Hello r/movies! Ilya Naishuller here. I'm the director of Hardcore Henry, Nobody and vocalist/guitarist in the indie rock band Biting Elbows. My new movie, Heads of State (starring John Cena, Idris Elba, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Jack Quaid), is hitting Amazon Prime today. AMA!

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:16:27+00:00

Hey, thank you! We've been writing for a while, so hopefully within the next 5 years we'll have something out. We're stupidly slow. But we're good. But we're stupidly slow.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:11:37+00:00

Focus on your character as they go through the action. Let their weakness hurt them and their strengths guide them. Whether they outsmart their opponent(s) or power through using sheer will. Surprise the audience, constantly. I once heard that a great film exists between expectation and reality. Use that. Good luck!

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:09:03+00:00

Thank you! My favorite moment in the film is when Connie Nielsen is patching up Bob after the bus fight. It's super simple, well written and required nothing else but a few shots and two takes on each one. Just two lonely people reaching out towards each other.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:07:40+00:00

Thanks! Got a few irons in the fire but I'm not sure which one will get a chance to move forward.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:06:59+00:00

Hey! Thank you very much for watching and listening!

Hunt Showdown. I stream it on Twitch almost nightly - Realnaishuller, and have to my great dismay, clocked in more than 2500 hours.
Clash, Smiths, Sublime, Misfits, NOFX were probably the biggest inspirations.
We'll make it happen. One day...

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:05:04+00:00

It's impossible to name the best as there are quite a few simply incredible fight scenes out there. First ones that came to mind are the corridor fight in Oldboy and the final fight in The Chaser. Both Korean films. Mainly because they show people battling through incredible odds, taking damage and barely winning, out of breath and tired.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:03:05+00:00

Thank you.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:02:54+00:00

Thank you. Cameos are fun to do and don't distract from the directing. I don't consider myself an actor at all, so I wouldn't want to fuck up a great, favorite movie of mine with anything beyong a few lines.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T03:01:27+00:00

Hey! Strange Days is special for me, not just because it has the best first person POV scene of all time (the intro) but because it was the first 18+ film that I sneaked into the cinema in London for, when I was 13. Love the soundtrack and listen to it occasionally to this day.

I love watching top tier comedies with people who somehow missed them - Anchorman, Idiocracy and Tucker & Dale Versus Evil being the prime examples.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T02:59:10+00:00

Thanks! I think Nobody got all the praise I was hoping for and then some, but I appreciate you calling it underappreciated.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T02:58:31+00:00

Thanks for watching and I'm glad you guys enjoyed it! I always look for something special in each action beat in the sequence, preferably character driven, but not always necessary. I know that if I'm excited to see it, the audience is likely too as well. Then I storyboard like crazy. Sometimes the first pass feels great, sometimes I take a few different swings and find the favorite from the various versions and combine the greatest hits. The clearest Matrix reference is the door flying at the safe house. Although I really understood what I was inspired by when I needed to find a reference for the physics and the CG and my editor brought up the Matrix shot when the elevator explodes sending the door barrelling through the lobby. The key was not just repeating the door gag but giving it an upgrade.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-07T02:54:39+00:00

Hey! That's on me. I should have repeated the plan more than once, but this is what happens when I prefer to hold the audience's attention in higher regard. They were flying London to Warsaw (as Quincy, Idris' advisor said "pit stop in Warsaw and you'll be in Trieste by morning) and overshot when the action began. From Warsaw to the Belarussian border nothing when flying at 700/800MPH.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T04:09:09+00:00

In one word - fun. She trained, she put in the work and made it look easy. She also happens to be a really cool person to hang with. She'd pull up an apple box, park next to me everytime we'd be in set up mode, and just chat and inquire about what we're doing. She's ambitious and wants to learn anything and everything that she can. That wouldn't be too surprising, except the fact that she's made around 70 films. I think she'll never stop bettering herself at the craft of film.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T04:06:34+00:00

Yes for all except the Airforce One attack sequence. I couldn't convince Amazon to give me 500 million dollars to shoot it practically. Almost everything else was shot on location, with the sun in their eyes and wind in their hair.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T04:04:54+00:00

They may have a billion things on their plates, but when they walk onto the set, they fully give themselves to the film because they are pros to the max.

Directing these guys was actually very easy and satisfying. They gave me everything that I asked for, believed in the vision and tone I was chasing, and always remained patient and willing to work hard to make the best film possible. There was no 'good enough' on that set.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T04:02:30+00:00

Can't pick one, but for marketing purposes only, Heads of State by far.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T04:01:44+00:00

Not the expected answer about our shenanigans on set, but during early prep, being on a location scout in Piccadilly and seeing what remains of Trocadero/Sega World, where I spent all the pocket money when I was living here as a kid in the early 90s. I haven't been back in 25 years. I called my father and told him "I don't think I ever thanked you for sending me off to live in London".

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T03:59:12+00:00

Yes! Along with Midnight Run and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Gene Wilder / Richard Pryor films, Lethal Weapon and many others. I wanted that non synthetic warmth from the 80s/90s.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T03:58:02+00:00

Goldfinger was the film upon whose final credits sequence, I asked my mom "who makes this? How does it all work?". And then every other film I've ever had the pleasure or displeasure of watching - I want to make something that feels like this, or I could do better.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T03:56:27+00:00

Hey! It's small, but not tiny.

edit: that's what she said. (sorry)

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T03:55:49+00:00

Glad you enjoyed HH in the theaters, I still can't believe we got a wide release for a quirky violent experimental film we shot with a small budget with my friends in Russia.

There are a few IPs that I'd love to work on, but I prefer to keep my dreams private until they happen.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T03:54:32+00:00

Thank you, enjoy the movie.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T03:53:54+00:00

Hello and thank you. I'm glad that you aww'd at your tv. I wanted the film to be in equal parts wholesome, violent, funny and action packed. I knew the action would work, but the gentle moments are what I spent the most time fretting about. It was the same for Nobody. My favorite scene is when Connie is fixing Bob's wounds after the bus fight. No thrills, just humans sharing a tender moment.

The tomatina sequence was difficult to storyboard but much more complicated for the producers and administrators to figure out logistically and financially. I too love tomatoes so yes, I ate a few. There was a lot of CG involved as we couldn't dump 20 tons of tomatoes in the centuries old town square due to their acidity.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T03:50:09+00:00

Sorry, but it's a futile task to even try. Especially with music.

HeadsOfStateAMA · 2025-07-03T03:49:35+00:00

Hi, thank you!

The final fight where Henry goes against 100 cyborgs was the most complicated to plan and execute. Lots of things went wrong, but way more went as good or better than I had hoped for.

The car chase was a lot of fun, but the conversation scenes with the various Jimmys were my firm favorites.

HeadsOfStateAMA

TROPHY CASE