Russia is racing to become the first country to shoot a film in space, after it reported designs to send an actress and a director to the International Space Station (ISS) – 250 miles above earth – in October.
State news agency Ria Novosti said on Thursday that 35-year-old Yulia Peresild would star in the new film, which will be shot in space and directed by 37-year-old Klim Shipenko.
Titled “Vyzov” (“The Challenge”), the film will tell the story of a surgeon who needs to work on a sick cosmonaut in space because his medical condition prevents him from getting back to earth to be dealt with.
Peresild and Shipenko, who are well-known in Russia, were chosen after the nation’s space agency, Roscosmos, opened an competition for applicants in November.
Peresild has appeared in various Russian movies and TV series, while Shipenko’s 2020 film “Serf” was one of Russia’s highest-grossing films.
Race to space
The timing of the plans puts Russia neck-and-neck with a US team of actor Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman, who uncovered in 2020 that they were working together on a film to be recorded in space.
The as-yet-untitled film, which has no release date, is being developed in collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Voyage will make a travel to space, where he will be based at the ISS, as per they.
The ISS is a multibillion-dollar laboratory that orbits Earth.
It was launched in 1998 and worked as a cooperation between the US, Russia and 14 different countries.
Zero-gravity training
Peresild and Shipenko should go through thorough preparing prior to traveling to space to film “The Challenge.”
From one month from now, alongside two understudies, they will start an preparation regime that will include training flights for zero gravity and parachute training.
They will go to the ISS from the Baikonur cosmodrome spaceport in Kazakhstan on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft.
The film, which has no released date yet, is being developed in collaboration with Roscosmos, broadcaster Channel One and studio Yellow, Black and White.