Major Grom: Plague Doctor
Short description
Major Grom: Plague Doctor is a Russian action film set in present-day St. Petersburg. Police major Igor Grom is known across the city for his forceful character, sharp analytical mind and refusal to bend to criminals of any kind. That changes when a masked figure calling himself the Plague Doctor declares the city sick with lawlessness and begins killing people who once escaped punishment through money and influence. As the public grows restless and the police struggle to respond, Grom faces a case unlike any before, one whose outcome could decide the fate of the whole city. The screenplay was written by Vladimir Besedin, Artem Gabrelyanov and Roman Kotkov, and the film adapts the first book in the Bubble Comics series about the character.
Oleg Trofim directs, following his 2018 debut Ice; this is the second of the three features he has directed to date, ahead of Major Grom: The Game (2024). Tikhon Zhiznevsky plays Grom, with Lyubov Aksyonova, Aleksey Maklakov, Aleksandr Seteykin, Sergey Goroshko and Dmitry Chebotarev among a credited cast of thirty-five. The production, from Plus Studio and Bubble Studios, had a budget of 10 million USD and took 4 million USD worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from around 15,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.6 out of 10 from roughly 665 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- The voice of the Plague Doctor was created by layering the voices of Sergey Goroshko and Dmitry Chebotarev.
- More than 20 different appearance options were developed for Margot, the virtual assistant of the Vmeste social network.
- At least five full scenes did not make it into the final cut. The initial version of the film was over three hours long.
- Throughout the entire filming process, the crew only had one shift that they managed to finish in less than 12 hours. This was the scene in Pchelkina’s apartment and all of her vlogs.
- Some footage was shot specifically for the trailers and does not appear in the film.
- The script was initially written for a 16+ rating, but it subsequently had to be significantly toned down.
- One of the concepts featured a map of St. Petersburg imprinted on the Plague Doctor's cloak.
- In the scene with the doors being kicked in, Grom was supposed to be without bandages. But at the beginning of the shooting day, Tikhon Zhiznevsky injured his hand and required stitches. Bandages were wrapped over them, and the entire scene was shot with them. The exact same thing happened to Alexander Gorbatov during the filming of the short film.
- In one version of the script, the Plague Doctor gathered all the city's wealthy people in one place and burned them.
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