Interview With “Boy Kills World” Director Moritz Mohr

[00:00:30] You are listening to the Next Best Picture Podcast and this is Cody Derrick's interview with the

[00:00:37] director for Boykills World, Maureen Smoore.

[00:00:41] This was never a great city but it was ours.

[00:00:44] Are you with me?

[00:00:45] Always.

[00:00:46] Until Hilda Vandakoy took it from us.

[00:00:49] This is how she keeps control.

[00:00:51] They call it the calling.

[00:00:54] They're all gonna watch and cheer as you die.

[00:00:58] It's me, facing televised execution by breakfast cereal mascots.

[00:01:05] Not my happiest day.

[00:01:07] But let me take you back to an even worse one.

[00:01:11] The day the Vandakoys killed my family and left me deaf and mute.

[00:01:19] So I made a three step plan.

[00:01:22] Step one, give myself an inner voice.

[00:01:26] I took the last one I remembered from this video game.

[00:01:29] Player one wins.

[00:01:31] Step two, get stronger.

[00:01:34] A lot stronger.

[00:01:38] And step three, join a team.

[00:01:42] Welcome to the resistance.

[00:01:45] Yeah, go team.

[00:01:48] The mission is simple.

[00:01:50] Make the Vandakoys pay for what they have done.

[00:01:54] Insert crazy action montage.

[00:01:56] Hello and welcome to the next best picture.

[00:01:59] This is Cody Derrick's and I'm here talking to the director of the new film Boy Kills

[00:02:04] World, Mortsmore.

[00:02:06] Morts, thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:02:09] Thank you for having me.

[00:02:10] Of course.

[00:02:11] So Boy Kills World, this is a movie that you can't describe without using the word

[00:02:16] wild.

[00:02:17] It is wildly original and wildly violent.

[00:02:21] And I want to start by talking about what inspired you to make this film.

[00:02:25] This is based on a short film of yours with the same title and where did that original

[00:02:29] idea come from?

[00:02:31] It was literally, it wasn't really a short film.

[00:02:33] It was sort of sometimes people call it a short film, but it was sort of a proof

[00:02:37] of concept trailer.

[00:02:38] It was like, if you find, you can find it online somewhere and it's literally

[00:02:42] sort of this trailer form where you get like a little scene and then it sort of

[00:02:47] drifts over in just a montage basically.

[00:02:50] So it was 2016, I think.

[00:02:55] That's right.

[00:02:56] It was basically four guys in Berlin, Germany that were sort of like sick and

[00:03:02] tired of their day jobs and sort of the TV and advertising and just want to

[00:03:08] make something that they could actually be proud of and sort of really

[00:03:12] would like to watch themselves.

[00:03:14] And like Germany is not very big on action movies.

[00:03:17] So we were like, all right.

[00:03:20] And the thing is we got these really great guys in Germany that work on all

[00:03:23] these amazing movies.

[00:03:25] Dave Schotarski, our action director who's been a friend of mine for I

[00:03:28] think 12 years, around 12 years.

[00:03:32] He's worked on the Kingsman movies, Wonder Woman, Black Widow and there's

[00:03:39] like a bunch of other guys in Berlin that worked on all these big

[00:03:42] action movies.

[00:03:43] And like there's a lot of talent that can actually do stuff like that.

[00:03:48] And we were like, all right, we're gonna do that.

[00:03:51] We're gonna do an action movie here and that's what we did.

[00:03:54] Well, a trailer for it took us a while to get off the ground, took us

[00:03:59] a while to finish it.

[00:04:01] I think it took us a year because it was all no budget basically.

[00:04:06] And then I took it to LA and just like good luck,

[00:04:11] showing it to a few people.

[00:04:12] And that's I think after like four days, I was in Sam's office and he was

[00:04:17] like, all right, let's let's do this.

[00:04:19] A lot of great art has come from people being bored of their day jobs.

[00:04:22] So this is no different.

[00:04:26] And when you say Sam, I assume you're talking about your producer, Sam

[00:04:29] Ramey. So I was going to ask what was your introduction to him?

[00:04:32] And can you tell me about his involvement?

[00:04:34] It was literally so I arrived in LA.

[00:04:38] I had like three meetings.

[00:04:39] The first one was like, all right, this looks great trailer.

[00:04:42] Do you have a script?

[00:04:42] And I'm like, no, we don't have a script.

[00:04:44] Sorry.

[00:04:44] And I'm like, oh, well, then can't help you.

[00:04:48] But it looks great though.

[00:04:49] Bye.

[00:04:49] And I was like, all right, this is kind of depressing.

[00:04:51] I thought it would actually happen because if you talk to people

[00:04:54] like, oh, you want to sell a movie, then you better have a script.

[00:04:57] Right. That's what you hear.

[00:04:59] And all we had was the proof of concept trailer, which is like,

[00:05:02] all right, you get what we want to do.

[00:05:04] But yeah, we don't like we had a treatment sort of like 10 pager,

[00:05:10] but that wasn't enough for them.

[00:05:11] And then I had a meeting with two more guys and one of them actually

[00:05:16] introduced me to Roy Lee, who was also producer on the movie.

[00:05:19] He's produced like the it movies and the ring movies and the Lego movies.

[00:05:24] So he's a really like big producer in its own right.

[00:05:28] And he introduced me to my manager, Stuart Manischel,

[00:05:32] and he wrote this quick email to me and was like, hey,

[00:05:36] so I'm going to send this to Sam Raimino.

[00:05:38] I was like, oh my God, this is amazing.

[00:05:42] Sure. And two days, two hours later, the next email came back

[00:05:46] and was like, yeah, Sam saw it.

[00:05:50] He flipped.

[00:05:51] And I was like, best day of my life, right?

[00:05:53] This is like the dream come true.

[00:05:54] So two days later, we were in this office and shaking hands

[00:05:57] and talking and meeting my hero.

[00:06:01] And it was, yeah, it was crazy.

[00:06:05] And even crazy was that he was like, all right, let's let's do this.

[00:06:08] Let's do this together and develop a script, find a studio, etc.

[00:06:13] So that first part was insane.

[00:06:17] And and I thought, well, let's I made it basically.

[00:06:22] We're going to shoot this next year.

[00:06:23] Let's go. Not quite.

[00:06:25] It took us another six years to get this made.

[00:06:28] The process with Sam over the course of that time,

[00:06:31] over writing the script and eventually editing was great

[00:06:36] because you have a you have a collaborator

[00:06:38] that actually understands the genre and has so much experience

[00:06:44] that it's like a little masterclass you get every time you talk.

[00:06:48] So that's super cool.

[00:06:50] Super cool. You said that.

[00:06:51] That's exactly what this is.

[00:06:54] One of the amazing things about this film is this is your debut feature film

[00:06:57] as a director, and I feel like most directors do something small

[00:07:01] or quote unquote simple for their feature debut.

[00:07:05] You're debuting with a big complicated action movie

[00:07:07] with tons of stunts and known actors.

[00:07:10] Were there any memorable challenges

[00:07:12] that you had overcome with this film?

[00:07:14] I mean, it was all challenged,

[00:07:16] especially when you sort of do it over over six years.

[00:07:19] And you sort of start out when we shot

[00:07:22] the proof of concept trailer in 2016.

[00:07:24] You're like, all right, I think we can do this for like two million dollars

[00:07:29] in Germany and our backyard basically.

[00:07:31] Like if we do a feature of that, that was the goal.

[00:07:34] We never anticipated that it would go to LA,

[00:07:38] go to somebody like Sam Raimi and end up the the movie

[00:07:42] that it is right now.

[00:07:44] Like that was never in the cards at any point in 2016, 17, 18 even.

[00:07:50] And it also it grew, sort of it grew at one point where we're like,

[00:07:55] all right, we're going to do this now.

[00:07:56] We're going to do this in Cape Town.

[00:07:58] We're going to get these actors and we just got more and more great actors.

[00:08:02] It was like every time we talked about casting a new role,

[00:08:06] the producers were like, all right, what about this guy?

[00:08:09] And I was like, yeah, yeah, try it.

[00:08:11] Let's let's get him.

[00:08:12] That's amazing.

[00:08:13] And because I at one point I thought like, all right,

[00:08:16] they're just going to stop spending money.

[00:08:18] And I was like, let's get anybody really.

[00:08:22] We can't afford to spend any more money.

[00:08:25] But they were so committed to this and especially on the on the action part

[00:08:31] where we actually had like we laid out all the action.

[00:08:34] We shoot all the previous.

[00:08:36] And then we looked at it and I was like,

[00:08:38] that might be more expensive than we anticipated.

[00:08:40] And that's when they stepped up again.

[00:08:42] I was like, all right, we really we want all this action stuff in there.

[00:08:46] We don't want to cut it down.

[00:08:48] The producers have been great on this and really like turned it into the movie

[00:08:54] that it is today, yeah, which is a far cry from just in scale.

[00:09:00] Scale wise, what I thought I would end up with when I first started this

[00:09:04] to all of our listeners of the next best picture podcast.

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[00:10:17] Speaking of that action, I'm pretty tough

[00:10:20] and like to think I've seen it all.

[00:10:22] But there are some moments of violence in this that made even me wins.

[00:10:26] I was partial to a moment with a cheese grater.

[00:10:28] I'm not going to say anything else about it.

[00:10:31] Did you have any favorite stunts or moments of violence in the film yourself?

[00:10:35] Yeah, my favorite scene is the is actually my favorite action scene

[00:10:40] like is the is the showdown scene

[00:10:43] because the actors and Dave did such an amazing job.

[00:10:49] And it's so it's physical, it's violent, it's dark.

[00:10:53] It's there's some stuff in there that I've never seen before.

[00:10:57] It's just so many, so many things.

[00:11:00] And I think it's sort of it perfectly wraps up the movie.

[00:11:05] And this is what I believe.

[00:11:06] I think it's the best action scene where we got we got.

[00:11:09] And I think it's so amazing that it's actually towards the end of the movie.

[00:11:13] It's a high point for the movie and it's at the end

[00:11:16] and not like in the middle where just action scenes just goes down.

[00:11:20] But also the cheese grater is.

[00:11:24] It's just it's short, it's sweet.

[00:11:26] The audience reactions are just chess kiss because there is nobody

[00:11:32] like there is rarely a people immune to that.

[00:11:34] Like the screams you hear in the theater is like, oh, that's that's music to my ears.

[00:11:40] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:11:41] Well, I feel like we all know what it's like to, you know,

[00:11:44] oops with the cheese grater and just kind of hurt yourself a little bit.

[00:11:47] So the idea of what they do in this movie with a kitchen utensil like that

[00:11:51] is really specifically horrifying.

[00:11:53] So good job there.

[00:11:55] Thank you. Yeah.

[00:11:57] Now, speaking of your actors, your lead actor, the titular boy

[00:12:01] is played by Bill Skarsgard, who to my mind is one of our most versatile

[00:12:05] working actors today.

[00:12:06] And this film, he does the entire thing without uttering a single word.

[00:12:10] Can you just tell me a little bit about what it was like working with him?

[00:12:13] Bill is super committed to his roles and a incredibly hard worker

[00:12:20] and sort of just getting in like we really we wrote him hard

[00:12:25] like because he had to get in shape.

[00:12:27] He had to train.

[00:12:28] He had to learn the choreography, which is just like hours and hours

[00:12:33] sort of just before the movie even starts, we have to to understand them

[00:12:36] and learn them and remember them eventually.

[00:12:41] And it's like like dance numbers, right?

[00:12:44] That you have to to study and.

[00:12:47] At one day then perform and like these complicated punch combos

[00:12:52] and stuff, it's like that takes a lot of time and a lot of commitment.

[00:12:56] We had two units and he was basically he was working so much

[00:13:01] in the during the course of the shooting that I felt bad from a few times.

[00:13:07] Like it was really it was really a lot.

[00:13:10] And then it was, I guess, the the not talking thing.

[00:13:15] It's kind of unusual for an for an actor, but it is also a challenge

[00:13:19] that you have to convey all the emotions with your face

[00:13:24] and with your gestures.

[00:13:26] And and that was something we talked a lot about

[00:13:29] and eventually shot a lot where it was like, all right, is this is this working?

[00:13:35] Maybe do it like tried in a different way.

[00:13:37] Like you basically do the same as with talking,

[00:13:40] but you really have to sort of focus on little other things where it's like,

[00:13:43] oh yeah, this is this is that moment in that scene that.

[00:13:47] Blink that head turned that that sort of conveys it.

[00:13:51] That's a very yeah, that was it was a challenge.

[00:13:55] But it was also a great collaboration that we that we had on that.

[00:13:59] He may not speak himself, but he does have an internal voice

[00:14:02] played by H. Sean Benjamin, who is, you know,

[00:14:06] an incredible comic actor and his voice is instantly recognizable

[00:14:10] to anyone who watches the show.

[00:14:12] Bob's burgers.

[00:14:13] That's definitely how he got my radar.

[00:14:15] Is that how he got your radar too? Or did you?

[00:14:18] Not sure. Yeah.

[00:14:20] I came from the other first it was Archer and then I found Bob's burgers,

[00:14:24] which was I think the was the right way to to watch it from my point.

[00:14:29] Yeah, that's that's how I got got him.

[00:14:32] That's exactly how I got him.

[00:14:34] I was a big fan.

[00:14:35] I have been for years and years and years.

[00:14:38] And when we sort of talked about the voice

[00:14:40] originally in the original proof of concept trailer,

[00:14:43] we sort of had this with the young actor

[00:14:45] and then we had the old voice and the old voice was more of a Malibu man

[00:14:49] kind of guy in the course of writing the movie and writing the script

[00:14:53] for the movie was like, all right, let's get rid of the smoking part.

[00:14:57] And then we came up with the video games and then the video game voice.

[00:15:01] And at that point it was like, so we don't need the Malibu man.

[00:15:05] We need somebody else also very like iconic voice and funny.

[00:15:10] And and that's when I like literally the first thing I thought about

[00:15:15] was John Benjamin. Well, it fits perfectly.

[00:15:17] I'll say that. Yeah.

[00:15:20] Now, watching this movie, it's easy to think of revenge

[00:15:23] thriller is like Kill Bill and Old Boy.

[00:15:26] Now, were there any specific films that inspired you during the making of this film?

[00:15:30] I mean, we definitely I definitely these two movies were in our minds.

[00:15:36] Like I'm a massive Park Chun-Wook fan.

[00:15:39] I love his revenge trilogy.

[00:15:42] And it's like, yeah, that definitely inspired Boy Kills World.

[00:15:46] But also like all the other action movies,

[00:15:51] like the John Wick movies and Deadpool even.

[00:15:54] And like you all sort of have them in the back of your head.

[00:15:57] And because that's the waters you jump into.

[00:16:02] And then you try to add something that to that canon

[00:16:06] that hasn't been done before, I guess, or sort of is new to that.

[00:16:11] And yeah, that was the that was the goal.

[00:16:14] There are a lot of references in this movie, either

[00:16:19] most of them are sort of subconscious, I guess.

[00:16:21] But I can like I can say that this is all like this comes from

[00:16:26] 30 years of movie watching this movie, 80s, 80s Hong Kong cinema,

[00:16:31] Korean movies, anime, like like all that stuff.

[00:16:34] And we're all big fans of those and the genre movies and revenge movies.

[00:16:39] And yeah, we tried to make our mark here.

[00:16:42] I'm approaching the end of my time here with you, unfortunately.

[00:16:44] But before I let you go, do you have any upcoming projects in the works

[00:16:48] or anything you're hoping to make in the future that you can talk about?

[00:16:50] Not I can't talk about anything really, because nothing has really happened yet.

[00:16:54] But I'm working on it and I hope I can soon pitching,

[00:16:57] reading, writing the whole the whole shebang hopefully soon.

[00:17:02] All right. Well, looking forward to whatever the next more it's more

[00:17:04] movie is whenever that rolls around.

[00:17:07] Thank you so much for spending some time with me.

[00:17:10] And I'm really excited for people to see Boy Kills World.

[00:17:12] Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

[00:17:14] Hey, everyone, thank you so much for listening to Cody Darrox's

[00:17:17] interview with the director for Boy Kills World where it's more

[00:17:20] here on the next best picture podcast.

[00:17:23] Boy Kills World will be released in theaters on April 26th

[00:17:27] from Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate.

[00:17:30] You have been listening to the next best picture podcast.

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[00:17:52] Thank you all so much for listening as always.

[00:17:54] And we will see you all next time.

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