Russians to shoot scenes for film during space mission

Russian film director Klim Shipenko said on Monday the first movie in orbit would be an “experiment,” on the eve of his journey into space hoping to beat a rival Hollywood project.

The 38-year-old director and one of Russia’s most famous actresses, Yulia Peresild, 37, are due to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday to shoot scenes for upcoming Russian movie The Challenge.

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos is sending them into orbit with experienced cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, 49. Cosmonauts on board the International Space Station are expected to appear in cameo roles in the film.

The 12-day mission was announced in September 2020, four months after a Hollywood project involving Mission Impossible actor Tom Cruise was revealed.

“We are doing an experiment,” Shipenko told reporters.

“There is nobody to get advice from. There is not a single cameraman who could answer how to work with light from a porthole,” he told an online news conference.

On top of directing, he will also be handling the cameras, lighting, sound and make-up.

Shipenko conceded that “some things will work out and some things will not”.

Following months of rigorous training ahead of the flight, Peresild said that being an actress and a cosmonaut were “two opposite professions”.

Originally published in Dawn, October 5th, 2021