A former psychiatrist wrote a fantasy trilogy, which became a film, which became the first blockbuster in Russian film history.
Originally a psychiatrist, Sergei Lukyanenko always wanted to write a fantasy novel set in modern times.
I’d been eager to write fantasy for quite some time… Then, I had an intriguing notion: this idea of the Night as a battlefield for magicians who live in hiding among us ordinary people and can only fight when it won’t disturb humanity.
Before the film was made, Night Watch was part of fantasy series with a serious following, with 500,000 copies sold. Since the feature film, the trilogy went on to sell another 2.5 million copies.
What made the film such a success?
To translate the trilogy into a visually powerful film, the producers brought on board someone with a close understanding of the Russian soul, and familiar to modern special effects filmmaking: Timur Bekmambetov, an acclaimed creative powerhouse in the fields of commercials and music videos.
‘Timur is highly visual, and he also goes very deep with the characters, in a Stanislavski way,’ says producer Anatoly Maximov.
Bekmambetov is influenced by modern Hollywood masters of action, filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, or Ridley Scott.
Director and writer worked together to bring the story to life for the screens. Lukyanenko responded very well to suggestions, even adding a subplot to add drama and relatability to the story.
‘In reading the book, I suddenly realised Sergei had managed to distill magic and miracles, the transcendent and the supernatural, into our way of life. I found that the story really was something special because in it, fantasy not only meets reality ” but Russian reality’, says Bekmambetov.
With a budget modest by Western standards, Bekmambetov imitated a big budget and the results are impressive. Join us for the free screening next Saturday at 2.30pm.