Director Kirill Sokolov Reveals Eerie Real-life Inspiration Behind They Will Kill You

Writer and director Kirill Sokolov shared about the making of his latest film They Will Kill You. The movie arrives in theatres with a story that feels as unsettling as it is oddly relatable. Director Kirill Sokolov draws from a bizarre real-life experience, one that began in a quiet apartment building and spiralled into something far more sinister. He opens up about it, including casting Zazie Beetz in the lead role.

Opening up about the inspiration behind the story, Kirill Sokolov said, "So there is a true story that inspired this one. Basically, eight years ago, my wife and I moved to a new apartment. It was a strange 16-story building. A couple of days after moving in, we realized that we were the only two people who were younger than 60 years old living in the building. Everybody was much older than us, and mostly women. No dudes. And we were like, what's going on here? And then we notice that they all had cats, and they hated us because we had a dog. And every time I walked in or out of the building, I heard them whispering. They had benches in front of the entrance where they just sat, these old women, whispering, “Why is he so late, what is he wearing?” And we started to make this running joke that this whole building probably belongs to some sort of cult, and they had our apartment for rent to lure young people like us in and then sacrifice us."

But how he did craft the script with co-writer Alex Litvak to make it wholesome for the big screen? "Alex Litvak loved this idea. From day one, we discussed how to do a classic horror movie, but a little bit more twisted.  How to play with this genre. We have this classic beginning with a female protagonist who steps into a dangerous place, so everyone would think that she probably will be a victim. She will slowly get her empowerment, a classic movie trope, but we made it different," he added.

Kirill also shared about the lead character, Asia and casting Zazie Beetz. He revealed, "We cast Zazie and we did a read-through in Cape Town. I spent one or two days working with her, and in my imagination, Asia just switched with her. I couldn't imagine anyone else, she totally took the character and made her bright and alive. It's an incredibly physically challenging movie. She was on the set every day and she had so much action which she was willing to do herself. She had three or four months of preparation and rehearsed all these fights. She was running around barefoot for the entire movie. She was wet in Cape Town in winter at night, with these hailstorm winds, and never had a breakdown or crack or anything, and always was smiling. So, really, I can't be more grateful for her efforts. Zazie's unbelievable. I remember that while we were still shooting, I thought, 'Okay, I need to immediately write something else for her,' because when you find somebody like that, you know that you should stick with this person!"

They Will Kill You released in theatres on March 27, 2026.