MOSCOW, May 18 - RIA Novosti. Director Anton Megerdichev, known for the second "Shadow Boxing" and the first domestic 3D experiment "The Dark Side of the Moon", has begun filming a disaster film based on Dmitry Safonov's novel "Metro", RIA Novosti correspondent reports.
The producer of the picture is the head of the company "PROFIT" Igor Tolstunov, who earlier told RIA Novosti that the film's budget is 9 million dollars. Part of it will be provided by funds of the Cinema Support Fund.
© Ilya Pitalev. Filming of the disaster film "Metro"
According to the plot, construction unfolding in the center of Moscow led to a crack in one of the metro tunnels between two stations. Due to the loss of integrity of the overlay, water from the Moscow River bursts into the tunnel, and hundreds of passengers of the train find themselves at the mercy of the oncoming flood. The uncontrolled torrent threatens not only the collapse of the metro tunnels but also the destruction of the entire city.
Among those caught up by the elements are city hospital doctor Andrey Garin (Sergey Puskepalis) and his daughter Ksyusha (Anfisa Medvedeva). Garin fights the catastrophe, trying to save the surviving passengers, among whom turns out to be his wife's lover (Anatoly Bely). In this situation the main hero will have to overcome not only fear but also resentment and anger.
"The combination of a technogenic catastrophe and a catastrophe of human relationships is an interesting mix that may allow us to make a good film", director Megerdichev is confident. In addition, as he told RIA Novosti, for him this is an opportunity to show the real Moscow: "on the one hand, with traffic collapse and constant haste, and on the other — the huge megalopolis standing still in traffic jams".
© Ilya Pitalev. Filming of the disaster film "Metro"
Filming began on May 6 at the Gorky Film Studio, where in one of the pavilions a bunker two meters deep was built and filled with water. Next to it, a set was placed imitating a metro shaft. According to the picture's production designer Pavel Novikov, all the sets are simple in terms of artistic design but technically complex.
"We have a fairly simple, unpretentious image. The genre of the film, the plot and the theme allow it. The main thing is to convey the tension that is created through darkness, when you don't know what is there, around the corner", Novikov told RIA Novosti.
For maximum proximity to reality, a 117-meter full-scale tunnel will be reproduced on set, filled with a meter of water, and the characters will move through real metro cars. As Novikov continued, for him such a film project is attractive precisely from a technical side. "All the sets are created in 3D models, where I can "walk around, look around"", the production designer explained.
The preparation period lasted almost a year, as the authors had to study the intricacies of metro operation and think through the shooting technique. According to Novikov's assertion, nothing like this has existed before in domestic cinema, "at least, with such an amount of water".
"We are shooting truthful, naturalistic cinema. This is not an amusement ride, there should be a feeling that everything is happening to us. Not a single frame of the film should be aestheticized, therefore one has to restrain oneself in the desire to make it beautiful", the agency's interlocutor shared.
Filming will take place not only in Moscow but also in the Minsk metro, from which they will take shots of the station called "Sadovaya", the turnstiles, the escalators. But the main hero will remain the city itself, namely Moscow.
© Ilya Pitalev. The dog Peter, who plays one of the roles, during filming of the disaster film "Metro"
"The main emphasis is on endless heat, stuffiness, the number of traffic jams. The state of the city should be quite heavy — if some kind of accident occurs, it is very difficult to get there. This is a city with a huge number of cars that cannot move, and people hurrying somewhere", Novikov concluded.
Also starring in the picture are Svetlana Khodchenkova, Ekaterina Shpitsa, Alexey Bardukov, Stanislav Duzhnikov, Elena Panova and a little dog named Petya, whose mistress — an old lady — according to the plot dies, while Petya's character (Tyavka) survives and is taken in by Ksyusha.
Filming in the sets will last until May 25, and in June will move to the tunnel. The shooting period is preliminarily scheduled to end by October. The film's release is scheduled for 2012.