Filming of the New Year's blockbuster "Letter to Santa Claus" is taking place in the Moscow region with the participation of Ivan Okhlobystin ("Interns", "Temporary Difficulties", "Slave 2") Anton Filipenko ("Unprincipled", "Anna Nikolaevna Project", "Impersonal Life") and Christina Asmus (“Own War. Storm in the Desert”, “Yolki”, “Text”). In addition, Ekaterina Temnova (“Fire”, “Wolf”, “Manyunya”) will play the role in the film. In addition to the characters played by the actors, fantasy heroes will also appear in the film.
"The Big New Year's Story"
Even during her in-person defense at the Cinema Fund, the film’s producer, Lika Blank, expressed the hope that “the big New Year’s story will become a cultural code.”
“Returning to your childhood dreams is essentially a return to yourself, and in this process many very funny and touching moments often happen,” the press service of the Production Center of the M. Gorky Film Studio quotes Blank as saying. “The plot of the film will leave few people indifferent: it has a place for nostalgia, adventure, deep emotions, and, of course, humor
. ”
Venera and Igor Chernyshev wrote the script for about two years. They used films such as Night at the Museum, Oz the Great and Powerful, Ghostbusters, Goosebumps and The Incredible Life of Walter Mitty as references. However, the film will be shot in Russian fairy tale style.
The director is Kirill Kuzin, who previously worked on such projects as “Londongrad. Know ours”, “Sergius against evil spirits”, “Diagnosis “Lucky”. The preparatory period for production took the director a year and a half.
In a conversation with RT, Kuzin said that a fantastic story with a New Year theme is relevant for the entire world community. According to the filmmaker, he was attracted by the scale of the project, which corresponds to the level of the global entertainment industry.
According to the director, the film is intended for both children and adults, who once wrote letters to Santa Claus with tenderness and hope.
“We looked at a certain number of archival letters, they were all written not about the party and Lenin and not about material values, but about things that modern children no longer think about. Life was different,” he said.
Still from the filming of the film “Letter to Santa Claus”
© Film Studio named after. Gorky
The main character of the film, Pyotr Bezuglov, does not believe in miracles. He is a lawyer by profession, and his whole life consists of unchanging rules, which he carefully adheres to. One day his son Vanya finds his father's children's letters to Santa Claus and puts them in the New Year's mailbox. The next morning, Peter's childhood wishes begin to come true one after another. Among them there are those that pose a threat not only to the hero himself and his family, but also to the whole world.
Heroes and actors
On the first day of filming in the Moscow region, the filmmakers worked on scenes in the house of Peter’s father, Pavel Pavlovich. He is played by Ivan Okhlobystin.
“(Scenes. -
RT
) in the house of Pal Palych, played by Ivan Ivanovich, is the beginning of the film. Events take place here that foreshadow the story that will happen to the heroes,” said the director.
According to Okhlobystin, “a fairy tale is the pinnacle of artistic creativity,” so he didn’t think long about participating in the film. In addition, the artist played Santa Claus for many years in hospitals, where he delivered gifts to children, made them happy and distracted them from hospital everyday life, and also consoled the parents of the sick. The actor called his hero a bad person.
“My character is an active, nasty and mischievous old man, so I am in sync with my role. “I’m also a mischievous old man, but depending on my mood,” the artist told RT. — It creaks like a galvanized bucket. He loves his grandchildren, does not trust his son, because it seems to him that he is doing everything wrong, and is sure that he will do the best.”
As the actor noted, despite the fact that in his filmography he mainly played the role of antagonists, he plays such a character as in the film “Letter to Santa Claus” for the first time.
“I always played some kind of maniacs, or all sorts of infernal peppers. I'm not like that in real life. I’m sanguine, calm, not prone to melancholy, I like to voice cartoons and generally love fairy tales,” said Okhlobystin. — We don’t have many New Year’s films, so it won’t be superfluous. My image suits me too.”
Still from the filming of the film “Letter to Santa Claus”
© Film Studio named after. Gorky
Ekaterina Temnova plays the granddaughter of Pavel Pavlovich. As the artist told RT, one can only dream of participating in such a project.
“This story is a real New Year's adventure with magic, humor and a good ending. The project is just a dream,” Temnova noted. — My heroine is a modern teenage girl, a blogger, she does not part with her phone, she has a rich vocabulary. She dances very well and dreams of being on stage. She's bright and sassy."
As the actress admitted, her on-screen image turned out to be unusual and in line with modern trends: she will appear in the film with light brown hair with light pink and light green strands.
“The image was created by talented makeup artists; I wanted to make it unusual, not like everyone else’s, so that it would be remembered. The transformation process took the whole day. But it was worth it, this is an amazing image,” Temnova noted.
Meanwhile, the actress said that she herself believes in miracles and often encounters them in life.
“I’m starring in this good movie, isn’t it a miracle,” she added.
Still from the filming of the film “Letter to Santa Claus”
© Film Studio named after. Gorky
Peter Bezuglova is played by Anton Filipenko. In a conversation with RT, the artist said that as a child, New Year was his favorite holiday. Over the years, he stopped believing in Santa Claus and tried to make wishes that would coincide with the capabilities of his parents. During his student years, Filipenko often worked as a fairy-tale wizard.
The relationship between his character and his on-screen father cannot be called warm, but the artists on the set immediately developed an organic relationship.
“We are still organically getting used to each other, we don’t interfere in personal space, we treat each other with respect, and we are not late for rehearsals. We caught a certain wave at the readings,” said Filipenko.
As the actor noted, the creative team as a whole was successful. According to him, director Kirill Kuzin welcomes improvisation and is always open to artists’ suggestions.
“We are free in our images,” the actor emphasized.
New Year's action and miracles
As Kirill Kuzin said, the heroes will go on a long, exciting journey across half the country in one day (as if) and find themselves in various magical stories. He expressed confidence that the adventures of the heroes will surprise the audience, and the places where they find themselves will give aesthetic pleasure and will be “pleasant to the eye.”
In one of the episodes, Okhlobystin’s hero flies in a hot air balloon. The actor himself admitted that he is “deadly afraid” of balloons, but if this is required for a role, he is always ready. However, during the filming he will not have to make a real flight, since the filmmakers use technology similar to that used when working on the film by Alexei German Jr. “Air”: they will create a real model of air transport against the backdrop of LED screens on which the image will be projected, combined with graphics.
Still from the filming of the film “Letter to Santa Claus”
© Film Studio named after. Gorky
The Magic Factory Animation studio is responsible for bringing the fictional characters to life. Among the company's projects are "Chink: The Tailed Detective" and "Secrets of Honey Valley."
CGI will also be used in action scenes. They mainly plan to shoot dynamic scenes on the Moskino film park using chromakey.
In addition to the Moscow region, filming will take place in Moscow, Vyborg, St. Petersburg, Karelia and, possibly, in Uglich - it depends on the weather. A total of 45 shooting days are planned. The film will be released in Russia in 2025.