A Russian filmmaker, and an actress are currently in space to shoot the first film at the International Space Station.
Film Producer Klim Shipenko and actor Yulia Peresild accompanied veteran Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov to the International Space Station. The plan for Peresild and Shipenko is to shoot scenes from their movie titled Vyzov (“The Challenge”), making it the first feature film shot in space.
The movie will tell the story of a surgeon who has to operate on a sick cosmonaut in space because his medical condition prevents him from returning to Earth to be treated.
The trio took off on a Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft from Kazakhstan and arrived at the space station on Tuesday morning. The International Space Station is a multi billion-dollar laboratory that orbits Earth. It was launched in 1998 and built as a collaboration between the US, Russia and 14 other countries.
Peresild and Shipenko, are well-known in the film industry in Russia. The duo were selected after the country’s space agency, Roscosmos, opened a competition for applicants in November. Peresild has appeared in a number of Russian films and TV series, while Shipenko’s 2020 movie “Serf” was also one of Russia’s highest-grossing films.
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A NASA press release read, “The launch will mark the expansion of commercial space opportunities to include feature filmmaking”.
However, the filmmakers would only spend 12 days in the space station. They’re due to return to Earth on October 16. No release date has been announced for the movie yet.
The Russians aren’t the only filmmakers with their eyes on space. Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman revealed in 2020 that they were also working together on shooting in space. The project is being developed in collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
