From October 9 to 25, filming of the disaster movie "Metro" was held in Samara. For almost two weeks the Samara metro played the role of the Moscow one. Filming took place at the under-construction Alabinskaya station, at the operating Moskovskaya station and at the depot.

Along with the director, cinematographers, production designers and stunt team, the city on the Volga was visited by the actors playing the leading roles: Sergei Puskepalis, Anatoly Bely, Alexey Bardukov, Ekaterina Shpitsa, Elena Panova, Anfisa Vistingauzen, as well as Sergei Sosnovsky, Alexander Naumov, Ivan Makarevich and others.

Working at the operating Samara metro stations was extremely difficult — the metro is a high-risk facility. And when up to five hundred extras gather on a platform, along with about a hundred crew members, special equipment is running, and trains continue their normal schedule, the danger increases many times over. For this reason metro representatives were on duty at the set to ensure strict compliance with all safety measures. «On the one hand, Samara metro staff were doing their job of ensuring the safety of passengers and everyone on the platform. On the other, they understood our needs and did not hinder our work. The crew has a clear vision of what happens at the station — everything has to look exactly like an operating Moscow metro station during morning rush hour. That kind of mutual understanding and cooperation is very important for us,» says assistant director Vsevolod Sagatovsky.

In addition, the Samara metro allocated a special train to the crew just for filming. It operated at the station late at night when the other metro trains had stopped running, picking up and setting down passenger-actors. In the film this train plays two roles: the train on route 17 that escapes the disaster and barely makes it back to the station, and the train on route 42 that collides with a powerful flow of water.

«Samara metro trains are practically no different from Moscow ones, apart from some minor details that an ordinary person would not notice,» says the film's production designer Pavel Novikov. «The same goes for the train the Samara metro gave us specifically for the shoot and the carriages we used in Moscow — they are almost identical. There is a slight colour difference, but that is easily corrected in post-production using computer graphics.»

The makers of the disaster movie «METRO» needed to select about 800 Samara residents for mass and group scenes. In total, around 3,000 people signed up for the casting. Samara residents were very active — casting staff received dozens (and sometimes hundreds) of applications every day. Besides candidates for mass and group scenes, about 50 local theatre actors were auditioned for cameo roles, from whom the director had to choose just 14. Among them: Alexey Elkhimov (SamART), Igor Rudakov (SamART), Elena Turinskaya (SamART), Yury Zemlyakov (SamART), Andrey Matyakin (Krylya), Lyubov Dolgikh (SamART) and others. They all play metro passengers travelling on route 17, which manages to avoid the catastrophe, return to the station and evacuate people.

The disaster movie «Metro» is a major project for Russia — the first film in this genre in the past 25 years. For the shoot of «Metro», unique sets were built in Moscow: a full-scale 117-metre-long metro tunnel, into which real damaged metro carriages were placed, as well as 1:3 scale models of the tunnel and train carriages. In addition, an underground bunker was erected in a special filming pool. «All the sets are airtight and designed to handle large volumes of water. To my knowledge, no one in our cinema has ever dealt with such a volume of water before,» says production designer Pavel Novikov. «We are also using miniature photography, which is widely used in world cinema but somewhat forgotten by Russian filmmakers. For our film it is essential, because only on miniatures can you shoot a tunnel almost completely filled with water. For us it is a chance to bring these technologies back into Russian film production.» The picture also features director of photography Sergei Astakhov, whose experience and professionalism are well known to filmmakers and film fans, and director Anton Megerdichev, who made «Shadow Boxing 2: Revenge» and the first Russian 3D project «The Dark World in 3D», both of which earned substantial box office in Russian distribution.

The filmmakers on shooting in Samara.

Anton Megerdichev, director
«My impressions of Samara? I haven't really seen the city yet — I haven't had the chance to get downtown. We are staying on the outskirts, in a guesthouse. I really like this place. On my first day off, after a week of working in the city, I stayed here to rest. I don't want to go anywhere.

Samara, just like the capital, has heavy traffic. The myth that traffic jams only exist in Moscow has been dispelled in my mind for good. To get from our guesthouse to the shooting location we spend up to two hours in traffic, although with free-flowing traffic it would take 15–20 minutes.

Moreover, while in Moscow you can jump into the metro at any moment, leave your car, and get to almost any point in the city, in Samara you can't do that. As I understood it, the metro here does not go to the centre — there is only one line and a small one at that.»

Working in this city also turned out to be challenging — we started shooting at the under-construction Alabinskaya station. There is a lot of concrete dust there. And from sitting at the station for a whole shift (and a shift lasts 12–14 hours) your nose would get stuffy and your eyes would water. Many crew members worked in masks. I am very grateful to the crew and all the actors for bearing it all so stoically — no one complained. We shot everything we had planned.

Sergei Puskepalis, actor (Garin)
«Samara is not a foreign city to me. About ten years ago I collaborated with the local theatre Ponedelnik, staging productions. So it was nice to return here, to meet people I used to work with.

I can't say the shoot in Samara was harder for me than in Moscow. «Metro» as a whole is a very demanding, complex project. You can hardly feel comfortable wearing a wetsuit that restricts your movement, constantly in water and mud. It doesn't matter whether you are in Samara at the under-construction Alabinskaya or in Moscow in a half-flooded metro tunnel.

Another thing is that all these difficulties brought the actors and crew closer together — we became a good team. We try to cheer each other up and joke around. If I were working with different people, I don't know whether we would have developed such a pleasant working atmosphere. And despite the crazy fatigue, difficult scenes and long shifts, we still manage to accomplish everything we set out to do.»

Alexey Bardukov, actor (Denis)
When we worked at the under-construction station, I covered my face with a gauze mask — it was hard to breathe because of the concrete dust. I only took it off during takes. It was cold at the station, but the pool that was built at the unfinished tracks and filled with water was a salvation for us actors. The water was heated to 30 degrees, and even though it was dirty, we enjoyed splashing around in it between takes. It was the warmest place. Even in the Moscow sets, where I also had to film in water, it was not as warm, even though it was heated too.

At the operating Samara metro station I was primarily struck by the smell. Quite different from Moscow's.

I first visited Samara about five years ago, on tour with the Satirikon theatre. This year, with the shooting of «Metro», I came for the second time. I didn't walk around the city — unfortunately, there was no time. But while we were driving to the location, I was disappointed by the condition of the roads and the traffic jams. On my day off I decided to walk around the country guesthouse where I was staying. It was wonderful — the cleanest air, the wide Volga and a very beautiful autumn.

For further information, photographs and comments, please contact the press service of the film company PROFIT.