Last evening, the comedy “The Crazy Empress” was premiered at the Aurora cinema in St. Petersburg. Irina Pegova played one of the lead roles, the great Empress Catherine II, who, by the scriptwriters’ design, was transported to the present day. And at the premiere, she was the star, jokingly addressed exclusively as “Your Majesty” and dropped to one knee. The actress was embarrassed, so after posing for photographers, she quickly gave way on the red carpet to her young colleague, Fyodor Gamaleya. In the film, the 35-year-old actor played a driver with the not-so-coincidental surname Potemkin.
Introducing the film on stage, the film’s producer, Nikita Vladimirov, couldn’t resist making a joke about the age difference between the on-screen lovers. After all, 47-year-old Pegova is currently in the midst of a similar romance. Actor Sergei Marin, with whom the star went public with her relationship this summer, is 10 years younger than Irina.
He only addresses me formally. It’s all thanks to you, – Pegova joked, addressing the creators of the film.

Irina added that the screening of “The Mad Empress” at the Aurora is doubly exciting for her. Many years ago, the actress’s first premiere took place here.
It was the film “Walk”. This first film was shown right here, in this cinema. Now I am standing on this stage for the second time in my life. And now I know exactly what wish I’ll make for New Year’s and all the winter holidays. I’ll definitely wish to be in the palace during Catherine’s time, with a flash drive and a laptop in my hands. I’ll definitely show this film to Catherine. And when she sees it, I’ll say, “Either my head off my shoulders, or I’ll have mercy.” Let’s hope that I will be alive after the New Year.




