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Kirill Sokolov, the Russian filmmaker known for violent dark comedies such as “Why Don’t You Just Die!” and his recent Hollywood debut “They Will Kill You,” is set to
direct his first animated feature.
Backed by Lazy Sunday and The Media Company, “Alone in the Ocean” will be based on the “extraordinary life and legendary escape story” of Slava Kurilov, who fled from the U.S.S.R. in 1974.
An oceanographer and experienced diver, Kurilov dreamed of joining international expeditions and exploring the world’s oceans, but opportunities to work abroad remained out of reach. Over time, his desire to pursue his life’s work became inseparable from a larger longing for personal freedom.
However, in December 1974, Kurilov found a way out. He bought a ticket for a 20-day Soviet cruise from Vladivostok toward the equator and back. Because the ship was not scheduled to call at any foreign ports, passengers did not require exit visas. Kurilov studied the route and planned to jump overboard as the ship passed near the Philippines.
But the escape did not go according to plan. Kurilov jumped from the cruise ship into the Pacific farther from the Philippine islands than he had intended and spent nearly three days swimming alone before reaching Siargao.
Kurilov would later describe those days at sea as among the happiest of his life. His experience became the basis of his autobiographical book “Alone in the Ocean,” first published in full in 2004, after his death following a diving accident in 1998.
The film adaptation of “Alone in the Ocean” was original developed as a live-action feature. But over several years of development the filmmakers and producers came to see contemporary animation techniques as a way of going beyond a literal reconstruction of Kurilov’s journey‚ allowing the film to move between physical reality, memory and inner experience, and to capture both the scale of the ocean and the intensely personal nature of his pursuit of freedom.
The feature will combine a range of contemporary filmmaking and animation techniques, including live-action footage, motion capture, rotoscoping, 2D and 3D animation and water simulation. Rather than committing to a single visual technique, the filmmakers plan to use different forms to move between the physical reality of Kurilov’s journey and his memories, perceptions and inner states.
“I’ve lived with this story for a long time,” said Sokolov, who was recently tapped to direct Netflix’s upcoming sci-fi action feature “Blur.” “When we started discussing the possibility of animation, I realized that it could open the story up in a completely different way. It gives us the freedom to make Kurilov’s physical journey and his inner experience part of the same cinematic language, to make it vivid and emotional.”
Roman Sokolov will serve as art director on “Alone in the Ocean,” shaping the film’s visual language alongside Kirill Sokolov and the animation team. His work includes collaborations with acclaimed animator Konstantin Bronzit on Academy Award-nominated animated shorts.
“Alone in the Ocean” is being produced by Artem Vasilyev (Lazy Sunday), Roman Borisevich, Didier Lupfer (The Media Company), with Alan Keane (Lazy Sunday) serving as creative producer. The producers are currently in discussions with a number of potential partners across Europe as the project moves forward.
“We acquired the rights to Slava Kurilov’s book quite a long time ago, and we have spent years looking for the right way to bring this story to the screen,” said Vasilyev. “We’re also very happy to continue working with Kirill after our film together ‘No Looking Back.’ We explored several different approaches to ‘Alone in the Ocean,’ and animation finally gave us a new and incredibly exciting way into the material. Kurilov’s story is very specific, but the desire at its center, to be free to pursue the life and work you believe in, is universal. We believe this can be a film that speaks to audiences in many different countries.”
Added Lupfer: “Slava Kurilov’s incredible adventure is a subject that has always fascinated me ever since I read his book. ‘Alone in the Ocean’ is not only a story with tremendous cinematic potential, but also an adaptation that perfectly aligns with The Media Company’s ambitions to reach an audience that is increasingly eager for exciting and original stories.”
Borisevich said: “To me, Kurilov was a man who refused to live by someone else’s script or accept the limits imposed by his time and circumstances. His leap into the ocean was a step into the unknown, taken to claim the right to choose his own course. Alone with the open sea, he seems to have found what he had sought all his life: a sense of true freedom. In that solitude, there is something that goes beyond a struggle for survival — a rare moment when freedom ceases to be a dream and becomes a lived reality.”
Lazy Sunday recently wrapped principal photography on horror-thriller “A Most Delightful Game” by Boman Modine and assumed management of the non-dialogue animated series “Beep Boop’s” IP, alongside its continuing work across animation and live-action production.
Further production details will be announced in the coming months.
