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. 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.
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