Gorynych in this fairy tale will not be a huge three-headed snake, but a small dragon, a cub 60 centimeters high. It was discovered in an underwater cave by Russian Navy Lieutenant Lesha Alekseev. He goes to the bottom in the submersible to carry out his Navy business, without suspecting that the cave is inhabited by dragons and, certainly, without imagining that it also serves as a portal to a fairy tale world, very reminiscent of the ancient Russia. A prince rules there, with whose daughter, Marusya, Lesha quickly falls in love. At the same time, he must constantly keep an eye on Gorynych, who has not only grown fond of him, but sincerely considers him her mother…
“Gorynych” is produced by the STV studio, which has already produced two highly successful film fairy tales, “The Little Humpbacked Horse” and “The Pike” (a third, “Flint,” a very loose adaptation from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, is on the way). Apparently, “Gorynych” will be released in early 2026. Meanwhile, they began filming it near St. Petersburg, on a lake with the telling name of Dlinnoe. The actors who played the main roles in Gorynych arrived there: Alexander Petrov (Lesha), Alexander Robak (second-rank captain Goryachev, Lesha’s boss in the real world), Sergei Makovetsky (prince), Victoria Agalakova (Marusya).
Alexander Petrov.
They are filming one of the final episodes, the content of which the KP correspondent knows from the first to the last word (on movie sets they usually hang sheets where all the scenes and all the characters’ lines are written). But I have no right to write about it: it is a spoiler after all. I will only say that this is an orchestra (all musicians are dressed in snow-white formal military uniforms), a bathyscaphe (orange) and Gorynych (not on the set – the beast will be completed later on the computer).
After filming the first frame, a plaque is ceremoniously broken on which is written the name of the film and the names of everyone working on it. Members of the film crew take the fragments as souvenirs. On the last day of filming, in theory, they will bring them to the set and try to put the set back together with them.
“I HAVE MANY I WANT THE PRINCE TO SING THE COPIES”
Sergei Makovetsky arrived at the venue in the morning, almost before all the artists: he arrived from the city of Orenburg, where he toured with the theater and performed in “Uncle Vanya”.
– I slept for two hours. But it won’t be difficult for me to play now. We, actors, don’t have to sleep at all at night and get up in the morning… But you get up for pleasure, boring and painful work doesn’t await you: you do what you like, you have fun. Therefore, we can be called happy people.
Sergei Makovetsky on the set.
My hero in “Gorynych” loves his daughter, loves his principality. He appears to be kind and naive. And his condition is in trouble. And, despite everything, the prince is ready for battle, ready to repel the enemy army… But for now it is difficult for me to talk about him: the first day of filming! It’s always like walking through a minefield and believe me, experience here doesn’t help. We need to decide the intonation, carefully, with touch, silently advance towards this little man… The film will be musical and I would very much like my prince to sing; It looks like it has some verses! In general, I have been voicing the prince in the cartoons about “Bogatyrs” for many years, but here the prince will look like an animated character, mainly with curls. Here the character is different, there is a lot of childishness in him, which I need to get out of myself … And his crown is made according to the best Byzantine traditions, of extraordinary beauty.
– What is the relationship between your hero and Gorynych?
– My relationship with Gorynych is primarily with our main character, Lesha, and I have a relationship with the doctors, with the team and with my daughter. Which somehow pleased Lesha. Do you know how happy dads look at their daughters’ potential suitors? But I won’t go into this in detail: I, as a viewer, love twists and unexpected endings in fairy tales.
IT’S DIFFICULT FOR A PRINCESS WITHOUT THE INTERNET
Alexander Petrov walks around the set in a vest, as befits a sailor.
“I like that my hero lives “here and now,” he says about his Lesha. -Like me, he believes in miracles, he trusts his inner intuition, he keeps going. This is great, interesting for me as an actor and interesting for the viewer. And he develops friendly relations with Gorynych; In the end, they understand each other on an animal level, because they are both stubborn.
– Gorynych considers your hero his mother. What did you teach her, as a mother?
– He’s probably not afraid of anything. Always move forward guided by good and kind intentions. It seems like a banal answer, but when you are guided by simple human kindness, mercy and forgiveness, you get closer to victory. Well, it also teaches him to be himself. Lesha is like that, and Gorynych is different, and Lesha does not try to tame him or remake him, she understands this. And this is generally important in relationships with people, particularly children and, well, animals.
– How will you interact with a drawn character who is not in the frame at the time of filming?
– As an actor, it is very difficult to communicate with a non-existent partner, so I asked a living artist to perform with me. This is very important: natural reactions. It’s one thing when I look into the air and imagine my partner, I fantasize about how he or she behaves; It usually turns out to be a little out of sync, which is not quite right. But here, after all, a real partner communicates with me. So I put on straws to protect myself.
If Sasha Petrov spoke to journalists, illuminated by the sun, Victoria Agalakova communicates with us in the downpour, covered in a raincoat and an umbrella (optional). This is the climate of St. Petersburg. In fact, Victoria is wearing a luxurious dress, the design of which repeats fragments of Byzantine mosaics. The dress is not visible, but Victoria is already very pretty and looks like a princess.
– My heroine, Marusya, lives in a kind of golden cage. But she has a clear and firm desire: she wants a different, happier and freer life. And, of course, she looks for her love. She is not a capricious girl at all: she has only cunning, skill and no fraud! In the film we will have dances, there will be suspensions, we will fly… But, in general, the fairy-tale world in “Gorynych” is combined with the absolutely everyday world, and I really like it. Of course, my heroine, who has lived her entire life without a phone or the Internet, should be surprised at our ordinary human world…
– Did you learn to sing and dance especially for the film?
– I’ve been learning this since I was seven years old! (Laughs). Since I was little I have acted in musicals, I was in a children’s theater group and I also graduated from a ballet school.
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