Russian spies, oriental flavor and translation difficulties: how the film "Shadow: Take Gordey" was filmed

On Thursday, December 8, the adventure detective "Shadow: Take Gordey" is released in wide release.

The directors were Anya Mirokhina and Ilya Kulikov.

Previously, the filmmakers worked together on the TV series Rugby, The O.K.O. Agency.

and Documentary.

Ghost hunter."

Kulikov, who wrote the scripts for such popular projects as "Policeman from Rublyovka" and "Mylodrama", also acted as a screenwriter for the new film. 

The tape tells about the activities of the Russian counterintelligence, engaged in the search for an elusive spy known as Gordey.

A hero that no one has ever seen in person, steals state secrets and can harm the country's national security.

At some point, it turns out that the spy appeared in Moscow.

A young counterintelligence officer, Vadim, is on his trail.

The roles in the tape were performed by Oleg Gaas, Ekaterina Sharykina, Philip Yankovsky, Tatyana Babenkova, Nadezhda Mikhalkova, Vladimir Veryovochkin and other actors.

Visit to Lubyanka

According to Anya Mirokhina, in preparation for filming, some members of the team talked with intelligence officers.

This was necessary in order to reliably show on the screen how the work in such organizations is built in Russia, after all, most viewers got the impression of spies thanks to foreign franchises like Bond.

“They are all our neighbors.

That is, not some special people from a closed world - they live next to us, we just don’t know a lot, we don’t notice.

And when we were preparing for the film, talking with people working in these structures, for example, I learned a lot of new things that I never paid attention to, ”the director said in a conversation with RT.

• Shot from the film "Shadow: Take Gordey"

• © Legio Felix

As a result, communication with intelligence officers had an impact both on the script and on the development of characters.

Executive producer Alexei Tutarinov noted that the interlocutors of the filmmakers made a lot of edits to the script.

However, nothing secret will be shown on the screen.

“Everything is already declassified.

This information was once secret, in the 1980s, when events took place that inspired the plot a little, ”Tutarinov explained.

Oleg Gaas, the leading actor, also had a chance to talk with representatives of the special services.

This experience was not the easiest for him, but quite useful.

“It was evident that they were following every movement, they were looking into the soul somewhere.

But the experience is interesting, he asked different questions for the role: what kind of profession is counterintelligence?

In fact, a spy, people in the shadows, protecting the state - these are our James Bonds, ”says Gaas.

The artist noted that this profession is in some ways similar to the work of an actor, but even "worse".

“You always have to have some kind of story and you need to lie so skillfully ... Actors play it, and you must be different, be able to pass for a foreigner, know languages.

He must really be able to do everything, be able to keep up the conversation about the theater, music, ballet, about countries.

Super-savvy people,” says Oleg Gaas.

Actors and characters

Oleg Gaas played the main character, counterintelligence officer Vadim.

According to the actor, while working on the role, he sought to find in his character some kind of “superpower” that would help to imbue his character.

“Vadim is a very correct person and honest.

At home, he is a little henpecked, but if he is the main character, then he must have superpowers.

And his superpower is in simplicity.

He is simple, honest, does his job for the good of the state, although he could probably earn millions, ”says Gaas.

To be convincing in the frame, the actor learned to shoot.

True, the most difficult on the set for him was another task.

“The toughest test was when we were filming the beginning of the film, where I have to lie in the rain.

Ice water was pouring there, and then I crawled away, in the frame I had to take a gun.

I felt that it was as if a stake would break my head now, ”recalls the actor.

• Shot from the film "Shadow: Take Gordey"

• © Legio Felix

Ekaterina Sharykina played the role of Vadim's beloved journalist Anya, sexy, purposeful and self-aware, as the actress described her.

According to the plot, the heroine has to solve not only professional tasks, but also personal problems - to understand relations with her lover and help him in hard work.

For the actress, the project has become a real challenge, since this is her first such a big role, and even she had to fly abroad for the shooting, which is exciting in itself, and Ekaterina Sharykina had never left her homeland before. 

On the site, she had to overcome herself in order to undress in the frame.

“For me, everything that concerns my body is personal, not public, I am very shy.

I understood what was waiting for me in the acting profession, and that, perhaps, someday I would have to undress - the director might ask or the script would require it.

But it was awkward, uncomfortable ... I have a very complex about my figure, I constantly lack something, but there is too much of something, I want to be more athletic, stretched, in short, different.

I had to overcome myself and go into the frame with red cheeks.

And not to pretend, but to transform into a woman who loves herself, understands, she is sexy and 100% confident in herself, ”said the actress.

Vladimir Veryovochkin played an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a person, according to him, very slippery, but interesting, searching.

The artist tried to make his character unbanal.  

“I really liked the script and my character because it's something new.

How to balance between danger, lying to yourself?

At first I wanted to make a caricature, but then I thought that you can find a person in this, ”said Veryovochkin.

He emphasized that it was interesting to work on this image also because his hero is completely different from himself.

“I am not a womanizer, but he is a womanizer.

I have a beloved wife, I am monogamous, a sociopath.

It's different for him.

That's why I'm wondering: can I do it at all?

Here, in one difficult scene, it was necessary to play passion.

How is it?

You can just hug, kiss and play it.

And how to do it through the truth?

And also include a character there - not me, but him.

It was difficult,” recalls Vladimir Veryovochkin.

• Shot from the film "Shadow: Take Gordey"

• © Legio Felix

Nadezhda Mikhalkova got a relatively small but bright role in the film.

The artist agreed to her, without even reading the script.

“The director came up and said that there is a role-decoration of the film.

Well, who can refuse such an offer?

I immediately said yes, without reading the script and not knowing what the project was about, ”recalls Mikhalkova.

The actress played the wife of the consul and the mistress of the hero Verevochkin.

As for Gordey, the secret of his personality will not be revealed until the very end.

In search of Turkish flavor

The filming of the film "Shadow: Take Gordey" mainly took place in Moscow and the Moscow region, but for the production of some scenes, part of the team came to Istanbul.

Among the local locations are the Grand Hotel De Londres, built in 1892, where Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway stayed (although the artists still had to embellish the room needed for filming), a cafe on Ortakoy Square, as well as the Bosphorus.

Oleg Gaas and Ekaterina Sharygina sailed on it on a yacht - these shots can be seen at the very end of the film. 

By the way, it was Istanbul that was chosen by the filmmakers as the scene of action of some scenes not by chance.

Anya Mirokhina explained that since the city is located between Europe and Asia, this is where recruitment often takes place.

Such a scene was filmed for the film "Shadow: Take Gordey."

According to Alexei Tutarinov, Prague and Budapest were also considered for filming, but the team was forced to abandon them due to difficult logistics - you can only get there with transfers, which is very difficult for a film crew with a lot of equipment. 

“It could be Prague, Budapest, or some other large and recognizable city located in Europe.

We chose Istanbul and rewrote these scenes for him, because it 

was easier there (to organize filming. -

And here it could happen according to the scenario - a very cosmopolitan city," Tutarinov said.

• Photos from the filming of the film "Shadow: Take Gordey"

• © Legio Felix

Having chosen the Turkish metropolis, the filmmakers decided to take full advantage of this and bring more oriental flavor to their project.

This especially influenced the choice of a hotel with a history - initially the team planned to take “just some cool, expensive hotel”, but the director came to the conclusion that in this case it makes no sense to shoot these scenes in Istanbul - such a location can be found anywhere.

“I wanted us to have a Turkish, oriental interior... There was no desire to simply take a beautiful and expensive hotel, which can also be found in Moscow.

I wanted something authentic.

We sat with the local location for a long time, I showed pictures, said what I wanted, and they remembered this very old hotel, ”says Anya Mirokhina. 

Language difficulties

Among the filmmakers who worked on the Istanbul block, about half are Turks.

They were mainly responsible for performing technical tasks.

Most of them do not speak not only Russian, but also English.

Of course, the team had translators, but their presence did not solve all the problems.

“The translators (there are three of them) speak Russian and Turkish, but they are not technically savvy in terms of cinema, they do not understand some subtleties that they had to explain in Russian,” said Alexei Tutarinov.

Linguistic difficulties constantly complicated the filming process.

“All the time triple translation: from Russian into English, and then from English into Turkish.

Naturally, this is a very long time.

Technicians are very important in cinema, and we, for example, explained lighting tasks for a very long time: what rays should be, how they should pass.

The guys could not understand us for a long time.

The same with the "magicians", they are also local.

I tell them where to focus, they don’t understand, they have to run, point a finger, show.

In general, the experience is interesting,” said Anya Mirokhina.

I also had to look for a common language with the artists - several Turkish actors will appear in the tape in the episodes.

Extras were also gathered among the locals, and one of the roles was played by British actor Martin Cook.

However, according to Tutarinov, there is no big difference in approaches to work in Russia and Turkey, and as a result, all difficulties were resolved.

“Illuminators - as if I never left Moscow (these unhurried gaits - we have everything the same) ... They harness for a long time - again, this is our tradition: to harness for a long time, but go fast.

Until you agree on something, a lot of time passes, but then they do everything quickly enough.

Negotiating for a long time and doing it quickly is the junction of Europe and Asia, and the approach is more Asian than European.

We have the same thing, so the process is not much different, ”said the producer.

Speaking about the idea of ​​the film, Anya Mirokhina explained that the team's goal was to tell about Russian spies and, with the help of actors, to present their images on the screen. 

“Ask any person how he imagines a Russian spy?

In general, there is nothing to answer to this.

Some templates from the cinema - and that's it.

In fact, they are all very cool guys, interesting, lively people.

They are not all so bright (like Anna Chapman. - 

), but the most important thing is that they are people.

They have their weaknesses, they have those they love.

They get tired, they can get upset, cry, laugh, get high from what they are doing, and defend their cause, ”says the director.

She did not rule out that the film could get a sequel and become part of a spy franchise.