Main directors: Kusturica and Bondarchuk came to shoot "It's hard to be a God"
Medieval streets, craft workshops, an entire Italian town, an aqueduct, a giant waterwheel and a 17-meter puma warrior weighing over 20 tons are just a small part of the decorations that were built in the Moskino film Park. More recently, Igor Voloshin worked here on "Pinocchio", and for the last three months the filming of the series "It's hard to be a God" has been underway. On Russian Cinema Day, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, NMG CEO Svetlana Balanova, actor and director Fyodor Bondarchuk, and Serbian classic Emir Kusturica visited the large-scale pavilions. The details are in the Izvestia report.
From the Hippodrome to the Middle Ages
34 natural squares, six pavilions, Europe's largest chromakey, Yuri Luzhkov's Tu-154 private plane, Vitebsk railway Station, hippodrome, cowboy town, the Middle Ages, Moscow from the time of constructivism — all these are decorations for Russian films located in the Moskino Film Park. The Moscow mayor's inspection of even the main facilities took several hours in the end: the area of the space was 1.1 thousand hectares.
Tours are already constantly coming here. On special days, anyone can not just look at the Italian town where the upcoming New Year's hit "Pinocchio" was filmed (premiere on January 1), or walk around the medieval city built specifically for Nikita Mikhalkov's upcoming project "Queen Anna", but also become part of the filming process as an actor of mass scenes.
— We have already filmed eight TV series here. One full-length film "Pinocchio" and four more TV series are currently in production. In total, 12 TV series have already appeared for the viewer thanks to Moskino. And, of course, from this point of view, Moscow is a huge support for the entire film industry," Svetlana Balanova, General Director of NMG, told Izvestia.
Today, the organization boasts 140 completed projects. So, against the background of a giant blue chromakey, the film "The Ninth Planet" with Yura Borisov in the title role was shot, and in a nearby location with destroyed houses and anti-tank ditches— the war drama "Not on the list" with Vladimir Mashkov was shot.
Each point is a unique world, once in which you completely forget that you are actually not far from Troitsk. Stone paving stones, a Madonna with a baby in her arms in the wall of a dilapidated house, a functioning fountain under a spreading willow tree, a Russian oven and a table with rolled dough, where the absent-minded hostess seemed to put down a flour-stained rolling pin for a moment. There is also a well and spinning wheels, bales of animal skins, and abandoned sickles. You can't help but catch yourself thinking that the inhabitants of an entire village have suddenly disappeared, leaving everything in its place.
"It's hard to be a screenwriter on 'It's Hard to Be a God'
But if some locations were empty, then life was bustling on the set of the TV series "It's Hard to be a God."
— Lower your heads! All heads to the floor! Quick, I said! Start the children. Let them walk around the market. And the phones were removed. Let's make a life. No one is looking at the camera. Silence. Action! — the man commands sternly into the radio, putting the actors of the mass scenes on the dots.
In three months, a team of professional architects, builders and artists built an entire Arkanar cinema town on an area of 6.5 hectares. In terms of scale, it is three times the size of Red Square. There are craft workshops, houses of citizens, temple buildings, a 14-meter aqueduct, and a real water wheel. And the highlight of the exhibition is the 17—meter sculpture "Warrior on a Mountain Lion", which weighs over 20 tons.
— Actors of the mass scenes, take a place between the paws of the cougar. And make pained faces, as if the feudal lord had taken the last sack of grain from you. No smiles! — a stern voice is heard from the radio.
The screenwriter of the film, Andrei Zolotarev, admitted to Izvestia that he did not believe in the implementation of the project at all.
— When I was writing the script, I thought it wouldn't be filmed at all. But here everything is in place: the towers, the spaceship, and even the cat remained. In general, it's hard to be a screenwriter on "It's Hard to be a god." This is a firing squad position. People who love fiction are very active and aggressive. I also consider myself one of them. But we kept everything that the Strugatskys had. It's a short story. If you decompose it into actions, you get about 40 minutes. This is very little even for a theatrical production, but we are making a series," Zolotarev explained in an interview with Izvestia.
According to Timur Jafarov, the producer of the upcoming series, the first draft of the script brought him to tears. And the decoration became possible only thanks to the participation of NMG, Moskino, Wink, NTV and IRI.
— We made a universe based on the Strugatskys. And I don't rule out the possibility of spin-offs. We were very lucky with the team. And one of the main successes is actor Aleksandar Radojicic. We've been looking for a lead actor for a very long time. And as a result, they deliberately decided to have Rumata played by an unknown artist in Russia," Timur told Izvestia.
According to the idea of director Dmitry Tyurin, the main character is not an experienced progressor, like the Strugatskys, but also a green recruit who has never smelled gunpowder. At the same time, he must be an excellent swordsman, cope alone with a crowd of armed bandits and not forget to reflect on intergalactic problems. However, for Serbian actor Aleksandar Radojicic, it was most difficult to speak Russian.
— I didn't believe at all that I could act in Russian. I only started talking in Iran. It's very difficult, but I'm trying. I didn't know the Strugatskys before filming, but during the preparation, of course, I read the story. This is a difficult role for me, but I agreed to this job because of the inconsistency of the character," Radojicic shared with Izvestia.
Director Dmitry Tyurin and actor, producer Fyodor Bondarchuk (right) on the set of the TV series "It's Hard to be a God" at the Moskino Film Park
The actor has been living on the set for three months now and admits that such immersion helps him learn the language better. And you still have to learn how to ride a horse and fight with swords.
The mayor of Moscow appreciated the scale of "Moskino"
Fyodor Bondarchuk was also on the set. In the film, he plays one of the key roles — Don Cuba. On Russian Cinema Day, the director accompanied Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Channel One CEO Konstantin Ernst, who recently finished the series "Lilya" about Vladimir Mayakovsky's beloved woman at a nearby location, and Emir Kusturica, who also came to see the production scale after a recent performance at Moscow Film Week.
— The decoration was done for three months. The wheel is spinning. The river is flowing. And next to us there is old Moscow, old Petersburg, and the streets of a European city, and even the Reichstag 300 meters away, which, by the way, is constantly being stormed," Bondarchuk told Sergei Sobyanin and the assembled journalists.
Actor, producer Fyodor Bondarchuk (center left) and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin (center right) on the set of the TV series "It's Hard to be a God" at the Moskino Film Park
The mayor of the city, in turn, congratulated the audience on their professional holiday, thanked them for their hard work and promised to continue contributing to the development of the film industry in Russia.
— As the classic said, cinema is the most important of all arts. I am very glad that it demonstrates such a fantastic pace of development in recent years and the volume of content. The number of viewers who watch Russian works is increasing significantly. I think this is generally the most important outcome of our work. Cinema today is not only entertainment, it is also the ideology, education, and promotion of our country. I am very grateful to you. For our part, we are doing everything to ensure that Moscow confirms the status of the Russian capital of cinema," Sergei Sobyanin summed up.
The exact premiere date of the series "It's hard to be a God" has not yet been announced, but it is known that it will be in 2026 in the online cinema Wink.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
