On Monday, April 6, on the NTV channel, the showing of the criminal series “Ricochet” began. The project was directed by Denis Karyshev and Vyacheslav Kirillov (most of the work was undertaken by Karyshev, who also acted as a producer and screenwriter). The main role in the series was played by Alexander Ustyugov, known for the projects "Cop Wars", "Better Than People", "28 Panfilov" and others.
Filming took place in Moscow and Moscow region for three months. Aninsk, in which the events of the series take place, according to the director, “played” several cities near Moscow. The film crew took separate locations, from which they then “collected” a fictional settlement. The episodes taking place in Stockholm were also filmed in Moscow.
“We looked for some locations that, in our opinion, could give an idea not only about Stockholm, but about the average large European city, in order to contrast this with a provincial small town in the depths of Russia,” Denis Karyshev told RT.
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From the first shots, the creators of the series immerse viewers in the atmosphere of the "dashing 1990s". Two men in leather jackets sit in a dark foreign car. One of them takes out a bulky phone with an antenna and answers the call. Immediately an unknown man drives up to the car on a motorcycle, shoots the entire machine shop at the passengers and disappears. From that moment, Artyom, famous for his criminal affairs, the object of hunting for police and colleagues (“Like Sasha Bely, only the real one,” the sister speaks of him), is officially dead.
The action is transferred to Sweden today. Long panoramas in detail demonstrate Artyom’s new life: it turns out that he staged his own death, left his native Aninsk, changed his appearance and documents (now his name is Denis). The hero lives in a chic house in the Swedish Sundsvall, drives an expensive car and, it seems, is far from crime. Nevertheless, the news of the death of his parents makes Artyom recall the affairs of bygone days. He goes home, where he instantly finds himself in the center of a criminal life. But this time the hero is trying to act for the good of justice. His working methods, however, have not changed much during this time. “You cannot redraw nature,” the plastic surgeon warns immediately.
“When he (Artyom. - RT ) old-fashionedly tries to resolve the issue, as in the 1990s, he stumbles upon some misunderstanding on the part of the new bandits. And this is the basis for the history of people, a kind of artificial return of a person from the past to our realities, ”Alexander Ustyugov told RT.
According to Karyshev, the creators of Ricochet tried to make the characters multifaceted so that they could not be divided into good and bad. Therefore, many negative characters are endowed with positive traits and positive motivation that can justify their actions. Positive characters are also not so clear.
According to Ustyugov, Denis is still a negative hero who also violates the law. “It's just that those whom he kills are even worse than him,” the actor explains.
“Before shooting, I tried to meet a man who followed the same path, who“ died ”and returned again to criminal structures. But the conversation didn’t work out much, ”admitted Ustyugov.
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In the production of fights and action scenes with which the series is filled, stuntman Valery Derkach took part. Previously, he worked both on Russian projects ("Brigade", "Siberian Barber"), and on foreign ("Bourne Supremacy", "Die Hard 5").
The stunts in Ricochet were performed mostly by the actors themselves. “Maybe somewhere the girls were dubbed, on some complicated production stories. But men, yes, themselves, ”said Denis Karyshev.
The director emphasized that in this regard, the team was lucky with the lead actor.
“He was physically prepared, athletic, and repeatedly shot in action, so the stunt producers were very pleased with the main character, and rehearsals and training were minimal. He did most of his tricks himself, so there were no difficulties. And we had a very good stunt director, guru of his craft, ”the director said.
Alexander Ustyugov also said that shooting the fights was given to him without much difficulty, but still had to prepare for these scenes.
“Naturally, all the big fights were rehearsed before the start of the filming period. There was nothing complicated and supernatural, for which some specific preparation would be required. But the physical form had to be maintained. Denis Karyshev and I decided that the character should look brutal in the frame. For a while I even had to go to the gym before filming and during, although it was almost impossible, because the shooting period was quite dense. I trained right on the set, ”said the actor.
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In the series you can see many interesting staged decisions. So, in one of the episodes, the demonstration of numerous tattoos of one of the antagonists, along with dark intriguing music, gradually intensifies the atmosphere and leads the audience to the next dramatic scene.
The theme of blindness runs through the entire first series as a red thread: the saleswoman at the station buys medical glasses, prostitutes are asked to put on masks without slits for the eyes, the beloved of the protagonist is blind.
All this makes the story a little more dramatic and adds intrigue. However, according to the director, the topic of blindness is not a thoughtful move, but a fortunate combination of circumstances.
“There was a heroine with acquired blindness, and everything was built around this. With girls and masks it happened. Masks were supposed to be those in which nothing is visible. It’s just one to one. The first scene with glasses is also a coincidence. But in no way did we lay any kind of concept of global blindness. Sometimes it happens, and it makes me happy that everything is going one to one, ”said Karyshev.
However, despite the reasonableness of the plot, the script has several ambiguous points. So, for example, the sister of the protagonist does not know anything about the kind of activity of her lover. But he, meanwhile, turns out to be a policeman and is going to arrest the legendary bandit. The same police officer handcuffs the sleeping Denis to the leg of the bed, as if not realizing that the bed can be raised. Well, a good lawyer is at the right time and quite by accident right at the station - in the person of an annoying interlocutor.
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On March 30, the Ricochet series was presented on the MIPTV Online + online service as part of MIPTV's Drama Buyers Summit international series pitching. As Denis Karyshev said, the project aroused interest among foreign audiences and attracted foreign buyers. According to the director, the coronavirus pandemic confused all plans for both the MIPTV organizers and the project team.
“At first, due to the situation with coronavirus, everything was postponed to the fall, then they decided to conduct everything now online. Some carpet was being prepared with a trip of the main actor, producers and so on to Cannes for a presentation. Then all this because of the coronavirus was canceled. All this leapfrog certainly left its mark now, since everything is remote and in a semi-vacation state, the information flows a little slower than we would like, ”the director said. At the same time, he emphasized that the creators of the series already have partners who are ready to buy the rights to Ricochet.