Russian actor/bodybuilder wants to film ‘Serious Sam’

The iconic first-person shooter ‘Serious Sam’ might be getting a film adaptation, according to the infamous Russian actor, producer, director, and bodybuilder Alexander Nevsky. In a recent post on social media Nevsky announced that he is in talks at the European Film Market (EFM) about bringing the adaptation to the international market.

“Seeing all the hate and negativity prevalent in international and Russian media, I think it’s time to go back to developing the ‘Serious Sam’ (or ‘Cool Nevsky’) film and bring some positivity!” wrote the actor, adding that he is discussing the project with international distributors at the EFM.

In Russia, Alexander Nevsky is a notorious media personality who has been at the center of quite a few memes over the years for his cringy workout videos and even more obnoxious action movies, many of which he has directed and starred in.

He often refers to himself as the ‘Russian Schwarzenegger’ and positions himself as Russia’s biggest action star, but many perceive him to be a joke at this point and his films are considered to be low quality B-movies, which many describe as “so bad, they’re good.”

Throughout his career Nevsky has also been featured in several Western films, starring alongside the likes of Wesley Snipes, Michael Madsen, Danny Trejo, Oleg Taktarov, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and others. However, most of his projects have been both critical and commercial failures, with most of the films he’s been a part of – including titles like ‘Showdown in Manila’, ‘Moscow Heat’, ‘Black Rose’ (which he also directed) and ‘Maximum Impact’ – barely getting over 2/10 ratings.

At this point there is no information about the announced ‘Serious Sam’ project or if it will even actually progress into production, but Nevsky insists he is in talks with someone at EFM – which is the third largest industry market place for movie makers, held alongside the Berlinale film festival each year.

The ‘Serious Sam’ franchise has been a cult classic of the FPS genre since it was first released for Microsoft Windows in 2001. Interest in the property has been revived recently after the latest installment in the franchise – ‘Serious Sam 4’ premiered in September 2020 and a standalone expansion, ‘Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem’ was released in January 2022.