The POV action orgy that grabbed TIFF by the short and curlies has made its way to theaters and now you can peer behind-the-scenes of Hardcore Henry with a new video showcasing how director Ilya Naishuller’s insane fever dream was filmed. Caution: You will want to hug a stunt person and buy ’em a drink or six after.
Nestled into a music video for Naishuller’s band Biting Elbows, this five-minute promo reveals a few of the magician’s secrets on how this first-person violence parade came to be. It’s a mesmerizing mix of prep and the HOLY F*CKING SH*T HOW IS EVERYONE NOT CORPSE SOUP??? Switch up the tune, edit carefully and you might even be able to pass this off as a Russian edition of Faces of Death.
Considering the amount of times the crew rushes over after a bit of mayhem, there’s a chance you might have to watch a good chunk of this with your fingers over your eyes. Heck, star Sharlto Copley told the Los Angeles Daily News that he thought he committed vehicular manslaughter on the set.
“We had to do three takes of the scene where I’m driving and hitting police cars,” Copley recalls. “The first time, I actually thought I’d killed a stunt guy, because after he’d let go of my vehicle we felt a ‘ba-dunk’ and thought we’d driven over him. Ilya was in the passenger seat filming and we both blew the take, we both turned and our faces went ashen. We saw this guy lying in the road, there was normal traffic now coming past and the radio wasn’t working, he wasn’t moving and we didn’t know if he was just in character now.
“I was certain I’d driven over him. We had to go around this very long block because it was a one-way street. When we got back, he was standing there going ‘Did you get it?’ and I’m like ‘No. Sorry man, I thought I’d killed you.’ It was a bump in the road right there. It was the worst three minutes of my life, driving around that block.”
Thankfully, the fatality count was kept to zilch. Mind you, there’s a scene in the film itself where a tougher than leather stuntwoman gets drilled on the escalator and stays a pro all the way through.
By the way, if Biting Elbows music videos are now your thing, why not revisit the Hardcore-esque clips for “The Stampede” and “Bad Mothef*cker?” Yes, they’re NSFW. You probably guessed that already.
(via /Film)
