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65-702: Matthews, a former member of the CIA, advised the production on the depiction of spying. Based on historic Soviet sexpionage and contemporary Russian use of kompromat , filming took place in Hungary , Slovakia and Austria . Red Sparrow premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. , on February 15, 2018, and was released in the United States on March 2, 2018. The film grossed $ 151 million worldwide, becoming

130-459: A distraction , incentive, cover story, or unintended part of any intelligence operation. In the Soviet Union , female agents assigned to use such tactics were referred to as swallows, while male ones were known as ravens. A commonly known type of sexpionage is a honey trap operation, which is designed to compromise an opponent sexually to elicit information from that person. Sexpionage

195-504: A guard dog by feeding it meat. Donald Duart Maclean was a British diplomat who spied for the Soviet Union mostly out of love for it, and he never received pay, although did get a KGB pension. However, to make sure that Maclean would not so easily double-cross the Soviets, they had Guy Burgess , another British homosexual spying for the Soviets, take photos of Maclean in bed with another man during an orgy . William John Vassall

260-644: A "tough and opinionated former naval officer and Member of Parliament who denounced the government of the day and the Foreign Office for softness in permitting Soviet and Iron Curtain diplomats to abuse their privileges for espionage purposes." The Commander spoke fluent Russian, and in 1961 he went to bed with his Intourist guide, Zinaida Grigorievna Volkova, who was in fact a regular KGB seductress, and KGB photographers captured their intimate activity. The KGB tried to blackmail Courtney into ending his Parliamentary tirades, though he refused; and they circulated

325-597: A KGB swallow or raven." Ghislaine Maxwell ’s father, Robert Maxwell , was engaged with both MI6 and the KGB. Ghislaine Maxwell was later alleged to have been involved with a group of young women who were, perhaps, over the UK age of consent, but who were under the age of consent in the USA. Coincidental or otherwise, the interaction between these facts and the timing of legal action against HRH Queen Elizabeth II's son Andrew very close to

390-641: A Moscow Sexpionage school. According to former CIA officer Jason Matthews , the Soviet Union had a sexpionage school called "State School 4" in Kazan , Tatarstan , southeast of Moscow, on the banks of the Volga river. The school trained female agents to be "swallows". This school was depicted in Matthews' 2013 novel Red Sparrow . In 2018, a film of the same name was adapted from it. Matthews believed

455-420: A Russian woman and presented him with the choice of either exposure or collaboration. Sir Geoffrey Harrison , British Ambassador to Moscow, was the target of a KGB blackmail attempt in 1968, when they placed an attractive maid named Galya in the diplomatic mission. Sir Geoffrey fell for the honey trap, and Galya told him that pictures had been taken and that he would be exposed unless he provided information to

520-439: A Spanish woman who was recruited by the CIA. In 1973, she persuaded him to supply the CIA with information. Around the end of 2010 and during 2011, it was disclosed in UK media that a number of undercover police officers had, as part of their 'false persona', entered into intimate relationships with members of targeted groups and in some cases proposed marriage or fathered children with protesters who were unaware their partner

585-455: A convoluted story." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times found the film to be "preposterously entertaining" and credited its success to Lawrence's performance, writing that "like all great stars, [Lawrence] can slip into

650-541: A divorcee who spoke French, and later Larisa Kronberg-Sobolevskaya , an actress. While Dejean was with Kronberg-Sobolevskaya, her pretend husband returned home, as staged, from a geological expedition in Siberia, and beat Dejean, but allowed him to leave upon Larisa's pleading. Dejean went to a Soviet friend, who unbeknownst to him worked for the KGB, to quiet the affair. The Soviets took no immediate action, but preferred to hold their operation as leverage just in case to keep

715-492: A dread of going to prison." Lawrence also studied ballet for four months. Kurt Froman of the New York City Ballet coached her, as she had never studied ballet before, and spent four hours with her each day for five days per week. American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Isabella Boylston acted as Lawrence's dance double. As a former member of the CIA, Matthews coached actor Joel Edgerton . Edgerton said it

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780-411: A modest box-office success, and received mixed reviews from critics, who described it as having "more style than substance" and criticized the film's long runtime and over-reliance on graphic violence and sex, although Lawrence's performance was praised. In modern-day Russia , beautiful Dominika Egorova is a famous ballerina who supports her ill mother. After her leg is badly broken in a concert, she

845-525: A national hero, and allow her to replace him as a mole passing intelligence to the CIA. When Dominika contacts her superiors, she frames Ivan as the mole instead, using evidence she had been fabricating since she first arrived in Hungary, and blaming him for the botched exchange in London. Ivan is killed during a prisoner exchange while Nate goes along with her plan to confirm the mole's identity, and Dominika

910-452: A near six-hour night burglary operation, Pack and Brousse let an OSS safecracker into the embassy to carry away the Vichy code books for photographing, and at one point Pack undressed to cover for the operation by deceiving a suspicious night guard. After the operation for the Vichy codes, Pack retired from espionage because she fell in love with Brousse. Commander Anthony Courtney was

975-565: A promiscuous lifestyle is not necessarily a professional raven. For example, Duško Popov was a double agent working for MI5 and feeding information to the Abwehr in World War II . He came from a moderately wealthy Yugoslavian family, and had a taste for expensive restaurants, women, and nightclubs. MI5 code-named him TRICYCLE because he was the head of a group of three double-agents. Despite being seen as an inspiration for James Bond , he

1040-412: A role as if sliding into another skin, unburdened by hesitation or self-doubt." IndieWire 's Eric Kohn, who graded the film a B, noted the performances of Lawrence and Rampling, stating that "the considerable talent on display is [the film's] constant saving grace." However, he also found that the film "doesn't know when to stop, sagging into bland torture scenes and an underwhelming final showdown." Giving

1105-520: Is a CIA operative working in Moscow. While meeting with a Russian mole code-named Marble in Gorky Park , they are confronted by the police. Nash creates a diversion to ensure his contact escapes unidentified. Nash is reassigned to the U.S. but insists he is the only person Marble will work with. Since he cannot return to Russia, he is assigned to Budapest to reestablish contact with Marble, which

1170-435: Is a historically documented phenomenon, though a book review published by a CIA publication in 2008 noted that the three English-language books about it suffered from errors of fact and lack of documentation. Discrimination and cultural attitudes toward homosexuals have pressured them into spying or not spying for a certain entity, sometimes with drastic consequences. For example, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman , former director of

1235-532: Is also suggested each of those characters was repeatedly targeted by overseas agencies with sexploitation. Examples, for James Bond, may include the (somewhat different to the film of the same name) text of Ian Fleming's 1957 novel, From Russia with Love (particularly, the character Tatiana Romanova ) and the 1995 movie (with no link to Ian Fleming's book), GoldenEye (particularly, the character Xenia Onatopp ). A 1987 espionage-themed American pornographic film featuring Dana Dylan, Rachel Ashley, and Britt Morgan

1300-517: Is approached by her uncle Ivan, the deputy director of the SVR . She is tasked with seducing Dimitry Ustinov, a Russian gangster , in exchange for her mother's continued medical care. Meeting at a bar, the two go to her private room, where Dimitry rapes her. During this, he is killed by Sergei Matorin, an SVR operative authorized by Ivan. Ivan offers Dominika a choice: become an SVR operative, or be executed for witnessing Ustinov's assassination. Nate Nash

1365-409: Is badly injured while doing so. She awakes in a hospital where Korchnoi reveals himself as Marble. He explains that he was patriotic, but became disillusioned when a bureaucrat he had once offended refused to allow an American doctor to operate on his sick wife. Korchnoi fears he will be caught soon so, instead of dying in vain, instructs Dominika to expose his identity to Ivan. Doing so would make her

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1430-456: Is brutally killed by the SVR for learning about Dominika's earlier incident with the gangster. Dominika is warned this will happen to her if she fails. She contacts Nash, agrees to become a double agent in exchange for protection for her and her mother, and has sex with him. Under Russian orders, Dominika travels to London with Volontov to meet Boucher and complete the trade, but covertly switches out

1495-446: Is executed, but Dominika's claims of innocence are eventually believed by Ivan. She is allowed to return to Budapest to continue her mission of extracting Marble's identity from Nash. Instead, she convinces Nash to relocate her and her mother to America. After spending the night with Nash, Dominika awakes to find him being tortured by Matorin for Marble's identity. She initially assists until Matorin lowers his guard and she kills him, but

1560-505: Is honored in a military ceremony after she returns to Russia. Back in Russia, Dominika lives with her mother, and receives a phone call from an unknown person who plays Grieg's piano concerto , which she had told Nash was the piece to which she danced her first solo performance. After Jason Matthews' book Red Sparrow was published in 2013, 20th Century Fox purchased the film rights, and signed Francis Lawrence to direct. Matthews said

1625-466: Is supervised by station chief Maxim Volontov. She makes contact with Nash, who quickly determines she is a Russian intelligence operative and attempts to convince her to defect . Dominika inspects Marta's room and finds she has been assigned to buy classified intelligence from Stephanie Boucher, chief of staff to a U.S. Senator . When Ivan pressures her about her slow progress with Nash, Dominika claims to be helping Marta with Boucher as well. Marta

1690-546: The Church Committee on November 1, 1975, stated: "The use of sex is a common practice among intelligence services all over the world. This is a tough, dirty business. We have used that technique against the Soviets. They have used it against us." Aleksandr Ogorodnik , Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' planning department, was codenamed TRIGON by the Central Intelligence Agency. He dated

1755-607: The NSA , decided to not fire openly gay employees in exchange for each employee's written promise not to give in to blackmail and that each gay employee would inform his family, eliminating any further potential for blackmail. This was a serious issue, as two NSA analysts defected to Moscow in 1960 following a purge of homosexuals from the agency. Yakov Agranov , deputy of the NKVD , known as one of main organizers of Soviet political repressions and Stalinist show trials in 1920s and 1930s,

1820-746: The Six-Day War , and fell in love with his fake "German" wife, who converted to Judaism . Lotz divorced his real wife, who was Israeli , for his partner. Most variations of the Black Widow in Marvel Comics are fictional characters depicted as swallows, deliberately based on the Russian program. James Bond is a fictional character depicted as a raven; his parodical counterpart Austin Powers also uses sexpionage to elicit information. It

1885-416: The iCloud leaks . However, she drew a distinction between the film and the leak based on her consent to the film, as opposed to the leak. Lawrence explained: "The insecurity and fear of being judged for getting nude, what I went through, should that dictate decisions I make for the rest of my life?" Matthews advised Lawrence that double agents from Russia feel "a dread of discovery, a dread of being arrested,

1950-550: The " Kursk Nightingale" before the Russian Civil War , found herself living without her former luxuries following the Bolshevik Revolution . The Cheka recruited Plevitskaya through her lust for money. "Traveling throughout the white-held areas, she entertained the troops at free concerts, at the same time ingratiating herself with anti-Bolshevik leaders who had long admired the 'Kursk Nightingale.' In

2015-517: The CIA and gather top-secret information. One popular Washington, D.C., swinger’s club frequented by the couple counted at least 10 CIA staffers and a United States senator as members. In 2018, Mendez told The New York Times that an American Marine stationed at the American embassy in Moscow was seduced by a swallow, and subsequently allowed Russian agents onto the property. Mendez said China and other countries also had such programs. In 1963,

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2080-477: The French ambassador within their sway. Similar KGB honey traps on Dejean's wife, Marie-Claire, were unsuccessful. President De Gaulle and the French found out about the affair from British intelligence , who in turn learned of it from Yuri Krotkov , a defector. Krotkov defected in 1963 after a French Air Force attaché, Colonel Louis Guibard, shot himself when the KGB showed him pictures they took of his affair with

2145-657: The German Enigma Ciphers . Later, in Czechoslovakia , she discovered the German plans to invade Czechoslovakia. After a colorless stint of boredom at a posting in Santiago , Chile , Pack separated from her husband and went to New York City in 1941, when William Stephenson , then an MI6 chief of station, contacted her and asked her to infiltrate embassies in Washington, D.C. Realizing her motivation

2210-568: The KGB. The scandal broke, but Sir Geoffrey had no action taken against him and he retired on full pension. Yuri Nosenko , a Soviet defector to the West, detailed the use of a honey trap when the KGB launched a night operation to raid the Swedish Embassy in Moscow with a twelve-strong crew of safe-pickers and break-in experts. According to Nosenko, a female KGB seductress lured away the embassy's night watchman, and another agent distracted

2275-521: The Kazan school has been closed, but that Russia now uses independent contractors as honey traps . Matthews has said, "If a human target with access to classified information went to Moscow [today], he’d probably see a modern-day Swallow at one of the bars of the five-star hotels in Moscow." In a 2015 lecture, former CIA officer Jonna Mendez explained how Czechoslovakian husband and wife KGB spies Karl and Hana Koecher used sex to infiltrate

2340-606: The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee (and to the death of her husband, HRH Prince Philip) largely remains subject to significant debate. Spies for East Germany were called "Romeos" created by Markus Wolf , the former head of East Germany's foreign intelligence service the Stasi . Around 40 women were prosecuted for espionage in the Federal Republic of Germany . Nadezhda Plevitskaya , a former opera singer known as

2405-681: The SVR also deduce. Dominika is sent to State School 4, a brutal specialist training school for "Sparrows"—operatives capable of seducing their targets with sexpionage . She excels in her training, despite some friction with her trainer, 'the Matron'. Against Matron's recommendation, Ivan and General Vladimir Korchnoi, a high-ranking official, decide that Dominika is ready for an assignment in Budapest—to gain Nash's trust and expose Marble's identity. In Budapest, Dominika lives with fellow "sparrow" Marta, and

2470-492: The United Kingdom on March 1, 2018. Red Sparrow was released on digital streaming platforms on May 15, 2018. It was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on May 22, 2018. Red Sparrow grossed $ 46.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $ 104.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $ 151.5 million, against a production budget of $ 69 million. In the United States and Canada, Red Sparrow

2535-515: The accuracy of the depiction of espionage. He had the Gorky Park scene rewritten to depict espionage methods more accurately. Francis Lawrence presented the screenplay to Jennifer Lawrence, who accepted the part. She stated she admired the character and his direction, with her sole point of hesitation being the "really sexual" nature of the character. They met to discuss the nude scenes . In 2014, Jennifer Lawrence had private nude photos stolen in

2600-410: The existence of such training schools". As of 2018, director Francis Lawrence has expressed interest in a sequel based on either Palace of Treason or The Kremlin's Candidate . Sexpionage Sexpionage is the involvement of sexual activity (or the possibility of sexual activity ), intimacy , romance , or seduction to conduct espionage . Sex, or the possibility of sex, can function as

2665-403: The film a B−, The A.V. Club ' s Jesse Hassenger noted its methodical nature, with its minimal action and character exploration, and remarked that Francis Lawrence "brings to this material what he brought to The Hunger Games : a sense of style that feels constrained by obligations to hit a certain number of plot points." Alonso Duralde of TheWrap criticized the derivative story and

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2730-421: The film to be sexist, writing that "it busies itself with the grim surface pleasures of ogling its central character as she is degraded in every way possible." Emily Gaudette of Newsweek called the film a "sadistic torture porn" and went on to ask "how many naked women need to be assaulted in a film before a director has made his point? ... for Francis Lawrence, the answer is a pile so big it's impossible to tell

2795-473: The idea of "sparrows" and a "sparrow school" was based on State School 4 in the Soviet Union, though Russian "sexpionage" is now done by women contracted outside of spy agencies. The Russian concept of kompromat was also influential. Francis worked on adapting Matthews' book in 2015, and has said that at the time, he had reservations about the timelines of a Cold War story. Screenwriter Justin Haythe reduced

2860-533: The idea of recreating the " Holy Russia ", a mythical land that existed before the time of the Tsars , saw Plevitskaya refuse a blindfold before her execution. Motivated by her beauty and courage, Skoblin rode up, ordered the firing squad not to fire, and released her in his custody. Then the Cheka used Plevitskaya to recruit Skoblin, and both got married (with Nadezhda's then-husband understandingly serving as best man in

2925-486: The intelligence she supplies with CIA-supplied disinformation. After the meeting, Boucher realizes that she is being observed by American intelligence agents, panics, then backs into traffic and is killed. Russian agents observing her realize their mission has been compromised. Suspected of tipping off the Americans, Dominika and Volontov are recalled to Moscow where they are tortured and interrogated for days. Volontov

2990-666: The lack of chemistry between Lawrence and Edgerton, calling the film "neither intelligent enough to be involving nor fun enough to be trashy." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars and said, "Half of the Red Sparrow audience will spend at least part of the running time fighting off memories of Salt and Atomic Blonde and the Black Widow storyline from The Avengers . The other half, meantime, will wonder when spy movies became quite so punishing." Simran Hans of The Guardian found

3055-470: The number of narrators and shifting perspectives in the novel, concentrating on Dominika. Russian President Vladimir Putin , who appears in the novel, was also cut from the adaptation, due to Francis Lawrence's belief that it would be a distraction to have an actor play the highly public figure. Matthews, who said he based his book on his experiences in the CIA , was also hired as technical advisor, to supervise

3120-474: The opportunity to view a cut of the film ahead of the studio and producers, so that she might request the deletion of any nude or sexual scenes. She declined to request any deletions. However, the film was edited for the United Kingdom release to remove a garroting and secure a 15 certificate from the British Board of Film Classification . For the soundtrack, the 1868 Piano Concerto by Edvard Grieg

3185-464: The pictures to other members of Parliament and business associates. Furthermore, Private Eye , a London satirical journal, obtained the photos and published them. Courtney lost his seat in the following election. Maurice Dejean , the former French ambassador to the Soviet Union, was an old friend with close connections to President De Gaulle , who had a fondness for women. The KGB took advantage of this and set up Dejean first with Lydia Khovanskaya,

3250-504: The playwright and screenwriter Yuri Krotkov defected to the West. He revealed that he had been told by the KGB to seek out attractive young women who could be used to seduce men. He would recruit actresses while doing film work, promising better film roles, money and clothes. Trapped targets during the Soviet Union period included: The Washington Post reported in 1987 that "most westerners who have spent any length of time in Moscow have their favorite tale of an attempted seduction by

3315-465: The process, she began to collect interesting intelligence tidbits from some of the more indiscreet Whites (including those she slept with to pry even more information)." However, Plevitskaya was captured by the Whites after intercepting some of her messages to the Cheka and ordered to be executed by firing squad . Nikolai Skoblin , then a young White cavalry officer and a megalomaniac obsessed with

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3380-419: The victims apart." The estimation reported by Russian publications was lower than the global average. According to Megacritic, the average score was 4.7 out of 10 based on more than 30 reviews. According to The Daily Telegraph , "The espionage historian Nigel West — whose Historical Dictionary of Sexspionage (Scarecrow Press) was originally written as a handbook for the intelligence community — questions

3445-709: The wedding) and moved to Paris, working for the Cheka among the Russian Exile Movement. Amy Thorpe Pack was an American who married a senior British diplomat and began extramarital affairs upon finding her marriage passionless. She volunteered her services to MI6 while living with her husband in Warsaw in 1937. In Warsaw, she seduced a Polish Foreign Ministry Official eliciting from him Poland's plans regarding how to deal with Hitler and Stalin . Following this, she learned from another Polish official that some Polish mathematicians had started cracking

3510-557: Was a lust for danger and excitement, Stephenson gave her the code name Cynthia, after a long-lost love. Pack then seduced the chief of station for Italian military intelligence and acquired the Italian navy cipher. Beginning in early 1942, Pack posed as a pro-Vichy journalist and got Charles Brousse, the Vichy French embassy's press attaché and a Vichy politician, to fall in love with her and agree to work as an OSS asset. In

3575-437: Was a police officer in a role as part of their official duties. In the majority of publicly reported cases these police officers were male "ravens". Beginning with his time as a Dublin, California, city councilor, Eric Swalwell was targeted by a Chinese woman believed to be a clandestine officer of China 's Ministry of State Security . The FBI gave Swalwell a "defensive briefing" in 2015, informing him that Christine Fang

3640-491: Was a suspected Chinese agent . She also engaged with two midwestern city mayors in relationships which were of either a sexual or romantic nature. In the media, Swalwell's general relationship with Fang has been characterized as problematic, particularly given the high-profile role that he occupied – a member of the House Intelligence Committee – within the intelligence community. A male spy with

3705-520: Was an openly gay man who boasted that men said he had "come to bed eyes", and in 1954, as a clerk in the office of the British naval attaché, Vassall went to Moscow. A Polish clerk from the embassy brought Vassall to a party with much alcohol, and he became involved in homosexual activity. Soon, Vassall had been blackmailed and was stealing classified information for the Soviets. Former Assistant FBI Director William C. Sullivan , in testimony before

3770-640: Was difficult to consider having "an interpersonal dating-style relationship ... [and] That fact that you would have to report any of those kinds of interactions with your bosses." Matthias Schoenaerts and Jeremy Irons joined the cast by December 2016. Principal photography started in Budapest and Dunaújváros in Hungary on January 5, 2017. Other filming locations include Festetics Mansion in Dég , Hungary; Bratislava , Slovakia and Vienna , Austria. In post-production , Francis Lawrence offered Jennifer Lawrence

3835-503: Was not a raven, but instead used supposed commercial connections to feed faked intelligence to the Nazis. An instance of sex or intimacy which can happen during espionage is when an agent falls for his or her partner. In one example, an Israeli "champagne spy", Wolfgang Lotz , who pretended to be a former Afrika Corps vet, covered himself deep in German social circles in Egypt prior to

3900-442: Was released alongside Death Wish , and was projected to gross $ 20–24 million from 3,056 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $ 6 million on its first day (including $ 1.2 million from Thursday night previews) and $ 17 million over the weekend, finishing second, behind holdover Black Panther . Deadline Hollywood noted the opening was underwhelming given the film's $ 69 million budget, and that Lawrence's salary of $ 15–20 million

3965-591: Was responsible for sex spy operations among creative-class intelligentsia. He used Bolshoi ballerinas, as well as cinema and theater actresses. Agranov created a school named the Lenin Technical School (Ленинская техническая школа). The school was opened in 1931 by Vyacheslav Menzhinsky , who was the head of the Joint State Political Directorate . According to legend, Richard Sorge and Nikolai Kuznetsov studied at

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4030-530: Was seen as a less competitive one. The studio's adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express was moved into Red Sparrow ' s November slot. The first trailer for the film was released on September 14, 2017. The film premiered on February 15, 2018, at the Newseum , and began a U.S. theatrical release on March 2. Red Sparrow screened at FEST in Belgrade on February 28, 2018. It was released in

4095-513: Was titled "Sexpionage". In the 2014 film The Interview , use of a swallow is somewhat colloquially referred to as "honeypotting", and use of a raven is referred to as "honeydicking". The 2018 film Red Sparrow shows a modern version of sexpionage. The 2021 Indian action espionage thriller streaming television series Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story shows honey trapping by trained and contract based swallows. Piano Concerto (Grieg) Too Many Requests If you report this error to

4160-590: Was too much to spend on one star. It fell 51% in its second weekend to $ 8.15 million, finishing fourth. In the United Kingdom, the film was second at the box office in its opening weekend after Black Panther , and went on to gross £6.4 million. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 45%, based on 300 reviews, and an average rating of 5.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, " Red Sparrow aims for smart, sexy spy thriller territory, but Jennifer Lawrence's committed performance isn't enough to compensate for thin characters and

4225-541: Was used. James Newton Howard wrote the score , recorded in October 2017, citing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 's Requiem and Igor Stravinsky 's The Firebird as influences. He commenced work before seeing a cut of the film. The film was originally scheduled to be released by 20th Century Fox on November 10, 2017, but in April 2017 it was announced that the film's release would be pushed back to March 2, 2018, because it

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