Kirill Zaytsev told the show 'By the Way' about his conversation with Dolph Lundgren and his preparation for the role of Kostomarov

New episode of the show 'By the Way' with Kirill Zaytsev

Actor Kirill Zaytsev was the guest of the 120th episode of the show 'By the Way'; the episode will be released on November 7 on VK Video, the platform's press service told the newspaper Gazeta.Ru. In the program, the actor recalled two episodes of his acting work — the 2024 film 'Commander,' in which he played the lead role of Alpha Group commander Gennady Zaytsev, and his preparation for the role of figure skater Roman Kostomarov.

'You are my double': the conversation with Lundgren

While working on 'Commander,' the film's team recalled that Zaytsev is considered to resemble Dolph Lundgren and discussed who would play the character in old age. A mutual acquaintance, Timur Khvan, connected the actors, and the conversation began with a joke. 'He replied to me:

Preparation for the role of Kostomarov

Another topic of the episode is the work on the role of figure skater Roman Kostomarov, who lost his limbs after a severe illness. According to Zaytsev, the hardest part was maintaining the character's state throughout 12 hours of filming: 'Once, at the auditions, you immerse yourself in it and come out of that state, drive home, hug your wife and son. But when for 12 hours you must not come out of that state.' He also relayed Kostomarov's words that the absence of legs is 'half the trouble,' whereas without hands a person cannot take anything, and added that people do not appreciate the capabilities of their bodies.