On the day of the 50th anniversary of Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, the series "Caspian 24" is being released on NTV, in which the actress played the main role.
The project was directed by Alexander Franskevich-Laye, who previously directed the series In June 1941, Mortal Kombat and Don't Leave Me.
He also took part in the development of the script, and also played one of the central roles.
The idea of the series belongs to Igor Ugolnikov, the producer of such high-profile films as "Podolsk Cadets", "Brest Fortress" and "Battalion".
Work on the series was carried out in Astrakhan, Minsk and other cities back in 2017, but the premiere was postponed for a long time.
As Alexander Franskevich-Laye suggested in an interview with RT, this could have happened due to Anastasia Zavorotnyuk's illness.
“We were waiting for her to feel better so that she could share with us the joy of the premiere,” said the director.
Events unfold around TV journalist Polina Koroleva.
Together with an old friend Sergei (Alexander Nosik), they undertake the creation of a new Astrakhan TV channel - "Caspian 24".
The heroes manage to implement an ambitious project, but a successful launch is just the beginning of their difficult path.
It turns out that Polina and Sergei have a lot of influential ill-wishers who are eager to derive personal benefit from this venture.
Polina, meanwhile, has to not only get out of political intrigues and build a career, but also solve a lot of personal problems.
Those provide the TV drama with unexpected turns and vivid emotions: the heroine will lose all her savings, make a difficult choice in relation to the family, and even survive the tragic death of a loved one.
“My heroine is a fragile woman who creates an entire TV channel, courageously coping with the difficulties that come her way.
Her main feature is confidence, she knows what she wants, and relentlessly follows her dream - to create a real television, warm and intimate, which is able to make people kinder and happier.
And this is what keeps her from surrendering, ”said Anastasia Zavorotnyuk.
© PR NTV
The script was based on the biography of the journalist Elena Ulyanova, who once launched the Astrakhan 24 TV channel and directed it for four years.
In particular, the tape tells about her work on the creation of the TV channel, and also, as noted by Alexander Franskevich-Laye, some episodes from Ulyanova's personal life are presented.
The journalist herself told about them: she repeatedly met with the authors of the series and took part in its creation at the preparatory stage.
“The idea started with her.
We met with her, talked, she gave us an impetus.
Well, then, of course, the screenwriters and their imaginations appeared.
We tried to use as many stories from real events as possible and adapt them to our characters, ”said Alexander Franskevich-Laye RT.
However, one should not expect a close similarity of the characters and events shown in the series with real people and their lives: a lot was still invented by the scriptwriters.
“It seemed to us that Elena's fate was very dramatic, and the audience would be interested.
Of course, the scriptwriters and I have seriously tweaked the script itself, introducing new detective moves, storylines and dramatic events into it.
In real history, thank God, no one killed anyone, but this will happen here too, ”says Igor Ugolnikov.
It is interesting that the creators of the project wanted to see Anastasia Zavorotnyuk as the leading actor.
As the director said, the producers and Elena Ulyanova agreed that this actress is the perfect choice.
Later, representatives of NTV agreed with their decision.
“There were no options.
Anastasia Zavorotnyuk was immediately offered.
And Lena, and Ugolnikov, and, of course, I also supported.
And Anastasia herself is from Astrakhan, so all the stars converged, ”the director recalls.
© PR NTV
One of the central characters in the series was played by Alexander Franskevich-Laye himself.
At the same time, it was initially assumed that his role would be small (although the director wanted to refuse it due to the large amount of work behind the scenes), and for the development of one of the storylines, the authors of the tape planned to introduce a new character.
However, for the sake of the convenience of organizing the workflow, it was decided to combine the two characters and expand the director's presence on the screen.
“We realized that my participation as an investigator in such a small, insignificant role would only help our checkpoint (schedule and production plan. -
RT
), because I will always be at hand.
And then, when we started filming, the entire production group thought that we needed to somehow develop this role and connect it with Nastya's role, ”said Alexander Franskevich-Laye.
He added that this decision made it possible to make the plot, which included many negative twists, more hopeful.
In addition to detective and dramatic stories, the topic of behind-the-scenes television is developed in "Caspian 24".
Many key scenes are set in a TV studio, which allows the viewer to imagine how TV programs are filmed and what happens on the other side of the screen in case of emergency situations.
“It’s interesting from the point of view that you can look at everything, including your life, from the outside and give the viewer the opportunity to see what we have conceived,” notes Alexander Nosik.
However, in this case, we are more likely talking about the atmosphere in which television workers work, and only about some of the features of their profession: the creators of the series did not set themselves the goal of documenting the intricacies of the work of journalists on the screen, but focused primarily on the personal stories of the heroes.
“The destinies of people who work on television, the characters of the characters, their personal dramas, and their professional attitude to their favorite work were important.
This was our main task to make the series interesting, ”explained Alexander Franskevich-Laye.
The series "Caspian 24" consists of 8 episodes and is about 40 minutes long.
All of them will air in one evening.