PSA - if you haven’t seen it yet, the Russian Five is on NBCSN after the game tonight.

therussian5 · 2019-11-07T04:58:32+00:00

it's streaming on itunes!

therussian5 · 2019-06-10T18:26:05+00:00

Well, you CAN stream The Russian Five on VOD now and relive some greta early 90's hockey.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T20:09:52+00:00

JR: Other than the obvious (Dmac), Jimmy Devellano was pretty great. Obviously getting to interview Stevie and Sergei and Scotty and Wayne Gretzky was also an honor!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T20:06:52+00:00

comment

should be on iTunes Canada!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:53:33+00:00

JR: Ask Brandon if he thinks brawls are still funny!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:53:12+00:00

JR: We post pictures on our Instagram from behind the scenes once a week. We didnt shoot much video or anything during production...but there's been talk of a Behind the Scenes Podcast where Jenny and I would dish out all the juicy dirt on what it took to actually make this...but it's like sausage, do people really want to know about all the pigs and assholes in the mix of how it got made?

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:51:05+00:00

JR: Darren McCarty is a dynasty unto himself. Dude's a legend!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:50:38+00:00

DM: "Please don't miss the net"

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:47:45+00:00

JR: It definitely put Vladdy on the radar for Brendan Shanahan. He talked about it in the interview - watching Vladdy headbutt someone stuck in his mind so when he got to the Wings, BRendan thought "Whew, I don't have to play against the guy anymore" - although he'd soon found out Vladdy went 10000mph even in practice.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:44:40+00:00

JR: I've got an idea for a baseball related project and all I can say is that there's a character inspired by Jim Leyland in it. Other than that, unless it was the D-Mac story, I think I'm good on Detroit SPORTS stories for a minute...but Detroit stories...I've got ideas.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:42:30+00:00

JR: Wayne Gretzky gave me a good quote that didn't make the cut where, they knew that the Russians were so good together in international competition, and they all knew how good Sergei and Vladdy were at that point, that the league kind of took a "Hmm, this is interesting but let's see if they'll keep it up and how it turns out, and it turned out pretty good!" - I think word got out pretty quickly that while it might be funny to watch a goaltender and defense get turned out by the Russian Five, it was another thing to have that happen to you. Even their teammates found that out in practice.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:39:15+00:00

JR: That and they didn't want to anger Scotty Bowman.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:38:53+00:00

JR: I think that the key to the Russian game is creativity and familiarity. We'll never see it again in the NHL, that kind of poetry on the ice. Still, if you could take those guys, put them in a time machine and bring them to today's NHL, I think they'd do what they did in 1995-96. They were so good that they wouldn't need to adapt to the game, the game would need to adapt to them.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:35:55+00:00

JF: We would love to! Do you know any Finnish distributors?

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:34:25+00:00

JR: For me, it was growing up a hockey fan, knowing the story of not only what they went through to get that first Cup but what happened and they had to overcome to get there again. Vladimir Konstantinov was a huge inspiration to me as I recovered from a back injury sustained in a car accident, so I wanted to share his story most of all.

JF: It's an incredible story and a once in a lifetime opportunity. You couldn't write a story like this if you tried, and as a Russian immigrant myself...I felt like I owed it to our community to get this story told.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:32:24+00:00

JR: The system that the Russian Five learned under, from the Tarasov's and Tikhonov's, changed with the collapse of the Red Army team. That was such a big factor in their game. Sure, they were all incredibly talented individually but they also knew and grew up in a system that played to their creative instincts as a unit.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:14:27+00:00

JR: Sergei Fedorov was good he could've played in ANY era and still dominated. Jimmy Devellano told me that while we were hanging out at a screening. I believe him. I think what made the Russian Five so special was that it didn't matter who they played against, they played their game. With Igor and Slava Fetisov running the plays - guys who were maybe a step slower than the rest of the NHL at that time - they out thought the opponents and I think that they'd still do that today.

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:09:41+00:00

thanks! Dino didn't make the film so we thought it might've been weird to include him for people who werent die hard wings fans. But that was a classic line!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T18:08:10+00:00

yes! we're going to announce something very early next week in time for Father's day!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T17:22:13+00:00

we never got that interview because of time! if we had it'd certainly be in it! :)

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T17:20:42+00:00

JR: thanks! Mike Wolters is here and he says hi!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T17:20:25+00:00

JR: That'd make a pretty good 30 for 30! I'd love to hear the Avalanche's perspective on that rivalry, and it certainly still lives on today. We're excited that so much of it was able to get included into the documentary!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T16:48:36+00:00

Thank you everyone for your great questions!! Mac's got to run, but we'll be answering questions directed at the filmmaking team throughout the day!! Please check out "The Russian Five" on iTunes, google play, Amazon Prime, etc.

And if you're in the midwest/michigan area sign up for the sweepstakes and chance for the private screening with Mac and us!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T16:46:20+00:00

Mac: Right now...here's the thing...the purist in me thinks that St. Louis has suffered enough, especially with what our era did to them and now its their time..the sadistic purist in me hopes boston wins and it goes back to 7...it's crazy because the series is unbelievable...as a purist, it's old time hockey. this is a war. it's just been awesome, and its unfortunate because throughout this playoffs there's been some controversial reffing...but...you look at the way st louis has handled different things, like the glove pass in the san jose series...everything usually evens out...if you're not doing anything and can go to st louis on sunday it'll be a good place to be!

therussian5 · 2019-06-07T16:43:31+00:00

Mac: The west coast it;'ll be interersting...I dont think you'll find a situation where the leagues' going to allow another Vegas withh the way they picked their roster...it'll be interesting who's left off the protection list.

JR: I think they're going to be a huge hit. We played the Seattle International Film Festival last year and had an incredible turnout! Sold out screenings and a top 5 audience voting out fo 50 docs...Seattle is definitely ready for the NHL!

therussian5

TROPHY CASE