Behind the Story: A Gentleman in Moscow

We’re going behind the story to learn a little more about Amor Towles’ novel and the limited series streaming now!

Photo Courtesy of Parmount+

I’m not going to lie: when I found out that Paramount+ was releasing a limited series version of “A Gentleman in Moscow” starring Ewan McGregor, I wasted no time signing up for the streaming service. While I haven’t finished the series yet, I loved the Amor Towles’ novel it’s based on. 

A Gentleman in Moscow is the story of Count Alexander Rostov, a Russian aristocrat who finds himself living under house arrest at the Hotel Metropol, a luxury hotel in Moscow, for more than 30 years. Despite the sentence, Rostov lives a full life within the walls of the hotel over the decades, showcasing the beauty and power of an unbreakable spirit. 

So, we’re going behind the story to learn a little more about Amor Towles’ novel, where he got the idea for Count Alexander Rostov (the titular character) and how the limited series came to be. 

Where did the idea for A Gentleman in Moscow come from? 

Amor Towles previously worked in the investment industry and traveled extensively for his job, often spending weeks at a time holed away in hotels all over the world as he met with clients. For a period of time, he traveled to Geneva on a yearly basis, always staying in the same hotel, and upon returning to it in 2009, he noticed some of the same people he’d met there before lingering in the lobby. “It was as if they had never left,” Towles recalled in a Q&A on his website. “Upstairs in my room, I began playing with the idea of a novel in which a man is stuck in a grand hotel. Thinking that he should be there by force, rather than by choice, my mind immediately leapt to Russia—where house arrest has existed since the time of the Tsars.” 

In the next few days, Towles sketched out a rough outline of the novel, which he fine tuned over the next few years. In 2013, he retired from his day job and started writing the novel, which released in 2016. 

What was Towles’ approach to creating the character of Count Rostov? 

For Towles, creating the titular character of his novel was a little like getting to know a new friend. As he started writing the novel, Towles would place the character in situations to test how he’d navigate them, and each new circumstance helped to form the character that became Count Rostov. “I don't know much about him when I start, other than there's going to be an aristocrat in a hotel," the author said in a USA Today interview about the book. “[The situations] start with something small, and then you do a lot of what-iffing. You see them in a whole new circumstance, and then you revise your opinion.”

How did the limited series come about? 

The small screen version of “A Gentleman in Moscow” began streaming on Showtime and Paramount+ on March 29, with a new episode releasing each week. The entire series is now available to stream. Ben Vanstone of PBS’ “All Creatures Great and Small” served as the writer and showrunner for the adaptation, with Ewan McGregor taking on the role of Count Rostov. 

According to Towles, there had been some interest in turning the book into a feature film, but the format didn’t seem to work for the novel, which spans decades. “We had interest to make it into a feature with terrific talent and I just said no," he said in the USA Today interview. "There's no way you're gonna be able to tell this 30-year story in two hours. You're going to end up deciding to focus on a couple of years or starting in the middle.” 

Towles’ contract gave him oversight of the creative team, but after OKing the project, he stepped back and let them get to work. “The team who put this project together were operating at that level, where they were committed to having as much authenticity as possible to the smallest detail on set, with the notion that even when it's barely seen by the viewer, that it will be taken in, will add to the richness of the visual experience, but will also give the actors a stronger sense that they are in that place at that time,” he said. 

Photo courtesy of Parmount+

“A Gentleman in Moscow” is available to stream in its entirety on Showtime and Paramount+. Towles’ most recent book, Table for Two, a collection of short stories and a novella, released earlier this year. 

Sources

• A Gentleman in Moscow: Q&A 

• Peter D. Kramer, “Amor Towles on 'A Gentleman in Moscow', 'Table for Two' characters: 'A lot of what-iffing'.” USA Today Network, March 26, 2024. 

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