Kirill Sokolov and Zazie Beetz behind the scenes of They Will Kill You

It’s the closing night of the 2026 SXSW Film Festival and They Will Kill You director Kirill Sokolov is taking to the stage of the Paramount Theatre in Austin. He has multiple pages in hand listing out all of his collaborators he wants to thank. 
Where most filmmakers give a few brief remarks, possibly crack a joke or two, and then make a quick exit stage left, Sokolov, who previously made the films Why Don’t You Just Die! and No Looking Back in Russia, is running down as many people as he can possibly get through. This is all taking place before his film, a bloody action horror mashup that centers on a woman, Zazie Beetz’s Asia, who must battle her way free of a labyrinthian New York apartment building housing a cult of the ultrawealthy as she searches for her sister, Maria, has even begun. To hear it from Sokolov, he wanted to make the most of a long-awaited moment, which came after many years of work. This also included his leaving Russia behind for America after speaking out against the war in Ukraine. He previously told The New York Times in 2022 that he had signed two online petitions opposing the war, an act that carries with it the risk of political retaliation and even jail time, as many thousands have been arrested by the government for protesting the ongoing war. 
After Sokolov left, he then faced another battle to get his latest film made in the American studio system as someone who hadn’t yet helmed anything within it. 
“When people watch a movie, it’s ninety minutes, and they leave the movie. In the best-case scenario, they will have a nice ninety minutes, maybe not that nice, then they leave and forget about it,” Sokolov says. “But as people who are making the movie, you are spending two years, at least, to make it.”
So Sokolov, whose phone has the Wilhelm scream as its ringtone, spent several minutes thanking not only the cast and producers, but his co-writer and friend Alex Litvak, with whom he wrote the film as a spec script, and many of the more unsung below-the-line members of the crew who brought it to life. For Beetz, the breakout star of the acclaimed FX series Atlanta and now this film’s stellar action lead, it was Sokolov’s heartfelt, infectious enthusiasm that first drew her to the project. 
“I wasn’t surprised. I think he is a very sincere, very genuine person,” says Beetz. “He’s so passionate about filmmaking, so passionate about this film, and the way he talked about it was just so excited, so engaged, which was really nice for me as an actor to see and feel. His vision, everything around it, he was so clear about what he wanted to do, and he is just very profuse in his emotions, to be honest.”
This was echoed by Myha’la, the breakout Industry star who plays Beetz’s sister in the film, who says that she couldn’t have been happier to see him take the time. According to Deadline, the film has a $20 million budget, a far larger sum than either of his previous films, which she specifically highlighted as being significant.

“I was honestly just so proud of Kirill and so happy for him. I was supporting him taking every single moment on that stage. This is his first major big-budget  American film as an immigrant, and he’s so passionate about this particular moment and about us,” she says. “I was like, ‘Take all the time you need, king!’”
Sokolov had support from two other immigrants in getting this film off the ground: producers and siblings Andy and Barbara Muschietti, who were born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The duo recounted how they were trying to pay forward the same support they’d both gotten from filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who had backed Andy’s feature directorial debut, Mama.
“When we finished Mama and that came out, [del Toro] said ‘Now you have to do this for someone else,’” Barbara recounts. 
“It took us 10 years, but we did it,” Andy adds. 
In addition to valuing the enthusiasm he brought to his intro at SXSW, Myha’la appreciated Sokolov’s energy on set. This included the times when, in the midst of lengthy night shoots, he’d shout out in excitement when they nailed a key scene. 
“The fire scene was a big one. Zazie is running and jumping and smashing in take after take. There’s actual people being extinguished because there’s actual people on fire. When they got that one right, he was pretty excited,” she says. “All of the producers were shitting and sweating because they were so afraid of everyone’s safety and well-being. Obviously, there was every precaution taken, but Kirill insisted on real fire, and it really paid off.”
This moment, the film’s standout action scene where Beetz’s Asia sets an axe on fire and makes short work of a room full of shadowy goons, was an elaborate one to pull off. In order to get it right and also make sure that it was safe, they “ran it to death,” and all the actors, including Beetz, used plenty of flame retardant to reduce the heat of the fire. However, she says she still could feel it sucking up the oxygen.

“I’ve never worked with fire in that way before; it was really exciting. I just think the real fire helps with performance and with this feeling of danger, which is something I miss in films. I think that the overuse of CGI has eliminated a very visceral feel that we can get,” she says, pointing to the Akira Kurosawa film Ran as a film that was particularly profound to her in how it used fire and practical effects. “The way I react to the fire and the way I engage with it, the energy and respect of it, is different than if it were just a little lamp at the end of the stick.”
When it comes to the film’s thematic core under all the blood and fire, Myha’la says, in addition to thinking that “the movie rips,” this part of it resonates with her as well. Where her character in Industry, Harper, ends up cozying up to the wealthy who are preying on others, her character here goes down a far different path.
“Spiritually and politically, I align a bit more with Maria and Asia in fighting the rich than I do with Harper being a part of the elite class,” she says. “The film is about exposing what greed does to this one percent and what they do to the rest of us, the rest of the world.”  
Sokolov says that he was always wanting to ground the film in some of these more real-world conflicts. However, at the same time, he was inspired by a variety of influences, which he rattles off with the same enthusiasm he had on stage. This includes the anime series Afro Samurai, which he says he fought to get the rights to the song Bloody Samurai from, to enduring classics of genre cinema such as Lady Vengeance and Kill Bill, as well as the works of Sam Raimi and Sergio Leone. Just as the film and Sokolov wore all these influences openly, his ultimate goal was to make an enjoyable ride that wears its heart on its sleeve and has a relatable bite. 
“People with power and money abuse people who can’t fight back. That’s how a cult in real life works, and, basically, it’s a very common situation all around the world. We all face it and that doesn’t need any extra explanation,” he says. “What was more exciting for me and important for me to think about was how people react in those situations when they face them. In the center of the story, we have two sisters, two different personalities, who made very different choices when they faced this kind of system. One of them tried to find a deal to try to find a way to collaborate to save herself. One chose to go against it and fight and maybe destroy it. In real life, you have the same choices.” 
As our conversation winds down, I ask whether Sokolov was at all reflecting on the choices he has made to speak out against real-world forces of power abusing those who are vulnerable. He says yes, but he also wants the movie to stand alone. 
“It’s the thing that you think about. You question yourself, ‘Was it the right choice?’” he says. “Of course, I was thinking about it, I’m still thinking about it. When we wrote the script, we talked about it a lot. It’s there, but at the same time, the general intention was to make a fun movie. But also, I don’t think that the movie should be teaching you something. If you think about it after, awesome. If you don’t, it’s also okay.”

As for what’s next, both the Muschietti siblings say they’re hoping to continue working with Sokolov. In fact, Barbara says there’s already something lined up. 
“We’re already working on another script that he’s written,” she says. “It’s a new original written by Kirill. We just got it in the inbox and we’re figuring out a path.”