- Ilya Naishuller is a film director, actor, producer, screenwriter and the frontman of indie rock band Biting Elbows, founded in 2008. From 8 to 14 he studied in London, and later graduated from the British International School in Yasenevo. Naishuller dropped out of the Institute of Television and Radio Broadcasting, then entered university in New York, but did not graduate. In March 2013, Ilya directed the Biting Elbows' "Bad Motherfucker" YouTube video with over 45 million views.
In 2015, Naishuller wrote and directed the action movie "Hardcore Henry" with Shalto Copley, Hayley Bennett, Danila Kozlovsky, Dariya Charusha and Svetlana Ustinova; and also produced and co-directed the TV series "Barvikha." He shot a video for The Weeknd's "False Alarm" in 2016, a video for the group "Kolshchik" in 2017, and recently directed the hit action-comedy "Nobody" starring Bob Odenkirk in 2021. Naishuller married actress Dariya Charusha in the summer of 2010.- IMDb Mini Biography By: zoroman2008
- SpouseDarya Charusha(July 31, 2010 - present)
- ParentsViktor Naishuller
- His first-person-POV music video Biting Elbows: Bad Motherfucker (2013) attracted approximately 33 million views on YouTube and another 21 million on Vimeo. The reactions were enthusiastic, for example director Darren Aronofsky wrote a Tweet, calling it "So well done" and Samuel L. Jackson wrote "This is some Buck Wild shit!". Timur Bekmambetov contacted Ilya Naishuller through Facebook and offered to produce a feature film in the same style.
- Was asked to create the opening of The Brothers Grimsby (2016) in his trademark POV style, but had to decline because he was already working on Hardcore Henry (2015).
- He was born in Moscow but spent the ages of 8 to 14 in London, UK.
- Speaks English and Russian fluently.
- Considered by Hideo Kojima as a "genius artist of 21st century music and video".
- [on Hardcore Henry (2015)] The balance is that you do everything you can practically and then you help it with CG. You don't do everything with CG and help it practically. I love practical stuff and I love all the prosthetics and things with real, physical weight. I love designing that stuff. Actually, I don't design it. I talk about it with my designer and he does his concepts. There are about 1,800 CG shots in the movie, which is a huge number. But it's all augmentations. There's practical blood, but we added a little more so it's more visible. There is wirework, so we had to hide all the wires. But the stunt man really is jumping from that bicycle at fucking high speeds and [landing] on the top of a van and he needs the wires and there's the shadow of the wires that we have to take out. There were 70 shots where you see [a lighting rig] and that had to be taken out. That was time consuming and obviously not too cheap. [2016]
- [on Hardcore Henry (2015)] The first thing I want to mention is that this was always, first and foremost, a film. I love video games. We weren't making a video game. This is a film that was directed with the intent that people who love movies and go to the movies will go see it and be blown away. If they happen to be gamers, that's an extra click for them. [2016]
- [on Biting Elbows: Bad Motherfucker (2013)] There was a lot of inspiration from video games, obviously from first-person shooters. The idea [with the music video] was to capture that excitement and keep it going non-stop for 4 or 5 minutes. [2014]
- [on Hardcore Henry (2015)] I had the music video first and Timur Bekmambetov, the producer, wrote to me the next day after it came online. he Facebooked me and said let's get on Skype. We Skyped. He said let's do a feature. I said that's a terrible idea, I don't think it works at 90 minutes. I was just as hesitant then as people who hear about it for the first time are now. He probably asked me the most important question I've ever been asked in my life. Wouldn't you want to go see a great action POV film in the cinema. And I said, I actually would. And he said, then you should go make it. And I was like: Ah, a once in a lifetime opportunity! I better grab it and run. (...) Timur actually pitched me my own film. It was his idea to expand the music video. I said if you give me final cut, I'll do it. He said furthermore, "I'll let you do the film anyway. Just do what you think is right. I know there's a film in there somewhere. Go figure it out." He was helpful. I could have called him at any time. He never visited the set. People actually asked me if Timur was really working on the film. And I was like, yeah. I talk with him, I send him stuff, we go back and forth and have great discussions. He gave me fantastic advice, but he never once said "You have to do this." I don't think this film could have been made if I didn't have complete freedom. I had the budget and I knew what I could and couldn't do. There were discussions. I had help. But there were never any strict rules, which is a punk rock way to make a movie. I don't think I'll ever have the luxury again, but in this particular scenario, I don't think it could have happened any other way. [2016]
- [on Hardcore Henry (2015)] There are no simple films. You could have two guys talking in a room and that's a very complicated film to make. Just because films are complicated. But with this, everyone had to re-learn their craft a little bit. The stunt guys can't put the camera where they want to hide the punch. You have to work around that issue! Every film is a bunch of problem-solving, non-stop. But with this, we just didn't have as many tools as usual to solve them. Which was great. It's a creative cage that makes you think. Once you're thinking outside the box inside that creative cage, beautiful things happen. But it was a complete pain in the ass! But you get a shot that's good and you know that no one has ever done that shot before...the feeling of happiness that fills you up inside at the end of each day. We gathered the crew at the end of the day and we'd sit down for five minutes and just watch. People got excited. I'd bring guys from craft services up and we'd just watch. I'd see their reactions and know that we were getting something very special. Usually, the people on film sets want the movie to be good and they're working hard, but there was this electricity in the air. People were like "This is special." [2016]
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