White Nights is a 1985 American musical drama film directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Jerzy Skolimowski, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini. It was choreographed by Twyla Tharp. The title refers to the sunlit summer nights of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), the setting for the majority of the film, situated just a few degrees below the Arctic Circle. The film is notable both for the dancing of Hines and Baryshnikov and for the Academy Award-winning song "Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie in 1986, as well as "Separate Lives" performed by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin and written by Stephen Bishop (also nominated). The film was the international film debut of Isabella Rossellini and Taylor Hackford met his future wife, Helen Mirren, during filming. Plot Nikolai 'Kolya' Rodchenko (Baryshnikov) is a Soviet ballet dancer who had previously defected from the Soviet Union. When the plane carrying him to his next performance in Tokyo has electrical problems and crash lands in Siberia, he is injured and recognized by KGB officer Colonel Chaiko (Jerzy Skolimowski). Chaiko contacts tap dancer Raymond Greenwood (Hines), who has defected to the Soviet Union, and gets them both to Leningrad. Chaiko wants Rodchenko to dance at the season's opening night at the Kirov, and Greenwood to babysit Rodchenko. To convince Rodchenko, Chaiko uses Galina Ivanova (Helen Mirren), a former ballerina who never left the Soviet Union and is an old flame of Rodchenko. After an initial period of racial and artistic friction, the two dancers (and defectors in opposite directions) become strong friends. When Raymond discovers that his wife Darya Greenwood (Isabella Rossellini) is pregnant, he decides he does not want their child to grow up in the Soviet Union, and together, with Rodchenko, they plan an escape with the help of Galina, who still has feelings for Rodchenko. During the escape attempt, Raymond chooses to stay behind in order to delay Chaiko, gaining time for Nikolai and Darya to get to the consulate at Leningrad. Although Raymond is captured and incarcerated, he is traded by the Soviets for a political prisoner from Latin America, and reunites with Darya and Nikolai. Cast Mikhail Baryshnikov as Nikolai 'Kolya' Rodchenko Gregory Hines as Raymond Greenwood Jerzy Skolimowski as Colonel Chaiko Helen Mirren as Galina Ivanova Geraldine Page as Anne Wyatt Isabella Rossellini as Darya Greenwood John Glover as Wynn Scott Stefan Gryff as Captain