A normal guy gets a piece of the action
NOBODY I Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk swaps legal briefs for bullets.
Written by Derek Kolstad, produced by David Leitch, and with a plot that could generously be described as John Wick-esque (minus the wholesale puppy slaughter), Nobody is a film that director Ilya Naishuller is well aware will be compared to that beloved Keanu-fronted action series. “They share DNA but it’s also completely different,” Naishuller tells Teasers. “I remember saying, ‘Derek, this is going to sound very stupid, but I think we should tone down some of the things that made your other franchise really, really work!’”
Case in point: while Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell may be a retired ‘auditor’ (aka hitman) who’s thinking he’s back after his home is robbed and his daughter’s cherished kitty kat bracelet stolen, Nobody eschews the near-mythological world-building of Wick. Instead, its focus is the inner conflict of a character struggling to balance a desire to leave his violent past behind with the need to protect his family.
“I would love to make a movie that people see on Friday and then they still think about it on Monday,” nods Naishuller, who was looking to stretch different filmmaking muscles after the first-person insanity of 2015’s Hardcore Henry. “Some people are going to watch it and see a crazy movie about a dude
who goes apeshit and takes on the Russian mob. But later on, they’re going to see the struggle of the man inside the suit.”
A comedian-turned-dramatic power house in Breaking Bad and acclaimed spin-off series Better Call Saul, 58-year-old Odenkirk may not be the obvious candidate for cinema’s next action superstar, but Naishuller never had a doubt Saul Goodman was the right man for the job.
“He wanted to make it as realistic as possible,” says Naishuller, who notes that Odenkirk had been in physical training for six months before they even met. “He did not expect handheld shaky-cam and 12 cuts a second to jump over a fence. There are maybe two shots in the entire film that are not Bob, and that’s because only Tom Cruise can get that kind of insurance. But I know Bob could have done it!”
Nobody won’t skimp on creatively choreographed action – you’ll certainly never look at the inside of a bus the same way again – but where Hardcore Henry consciously cranked the crazy up to 11, the goal was vastly different this time around. “[Hardcore Henry], I made for a 15-year-old me. I didn’t care about themes and the important questions that people face in their lives,” the director laughs. “Whereas this is a film that’s a little bit more grown up, I will say. This one has themes and a certain elegance… that is all wrapped up in a nice bowtie of violence.”
ETA | 5 MARCH 2021 / NOBODY OPENS IN CINEMAS NEXT YEAR.