Ilya Naishuller

Ilya Viktorovich Naishuller (Russian: Илья Викторович Найшуллер; born November 19, 1983)[1] is a Russian musician and filmmaker. He is the founder of the Russian indie rock band Biting Elbows and production company Versus Pictures. He is also known for directing the action films Hardcore Henry (2015) and Nobody (2021).

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Viktorovich and the family name is Naishuller.
Ilya Naishuller
Born
Ilya Viktorovich Naishuller

(1983-11-19) November 19, 1983
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Occupation
  • Musician
  • Filmmaker
Years active2008–present
Notable work
Co-founder of Biting Elbows
Hardcore Henry
Nobody
Spouse(s)
Darya Charusha
​
(m. 2010)​
Musical career
GenresRock
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • Guitar
Associated actsBiting Elbows

Life

Naishuller was born in Moscow, the son of a surgeon mother and a businessman father of Jewish background.[2] From the ages of seven to fourteen he lived with his mother in London,[3][4] after which, they returned to Russia.[3]

He studied at the Tisch School of the Arts, but he left after a short time, since it appeared "useless" to him.[4] However, he met various filmmakers, some of whom he would collaborate with later.

In 1999, with some fellow students, Naishuller founded his first band which soon broke up.[3] In 2008, he founded the rock band Biting Elbows, where he is a singer and guitarist. In 2011, he appeared in the EP Dope Fiend Massacre and the debut album Biting Elbows.

In 2013, Naishuller appeared in the single Bad Motherfucker, where he also directed the music video. The first-person amateur video went on to be a viral hit online with over 20 million views[5] and was, among others, praised by Darren Aronofsky.[4]

In the same year he took up acting, playing a small role in the Roman Karimov crime comedy All and At Once (Russian: Всё и сразу).

Shortly thereafter, Naishuller began shooting his film-directing debut Hardcore, later renamed Hardcore Henry. It was produced by Timur Bekmambetov, Inga Vainshtein Smith, and Ekaterina Kononenko and featured supporting roles from Sharlto Copley and Tim Roth. Naishuller is also credited as screenwriter, director, producer and acted in the film as well. The film was funded via an Indiegogo campaign, to this day, the backers who financed the film never received their perks, yet alone a copy of the movie they funded. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015, and was released theatrically by STXfilms on April 8, 2016. It went on to gross $14.3 million USD, but due to STX spending $10 million for global rights to the film, it became a box-office bomb in the US.[6][7] On the same day, Naishuller, along with Brain Philipson and Will Stewart released a comic book titled Hardcore Akan #1 that serves as an origin story for the main antagonist of Hardcore Henry.[8]

The music video "Kolshchik" that Naishuller directed for the famous Russian rock band Leningrad won the Berlin Music Video Awards on 2017, while taking the 1st place for the "Best Concept" category. [9]

Filmography

Music videos
Year Artist Title Director Producer Ref.
2010 Biting Elbows Dope Fiend Massacre Yes No [10]
2011 The Stampede Yes No [11]
2012 Toothpick Yes No [12]
2013 Bad Motherfucker Yes No [13]
2016 The Weeknd False Alarm Yes No [14]
2017 Leningrad "Кольщик" (Kolshchik) Yes No [15]
"Вояж" (Voyage) Yes No
2018 "Жу-Жу" (Ju-Ju) Yes No
"Золото" (Gold) No Yes
2019 Biting Elbows Heartache Yes Yes
Control Yes Yes
2021 Serj Tankian Elasticity No Yes
Biting Elbows Boy is Dead Yes Yes

Film
Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
2015 Hardcore Henry Yes Yes Yes Also cinematographer and actor
2018 I Am Losing Weight No No Yes
2019 Marathon of Wishes No No Yes
2021 Nobody[16] Yes No No also actor

Other works
Year Title Notes
2016 The Medic A piece from Saatchi & Saatchi's 25x25 - a collection of 1 minute shorts directed by
the participants of the last 25 years of the New Director's Showcase

References
  1. Ilja Naischuller at kp.ru
  2. Reddit: Ilya Naishuller Ask Me Anything www.reddit.com Published 2015. Accessed 2018.
  3. Ilja Naischuller at kino-teatr.ua
  4. Ilya Naishuller: Young Russian is the Next Quentin Tarantino at bigthink.com
  5. Biting Elbows – ‘Bad Motherfucker’ Official Music Video at vimeo.com
  6. Rapid Round: 'Hardcore Henry' Director Ilya Naishuller on First-Person Filmmaking, His Favorite Video Game at hollywoodreporter.com
  7. "Hardcore Henry 2 Updates: Why The Sequel Hasn't Happened". ScreenRant. 2020-08-01. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  8. Phillipson, Brian; Naishuller, Ilya; Stewart, Will (2016-04-08). Hardcore Akan #1. Bliss On Tap Publishing. ISBN 978-1-68124-466-2.
  9. "Berlin Music Video Awards Winners 2017". 23 May 2017.
  10. bitingelbows (2010-12-05). "Biting Elbows - 'Dope Fiend Massacre' Official Music Video". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. bitingelbows (2011-09-20). "Biting Elbows - The Stampede (Official Music Video)". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. bitingelbows (2012-04-26). "Biting Elbows - "Toothpick" Official Music Video". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. bitingelbows (2013-03-18). "Biting Elbows - 'Bad Motherfucker' Official Music Video". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. The Weeknd (2016-10-13). "The Weeknd - False Alarm". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. Leningrad (2017-02-14). "Ленинград — Кольщик". YouTube. Retrieved 2021-04-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. Couch, Aaron (September 19, 2019). "Universal Sets Bob Odenkirk Action Thriller 'Nobody' for August 2020". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
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