"The games are over. Now it's the real Fandorin in the real deal."

This is the slogan for the latest blockbuster adaptation of one of Boris Akunin's bestselling novels that featuring 19th century Russian detective Erast Fandorin.

"The State Counselor," which went on general release Thursday, comes hot on the heels of "Turkish Gambit" - the most successful Russian film ever - and clearly stakes its claim as the best of the bunch of movies and television series now jumping on the Fandorin bandwagon. No single actor has become the definitive Fandorin, a sort of James Bond for the Russian Empire, but superstar Oleg Menshikov, who takes the role in "The State Counselor," is taking a shot at it.

Director Filipp Yankovsky, speaking at the film's St. Petersburg premiere last week, said Menshikov is ideal.

"Only he can properly depict Fandorin's loneliness. Only he can tell the spectator the story of how, for the sake of devotion to a noble aim, to his native land and to justice, a noble man can find a compromise," Yankovsky said.

"The State Counselor" co-stars Russian cinema behemoth Nikita Mikhalkov as Duke Pozharsky. The prolific writer, director, and actor, whose "Burnt by the Sun" won an Oscar in 1994 and who cast himself as Tsar Alexander III in the bloated epic "The Barber of Siberia" (also starring Menshikov) in 1999, produced "The State Counselor," recruiting Akunin to write the screenplay.

"We tried, within the constraints of a detective story, to develop each of our roles and to understand what kind of people they are," said Mikhalkov at the St. Petersburg premiere.

"We wandered far from the novel, and if our attempts to understand why certain characters behave the way they do comes out of the film, then I will have scored an important victory. We want to combine a diverting plot with [an exploration of] human relations and characters."

Mikhalkov said Yankovsky, the 37-year-old son of legendary actor Oleg Yankovsky with just one previous feature film under his belt, brings a contemporary feel to the movie.

"Fillipp understands the malleable possibilities of modern cinema language and combines it with a classical approach, since it is important not only how the film is shot, but also what the characters say, " Mikhalkov said.

Mikhalkov applied his character-driven approach to his own performance.

"With Akunin's permission I broadened my character because I'm quite sure it's not interesting to just play the scoundrel. And for every thinking actor it's impossible to act only evil or, which is worse and more difficult, good. Stanislavsky said find bad in good and good in bad. It's impossible to act if you don't try to explain the actions of your character, to justify him. Akunin understood and supported this approach," Mikhalkov said.