Ilya Viktorovich Naishuller (; born November 19, 1983) is a Russian film director and musician. He is known for directing the action films '' Hardcore Henry'' (2015) and ''

Nobody Nobody most often refers to: * Nobody, an indefinite pronoun Nobody may also refer to: Fictional characters * Nobody (''Kingdom Hearts''), a race of beings in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' video game series *Nobody, a character in the Jim Jarmusch fi ...

'' (2021). He is also the founder of the film production company Versus Pictures and the indie rock band Biting Elbows.

Early life

Naishuller was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, the son of a surgeon mother, Tatyana Rusakova, and an " oligarch" businessman father, "one of the richest people in Russia in the early 1990s", Viktor Naishuller, of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

background. From the ages of seven to fourteen he lived in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and attended a private school.Ilja Naischuller
at kino-teatr.uaIlya Naishuller: Young Russian is the Next Quentin Tarantino
at bigthink.com After returning to Russia, he graduated from the

British International School (Moscow) The British International School of Moscow (BIS) is a private international school in Moscow, Russia. The school was founded in 1994 to meet the needs of expatriate or Russian parents who wished for their children to be taught in English using t ...

Yasenevo District Yasenevo District () is an administrative district (raion) of South-Western Administrative Okrug, and one of the 125 raions of Moscow, Russia. The area of the district is . Population: 172,300 (2017 est.). General Yasenevo is located in the Sou ...

, Moscow. He dropped out of the All-Russian Research Institute of Television and Radio Broadcasting. He studied at the

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

and met several filmmakers that he would collaborate with later. Naishuller left school to pursue music. He did not complete his higher education.

Career

In 2008, he founded the rock band Biting Elbows as lead singer and guitarist. In 2011, he released the EP ''Dope Fiend Massacre'' and the debut album ''Biting Elbows''. In 2011, he directed and edited the music video for ''The Stampede'', a song featured in Dope Fiend Massacre EP. The music video was shot entirely in POV, it also serves as inspiration and build-up for ''Bad Motherfucker'', another music video for the hit single. It was released in 2013, quickly becoming a viral online hit, accumulating over 150 million views. The video caught the attention of Hollywood agents and talents, notably by filmmaker

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, dramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological realism. His accolades include a Golden Lion ...

. In 2015 Naishuller directed the independent feature film ''Hardcore'', later renamed '' Hardcore Henry''. It stars

Sharlto Copley Sharlto Copley (born November 27, 1973) is a South African actor. His acting credits include roles in the Academy Award-nominated science fiction film ''District 9'', the 2010 adaptation of ''The A-Team'', the science fiction film ''Elysium'', ...

Danila Kozlovsky Danila Valeryevich Kozlovsky (; born 3 May 1985) is a Russian actor and director. His most famous roles in films include Vampire Academy and Soulless, as well as the TV series Vikings. During his career he achieved international popularity in E ...

Haley Bennett Haley Loraine Keeling (born January 7, 1988), known professionally as Haley Bennett, is an American actress. She made her film debut in the romantic comedy ''Music and Lyrics'' (2007) and has since appeared in films such as '' The Equalizer'' ( ...

, and

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (; born 14 May 1961) is an English actor. He was among a group of prominent British actors known as the " Brit Pack". After garnering attention in television productions '' Made in Britain'' (1982) and '' Meantime'' (1983), ...

. It was produced by

Timur Bekmambetov Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov (, ; ; born 25 June 1961) is a Kazakh-born Russian film director, producer, screenwriter, and tech entrepreneur. He is best known for the fantasy epic '' Night Watch'' (2004) and the action thriller '' Wanted' ...

, Inga Vainshtein Smith, and Ekaterina Kononenko. It was filmed entirely in POV as well. Naishuller is credited as screenwriter, director, producer and acted as one of the people playing the titular character. The film premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

in 2015 and won the festival's People's Choice Award. It was released theatrically by

STXfilms STX Entertainment is an American independent entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds and TPG Growth managing partner Bill McGlashan, the studio produces film, television, and digital media project ...

on April 8, 2016. It went on to gross $14.3 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

, in the US. Simultaneously, a comic book was released titled "Hardcore Akan #1", written by Naishuller, Brian Phillipson, and Will Stewart. It is a prequel to the film and provides the backstory for Akan, a villain in the film. In 2016, he directed the music video for

False Alarm A false alarm, also called a nuisance alarm, is the deceptive or erroneous report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and/or bringing resources (such as emergency services) to a place where they are not needed. False alarms may occur with ...

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

, it stars Kristine Froseth and

Damion Poitier Damion Poitier ( ; born June 4, 1976) is an American actor and stuntman, best known for his role as Chains in ''Payday 2''. He made an uncredited appearance as Thanos in '' The Avengers'' (2012), the character's first appearance in the Marvel Cin ...

, In 2017, he directed the music video for ''Kolshchik'' by Russian rock band

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, it won the

Berlin Music Video Awards The Berlin Music Video Awards is an annual international festival held in Berlin, Germany to celebrate the art of music videos. The festival brings together music video enthusiasts, directors, producers, and musicians worldwide to showcase their ...

in 2017, while taking the first place for the "Best Concept" category. He has also directed 3 other music videos for the band, that being ''Voyage'', ''Ju-Ju'', and ''Tsoi''. In 2021, Naishuller directed ''

'', an American action film written by

Derek Kolstad Derek Kolstad (born April 4, 1974) is an American screenwriter and film producer. He is the creator of the ''John Wick'' franchise, which began in 2014. He continued to write for the first two sequels of the franchise and is mainly known as a ...

. It stars

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer. He started his career as a comedian and comedy writer before expanding his career by acting in dramatic works. His List of awards and no ...

Connie Nielsen Connie Inge-Lise Nielsen (born 3 July 1965) is a Danish actress. She has starred as Lucilla in the films ''Gladiator'' (2000) and ''Gladiator II'' (2024) and as Queen Hippolyta in the DC Extended Universe. She has also starred in films such as ...

, Aleksei Serebryakov,

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name RZA ( ) or the RZA, is an American rapper, record producer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is the '' de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having pro ...

and

Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and television shows since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future (franchise), ''B ...

. It premiered as theaters in the United States were starting to reopen, following the initial

COVID-19 outbreak The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Soon after, ...

. ''Nobody'' debuted at #1 at the US Box Office in its opening weekend. He directed ''

Heads of State A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 "

he head of state He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

being an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

'', written by Josh Applebaum,

André Nemec André Nemec (born 1972) is an American writer, showrunner and producer. His screenplays include '' Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'' and ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''. He is also the co-creator of CBS's summer hit series '' Zoo'', as ...

, and Harrison Query. It stars

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba Order of the British Empire, OBE ( ; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor and musician. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and six Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards. He w ...

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he is the current WWE Championship, Undisputed WWE Champion in his record 14th reign, which is ...

, and

Priyanka Chopra Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is India's highest-paid actress and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awards and fiv ...

. ''Heads of State'' is currently in the

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

process, it is set to release on July 2nd, 2025 on

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

Personal life

In summer 2010, he married actress Daria (Darya) Charusha.

Filmography

Film

Director Other credits

Music video

References

External links

Official Website for Biting Elbows
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naishuller, Ilya Russian screenwriters Russian film directors Russian people of Jewish descent 1983 births Living people Russian rock musicians Film people from Moscow Action film directors Tisch School of the Arts alumni