Not competing with Hollywood superhero films: Sarik Andreasyan

Russian-Armenian director Sarik Andreasyan, who is awaiting the release of his film "Guardians"- first Russian superhero movie- says he has no plans to compete with Hollywood's "big-budgets 'Marvel' and 'The Avengers' series".
"Most superhero films are set in New York City. There hasn't been such a big superhero film from Russia or Asia. Also, my film is set in Moscow. Our goal is not to compete with 'Marvel' or 'The Avengers'. We don't have the same budgets, they are on a different level," Sarik told PTI.
Though Sarik wants to show the cultural uniqueness of his country through his action-packed movie, he says the film has a universal appeal.

"The language might be different, but the idea of a superhero film is something everyone understands and can relate to," he said.
Sarik was always fascinated by the world of superheroes and was keen on making a film in this space.
"I am big fan of Marvel, DC Comics and I love the films that Christopher Nolan makes. I like the style and the world of superheroes," he said.

"There hadn't been a superhero film from Russia so I thought it will be a great to make one," he added.
The filmmaker did not want to leave any stone unturned so he spent over two years for the film, making sure everything was in place.

"We worked for close to over two years, including script, post production. In a superhero film, the post production takes a lot of time as we have to work on CGI, visual effects etc. The post production took longer time than actually shooting for the film," he said.
Sarik is a fan of "Batman" and "Avengers" which according to him are two films that are so inspirational.
"I am a huge fan of superhero films because they show the good beating the evil," he said.
Russian actors Alina Lanina, Sebastien Sisak, Sanzhar Madiyev and Anton Pampushnyy are the part of this superhero film which will released in Russia and some other countries on February 23 and in India a day later.

Even before the film hits cinema houses, the makers have already made plans of a sequel.
"We are developing the idea for the sequel. We don't know when exactly it will happen but it will happen. Most likely in the next two years," he said.
"The idea is to expand 'Guardians....' as a franchise and make it more interesting. We want to reach out to a global international audience," he said.
If all goes well, the sequel might roll out in late 2018 or 2019.
"We don't have a plan to make a sequel every couple of years. It all depends on the schedule but there is no fixed plan yet," he added.