AN ORAL HISTORY OF ‘СЧАСТЛИВЫ ВМЕСТЕ,’ THE RUSSIAN REMAKE OF ‘MARRIED… WITH CHILDREN’

‘Married… with Children’ was way bigger in the Motherland than it ever was in America


https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/...-with-children


"He also needed to have an obvious sort of virility, and that’s a problem in Russia. I don’t know how much you know about Russian history, but there is a long history of war, starvation, gulags and also extreme problems with alcohol and mental illness. All of that and, statistically, there are less men than there are women in Russia. All this is getting a little better now, but it was still a big problem in the early 2000s. Back then, Moscow was plastered with ads for Viagra and signs that said, “Go see this doctor, he’ll help you get it up.” That’s the environment you’re casting in, so it’s difficult to find someone who looks healthy, but it’s also really important to find that person because you know that you’ll be successful in Russia if the guy on screen looks like he can actually get it up.
I think he’ll be embarrassed about this, but that was a big reason why he got the part. Fortunately, he was very funny, charismatic and talented, too."