MidReal Story
Vladimir Putin stars in a Russian action movie , performing
Scenario: Vladimir Putin stars in a Russian action movie, performing his own stunts. The film breaks box office records.
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The Russian film industry was taken by surprise when I announced my participation in an action movie.
As the President of Russia, I was already a public figure in the country and my decision to act in a movie seemed to be an extension of my earlier years as an FSB officer or a KGB agent.
What really threw them off, however, was the announcement that I would perform all my stunts myself, including some of the most dangerous ones.
This was a risky move considering the nature of the action movie, and it was met with widespread disbelief and concern from my entourage.
Anatoly, my personal stunt coordinator, was the first to react to this news, and he appeared quite doubtful of this decision.
The film’s director, Alexei Petrov, also caught wind of this development and made his way to our location.
Both men were concerned about my safety and doubted whether I could actually pull off the stunts unharmed.
However, I was not one to back down from a challenge and was determined to carry out my plan.
My name is Vladimir Putin, and I am currently the President of Russia.
But that’s not why you know me.
I am here to take part in a Russian action movie, and while that comes as a surprise to many, it cannot compare with the shock wave that rippled through the country when I announced that I would be performing all my own stunts.
That’s right: every single one of them.
It was not something that I had planned ahead of time, but it is what happened, and now I’m going to have to live with it.
Anatoly, who has been my personal stunt coordinator for years, is staring at me with wide eyes.
He appears to be in shock and cannot find the words to express just how bad an idea he thinks this is.
I have known him for a long time, so I can read him like an open book.
“Vladimir, are you sure you know what you’re saying?”
he finally asks me.
“Do you have any idea how dangerous this could be?”
I nod, my face deadpan as always.
“I know that it is dangerous,” I tell him, “but I am not going to change my mind.”
He gives me a pained look, his eyes darting around as though searching for someone who can talk some sense into me.
“Alexei isn’t here yet,” he points out.
“The director needs to know about this.”
“He will know about it when he gets here,” I say with a shrug.
The idea came to me rather suddenly, after I arrived on the set and began to speak with some of the other actors.
I had been planning on using Anatoly as a stand-in for several of my stunts, but then I realized that I could handle them just fine on my own.
It will be a challenge, which is something that I have been looking for anyway.
I have always been an adrenaline junkie at heart, so what better way to get some thrills than by taking part in a Russian action movie?
The scene that I am thinking of is a 180-degree barrel roll in a Soviet-era SUV.
I will need to drive at a speed of at least 100 kilometers per hour if I want to pull it off.
The problem is that no one has ever tried this before.
It is just too dangerous for any actor to attempt, even if they are a professional driver.
Anatoly shakes his head.
“You can’t do this,” he says.
I raise an eyebrow at him.
“Why not?”
“You’re the President of Russia,” he points out.
“What if something happens?”
“I am not worried about that,” I say with a shrug.
“The SUV will be heavily reinforced, so I should be able to walk away from the stunt without a scratch.”
Anatoly looks like he wants to argue with me, but he knows that it would be pointless.
When I set my mind to something, there is no way to change it.
Instead, he tries a different approach.
“It would be safer for you to use a stand-in.”
I shake my head.
Even though none of the actors will be able to pull off this stunt on their own, I am determined to do it myself.
It is one of the most important scenes in the movie, and I need to make sure that it goes off without a hitch.
It is also a personal challenge for me, so I want to prove to myself that I can do it.
“There is no way that I am going to use a stand-in,” I tell him.
“The audience will know the difference, and the scene will lose all impact.”
Anatoly sighs, looking as though he is trying to come up with another argument, but then he seems to think better of it.
“Fine, but I need to know that you are serious about this.”
“I am willing to take any necessary precautions.”
“Good,” I say with a nod.
“Then we will get started on the preparations right away.”
Anatoly closes his eyes, as though praying for patience, before he looks back up at me.
“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” he says with a sigh.
“That may be true,” I say with a grin, “but I am willing to take my chances.”
Anatoly stares at me for a moment before he nods his head in resignation.
“All right then,” he says.
“We’ll do things your way.”
As much as I appreciate his willingness to go along with me, I have no intention of doing things any other way.
If Anatoly had refused to help me, I would have found someone else who would be willing to take his place.
It was a bold move, but I was willing to stand by it.
The look on his face tells me that he knows this as well as I do.
Even if he had decided to dig in his heels, there would have been no way for him to change my mind.
The barrel roll stunt is one of the most complicated stunts that we have ever attempted to do in a movie before, and I know that I will have to be very careful if I want to be able to pull it off without getting myself killed in the process.
A barrel roll is a maneuver in which a car drives up a ramp and flips over to land upside down before flipping over and landing on its wheels again.
There are many things that can go wrong when doing a barrel roll, and most of them will result in injury or death if they do go wrong.
In fact, the risks are so high that they are often considered to be too dangerous even for experienced stunt drivers to attempt to do themselves.
Before I could even think about attempting the stunt myself, we needed to come up with a way to make sure that I would be able to do so safely.
The first thing that we did was to have Anatoly and his team spend two months coming up with a plan to build a custom ramp and vehicle that would allow me to complete the maneuver without having to worry about anything terrible happening to me in the process.
The vehicle that I will be using for the stunt is a custom-built version of the Otokar Cobra, which can be driven like a regular car but is strong enough to withstand a fall from an airplane without taking any damage in the process.
In order to ensure that I have the best chance possible of completing the stunt safely, we have also chosen to outfit the car with two rows of seats so that I will be able to bring my security detail along with me for support while I attempt to complete the stunt itself.
Of course, if anything did happen while I was trying to complete the stunt, they would be unable to do anything about it anyway, but their presence makes me feel safer nonetheless.
The ramp that Anatoly and his team built is also custom-made for the movie.
The ramp is designed so that it is impossible for anyone to fall off of it while they are driving down it, and it is also tall enough so that I can drive up it without having to worry about hitting my head on anything on my way up or down again.
With all of these precautions taken, I feel as though there is no way that I can fail at this, even though I know how dangerous the stunt is going to be and how close I will be to losing my life while doing it all over again before I have managed to complete the scene at last.
As soon as Anatoly and his team had finished building the ramp and vehicle, we decided on a date and time for us to film the scene and had all of our cast and crew meet us at an abandoned airfield just outside of Moscow where we could film without having to worry about any civilians getting hurt by mistake while we tried to complete the scene at last.
I arrived at the airfield early so that I would have enough time to practice driving up and down the ramp a few times before we started filming for real, and as soon as Anatoly arrived, I jumped into the custom-built Otokar Cobra and drove up to him before he could even get out of his car.
Ivan Ivanov,” he said when he saw me pull up in front of him, “What are you doing here so early?”
“I’ve come here for practice,” I said, “You don’t think that I would show up unprepared for such a difficult scene, do you?”
“No, sir,” he said, “But I am just worried about what might happen to you if you try this stunt without knowing what you are doing first.”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I said, “I have been practicing driving up and down ramps like this one every day for months now, and there is nothing else that I need to know in order to complete this scene without any problems at all.”
“Ivan Ivanov,” he said after a few moments of thought, “I know how hard you have been working to prepare yourself for this moment, but this scene really is too dangerous even for you to do yourself.Why don’t you let us handle everything so that you can focus on acting instead?”
“I don’t want to focus on acting,” I said, “I want to be the best actor that I can be, and the only way to do that is to make sure that everything is done exactly the way that I want it to be done.”
“If you don’t think that you will be able to do what I am asking you to do, then I will find someone else to help me instead.”
“I’m not saying that you won’t be able to do it,” he said, “But you need to be careful because even experienced stunt drivers can get hurt while attempting to complete a barrel roll.”
“I will be very careful,” I said, “But I would like to practice a few simpler stunts first before we attempt the barrel roll, just so that I know what it is going to feel like when I complete the scene later today.”
“That’s a good idea,” he said with a nod, “But I would like to come up with a plan for us to follow first so that I know that you will be safe while you are practicing your stunts.”
I spent the next few minutes speaking with Anatoly and his team and coming up with a plan for us to follow while we were filming the next few scenes, and as soon as we had finished working out all of the details, I climbed back into my car and waited for my turn to practice my stunts with them so that I would know what I was doing later on when we started shooting for real.
A few minutes later, Anatoly came over to my car and told me that everything was ready and that he would be ready whenever I was.
I nodded in response and stepped on the gas pedal before driving over to the ramp and parking my car in front of the entrance so that I would be able to drive up it without any problems at all.
As soon as the director called action, I put my car into gear and drove over to the ramp before speeding up to the entrance and driving up it without any problems.
As I reached the top of the ramp, I closed my eyes and held my breath for a moment before releasing it and putting my foot on the gas pedal once again.
My car lifted off the ramp and flew through the air for a few seconds before crashing back down onto the ground and skidding to a halt in front of the director’s table.
Everyone on set cheered when they saw how well I had completed the stunt, and I could tell by looking at Anatoly’s face that he was just as proud of me as everyone else was.
My car was fine after completing the jump, so I quickly drove it over to where Anatoly was standing and parked it in front of him before getting out of the car and following him over to where the rest of the crew was waiting for us to arrive.
“Thank you,” I said, “I didn’t think that it would be that easy to complete the jump, but it wasn’t that hard at all.”
“It wasn’t hard at all,” Anatoly said, “You just have to be sure to stay in control of your car and not let it get away from you while you are in the air.”
“Okay,” I said with a nod, “I will do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen during any of the other stunts that we are going to be shooting today.”
“You’re going to try doing all of them today?”
“I asked him with a frown, “Are you sure that is a good idea?”
“I’m sure,” I said firmly as I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Okay,” he said with a nod, “As long as you are sure that you want to do this, then I will help you in any way that I can.”
“I’m sure,” I said firmly,” And I’ll walk if anyone tries to change my mind.”
Anatoly laughed when he heard me say that, and after a few seconds, he turned back to face me and bowed at me before saying that he would be ready whenever I was.
I nodded in response and walked over to my car so that I could get ready to complete the next stunt on my list.
It took us a few hours to complete all of the simpler stunts that we were going to film, but as soon as we had finished filming the last one, Anatoly called for a lunch break so that we would have enough time to get everything ready for the more difficult stunts that we were going to film later on in the day.
I was excited to start filming the more difficult scenes, but I knew that we wouldn’t have enough time to finish them all before we ran out of daylight, so we were going to have to come back and film them another day instead.
I wasn’t happy about having to wait to film the rest of the scenes, but as soon as everyone else on set was ready, we climbed into our cars and drove over to the next location so that we could start filming the next scene on our list.
