The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was a pivotal time in Russia’s history and its aftermath even more so. Based on the 2016 novel A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles, screenwriter Ben Vanstone (All Creatures Great And Small) adapted the rich novel which follows Count Alexander Rostov (Ewan McGregor) who’s under house arrest at the luxurious Metropol Hotel for crimes against society. Vanstone spoke with Creative Screenwriting Magazine about translating this tumultuous time in Russian history into a television series.

“It’s the character of the Count, the unique setup, as well as the world in which we’re plunged into, and this extraordinary character’s sense of humanity when he’s had everything taken away from him and finds a new life,” recalls Vanstone of his initial attraction to the novel.

The novel came to Vanstone during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, so the idea of being trapped inside a building especially resonated with him.

Meet Count Alexander Rostov

Rostov has come from aristocracy and has shifted status from having a huge influence in the government’s inner circle to having no power whatsoever. We meet him after being arrested for being a “social parasite” and paradoxically forced to live in the luxurious Hotel Metropol Moscow after being spared immediate execution.

“The state’s reorganizing people from the old order who are being eliminated from government. That’s what brings a target on Rostov’s back, and at this stage he doesn’t know if he’s going to survive or not when he’s brought in front of the trial,” continues Vanstone.

There is deep irony in Rostov’s story because the man whose freedoms are taken away from him is gifted a new life. “He has a family and a joy that he never would have had he not been locked up in the hotel.”

Despite his gilded privilege, “Rostov is a man with integrity and compassion. I think what he discovers is when you strip all of that away you reveal a person’s humanity; his essential self.”

L-R Billie Gadsdon as Sofia and Ewan McGregor as Count Rostov in a Gentleman in Moscow episode 5, streaming on Paramount+ 2024. Photo Credit: Ben Blackall/Paramount+ With Showtime

The uprising of the have-nots against the ruling class has eerie parallels in the current political climate. “I think that this story is not just about what’s going on in Russia at the moment, in terms of the current cycle of authoritarian regime they have, but also in politics around the world in terms of how truth matters less now than it did before. We are in many ways grappling with the idea of our leaders and rulers creating false worlds for us to believe in.”

Writing Process

Ben Vanstone was cognizant of staying as close to the novel as he could which leapfrogged across time periods beginning with Rostov’s arrest. “My very first decision was to keep a sense of a non-linear structure, and also keeping the jumps in time between the episodes, and not feeling the need to make it feel that we’re picking up exactly from the end of a previous episode. Once I had that it was about ordering and marshalling those events from each time frame into a cohesive episode. We would always try and tell a story of the week within an episode as well as serving the ongoing wider narrative,” he adds.

Vanstone also chose to break out of the mold of telling his television story mainly through Rostov’s eyes as is the case in the book. He also wanted to explore other characters  in the novel and draw out the expanse of their lives in the TV series such as Anna Urbanova (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Osip Glebnikov (Johnny Harris). The girls Nina (Alexa Goodall) later Sofia (Billie Gadsdon) form an emotional heartbeat for the characters in the series.

“Once you got that skeleton of the the broad arcs of those characters, it was about taking those events and marshalling them into single episodes within the time frame.”

Ben Vanstone listened to the audio book many times to get a firm grasp of the story.

A Gentleman In Moscow could have been many things – a soap opera inside a luxury hotel or a drama of political turmoil. Vanstone didn’t stick a rigid schematic to tell his version of the story so long as Count Rostov and his journey remained at the heart of each episode.

Ben Vanstone

There’s also such a mix of tones – happiness, sadness, fear, and joy. The writer didn’t tackle every task during the outlining stage. Instead, he figured things out during the drafts.

Curiously, Ben Vanstone didn’t set out to write an ostensible political thriller set after the Bolshevik revolution. “I wrote about our combined humanity and compassion. There’s also a story about fatherhood, family, and friendship.”

“And fate as well. I think that the idea that we don’t always get the life that we want, but maybe we get the life that we need, was an important strand for me. I think redemption of Osip, and obviously the Count, were also important. There’s also something about the story of the Black Apple which I found really profound.”

Given the choice, would you start life again? Would you relive your life or just accept it for what it is rather than trying to have the perfect life?

Vanstone states that everything he writes has a mix of emotions and tones. “I think you can’t have real happiness without sadness. You can’t have laughter without fear. So, whenever I write, I try and make sure there’s that balance and mix. I’m trying to also try not to make things too saccharine. I want to come and make sure you undercut things as well.”

He also notes some absurdist and slapstick moments in the series as well as genuine moments of terror.

The world inside the Metropol contrasts sharply against the brutal realities of the Stalinist world outside which regularly included famine and murder.

“It’s both set in the physical worlds inside and outside. The world inside is almost a fairy tale existence. It’s like a little bubble in the centre of Russia that’s entirely of its own world, separate from everything that’s going on outside. History and the events that are unfolding in Russia come into the hotel, and we experience snatches of what’s going on outside from within.”

Vanstone wanted to capture the brutality of Stalinist regime. “People were dragged out of their houses, shot and murdered. Bodies piled up in the street and there were mass graves in the name of social progress.” Corrupted politics and ideologies created an authoritarian regime.

Ben Vanstone doesn’t know exactly what stimulates his creative process. “It’s in my gut. It’s not something I can particularly intellectualize. I really look at myself from the outside, but I feel like it’s heart. I feel like it’s emotion.”

“I feel that in all the stories that I’ve told, there’s warmth and soul to them, rather than necessarily being plot or genre-driven.”

His actual writing process is more methodical. “I honestly think that 90% of it is graft. I write a lot and I’ve got very strict page counts to meet. So your focus more on the process. I’ve found that I work best with a really strict nine-to-five, seven pages a day rule. Then I stop. I need to build those routines and trust those processes, rather than think too much about the end game.“