ILIYA MUROMETS MOVIE
FROM XI CENTURY RUSSIA
To the delight of our readers who always ask me for more international projects, today we are going back again to good old Matushka Rossiya: this one started shooting back in 2019, but then we had the covid outbreak and I'm
not sure where is this project currently at, whether it is still in post production or not, but I do have first photos from Russian historical movie ILIYA MUROMETS (Илия Муромец) from director Karen Oganesyan with the
ensemble that includes Yegor Pazenko, Andrey Merzlikin, Olga Medynich, Danila Yakushev, Anton Pampushny, Vladislav Demin and other actors! 
not sure where is this project currently at, whether it is still in post production or not, but I do have first photos from Russian historical movie ILIYA MUROMETS (Илия Муромец) from director Karen Oganesyan with the ensemble that includes Yegor Pazenko, Andrey Merzlikin, Olga Medynich, Danila Yakushev, Anton Pampushny, Vladislav Demin and other actors! WHAT'S THE STORY?
Russia, XI century. The state is in danger. From the south, its borders
are threatened by hordes of Polovtsy, wild steppe pagans, and from the
inside, an
internal war is sharpening, which Prince Vladimir Monomakh
is trying to stop with all his might. It is in times like these that
legends are born. The
legend of ILIYA MUROMETS lives to this day, but, like
any legend, a living person is hiding behind it. A peasant son who could
not walk until the age of 
thirty-three, but became a great warrior.
This is a mighty warrior who faithfully served Prince Monomakh and won
the glory of a hero in the war 
against the Polovtsy and in the
unification of Russian lands. A hero who, after so many feats, left
military affairs and devoted the rest of his life to serving God.
internal war is sharpening, which Prince Vladimir Monomakh
is trying to stop with all his might. It is in times like these that
legends are born. The legend of ILIYA MUROMETS lives to this day, but, like
any legend, a living person is hiding behind it. A peasant son who could
not walk until the age of thirty-three, but became a great warrior.
This is a mighty warrior who faithfully served Prince Monomakh and won
the glory of a hero in the war against the Polovtsy and in the
unification of Russian lands. A hero who, after so many feats, left
military affairs and devoted the rest of his life to serving God. BEHIND THE PRODUCTION
The idea of the film belongs to Yegor Pazenko, who also plays the title role and acts as the general producer. For several months, Yegor, together with the historian Alexander Golovkov, worked on the future script, and
later Karen Oganesyan also joined them. The story of legendary ILIYA MUROMETS has come down to our days in the format of epic poems, fairy
tales, comics, and has become for everyone a kind of a comic story, divorced from reality. Therefore the creators of this picture had a very important task:
to tell people about the real ILIYA MUROMETS, a real person who lived in the times of Ancient Russia. The budget of the film is 900 million rubles 
(about $7 million), which is not surprising - this is an incredibly large-scale and ambitious project, which involves famous actors, an impressive number of extras, work has also been done to restore life in Russia in the 11th century, 
costumes, armor, and weapons have been created. The film uses computer graphics, there are spectacular, meticulously staged fight scenes in order to recreate significant battles of ancient Russia from the time of price Monomakh.
later Karen Oganesyan also joined them. The story of legendary ILIYA MUROMETS has come down to our days in the format of epic poems, fairy tales, comics, and has become for everyone a kind of a comic story, divorced from reality. Therefore the creators of this picture had a very important task: to tell people about the real ILIYA MUROMETS, a real person who lived in the times of Ancient Russia. The budget of the film is 900 million rubles (about $7 million), which is not surprising - this is an incredibly large-scale and ambitious project, which involves famous actors, an impressive number of extras, work has also been done to restore life in Russia in the 11th century, costumes, armor, and weapons have been created. The film uses computer graphics, there are spectacular, meticulously staged fight scenes in order to recreate significant battles of ancient Russia from the time of price Monomakh.
Watching Walhallah has made me interested in Vladimir Monomakh since he married Gytha of Wessex, grandaughter of Godwin, my favorite character in the series.
ReplyDeleteI've only watched the first episode so far, it was delightfully filled with nekkid pecs and abs from our dear prince Harald. Russian princes did like to marry for royalty, often for Byzantine, even Roman brides.
DeleteVolodya really was an interesting character as the ruler of Kievan Rus and took his surname Monomach from his mommy dearest who was the relative of Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomachos.
If you persevere in your watching, you’ll get to see Harald ‘s perfect behind.
DeleteWhat amazes me is the number of royal marriages into Western European Houses. Volodya married an English (half-Dane) princess. Her granddaughters included a Queen of Norway, a Queen of Denmark, and a Queen of Hungary. And this applies to all the Slavic rulers. I saw you reviewing a novel about dRagutin, his mother was a French princess, Helene dÁnju. And then around the Renaissance this sopped, and Slavs became savages in western imagination, that applied to their rulers as well.
I have all of Harald's pec and bum photos already and cherish them fondly :)
DeleteYou should not be surprised as back then the world was very small, and the royals had to mingle and mix. Our king Milutin, Dragutin's brother, ruled the kingdom of Serbia which was in his time the biggest country in Europe going all the way down to Constantinople, and the same goes for his grandson, our most famous ruler ever tzar Dushan who was unmatched in Europe. So it is natural they all had ties with other courts around Europe, even the West ones.
Helene of Anju was one of our most famous queens, if not the most famous one indeed. Some of our princesses were grandmothers of Russian tzars, some mothers of Hungarian empire, well even our ridiculous Alexander is tied to Elizabeth II who is his godmother or something LOL
I have to admit, this is a shock. When I hear Pagan, I picture them as an organic hippie. They were WILD and they attacked?
ReplyDeleteWell, everybody who did not worship God was called Pagan back in those days, the ancient country of my people was called Pagania by the Byzantium for quite some time, nasty snobs, they were. Back in those days we lived in Dalmatia and did a little pirating business too LOL
DeleteThis one sounds like it will be grand. 7 million is quite a bit to invest, so it better be. I hope they aren't overly excessive on the computer graphics. While they certainly serve a purpose, I hate it when it's more digital than real.
ReplyDeleteI just hope it gets finished and done. So many projects have fallen through due to covid.
DeleteHopefully everyone is ready to pick up where they left off. I think the world is about over covid right now and everything we had to put on hold. I have a feeling the next few years will bombard us with a lot of those unfinished projects that can resume production.
DeleteYes, some people in Europe are thanking Putin for ending covid. Strange how everybody stopped paying attention to corona this month all of a sudden.
Delete