Capone does a thrilling, first-person interview with HARDCORE HENRY director Ilya Naishuller, star Sharlto Copley & producer Timur Bekmambetov!!!

Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

HARDCORE HENRY is effectively a movie in which you are the star—a first-person perspective film seen through the eyes of the lead character, Henry, whom we never see. Henry is brought back from the dead with no memory of what happened to him. The film is the brainchild of Russian musician and first-time feature director/co-writer Ilya Naishuller and producer Timur Bekmambetov (also Russian), best know stateside for directing WANTED and ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER.

Believe it or not, the idea behind the visuals of HARDCORE HENRY was not to make the audience sick, but to truly make you feel like you were in the head of this lead character. Putting small cameras on the heads of what ever cameraman was working that day (there are three listed in the credits) as close to the eyes as possible, the other actors could look directly at Henry and not slightly above his eye level. Just to add another level of insanity to the mix, South African-born Sharlto Copley (DISTRICT 9, ELYSIUM, THE A-TEAM) is also in the film as Henry’s closest ally Jimmy, who has the ability to send his consciousness into different bodies (all with his face, however), and as a result, he ends up playing a variety of unique characters. His contributions are kind of a blast.

I sat down with these three gentlemen at SXSW Film Festival last month to talk about the experience that is HARDCORE HENRY, and to find out just how dangerous making the film really was in the mean streets of Moscow. Please enjoy my chat with Ilya Naishuller, Sharlto Copley, and the mildly shy Timur Bekmambetov.





Capone: I know the idea for this style of film came from Timur, but before you started shooting this, did you have any idea just how crazy it was going to look and make us feel to watch it for 90 minutes? There does come a moment when the experience starts to approximate virtual reality in a way, when you can start to see Henry’s arms and legs.

Ilya Naishuller: Well, it was never the intent to make anybody queasy. There were lots of tests to make sure we cut down on that as much as possible. We wanted to be very respectful of the audience, but the whole thing was that you were feeling like you were him, and it was getting sort of tense. That was always the intention. If you get it done correctly, the idea was it’s not going to be a mind-blowing experience if it’s just the camera doing stuff. It has to be Henry doing stuff.

In fact, in the beginning when we shot the first week of shooting, I remember Timur looking at dailies from LA. He called me and said, “Don’t try to make it look good.” Because in the beginning, I was like maybe we should have nicer shots, and one of the great tips I got from him was just worry about keeping him in character and have the camera be Henry. I was like, “Yup, yup, yup. That’s a good point. I’m going to stop worrying about too calm moments.”

Capone: Too steady.

IN: Too steady. Otherwise you could have shot it— there’s plenty of very good stabilizers you can put on their head. We could have a Steadicam on the guy’s chin, not a problem, but then it’s not the same film. You don’t get the feeling like you’re there. Because when we run, it’s not perfect. Action scenes are not perfect through our eyes.

Capone: Sharlto, I didn’t know going into this that you were playing all these different characters with all these different accents and looks. When I started to realize what you were doing, I thought there’s really nobody else that could have done it like that. I know you love doing that. Was it written with him in mind?

IN: Absolutely.

Sharlto Copley: It wasn’t actually a script when we had our first conversation. There were some great action sequences. When I actually agreed to do the movie, we were still working out what the story would be.

IN: It wasn’t that bad, come on.

SC: It’s true! It’s true! [laughs]



IN: No, I talked to Sharlto—sorry to interrupt—I talked to Sharlto and Timur. You guys knew each other. I was like, “Timur, let’s get Sharlto in this.” He was like, “I know him.” He set up a call and said right now we have the concept, we have the basic outline of a guy who’s going to save his wife. He’s a cyborg. And the sidekick character is going to be the lead in the film. Henry is not the lead. The audience is there. Yeah. I said, “If you’re interested in the idea, let me write it for you, and we’ll see where it goes.” Pretty much, it was tailor made for Sharlto because I knew he had to be in the film. I really wanted him to be in the film. I needed him to play Jimmy. The concept for multiple characters came from the idea the Sharlto probably would not be able to say no to playing multiple characters [everybody laughs]. He wa my first and last choice. I think it’s great that you’re saying no one else could have done it. Even in hindsight, I’m like “No, it couldn’t have been.”

Capone: It’s the culmination of everything you’ve done up to this point.

SC: In a way, I guess it is. It was a lot of fun working out what each Jimmy was going to be. We were just saying last night, I had forgotten that “Hippie Jimmy,” for example, was born on the day. So we had a lot of fun with it. One of the things we worked through in the beginning was the tone of the Jimmys and therefore the tone of the whole film, like what it was going to be. There was a brief time when Ilya was contemplating going more serious with the thing.

IN: Thank god. Bullet dodged. [laughs]

SC: We spoke about it and went through, and it’s important that it’s a fun film. It’s not trying to take itself seriously as dramatic cinema and super-dramatic performance. At the same time, you want to feel it. It’s exactly the kind of style character that I like to do—the heightened reality that still feels somewhat legitimate. It’s not just complete ridiculous caricature.

Capone: We are supposed to feel something for Henry too and understand thta he is going through a bit of an emotional crisis. Since we never hear his voice, what did you do to get us emotionally attached to him?



IN: I think the physicality. You can tell a lot just from hands. So a lot of where you look instead of where you don’t look, and the choices the character makes in the film. So it’s limited because you don’t have the actor, but you have your own interpretation of what’s happening. I think there’s a certain level of mission accomplished here, because the people—and I’ve talked to people who watch the movie and I discuss it with them—they are Henry. And you don’t need an actor’s face if you have your own emotions inside.

It’s a very interesting and dangerous route to have taken, and there have been examples of POV films going back to 1947, LADY IN THE LAKE, that had the voice and had the mirror shot in the beginning so you know who it is. Didn’t work. I think the lack of a voice was a very conscientious choice to not break the emersion. We would have given Henry great lines. It would have been absolutely hilarious, except the audience might not be feeling he should be saying or going in that direction, and that would have broken the immersion and therefore the point of the film would be lost.

SC: I think the other actors in the film, talking to you as the character also serve to put you into the emotional experience of the film, if that makes sense. We’re not watching other people emote, so it’s not just looking at your own hands. It’s how you feel when these people talk to you, when your wife talks to you. Actually, the other actors serve a greater function than they would normally in a film to help you experience. It’s not just like where I look, it’s what they say to me and how if feel in response to what they say.

IN: We’re talking right now. I might be wearing shades. We’re looking in each other eyes most of the time during the conversation, and it’s not like I’m talking over here. When you have Sharlto’s character, or Haley [Bennett, who plays Henry wife] or Danila [Kozlovsky, who plays the villain, Akan], talking right to you, it’s a way stronger emotional connection. That was something that, as soon as we started shooting at the very beginning, the first scene we were doing with Sharlto it was like, “Oh, I’m actuallyfeeling it.” Again, we’re doing it into the camera. You’re looking into the camera. Why do you not look to the side? Because we connect as humans just automatically on a basic level. We’re here. We’re locked in. So you pay more attention. Therefore, the job is harder.

Timur Bekmambetov: And the music. The music tells you how he feels.

Capone: That’s true. There’s some great music cues in this thing, including your own band. Speaking of sound, the sound design for this is extraordinary. There’s just so much going on. As much as I want to see the film again, because I feel like I missed a lot in the frenzy, I also want to pay a little more attention to what I’m hearing because there’s so much going on there. Can you talk about piecing that together in the post-production?



IN: For the Toronto screening, we only had three days to mix. And a couple of weeks to do the foley work—there’s a lot of foley work, because you can’t just use the regular sounds because the camera is picking up the operator stepping on leaves and grass. So there’s a lot of foley work, and STX Entertainment [which bought the film] allowed for another I think 10 days of mixing. We have [Sound Re-recording Mixer] Kevin O’Connell who mixed every Tony Scott film, Michael Bay’s movies—he’s got something like 20 Oscar nominations. You follow his lead and don’t get too much in his way. The whole sound team were the best people to work with. Super enjoyable process, and obviously super enjoyable results. It’s funny, for Sharlto, it’s one of the tougher jobs he’s ever had, for the sound guys one of the tougher things they ever had to do.

SC: Stunt guys, unquestionably.

IN: So it’s great how we made everybody better. This experience had a learning curve.

SC: It’s interesting when you talk about the sound, because I think it would be fascinating to watch the film after you experience it in one way in the cinema to listen on headphones, to how much emersion would be happening as well. It’s the first time I’ve thought about that.

Capone: Timur, this idea came from you. What was the initial idea that you had? How did that come to you?



TB: It was just a reaction. I saw Ilya’s music video, and it was very clear that it’s very unclear how to make it, but I was sure that I wanted to try. I wanted to see it on the big screen, because it’s just a statement. You could play it on a computer screen, but in the theater it’s a statement. It’s a very interesting contrast between video game world and the theatrical audience.

Capone: I’m actually not that much of a gamer, but I know what a first-person game looks like. But you seem committed to making this a cinematic experience. Did you consciously do things that said “Let’s do something a video game couldn’t do”?

IN: It’s film. It was always a film. It was never made with the intention of “We’ll make it, and the video gamers will love it.” I am hoping they love it, but it was made for the cinema-going public. I was making it for myself. I love movies, I love video games, but again, first and foremost it was not like a business plan of like aim it at the gamers. “They’ll come out even if it’s crap, and they’ll love it.” No.

In my mind, as fun as the movie is, as unpretentious and over the top it is, to me it’s a very serious film, because I wanted to make a movie. I like movies. First and foremost in my mind, I never wanted to make a game but I always wanted to make a movie. There were moments where I dropped in little Easter eggs from my favorite games, but there were a lot of moments where I purposely avoided video game references, just because it would be too easy.



I remember I brought the script, and the guys were like, “Well, let’s have his first kill be with a crowbar, because then it will be like Half Life.” I’m like, “No. Let’s do a windshield wiper. I’ve never seen that before. It’s a movie. Calm down, people will know that we like video games.” It’s pretty obvious.

Capone: You were telling some stories in the Q&A last night about times when you thought you killed stuntmen or stuntwomen. Shooting in Russia, is there a little bit more freedom to do the things you probably couldn’t get away with if you, for example, shot here? Not that you weren’t being safe.

IN: I think Sharlto brought up a great point in another interview. He said it’s definitely less strict than America. Because of that, everyone’s more focused, and it made a lot of sense to me when you brought that up. Everybody watches out for themselves more. I’ve noticed when shooting in America, everyone expects that we’re going to be fully secure and we’re going to explain everything. I get it. Some of the rules are a little too much when they shouldn’t be. I’m not talking about firearms and explosions and things like car stunts. There’s a reason you want to take your time and be very precise, because lives and injury are at stake. But again, over 85 stunt days in Russia: five stitches and a chipped tooth. That’s our record. And you saw the movie. You saw how crazy it got. So for a bunch of crazy Russian savages [laughs], I think we kicked Hollywood’s safety record on that one.

TB: And I think it was teamwork. Because the different is, in the United States with filmmaking, people have very specific functions. Like if you’re a stunt guy, you’re doing just that part. But in Russia it’s more…

SC: Like we’re doing everything.

IN: No one will come and do your thing for you. Everyone has got their jobs, but if a little bit of support is needed, no one’s going to say, “That’s not my issue. That’s not my problem.” You can go out and get help, and people never react badly if you want to lend a hand. It’s a wonderful set up. No one is going to look at you weird if you don’t help, but if you do, they enjoy it and say thanks. It’s not like you’ll have the craft services lady driving a stunt truck. No. She’ll feed the guy.

TB: Or the stunt guy driving the—

IN: The craft services?

TB: Or doing the cooking.

IN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Capone: Gentlemen, best of luck with this. Great to see you all.

SC: Great to see you again, Steve.



-- Steve Prokopy
"Capone"
capone@aintitcool.com
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