#Russia Space Movie Wants to Be First Film Shot in Outer Space – /Film

It’s the space race for the new age: who will be the first to shoot a movie in outer space? Tom Cruise already put in his bid, but now Russia has announced its intention to shoot a movie this October. The funniest thing is, they both plan to shoot at the International Space Station.

Echoes of the Cold War are reaching the cosmos — though it’s less a Cold War than it is a cinematic stand-off, mostly between Tom Cruise and Russia. A year after Tom Cruise declared that he is teaming up with NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX to shoot a movie in outer space, Russia’s space agency has announced that it will send an actor and director to the International Space Station this October to make the first feature film in space, per The Guardian.
“Filming will take place at the International Space Station. The start of the expedition is scheduled for 5 October 2021 from the Baikonur cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-19 manned transport spacecraft,” Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said in a statement.

The movie is going by the working title Challenge and is described as a “space drama,” though Roscosmos would not give further details about the plot or characters because, again, it is a space agency.

The actor, 36-year-old Yulia Peresild, and director, 37-year-old Klim Shipenko, will undergo training including centrifuge tests and flights in zero gravity, starting as early as June 1. Their pre-flight training will be documented by one of Russia’s main TV channels, Channel One, which will also be involved in producing the film.

Roscosmos said in September the movie would aim to “popularise Russia’s space activities, as well as glorify cosmonaut profession.”

The ISS will be very crowded soon, apparently, with Cruise and SpaceX currently working on the action/adventure project with NASA that will shoot at the space station. But we haven’t heard an update from Cruise’s space movie since last year, and the actor is currently hanging off moving trains for Mission: Impossible 7, making it hard for him to prepare to fly up into space anytime soon. It looks like Cruise will be beaten in a race for the first time — though to be fair, Cruise is at a disadvantage when it’s not a footrace.

Russia’s space film will be co-produced by Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of Roscosmos, and aims to make Russia the first country to shoot a movie in space. Which it could very well be, considering Russia’s only competition is a very-busy Tom Cruise.

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