Hollywood celebrities and the Chelyabinsk newspaper “Kopeysky Rabochiy. Why do Hollywood stars take pictures with the Russian newspaper “Kopeysky Worker?” Stars with the newspaper “Kopeysky Worker”

The Kopeysky Rabochiy newspaper is one of the oldest media outlets in the Chelyabinsk region. However, it is unlikely that anyone other than the residents of Kopeisk itself would have known about its existence if not for... the collection unique photos, in which Hollywood stars are holding this particular publication in their hands. Read about how they managed to do this and what it all means in our issue!

(Total 10 photos)

1. No, this is not photoshop! At least, that’s what the honest editors of the Kopeysky Rabochiy newspaper say. For 4 years now, the newspaper's editors have been collecting their collection of unique photos of Hollywood celebrities, but they have only just made it public.

2. During this time, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Richard Gere, Johnny Depp, Matt Damon, Justin Timberlake, Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington, did not refuse to study the black and white pages of “The Kopeisk Worker” Emma Watson, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Kate Hudson, Amanda Seyfried and Hellen Mirren.

3. Johnny Depp was the first to be photographed with an issue of the Kopeysk newspaper back in 2009. When the newspaper's editors received Johnny Depp's photo, there was a shock.

4. The newspaper was presented to Johnny by Jack Tewksberry, the Hollywood producer of the films “The Great Gatsby”, “Die Hard 5” and, by a lucky coincidence, the husband of a former resident of Kopeysk, Margarita. It was she who came up with the idea to glorify the local newspaper in Hollywood.

5. For four years now, they have been entering the dressing rooms of Hollywood celebrities, photographing the stars and inviting them to take one of the pictures with the latest newspaper sent to the United States from the distant Urals.

6. “We have an agreement with Margarita and her husband that we publish in our publication announcements of world film premieres and interviews with actors who took part in the creation of these films. At one time we even charged $200 for each announcement,” explains the newspaper’s executive secretary Dmitry Sogrin. “But after they started sending photographs of celebrities with our newspaper in their hands, we refused to take money from them.”

7. Stars also photograph with the newspaper completely free of charge. According to Sogrin: “those who agree to be photographed with the Kopeysky Rabochiy newspaper are cheerful people with a sense of humor.”

8. But that's not all! The other day, the newspaper was faced with a completely new problem... The fact is that before, photos of stars were sent from the USA with a short announcement. Now, some of the “star readers” gave lengthy interviews, which there was no one to translate into Russian. In total, Kopeisk Worker had 5 interviews with stars: Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Vin Diesel, Sharon Stone and Sandra Bullock.

9. Therefore, on September 20, the editors of Kopeisk Rabochiy announced a competition called “Get closer to the stars!” among its readers - schoolchildren and students - for the best translation. Students from 15 to 20 years old can take part in the competition; assistance from parents and teachers is not prohibited.

It’s not surprising if you look at these photos and decide that this is photoshop. Otherwise, why would famous Hollywood stars take pictures with a Chelyabinsk newspaper in their hands? The authors of the photographs are journalists Jack Tewksberry and Ali Sar, who throughout recent years entered the dressing rooms of Hollywood celebrities and invited them to study the latest issue of “Kopeisk Worker”.

The question arises: what should a newspaper's budget be to provide such photographs? As it turned out, this is not a matter of finances. The author of this idea is a former resident of Kopeysk, Margarita, whose husband is the producer of box-office Hollywood films such as “The Great Gatsby” and “Die Hard 5,”

Johnny Depp

“We have an agreement with Margarita and her husband that every year we publish in our publication announcements of world film premieres and interviews with actors who took part in the creation of these films. At one time we even charged $200 for each announcement,” said editor-in-chief“Kopeisk worker” Dmitry Sogrin. “But after they started sending photos of celebrities holding our newspaper, we refused to take money from them.”

Leonardo DiCaprio

Sogrin noted that Hollywood stars, without persuasion, agreed to a photograph with a Kopeis newspaper, did it for free, and sometimes themselves offered to pay for the shooting.

Tom Hanks

“Those who agree to be photographed by the Kopeysky Rabochiy newspaper are cheerful people with a sense of humor,” noted the editor-in-chief. – It’s just fun for them! Apparently, it’s no longer so interesting for them to film for metropolitan publications.”

Kate Winslet

Actor Johnny Depp was the first to agree to be photographed with a Kopeysk newspaper in his hands, back in 2009, the agency reports. “Good news” . At the same time, the editorial staff of “Kopeisk Rabochiy” initially considered such photographs to be a joke and even specially checked them for authenticity. “No photoshop,” concluded the publication’s editor-in-chief.

Angelina Jolie

Now the journalists are planning to organize a photo exhibition at the local cultural center.

Emma Watson

Harrison Ford

Richard Gere

Justin Timberlake

Denzel Washington

Matt Damon

I looked at these photographs for a long time and could not understand what it was? Photoshop? Reality? If it's Photoshop, then it's done very well, but what texture? Here's an example photo of Angelina Jolie from this session without newspaper:

But there is no such photograph where one could add a newspaper! How they did it! The rest of the characters are about the same.

And the characters are not any different, but WOW! Stars of the first magnitude... and “Kopeisk Worker”... No, this doesn’t happen, I started digging further on the Internet... In the meantime, look at some more stars:

Now let's see how it really happened:

The oldest publication in Kopeisk (Chelyabinsk region), the Kopeysky Rabochiy newspaper, has acquired a special correspondent in Hollywood, who has been supplying the editorial staff for five years now exclusive interviews with famous actors.

Most readers consider this a joke, and photos of stars with the publication in their hands, published as proof, are mistaken for the wonders of Photoshop. However, the newspaper's editor-in-chief Dmitry Sogrin notes: turning to photo editors would be unethical in relation to readers. And he assures that the photographs are pure originals. By the way, the sensational photo of Bruce Willis with the Kopeisk Worker in his hands was taken during the filming of Die Hard. The actor, who knows a little Russian, leafed through the newspaper with interest.

The materials are sent by a woman who once lived in Kopeisk. “Her name is Margarita. She has been living in America for more than 10 years, married Hollywood producer Jack Tewksbury,” says Dmitry Sogrin, adding that the editors were introduced to her by the deputy chairman of the Memory of the Heart charity organization.

Jack Tewksbury began his career as a reporter for the Motion Picture daily newspaper and broadcaster. Later he appeared as a PR specialist for the legendary producer Joe Wayne. After moving to Hollywood, he became a film critic for the Quebec-Chronicle-Telegraph.

A member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), of which he has been a member for 30 years, he served as executive producer of the Golden Globe Awards on NBC nine times. He has written thousands of articles and published hundreds of worldwide publications. Jack is also the Vice President of the Young Artist Awards.

It should be noted that joint interviews signed by Margarita Sushkevich and Jack Tewksbury began appearing in the Russian press back in 2001, and in 2008, a former resident of Kopeisk established contact with the local newspaper “Kopeisk Rabochiy”. Since then, their materials, signed by Ali Sar, regularly appear in the publication.

“Once a year, usually in the summer, Margarita sends four mini-interviews with actors and their photographs. In 2012, she herself came to pick up the newspapers that published these materials. Before that, we handed over five copies annually through her friend, and received new materials by email“, continues the editor-in-chief of Kopeisk Rabochiy, noting that it is the newspapers sent to America that are held in the hands of the actors in the photo.

INTERVIEW WITH EXTRA PAYMENT

The exchange between the Kopeysk editorial office and the American couple occurs free of charge. It is noteworthy that initially Hollywood authors themselves paid money to Kopeisk Worker for publications in the newspaper. “They believed that this would give them promotion, and they paid us $200 for four appearances,” shares Dmitry Sogrin.

Three years ago, with another interview, this time with Johnny Depp, the journalist received an exclusive photo of the actor with “Kopeisk Worker” in his hands. “These pictures surprised us very much at first. The letter contained two photos with Johnny Depp: one usual for publication in an interview, and the second with a newspaper especially for us,” recalls the editor-in-chief, adding that now such photographs have become familiar to the editors.

“I understand that people have a lot of disbelief in them. We even held a special competition for readers of Kopeisk Rabochiy on April 1: we published seven news items asking them to guess which one was true. We wrote about the construction of a pencil production plant in Kopeisk, since the city has large coal deposits, about a marathon runner from Bredy who got lost in the outskirts of the city district, about a zoo on a local lake, our employee receiving the Russian Booker award... And the last thing - that Johnny Depp is reading "Kopeisk worker" Out of 50 participants in the competition, only three people said that this was true. We gave them mugs with this photo of Depp,” says Sogrin.

EXCLUSIVE PRESENT

The editors' collection has already collected about 20 photos of stars with the numbers of "Kopeyky Worker". Among them are not only Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp, but also Anne Hathaway, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Kate Winslet, Denzel Washington, Vin Diesel, Steven Spielberg and many others.

“Harrison Ford was photographed twice - in different times. This can be seen by the fact that he is wearing different shirts. Apparently, he liked our newspaper so much,” Dmitry Sogrin laughs.

He also notes that townspeople who follow the publications and believe in the authenticity of the photographs with newspapers have already begun to order actors from the editors whom they would like to see in the photographs next time. “They ask, for example, to have Hugh Laurie take a photo or Sharon Stone. I answer that I can’t guess into what hands “Kopeisk Worker” will fall in Hollywood,” says the editor-in-chief.

At the end of 2012, the editors released a calendar for the new year. “There are only five of these exclusive calendars. We presented the first one to the head of Kopeisk, the rest were transferred to the government of the Chelyabinsk region and our partners,” Sogrin clarified.

Now he intends to collect at least 30 photographs and make a mini-exhibition at the Kopeisk Worker Museum so that all interested citizens can come and see it. Note that the museum itself underwent an update just a couple of weeks ago.

CLOSER TO THE STARS

It should be noted that in addition to photographs, the editorial office of Kopeisk Rabochiy has also accumulated voluminous exclusive interviews with iconic actors. Each is about eight pages. Now the publication is looking for people who can translate them competently and readably for publication in the newspaper, and has even announced a competition among schoolchildren and students for the best translation. The creative competition will last until October 4.

“Perhaps these interviews were published in the USA. But we can say that they are exclusive for Russia,” notes Dmitry Sogrin.

Among the five works requiring translation are an interview with Sharon Stone about the release of the film “Lovelace,” Sandra Bullock about “Cops in Skirts,” Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews about the premiere of “Diana,” and Vin Diesel about “Riddick.”

The organizers of the competition want to kill two birds with one stone: to convince people that the texts and photos are not fake, and also to get interesting translations of the interviews.

“Now we are asked why a 13-year-old child cannot participate? I honestly answer that I tried to read an interview with Sharon Stone, but if the film with her has a 16+ restriction, then I don’t even know what revelations she might say there. In order not to take risks and not cause harm to the children’s psyche, we introduced an age limit,” explains Dmitry Sogrin, clarifying that children can be helped by their parents and teachers English language.

The competition, according to the editor-in-chief, will be interesting for English teachers themselves, since the interviews are not an adapted text, but real transcripts of press conferences with stars, in which one can trace the features of a living language.

Let us add that the competition was supported by the Department of Education of the Kopeisk Urban District, partner agencies of the Kopeisk Worker and the regional government. The winner will not only get their interview published in the newspaper, but will also become one of the first owners of an exclusive 2014 calendar with Hollywood stars.

Daria Nevzorova,
photo by the author

Here are a few more photoshopped revelations: or here's what you think - The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

"Kopeisk worker"- a newspaper from the city of Kopeisk in the Chelyabinsk region, which became a meme after a series of photographs of Hollywood stars of the first magnitude holding issues in their hands. The photographs are taken by a native of Kopeisk, whose husband works as a film producer.

Origin

In 2011, the Kopeysky Rabochiy newspaper announced an April Fools' competition: readers had to guess which of seven funny news stories was true. It turned out to be true that the newspaper small town in the Chelyabinsk region is popular with Hollywood stars, photos were attached to the publication.

The newspaper periodically published similar photographs, but “Kopeysky Worker” became widely known in Russia in 2013. Photos of Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, Angelina Jolie with Russian newspaper reprinted on the Good News website.

The photos went viral, with many thinking they were photoshopped. But Dmitry Sogrin, who then served as editor-in-chief of Kopeisk Rabochiy, said that the photographs are real - they were taken by Kopeisk native Margarita Sushkevich and her husband, film producer Jack Tewksbury.

She periodically comes to her hometown to visit her relatives and takes these newspapers with her. Those stars who get their hands on them on the set gladly agree to be photographed with them, and throughout the year we receive photographs from her by e-mail Dmitry Sogrin, editor-in-chief

Jack in the arms of directors and screenwriters the Farrelly brothers

On December 28, 2017, the Kopeisk Worker website reported that this year was a record year for the number of photographs with celebrities - Jackie Chan, Matt Damon, Dustin Hoffman and many others took photographs with a newspaper in their hands.

On New Year The editors, in addition to congratulations, received photographs of Nicole Kidman and Will Smith. Nicole is a “record holder”, she has been photographed with our newspaper four times already, and for Will this is the first photo shoot with “Kopeysky Worker” Anna Vikalyuk, editor-in-chief

Meaning

The newspaper “Kopeysky Rabochiy” has become a meme because of the contrast created when the publication is held in the hands of American stars. The series of photographs attracted attention for their unusualness; many could not understand whether it was real or photoshopped. When the story behind the pictures became known, the meme about the newspaper only took root.

Gallery

The Russian newspaper "Kopeysky Rabochiy" seems to be one of the most popular publications among Hollywood actors. As proof - photographs of celebrities holding different issues of Kopeisk Worker in their hands.

For example, in the latest photographs, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman and Ben Affleck pose with the February issue of the publication.

The publication of the mining town in the Chelyabinsk region received such fame thanks to a Russian woman who lives and works in the USA, says Komsomolskaya Pravda.

“Our people are also in Hollywood. “Rest assured, the photos are genuine,” assured Dmitry Sogrin, editor-in-chief of Kopeisk Rabochiy. — Five years ago, two readers came to the editorial office. Their relative Margarita Sushkevich has been living in the USA for a long time and works in conjunction with the famous “star” journalist and producer Jack Tewksberry.”

The Internet is full of rumors that Margarita and Jack are husband and wife, both involved in photography. And there is some truth in this, all photos of celebrities with “Kopeisk Worker” in their hands were taken against a background that is used in professional photo studios. The enterprising spouses also interview Hollywood stars.

The publication notes that they are conducting these interviews specifically for... “Kopeisk Worker”. Thus, Jack and Margarita, as producers, advertise the release of new films from the famous film dream factory in the Russian outback. And they also pay the publication $200 a year for advertising.

It turned out that there are no cinemas in Kopeisk, only a film lecture hall, which is not designed for a mass audience. Despite this, interviews have been flowing from overseas to Russia for 4 years, and newspapers back for reporting.

And what’s interesting is that the newspaper “Kopeysky Rabochiy” itself, published with a total weekly circulation of 20 thousand copies, is quite official in content: no scandalous politics, no raging passions. True, this restraint is diluted from time to time with interviews with Hollywood celebrities.

“In the spring of 2009, we received a photo from our fellow countrywoman as a gift: Johnny Depp holding an issue of Kopeisk Worker,” recalls editor Sogrin. “As we saw it, they fell from the chairs.” And now we already have twenty similar photos in our collection. We didn't know what to do with them."

Despite all the interviews, there are still doubts about the authenticity of these photographs.