US producer to bridge Russia-US divide with new Seagal movies

MOSCOW, November 10. /TASS/. In an interview with TASS, US producer and president of the film company Studio Mao, Stephen Mao, expressed his intention to bring the Russian and US film industries closer together through joint projects featuring film crews from both countries.

According to Mao, his studio has three Russian-US films starring actor Steven Seagal in the pipeline, set to begin production in 2026. One of the movies will include five scenes filmed in various regions of Russia.

"Both of the projects will incorporate American and Russian film crews, so we really look to bring the two together. <…> Culturally, I don’t believe there are significant barriers beyond old stereotypes," Mao emphasized.

He pointed to a fundamental difference in how movies are shot in the US versus in Russia. "My own observations are that in the productions that we've done in the past, the director really has the ultimate control over the set. In Russia, there's more of a collaboration between all the crew members. This is very different from our production style," the film producer added.

Mao stressed that the key goal of creating joint films is to unite diverse teams and achieve creative synergy.

Stephen Mao was born on June 29, 1960, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. He began his career as a photojournalist for the Associated Press. He founded Studio Mao in 2006. One of his productions, the short film Skin, directed by Guy Nattiv, won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in 2018.