Kirill Sokolov and Zazie Beetz behind the scenes of They Will Kill You

It’s the closing night time of the 2026 SXSW Movie Competition and They Will Kill You director Kirill Sokolov is taking to the stage of the Paramount Theatre in Austin. He has a number of pages in hand itemizing out all of his collaborators he needs to thank. 

The place most filmmakers give a couple of transient remarks, presumably crack a joke or two, after which make a fast exit stage left, Sokolov, who beforehand made the movies Why Don’t You Simply Die! and No Wanting Again in Russia, is operating down as many individuals as he can presumably get by means of. That is all going down earlier than his movie, a bloody motion horror mashup that facilities on a lady, Zazie Beetz’s Asia, who should battle her method freed from a labyrinthian New York condominium constructing housing a cult of the ultrawealthy as she searches for her sister, Maria, has even begun. To listen to it from Sokolov, he needed to take advantage of a long-awaited second, which got here after a few years of labor. This additionally included his leaving Russia behind for America after talking out in opposition to the struggle in Ukraine. He beforehand instructed The New York Instances in 2022 that he had signed two on-line petitions opposing the struggle, an act that carries with it the danger of political retaliation and even jail time, as many hundreds have been arrested by the federal government for protesting the continued struggle. 

After Sokolov left, he then confronted one other battle to get his newest movie made within the American studio system as somebody who hadn’t but helmed something inside it. 

“When individuals watch a film, it’s ninety minutes, they usually depart the film. Within the best-case state of affairs, they may have a pleasant ninety minutes, possibly not that good, then they depart and overlook about it,” Sokolov says. “However as people who find themselves making the film, you’re spending two years, at the very least, to make it.”

So Sokolov, whose cellphone has the Wilhelm scream as its ringtone, spent a number of minutes thanking not solely the forged and producers, however his co-writer and buddy Alex Litvak, with whom he wrote the movie as a spec script, and most of the extra unsung below-the-line members of the crew who introduced it to life. For Beetz, the breakout star of the acclaimed FX sequence Atlanta and now this movie’s stellar motion lead, it was Sokolov’s heartfelt, infectious enthusiasm that first drew her to the venture. 

“I wasn’t stunned. I feel he’s a really honest, very real particular person,” says Beetz. “He’s so enthusiastic about filmmaking, so enthusiastic about this movie, and the way in which he talked about it was simply so excited, so engaged, which was very nice for me as an actor to see and really feel. His imaginative and prescient, all the things round it, he was so clear about what he needed to do, and he’s simply very profuse in his feelings, to be sincere.”

This was echoed by Myha’la, the breakout Business star who performs Beetz’s sister within the movie, who says that she couldn’t have been happier to see him take the time. Based on Deadline, the movie has a $20 million funds, a far bigger sum than both of his earlier movies, which she particularly highlighted as being vital.

“I used to be truthfully simply so pleased with Kirill and so comfortable for him. I used to be supporting him taking each single second on that stage. That is his first main big-budget  American movie as an immigrant, and he’s so enthusiastic about this explicit second and about us,” she says. “I used to be like, ‘Take on a regular basis you want, king!’”

Sokolov had assist from two different immigrants in getting this movie off the bottom: producers and siblings Andy and Barbara Muschietti, who had been born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The duo recounted how they had been attempting to pay ahead the identical assist they’d each gotten from filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who had backed Andy’s function directorial debut, Mama.

“Once we completed Mama and that got here out, [del Toro] mentioned ‘Now you must do that for another person,’” Barbara recounts. 

“It took us 10 years, however we did it,” Andy provides. 

Along with valuing the passion he dropped at his intro at SXSW, Myha’la appreciated Sokolov’s vitality on set. This included the occasions when, within the midst of prolonged night time shoots, he’d shout out in pleasure after they nailed a key scene. 

“The fireplace scene was an enormous one. Zazie is operating and leaping and smashing in take after take. There’s precise individuals being extinguished as a result of there’s precise individuals on hearth. After they obtained that one proper, he was fairly excited,” she says. “The entire producers had been shitting and sweating as a result of they had been so afraid of everybody’s security and well-being. Clearly, there was each precaution taken, however Kirill insisted on actual hearth, and it actually paid off.”

This second, the movie’s standout motion scene the place Beetz’s Asia units an axe on hearth and makes quick work of a room stuffed with shadowy goons, was an elaborate one to tug off. To be able to get it proper and in addition guarantee that it was protected, they “ran it to demise,” and all of the actors, together with Beetz, used loads of flame retardant to scale back the warmth of the hearth. Nevertheless, she says she nonetheless might really feel it sucking up the oxygen.

“I’ve by no means labored with hearth in that method earlier than; it was actually thrilling. I simply assume the actual hearth helps with efficiency and with this sense of hazard, which is one thing I miss in movies. I feel that the overuse of CGI has eradicated a really visceral really feel that we are able to get,” she says, pointing to the Akira Kurosawa movie Ran as a movie that was notably profound to her in the way it used hearth and sensible results. “The best way I react to the hearth and the way in which I interact with it, the vitality and respect of it, is completely different than if it had been just a bit lamp on the finish of the stick.”

In relation to the movie’s thematic core below all of the blood and hearth, Myha’la says, along with considering that “the film rips,” this a part of it resonates together with her as nicely. The place her character in Business, Harper, finally ends up cozying as much as the rich who’re preying on others, her character right here goes down a far completely different path.

“Spiritually and politically, I align a bit extra with Maria and Asia in preventing the wealthy than I do with Harper being part of the elite class,” she says. “The movie is about exposing what greed does to this one p.c and what they do to the remainder of us, the remainder of the world.”  

Sokolov says that he was all the time eager to floor the movie in a few of these extra real-world conflicts. Nevertheless, on the similar time, he was impressed by quite a lot of influences, which he rattles off with the identical enthusiasm he had on stage. This contains the anime sequence Afro Samurai, which he says he fought to get the rights to the music Bloody Samurai from, to enduring classics of style cinema akin to Girl Vengeance and Kill Invoice, in addition to the works of Sam Raimi and Sergio Leone. Simply because the movie and Sokolov wore all these influences brazenly, his final objective was to make an pleasurable journey that wears its coronary heart on its sleeve and has a relatable chew. 

“Folks with energy and cash abuse individuals who can’t combat again. That’s how a cult in actual life works, and, mainly, it’s a quite common scenario all world wide. All of us face it and that doesn’t want any further rationalization,” he says. “What was extra thrilling for me and vital for me to consider was how individuals react in these conditions after they face them. Within the middle of the story, we have now two sisters, two completely different personalities, who made very completely different decisions after they confronted this type of system. One in all them tried to discover a deal to attempt to discover a approach to collaborate to avoid wasting herself. One selected to go in opposition to it and combat and possibly destroy it. In actual life, you have got the identical decisions.” 

As our dialog winds down, I ask whether or not Sokolov was in any respect reflecting on the alternatives he has made to talk out in opposition to real-world forces of energy abusing those that are weak. He says sure, however he additionally needs the film to face alone. 

“It’s the factor that you concentrate on. You query your self, ‘Was it the suitable selection?’” he says. “After all, I used to be serious about it, I’m nonetheless serious about it. Once we wrote the script, we talked about it quite a bit. It’s there, however on the similar time, the overall intention was to make a enjoyable film. But additionally, I don’t assume that the film must be educating you one thing. If you concentrate on it after, superior. In case you don’t, it’s additionally okay.”

As for what’s subsequent, each the Muschietti siblings say they’re hoping to proceed working with Sokolov. In reality, Barbara says there’s already one thing lined up. 

“We’re already engaged on one other script that he’s written,” she says. “It’s a brand new authentic written by Kirill. We simply obtained it within the inbox and we’re determining a path.”