In the past year, we’ve seen some pretty crazy action scenes on screen. Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell climbing through train carriages in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. The endless staircase fight in John Wick – Chapter 4. Lily Sullivan’s character getting her leg sliced with a cheese grater in Evil Dead Rise. But get ready for even more action madness with Boy Kills World, the debut film from German director Moritz Mohr. And guess who was impressed by the film’s wild energy? None other than Sam Raimi, the creator of Evil Dead, who came on board as a producer.
Mohr recalls the moment he found out that Raimi would be watching the proof-of-concept trailer for Boy Kills World. He says, ‘It was complete insanity. I was showing my phone to everyone around me, like, ‘You see that?!’ Two hours later, we were all hanging out at a Five Guys in LA when the email arrived and it just said, ‘Sam flipped.’ It became our battle cry for the next few weeks.’ Mohr had always been a fan of Raimi and had included nods to the Evil Dead movies in his previous shorts. Working with Raimi was a dream come true for Mohr.
What drew Raimi to Boy Kills World was its unique blend of brutal revenge and surreal comedy. The film stars Bill Skarsgård as the deaf and non-verbal protagonist, known as ‘Boy’, who is trained in the jungle by a mysterious martial arts master, played by Yayan Ruhian from The Raid. Boy’s mission is to take down a powerful and corrupt family dynasty. Mohr promises plenty of weirdness and surprises in the film, saying, ‘This film will take you to unexpected places, and that’s exactly what we wanted.’
For the full story on Boy Kills World, including an interview with director Moritz Mohr, check out the latest issue of Empire. The film is set to release soon, so keep an eye out for it!