Why is it that in America these films
are considered big cinema but films like this in Russia are considered
propaganda? This is big cinema and I am a great master."
While pornography may be a cottage industry for Russia, many remain
unconvinced. Mr Mitrofanov faces an uphill battle for acceptance in the
artistic pornography arena, not to mention the media and governance circles
that seem to rule this Central Asian Region and find such productions
objectionable.
