Beyond fiction: what turned out to be the premiere night of the series "It's hard to be a God"

Arkanar, Rumata, Don Condor, Okana — for some, these words are just a random set of letters, while for others they are the keys to the fantastic world of the Strugatsky brothers, whose works have been read by more than one generation of Russians. Including most of the crew of the main fantasy series of the season, "It's Hard to be a God." On September 1, the audience saw the beginning of a grandiose philosophical story based on the cult novel by Soviet science fiction writers in the October cinema, stylized as the cosmic Middle Ages. The film was presented by Dmitry Tyurin, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Sergey Bezrukov, Aleksandar Radojicic, Ravshana Kurkova and Victoria Isakova. Izvestia was among the first to appreciate the large-scale painting.

Observe or interfere

If Knowledge Day was celebrated in all educational institutions of the country in the morning, then after sunset in the main cinema of the capital, the creators of the new fantasy series "It's Hard to be a God" shared their knowledge. To get closer to the world of Soviet science fiction, they had to build a medieval city, send a film crew into the 40-degree heat of Iran and create an entire planet.

But first things first. To get to the main premiere of the film season, viewers had to go through a futuristic tunnel with blue neon lights, resembling a spaceship corridor. At the entrance, guests were given a special bracelet with a gold-plated coin. It said "observe" on one side, and "interfere" on the other. It is between these moral poles that the hero of Serbian actor Aleksandar Radojicic, Anton, an employee of the Earth Institute of History, will rush. And, of course, the viewer will also face a moral choice.

Aleksandar was one of the first to appear in front of the journalists and, in excellent Russian, which he had to learn while working on the project, told the press about the inner drama of his character. For Radojicic, this is the second Russian project after the Balkan Frontier and the first in his career, in order to participate in which he had to not only speak Russian, but also master fencing and horseback riding.

Among the team members, Sergey Bezrukov, Fedor Bondarchuk, Victoria Isakova, Ravshana Kurkova, Irina Pautova, as well as director Dmitry Tyurin posed for photographers. Elizaveta Bazykina, Sergey Gilev, Alana Chochieva, as well as Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova and State Duma Deputy Speaker Peter Tolstoy came to support their colleagues.

From the book to the screen

The series is based on the Strugatsky novel "It's Hard to be a God." But this is just the outline that became the basis for Andrei Zolotarev's script. He admits that this job has become the hardest in his career.

— I'm a Strugatsky fan. It's incredibly difficult to do something with the source text that you love. It's very hard, because your natural desire is to invite people to the cinema or sit them down at home in front of the TVs and just let the text run from bottom to top with titles, and let them read. This is the natural desire of a person who is in love with a book. It is clear that when you process such a text, you always have a feeling of overcoming," he told Izvestia.

The action takes place in the distant future. Earthlings observe less developed civilizations and help them go through difficult stages of formation. The main rule is not to interfere. Researcher Anton goes to the medieval planet Kepler-4077, to the state of Arkanar, where he lives under the guise of a rich aristocrat Don Rumata of Estor. Despite all the prohibitions, he is ready to compromise the strict rules of the institute. After all, his father disappeared in Arkanar.

Sergey Bezrukov played the role of an experienced Earth scout under the guise of Don Condor. He, like many project participants, has been familiar with the Strugatsky world since his youth.

— Besides the fact that the Strugatsky brothers are trying to resolve the moral conflicts that are always embedded in their works, there is a lot of self-irony. This is a distinctive feature," he told Izvestia.

25-year-old actress Irina Pautova played Don Rumata's young lover Kira.

— My character goes through a lot — shackles, bruises, sale into slavery, abuse. For example, there is a scene where Kira's arms are twisted. I also had to go through this on set, because it was different when the hand was in its natural position. And according to the frame, it had to be rendered unnatural. Of course, when you shoot such a scene for half a day, your joints start to hurt," the actress shared with Izvestia.

For the actors, the fantasy world turned out to be quite a physical reality. The metal shackles were real and together weighed about 20 kg. But before Moscow, the film crew had to go through another ordeal — Iran.

40 degrees to Arcanar

We've been looking for a suitable location for several years. One of the first blocks was shot on the island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf. The temperature reached +40 degrees. The makeup didn't hold well, the false mustaches and beards fell off, and dust storms covered people and equipment with sand. And this is in addition to the difficult political situation, because of which the team had to be literally evacuated from the country. At the same time, the country made an indelible impression on all the actors.

— I just fell in love with Iran. I visited three places there, and they amazed me. I probably saw something similar in Central Asia, but it was a great discovery and an impression," actor Fyodor Lavrov told Izvestia.

For him, this is the second immersion into the world of "It's hard to be a god." In 2013, he played a cameo role in the film adaptation of Alexei German Sr., and now he has embodied the main antagonist of the story, Don Reba, on the screen.

— The most dangerous thing about Don Reba is his lack of fear and his complete blindness to his goal. This is both his strong side, if you look at it from a certain angle. But this is also a belief in oneself, not in one's best qualities. Villains are always interesting to play, because there are dark sides to each of us. It's interesting to explore this," the actor admitted.

A planet that doesn't exist

The creators decided not to limit themselves to a conventional fantastic entourage. Arkanar had to look not only beautiful, but also logical. Therefore, the world of the series began to be created from the planet Kepler-4077. And in order for this attraction to be a success, I had to think through everything to the smallest detail.

To do this, the authors have attracted astrophysicists, religious scholars, futurists and botanists. Together, they thought out the structure of the planet, its climate, celestial phenomena, belief system, vegetation, and even the appearance of the inhabitants. In order for the whole team to understand the structure of the invented civilization equally, the film crew was literally put at their desks. Weekly classes in futurology, religious studies, and medieval studies were held for costume, makeup, props, and other specialists.

As a result, the medieval town of Arkanar grew up on six and a half hectares with an aqueduct, a swimming pool, a water wheel, temples, palaces and a giant warrior on a mountain lion. And now the audience is invited to Arkanar. It is he who will have to answer the Strugatsky's main question: what will happen to a person if one day he is really given the opportunity to become a god?