Major Grom: Plague Doctor

Tikhon Zhiznevsky, who portrays Major Grom

The filmmakers tried to use less famous actors as they were dissatisfied with the same few actors playing in many different films.[27] Bubble had difficulties with the casting—in particular, with the selection of a lead actor to portray Igor Grom. Alexander Gorbatov, who played Grom in the short film, did not return to the role due to lack of interest in the project.[28] The search for a new actor took a whole year. According to screenwriter and producer Roman Kotkov, "...we could not even imagine that it was so difficult to find a tall handsome man with intelligence in his eyes in Russia".[27] Eventually, Tikhon Zhiznevsky was selected for the role.[28] Zhiznevsky had to lose ten kilograms for the part,[29] as well as undergo serious physical training in order to look more athletic.[30] For this, he worked with coaches in Moscow and St. Petersburg.[31] Dmitry Chebotaryov, another actor who took part in the film and who had known Zhiznevsky for a long time, recalls that he and many of Zhiznevsky's other acquaintances would never have thought that their friend would fit the part he was about to play, as he was mainly known for playing romantic roles.[32]

For the role of Sergei Razumovsky, theatre actor Sergei Goroshko was chosen.[33][34] In order to convincingly play the character, Goroshko compiled a complete biography of the character, from his birth until the events after the film, partly sourcing this from the comics as well as from the film's scriptwriters.[35][36] Goroshko also had to lose weight for the role, in his case fifteen kilograms.[36] The voice of the Plague Doctor in the mask is an overlap of the voices of Goroshko and Dmitry Chebotaryov.[32][33][36]

Actor Dmitry Chebotaryov auditioned for both the roles of Igor Grom and Oleg, and, according to the producers, both auditions were successful, but he was eventually selected to play Oleg Volkov.[32] Chebotaryov was the only actor among the main cast who did not have to change his appearance in any way for filming.[29] Ukrainian rapper Kyivstoner was approved for the role of Booster Ignat, Grom's informant, due to his flamboyant personality.[37] Almost all of his lines were improvised.[38][29]

Politician Vitaly Milonov was invited to appear in a cameo as himself, since the studio needed a character who would condemn the actions of the Plague Doctor on the in-film television. Director Oleg Trofim was opposed to Milonov becoming this character since he did not want the film to have unnecessary allusions to real life, but Gabrelyanov insisted, and Milonov appeared in a short scene in which he committed to a ban of the Plague Doctor masks.[36]

Vladimir Besedin, Artyom Gabrelyanov, and Oleg Chugunov during the film's presentation at IgroMir/Comic-Con 2017

Representatives of Bubble Studios repeatedly stated that the short film Major Grom would be a test project before filming a full-length movie, which, if successful, would be followed by adaptations of other Bubble comics.[39][40] It was also stated that Bubble Studios plans to attract American actors to the project, film it in English, and launch it internationally, with a focus on Western markets.[41][42] The full-length Major Grom was to be produced by the same team as the short one.[40] The planned budget at that time was at least five million US dollars.[43]

The filmmakers also said that the look of Saint Petersburg in the film would differ from the real one, and, in addition, the geography of the city would undergo changes. Bubble Studios director and Major Grom screenwriter, Artyom Gabrelyanov, commented, "There are certain things that make the character look organic. If you take a camera and just shoot what is outside the window, then any superhero in a Russian context will look funny".[44][45] The filmmakers planned to stick to a 12+ rating, although they did not deny that scenes of violence could increase the rating to 16+. According to Gabrelyanov, the studio did not set itself the goal of giving "a [Russian] answer" to Hollywood, and that it is more important for it to prove its merits by deeds, not by words. In November 2017, Bubble Studios announced an open casting for the film.[45][46] Vladimir Besedin, who was the director at the time, mentioned that there would be several after-credits scenes related to the story.[47]

External video
Major Grom: Paper Airplanes on YouTube

Photo from the presentation of the film at IgroMir / Comic-Con Russia 2017, depicting one of the bank robbers dressed as a hockey player

A teaser for the film was first shown on 30 September 2017 at IgroMir / Comic-Con Russia 2017.[5] The clip shows a young restless skateboarder, played by Oleg Chugunov, who watches a video of the Plague Doctor and begins to believe in his ideas, before joining a flash mob in which everyone who wants to protest against government corruption must release a paper airplane from a window.[48] Igor Grom himself appears in the video only from the back, in passing, at a shawarma kiosk. The scenery of Saint Petersburg is made to look like New York City, and the actors speak English; the audio was later dubbed into Russian.[49][50]

Responses to the teaser included accusations by Alexander Strepetilov, editor of Mir Fantastiki magazine, that the Plague Doctor was a satire on popular Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny (while in the comics he was an allusion to Pavel Durov, a creator of the Russian social network VKontakte).[49] Popular video blogger and film reviewer Evgeny Bazhenov, known as BadComedian, to the contrary, stated that any parallels in the film with existing reality were the right move on the studio's part: "In their first film, I did not relate myself to anyone. Here at least it is clear that this is a modern world, modern people".[51]

According to the filmmakers, the short film was well received by Western audiences, and therefore the teaser was filmed in English. Artyom Gabrelyanov stated that Hollywood producers were very interested in the project. One of these was Harvey Weinstein, but the meeting with him was cancelled at the very last moment due to allegations of sexual harassment against him. Foreign producers insisted on the participation of English-speaking actors and an Americanization of the film, so as to better cater to English-speaking audiences. Examples of this included changing Saint Petersburg to New York City and renaming Igor Grom to Harry Thunder. However, Bubble felt that this contradicted their concept for the project. As a result, they decided to refuse the help of foreign producers and shoot the film primarily for a Russian-speaking audience.[27][44] Subsequently, the first teaser, as well as the original 2017 short film, were deemed non-canonical to the events of Major Grom: Plague Doctor.[34]

During development, the production team had creative disagreements that prevented the work from continuing. The creative team wanted the film to be more story-driven, while the director of the short film, Vladimir Besedin, as well as the crew, wanted it to be more action-packed.[52] This changed when Artyom Gabrelyanov met producer Mikhail Kitaev, who became interested in the film and at the same time had experience in grand-scale projects, such as Invasion, Sputnik, Chernobyl, and T-34. He helped make connections, select actors, and create scenery. Kitaev saw the Major Grom short film while on the set of the 2018 film Ice, together with Oleg Trofim, and both liked it. According to the plan, filming was supposed to begin a month and a half after Kitaev joined the project, but in fact, Bubble only had a script and concept art, and they were not ready for filming. Kitaev immediately noted the inexperience of the team and the lack of skillful management, and he felt that the script was decent but needed improvement.[28]

The first weeks of working on the film were extremely difficult, as the team did not understand what to do. In the end, the project was frozen, all deadlines were cancelled, and Gabrelyanov and Kitaev turned to Artyom's father, Aram Gabrelyanov, founder of Life news agency, who had invested in the movie, for approval of a further work plan. A personnel reshuffle occurred, the new team worked for three weeks, but conflicts continued to arise, and the project was frozen again—this time for a week and a half, resulting in the entire team being disbanded. Vladimir Besedin, director of the short film, resigned, and Gabrelyanov, Kitaev, and Kotkov made a list of directors who could cope with the project, eventually selecting Oleg Trofim.[28]

Plague Doctor's suit

The film's plot is based on the first story arc of the original comic series, which recounts the struggle of Major Grom with a serial killer hiding under the mask of a plague doctor. In the scenario itself, Bubble Studios planned to leave about 80% of the plot of the original story and add 20% of new content.[53] After the teaser was released, the filmmakers received many unflattering comments related to its political content, both from Russian pro-government structures and from members of the public opposed to the government.[47] As a result, it was decided to remove all the politics that were present in the original comic,[54] leaving only the problem of "uncontrolled crimes of rich people who can get away from the law with their money"[55] and focusing on social inequality instead.[47] Gabrelyanov noted that the problem of inequality would also be more understandable to foreign viewers than allusions to Russian politics.[52]

Initial drafts of the script had scenes with helicopters and skyscrapers, but when producer Maxim Kitaev joined the project, he advised the scriptwriters to remove them, as they would require too much money, due to their scale.[28] The plot before the restart of production was too large, and it would have been impossible to film, even if the team had a budget 2–3 times bigger, so the writers had to shorten it.[52] When asked why the plot of Major Grom is so unoriginal and clichéd, Oleg Trofim replied that comics adaptations hadn't previously been filmed in Russia, and local filmmakers needed to master the genre and its basics first. Only once this happened would it be possible to deconstruct the genre and create something more original.[37]

During adaptation, the plot of the original comic underwent significant changes. For example, in the film, the character of Yulia Pchyolkina is not only the protagonist's love interest and damsel in distress, but also a full-fledged participant in the story line.[56] Oleg Trofim commented: "It is not relevant anymore to show the heroine as a girl who does not want to decide anything, but wants a dress".[27] In the film, the personality of Igor Grom also changed: in the comics, he is very noble and strictly follows a moral code, whereas in the film, he is more antiheroic and less scrupulous.[57] The writers deliberately didn't show Grom's origin story, opting to only offer hints throughout the film. Roman Kotkov explained this by saying that superhero origin stories have become boring to audiences.[58] The character of Razumovsky also underwent some changes, especially his motivation: in the film, the Plague Doctor sincerely, albeit using radical methods, wants to make the world a better place, whereas in the comics, he only uses justice as an excuse, while committing murders for his personal gain.[57]

The film contains a number of references to other Bubble comics, which are considered to be a setup for a potential Bubble cinematic universe.[59] There is mention of a "hitman with rat" in the film—the nickname of Demonslayer, one of the key characters in the Bubble comic universe and the protagonist of the comic series of the same name. Holt International, a corporation that designed the Plague Doctor's suit, appears in the Red Fury comic series as a main antagonist.[60]

If Besedin wanted St. Petersburg to appear Americanized, Oleg Trofim made the city look closer to reality.[61] Trofim lived in St. Petersburg for five years, and art director Dmitry Onishchenko is from there and knows the city well, and this helped when choosing locations. For over two months, Trofim and Onishchenko explored St. Petersburg to find streets that would best be suited for specific moments of the film.[62] Oleg Trofim explained:

"We know classical Petersburg, which is full of Baroque architecture and Art Nouveau. This is the city in which there was a revolution, and Soviet architecture has strongly settled there. We are also familiar with the gangster Petersburg from the 1990s, with its endless networks of courtyards. We were faced with the task of determining which Petersburg to show. As a result, we completely abandoned the Soviet legacy and that of the 1990s and concentrated on the historical part, the one that is timeless, the one that creates the image of St. Petersburg as a majestic palace city".[63]

In addition, the filmmakers decided to alter the layout of the city, as compared to the real St. Petersburg.[44][45] To do this, they sketched a rough plan, marking the main locations in the film: the poor neighborhoods Grom visits, a police station, Razumovsky's office, and Grom's apartment. As a result, it turned out that Bolshaya Morskaya Street leads to Radishchev Street, Zhukov Street becomes Galernaya Street, and Nevsky Prospect does not seem to exist at all. Oleg Trofim complained that the logistics in St. Petersburg were inconvenient for filming, and that was why they had to create their own scenery.[63]

• Filming locations gallery
• 
  Bolshaya Morskaya Street, shown in the chase scene[64]
• 
  Palace Square
• 
  Marble Palace, which became the exterior of a police station[65]
• 
  Yelagin Palace, which became the Grechkin mansion[66]
• 
  Bankovsky Lane, where Grom bought a shawarma from a stall[67]
• 
  55 Galernaya Street. The gateway of the house where the "attack" on Pchyolkina took place [68]
• 
  Zodchego Rossi Street, scene of the pogroms[69]
• 
  The Matrex building in Skolkovo, Moscow was the prototype for the Razumovsky skyscraper

After the initial publicity in 2017, there was no new information about the film for two years. On 5 October 2019, continuation of work on the project was announced at IgroMir / Comic-Con Russia. It was announced that the director had been replaced, and instead of Vladimir Besedin, Oleg Trofim was at the helm of the production. The role of Major Grom also changed from Aleksander Gorbatov (ru) to Tikhon Zhiznevsky (ru).[70][71] Additionally, significant changes had been made to the script.[72]

Filming resumed in Saint Petersburg and the film was initially planned to go on screen in 2019. However, in October of that year, it was announced that it would not be released on the due date. Filming was completed in December 2019. The official first trailer was released on 27 May 2020, a day after Saint Petersburg's anniversary celebrations.[73]