Director of ultra-violent action movie inspired by anime and revenge movies justifies its R-rating: "If Sam Raimi is your producer, nobody really questions that"
Apr. 24, 2024Exclusive: Boy Kills World director Moritz Mohr says they always knew they were heading for an R-rating
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With Sam Raimi on board as a producer, the director of new action movieBoy Kills Worldsays that gunning for an R-rating was pretty much a given.
The film, whichdraws its inspiration from anime, manga, and revenge movies, follows a man named Boy (played by Bill Skarsgård) as he plots his revenge against the woman who killed his family. His journey to her features a hell of a lot of gore, violence, and creative kills, which director Moritz Mohr tells GamesRadar+ and theInside Total Film podcastwas key to telling the story.
“That’s been something I’ve been doing in the short films that I’ve made [which are] always over the top, violent, and fun,” he grins. “That was always something I was going for, and the great thing is if Sam Raimi is your producer, nobody really questions that. It’s just like, ‘Oh, yeah, that makes sense.’ So it’s a really great place to start and there weren’t even any discussions like, ‘Oh, we need to tone the violence down or anything.’ We always knew what we were going for R and producers were totally on board for it.”
Mohr adds that his advice when nailing the action sequences was also invaluable, and actually led them to cut a moment in the final film. “Sam actually said that everybody needs to get what they deserve on the violence scales,” he says. “You can’t kill that poor henchman in such a horrible way that people would go, ‘That’s a bit much.’ So you really need to reserve the mean kills for the mean guys, if you are too mean, then you lose your audience.”
One particular sequence in the final film seesJohn Wick 4star Skarsgård get very creative with a cheese grater to do away with some henchmen. Now, that will likely have your Raimi senses tingling thanks toEvil Dead Risefeaturing the utensil in another creepy sequence, but Mohr says that was a complete coincidence.
“We were ready to shoot this [scene] and Zainab Azizi, who is Sam Raimi’s producer on the movie was like, ‘Hey, Moritz, didn’t I tell you there’s a cheese grater in Evil Dead Rise?,'” he laughs. “I was literally standing on set to shoot this and I was like, ‘Are you fucking kidding me? You’re telling me now?’ And then she was like, ‘Yeah, but it’s not like that long and this is different.’ Then I actually watched it, and I was like, ‘Alright, this is fine.’ But again, what are the odds for these two movies with two cheese graters, both produced by Sam Raimi?”
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Also starring Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Famke Janssen, Sharlto Copley, and Brett Gelman, Boy Kills World is a revenge fantasy following a deaf man who’s been trained to be an elite killer. Thetrailer gives you an idea of the unique toneof the movie, which has been compared to everything from John Wick toThe Hunger Gamesin early reactions.
Boy Kills World is in US theaters and UK cinemas on April 26. Listen to our full chat on theInside Total Film podcast, out later this week.
I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I’ve also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.
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