Listened to @metamashina discussing the Russian fantasy film Он — дракон / I am Dragon today and went looking for some more info on the movie in Russian.

First, some of y'all may be interested to know I found a Nov 2019 article about work on a sequel in collaboration with a Chinese film company and including Chinese actors. But there's no other substantial info about a follow up. https://rutab.net/b/movies/2019/11/19/on-drakon-2-chto-izvestno-o-sikvele.html

Second, I read a blogpost comparing book and movie. No surprise, but the story was changed significantly for the movie. http://bergamotblog.blogspot.com/2016/12/blog-post_7.html?m=1

From the synopsis, the book has an ugly, unpleasant princess and the dragon steals her by mistake when he meant to grab her more attractive younger sister. No one hurries to her rescue, allowing time for a relationship to develop between the two.

Eventually, though, a prince does show up and the dragon allows him to rescue the princess even though he (the dragon) has fallen in love with her.

The prince and princess marry, but soon both are regretful and her new husband decides the easiest way out is to sacrifice her to a sea monster.
But the dragon returns and rescues her, the end.

This particular reviewer sensibly asks, why did the prince bother rescuing her anyway then??? And if the dragon was actually so kind-hearted, what was he doing stealing princesses in the first place???
(I think the changes for the movie do fill those plot holes)

And here's an article/interview with the book's authors, which indicates that the dragon needed a prince to come after the princess to complete a blood ritual. https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/article/2680252/

This one also says the CGI dragon took 2 years and was done by Sergei Nevshupov, who also worked on Avatar, King Kong and LOTR w/ Peter Jackson's studio Weta Digital.

Part of Marina Dyachenko's answer to "how does it feel to see smthg from your imagination on screen?
"[I] expected something good, but parts of the film simply enchanted me."
«Что-то было ожидаемо хорошо, но в фильме есть эпизоды, которые меня просто заворожили.»

"[They] linked genuine emotional connection to real myth, but myth — it's a frightening/uncanny thing."
«Зацепили подлинной эмоциональной привязкой к настоящему мифу, а миф — это жуткая штука.»

"Memory of [myth] sits in the subconscious of each of us, and if just the edge of something ancient and terrifying crawls out from beneath the everyday,"
«Память о нем сидит в подсознании у каждого из нас, и, если вылезет из-под будней только краешек этого древнего и жуткого,»

"immediately, you get goosebumps*. Before you can even understand a thing."
«сразу побегут мурашки по коже. Раньше, чем мы успеем что-то понять.»
*literally, ants run over the skin

I've also learned from this reading that modern Russian has adopted "spoiler" as a verb—спойлерить—and I look forward to horrifying the taller half with this information.

Sergei says they were initially contacted about doing a film of another book, Vita Nostra, on New Year's Eve, which is when Russians celebrate with trees and presents, so he believes in Grandfather Frost (the non-relgious Father Christmas equivalent, thanks Soviets).

Sergei: "Ritual was practically our first book, youthful, you could say. Tender."
«Ритуал» — это чуть ли не первая наша вещь, юношеская, можно сказать. Нежная.

"An interesting thing, the author ages, grows old, changes, while the story keeps the memory of the times when dragons soared."
Интересное дело, автор может постареть, заматереть, измениться, а сказка хранит память о тех временах, когда драконы летали высоко.

Marina specifically says the book's heroine had a rich inner life, while the film's heroine is more of an every-girl and anyone can imagine themselves in her place.

Realized I broke the thread last night, here's the second half https://mobile.twitter.com/RomMFA/status/1303926099844329472