Kazakhstan stunt actors risk more than Western colleagues

Kazakhstan stunt actors of Kun-Do stunt fighting school told about their work with Russian actors at the shooting of the remake of Gentlemen of Fortune, Tengrinews.kz reports. Head of the school Igor Tsay shared his opinion on the popularity of Kazakhstan stunt actors abroad. The expert said that he was comfortable working with Russians. “How could this be any different? I know director Aleksey Baranov since childhood and we worked with Dmitry Kisselyov (second director) at the shooting of Yelki-2 and Day Watch,” Tsay said. The team had to dub the lead actors: Sergey Bezrukov, Gosha Kutsenko and Marina Petrenko. “Sergey tried to do everything himself. He is in good shape and fantastically hardworking, but still I could not let him perform some of the stunts. The risk has to be justified and losing a lead actor even for one day is a sign of lack of professionalism,” Tsay added. Lead actress Marina Petrenko did not need any dubbing at all: she performed all the stunts herself, even the most difficult ones. “Marina used to be acrophobic: she was scared of height. But she managed to overcome this fear after several scenes,” the stunt actor said. In general Tsay noted that working in Kazakhstan has its own specifics. “It is hard to compare Hollywood with Russia or Kazakhstan. These places have absolutely different rules; they are dictated by high competition. It is necessary to understand that in the States if you are not ready for something, there is a thousand of people who are ready to replace you. But when working in Kazakhstan, you are driven by motivation to make your product.” The expert said that Kazakhstan stunt actors expose themselves to risks more than others. “Our guys are more risk-laden. Any stuntman will be happy to spend one or two days preparing for one stunt. But we have less money and no such options. That’s why our stunt actors have less preparation experience than foreign ones. But we have more experience in improvising instead: the director sets the tasks and you have to perform it on the shooting day, without hurting yourself or other actors. We have much better improvisers!” Tsay said. “You can be successful in this world, if you specialize in something specific. For example, Nomad team specializes in horseback stunts and they are successful in that, which allows them to compete in the world. Our specialization is in fighting,” expert said. The remake of the Soviet comedy Gentlemen of Fortune will go on air in the end of December 2012. Timur Bekmambetov is producing the movie. Earlier he worked with Igor Tsay’s team on Wanted, Day Watch and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. By Dmitriy Khegai