On June 10, the Russian military thriller Red Ghost is released. The film was directed by Andrey Bogatyrev, who worked on the projects "Sasha Tanya" and "Wild League". He was also one of the authors of the script. The main roles in the film were played by Alexey Shevchenkov ("A.L.Zh.IR", "Dyatlov Pass") and Austrian actor Wolfgang Czerny ("T-34", "The Last Hero", "Tobol"). The film also stars Vladimir Gostyukhin, Yura Borisov, Mikhail Gorevoy, Polina Chernyshova, Paul Orlyansky and other artists.

The action of the tape unfolds in the winter of 1941 around a local clash between Wehrmacht soldiers and the Soviet military.

The latter lose, however, unexpectedly, the mysterious Red Ghost enters the battle - a partisan who previously single-handedly dealt with dozens of opponents.

The hero always managed to remain elusive.

His personality is unknown to those around him, which gives rise to many myths.

However, the viewer is shown the appearance of the Ghost almost at the very beginning of the film, thus dispelling a hint of the mystical component.

According to Andrei Bogatyrev, this hero is a kind of metaphor referring to the numerous exploits of Soviet soldiers during the war years.

The director emphasizes that, in his opinion, victory is woven from such stories and characters.

“The myth of the Red Ghost is an attempt to comprehend the feat of our soldiers.

One deceased hero was replaced by another, and the myth of the invincible Soviet warrior was born.

But each of them had its own human story, ”the director said.

Also, the filmmakers made an attempt to show two mentality - Soviet and German, and demonstrate the clash of two characters.

According to Alexei Shevchenkov, the characters are revealed in such a way that, looking at the screen, it becomes clear that it was impossible to avoid the conflict.

  • Shot from the movie "Red Ghost"

  • © Press service of the film "Red Ghost"

“There is one such interesting layer here, which many directors are trying to achieve, but they do not always succeed, or such goals and objectives are not set.

Here I clearly saw two mentalities.

I suddenly saw that these two peoples could not help but face head-ons ... Initially (in the script - 

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) a clash of two mentalities, two different approaches was already planned.

Both Wolfgang (Czerny - 

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) and Paul (Orlyansky - 

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) helped a lot in the sense that we discussed a lot about the differences between the Germans, especially at that time, and we were looking for these nuances, ”the actor notes.

Difficulties in production and distribution

The work on the film took seven years.

His idea belongs to Pavel Abramenkov, who played one of the roles.

Andrey Bogatyrev, Vyacheslav Shikhaleev and Konstantin Simonov joined Abramenkov.

Together they decided to work on a picture that would be very different from other Russian films about the war.

In the process, the filmmakers relied, among other things, on the memories of the participants in the hostilities.

“The four of us in the village were writing this story, four friends.

Then we went to the veterans, they told us a lot, and we included some of their stories in the film, ”the director recalls.

In their quest to make an unusual, vibrant and dynamic movie about the war, the authors of "Red Ghost" were inspired by films by Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, as well as films about superheroes.

Filmmakers expect that a story told in this format can draw the attention of teenagers to such a difficult topic.

“It was a really interesting work, both in terms of how the artwork was created and how the material was collected.

It is also important that the story is told in modern language.

We must not forget about the time in which we live and about the younger generation.

Therefore, the language is very important: how you tell it and to whom you tell it.

This is a new film about the war, it is unlike any other Russian film, ”says Alexei Shevchenkov.

  • Shot from the movie "Red Ghost"

  • © Press service of the film "Red Ghost"

The film was ready back in 2018, but until recently its creators could not find a distributor.

“The film had a lot of adventures, and we were faced with a huge number of such double standards, or something ... Maybe I will say loudly, but our film in a sense opposes the stylistics of many of our recent films about the war, that is, we don’t have such jingoistic patriotism, we don’t have any formality, we wanted to make a live film.

Maybe this scared away distributors, distributors, channels and so on, ”admits Andrei Bogatyrev.

Filming took place in a friendly atmosphere.

The team lived in the country house of Konstantin Simonov in the village of Nizovskoye, Kaluga Region, and the necessary locations were built nearby.

In the course of the work, there were some difficulties.

The production was carried out when the air temperature reached -35 ° C, which became a serious test for the film crew.

Wolfgang Czerny experienced the Russian frosts more than others - in one of the episodes that unfolded on the street, he appears naked.

In this form, the artist had to spend several shifts.

“I could not, to be honest, hold a weapon with my bare hands for three minutes.

Because in three minutes hands froze and weapons fell out of them.

Therefore, I can’t even imagine how they ran there naked, ”Shevchenkov recalls.

  • Shot from the movie "Red Ghost"

  • © Press service of the film "Red Ghost"

Cerny himself said that he was ready to shoot without clothes, but did not expect such weather.

However, he managed not only to cope with his task and not get sick, but also to get an unforgettable experience.

“In the end, I wasn’t sick at all ... We took a steam bath after almost every shift, after filming, and it was a real Russian experience for me,” recalls the Austrian.

The premiere of the film took place in 2020 at the Window to Europe festival.

The film was also presented at the Yu.N.

Ozerov, where Wolfgang Czerny was awarded the prize for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

To date, the rights to show The Red Ghost have been sold to over 100 countries.

It will be seen by viewers from the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, France, South Korea, Japan and other countries.