Zazie Beetz as Asia in New Line Cinema/Nocturna’s They Will Kill You

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

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The action horror-comedy chronicles ex-con Asia Reaves (Beetz), who assumes a false identity in order to pose as a newly hired housekeeper at New York City’s mysterious residential building, the Virgil. Andy and Barbara Muschietti (It franchise, The Flash) became early champions of Sokolov and Litvak’s screenplay and set it up at New Line Cinema under their then-brand new Nocturna banner.

As revealed in the marketing, Asia is really squaring off against a Satanic cult led by Irish superintendent, Lilith Woodhouse (Patricia Arquette). The overall premise is based on Sokolov and his wife’s tenancy at a Russian apartment building a decade ago. Their experience somehow had shades of the Bramford in Rosemary’s Baby and Ellen Burstyn’s character’s apartment in Requiem for a Dream.

“We very quickly realized that we were the only two people who were younger than 65. Most of the other tenants were lonely old ladies. They would feed wild cats all day long, and every time you’d leave or come back, they’d gossip about you and discuss you,” Sokolov tells The Hollywood Reporter. “This tension grew and grew, and my wife and I started to joke that it’s a cult that would come for us at some point. So that’s where the inspiration came for [They Will Kill You].”

Asia’s fateful duel begins late at night when a cultist sneaks into her living quarters through a secret hole in the wall. This story point also originated at the Sokolovs’ former Russian flat. During a kitchen remodel, Sokolov discovered a hole that led to his neighbor’s apartment à la Rosemary’s Baby’s twist. “It happened so long ago that I totally forgot about it until I watched Rosemary’s Baby three years ago. Nobody walked into our apartment, but they could have,” Sokolov adds. “That’s how it ended up in [They Will Kill You].”

Asia’s grueling night of battle leads to the aforementioned flaming axe scene, and when Sokolov initially expressed interest in designing the blazing action practically, his responsible producers rightfully suggested otherwise. But the writer-director persisted until his talented stunt team found a way to pull it off safely. For example, costumes had to be recreated using more fire-retardant fabrics, and Beetz’s famous head of hair needed its own precautionary measures.

“Zazie had a huge haircut, and any spark would leave a hole in her hair. So we built a fireproof wig to protect her real hair,” Sokolov says.

Below, during a conversation with THR, Sokolov also discusses his journey to the States around the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as John Wick’s unavoidable influence on his genre tale.

***

To start with a question I’ve never asked before, how does a Russian physicist become a filmmaker?

I think my father still questions my life choices. I was always a movie fan. I’ve watched movies my entire life, and I had walls of VHS tapes that covered my room. But I came from a family that had nothing in common with movies. And growing up, the idea that you can actually try and make movies yourself never lands. It feels like it’s very different people in a different reality.

But during my university years, I somehow started to make short movies with my friends for fun. There were no scripts, and we made exploitation-style films with ketchup and chicken guts. Troma was a big North Star for our style, basically. Then the hobby grew over time, and instead of going for a PhD, I decided to become a full-time filmmaker.

(L-R) Zazie Beetz as Asia and Dir

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