THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 62 SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
Photographed by Diana King
D
irector Gabe
Polsky’s wife,
Justine, was
purging long-aban-
doned boxes from their
West Hollywood home
when she happened
upon one that looked
especially worthy of
the dumpster. The
box, sent to Polsky in
2014 by a fan of his
hockey doc, Red Army,
contained a trove
of letters, contracts
and photos related to
Russia’s once-domi-
nant Red Army hockey
team. But the cache,
which provided the
genesis of his latest
film, Red Penguins,
illustrated a less-than-
glorious chapter in the
squad’s history. Instead
of Olympic gold medal
podium shots, the
BEHIND THE
HUSTLE TO MAKE
HUSTLERS
RUSSIANS, HOCKEY
AND MICHAEL EISNER
Red Penguins tells the strange tale of how the
former Disney chair tried to create a Soviet version
of The Mighty Ducks BY TATIANA SIEGEL
Russia’s Red Army hockey
team became Pittsburgh’s
Russian Penguins.
Director Lorene Scafaria scrambled to find a new backer for her
female-led crime drama, but the real struggle was in preserving her
vision: ‘I was worried about turning it into a black-and-white story’
BY MIA GALUPPO
and its former chair-
man Michael Eisner
are part of Polsky’s
narrative.
In fact, Red
Penguins, which makes
its world premiere in
Toronto on Sept. 5,
offers a slice of history
that Eisner likely would
rather forget. As Red
Penguins recounts
through archival foot-
age and interviews
conducted in Moscow
and the U.S., Eisner
wanted to parlay the
Russian team into a
Mighty Ducks sequel
plotline. For his part,
Eisner denies “hav-
ing any relations
with the Russian
Penguins ice hockey
team,” according to
a statement in the
film. But documents
and pictures featured
in Red Penguins
would suggest some
involvement.
Eisner isn’t the only
seemingly out-of-place
figure in a sports doc.
Polsky tracked down
a criminal on Interpol’s
Most Wanted List and
a former KGB prosecu-
tor to fill in some of the
story’s blanks.
“After the third or
fourth interview, I knew
this was going to be
a really weird, special
and unique story that
no one has ever heard
about,” says Polsky,
whose parents emi-
grated from the Soviet
Union to the U.S. in
- “We see a lot of
stuff about Russia in
the media, but we don’t
really understand their
psychology. I think that
they are a lot like us
and care about very
similar things.”
archive chronicled the
bizarre period fol-
lowing the fall of the
Soviet Union when
the American owner
of the Pittsburgh
Penguins bought the
team and launched
the Russian Penguins.
Hyper-capitalism
met Soviet austerity,
with strippers and
live bears hitting the
ice while homicidal
Russian mobsters
roamed the stands
(and sometimes killed
players). Adding to the
strangeness, Disney
“Everybody has a certain
amount of hurdles before
the starting line. It’s sort
of a wonder that anyone
can even finish the race,”
says Lorene Scafaria,
photographed Aug. 18 at
Avenue in Los Angeles.
Styling by Annie Jagger
Roland Mouret suit