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

Hardcore Henry ''Hardcore Henry'' (also known simply as ''Hardcore'' (russian: Хардкор) in some countries) is a 2015 science fiction action film written and directed by Ilya Naishuller (in his feature directorial debut), and produced by Timur Bekmambeto ...

'' (2015) and ''

Nobody Nobody may refer 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 films '' D ...

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

Life

Naishuller was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, the son of a surgeon mother and a businessman father of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

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

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and attended private school.Ilja Naischuller
at kino-teatr.uaIlya Naishuller: Young Russian is the Next Quentin Tarantino
at bigthink.com 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, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

and met several filmmakers he would collaborate with later. Naishuller left school to pursue music. In 2008, he founded the rock band Biting Elbows as lead singer and guitarist. In 2011, he appeared the EP ''Dope Fiend Massacre'' and released the debut album ''Biting Elbows''. In 2013, Naishuller directed and starred in ''Bad Motherfucker'' – the music video for a Biting Elbows' hit single. Shot entirely in POV, Bad Mother Fucker became a viral online hit with over 150 million cumulative views The video caught the attention of Hollywood agents, actors and directors and was praised by

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films are noted for their surrealistic, melodramatic, and sometimes disturbing elements, often in the form of psychological fiction. Aronof ...

. In 2015 Naishuller directed an independent feature ''Hardcore'', later renamed ''

''. It starred

Sharlto Copley Sharlto Copley (born 27 November 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'', t ...

and

Tim Roth Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the "Brit Pack (actors), Brit Pack". He made hi ...

and was produced by

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

, Inga Vainshtein Smith and

Ekaterina Kononenko Ekaterina is a Russian feminine given name, and an alternative transliteration of the Russian ''Yekaterina''. Katya and Katyusha are common diminutive forms of Ekaterina. Notable people with the name can be found below. Arts *Ekaterina Medvedeva ...

. Naishuller is also credited as screenwriter, director, producer and acted in the film as well. The film premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

in 2015 and won the festival's People's Choice Award. It was released theatrically by STXfilms on April 8, 2016. It went on to gross $14.3 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

, in the US. Simultaneously Naishuller and writers, Brain Philipson and Will Stewart, released the comic book titled 'Hardcore Akan #1', the origin story for ''Hardcore Henry.'' The music video "Kolshchik" that Naishuller directed for the Russian rock band

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

won the

Berlin Music Video Awards The Berlin Music Video Awards (BMVA) is a festival and networking event for filmmakers, directors, artists, musicians, and music video fans held annually in Berlin, Germany. The four-day event consists of music video marathons, live performances, ...

in 2017, while taking the first place for the "Best Concept" category. In 2021, Naishuller directed ''Nobody'', an American action film written by Derek Kolstad. The Universal Pictures film stars Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Aleksey Serebryakov, RZA and Christopher Lloyd. The film premiered right as the COVID blocked theatrical window reopened, and achieved #1 at the US Box Office in the opening weekend.

Filmography

Music videos

Film

Other works

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 Mass media people from Moscow Action film directors Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine