Voice trainers across the film and TV industry are seeing a surge in demand for bad Russian accents in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine has sent studios and streamers worldwide scrambling to re-write scripts, replacing generic evil-doers with clearly Russian baddies. But a fear that accurate accents could lead to Russians being viewed humanely has led to a deluge of calls from actors to dialog coaches demanding lessons in generic, Cold War-era Ruskie voice-overs. 

“Most have to unlearn everything they’ve been taught, about proper grammar and accurate pronunciation,” says a teacher at the Rocky Bullwinkle school of sound design, which specializes in traditional Slavic vocalization. “It’s a huge challenge. We call it acting without a Nyet.” 

But a sharp decline in Russian cinematic baddies since the 1990s has decimated the industry —”we used to be able to run the school on Bond films alone,” she notes —leaving few voice coaches left with the proper training required to meet the new demand.

But she remains hopeful, noting that Hollywood used to lead the world in generic Russian accents performed by non-Russians and can draw on that tradition. “Sean Connery in The Hunt For Red October is obviously a high-water mark,” she says, nostalgically. “But Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago [in Rocky IV] is a personal favorite. Just hearing him say ‘I must break you’ gives me a warm erotic thrill.” 

Here’s something explosive. We’re hearing that Michael Caine is set to continue his long-running collaborative streak with Christopher Nolan, having become the latest top talent to join the cast of the director’s next film, Oppenheimer.

While nothing has been officially confirmed, sources tell B&A that Caine won’t appear in the movie, telling the uplifting and inspiring story of J Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the team behind the Manhattan Project during WWII, but will lend his distinct vocals as the voice of the world’s first ever atom bomb.

Universal, which is distributing the film worldwide, had no comment.

Caine joins a starry cast that so far includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Vin Diesel, Gina Carano, Adam Sandler, John Travolta, Steve Guttenberg, Gary Busey, Lindsay Lohan, John Cena, Chevy Chase, Tom Brady, Tara Reid, Jack Black and Cillian Murphy, who will play Oppenheimer.