Boy Kills World is the feature debut of German director Mortiz Mohr, and the film looks promising. The ultra-violent tale of a man hellbent on revenge is seen as an action/comedy with small portions of comic and videogame-like DNA. Not based on any known IP, the movie is sure to have a level of originality that many major studio productions lack. The cast features the likes of Bill Skarsgård, Famke Janssen, Jessica Rothe, Andrew Koji, and many others who guarantee the audience a wild ride worth getting on.
However, Mohr’s vision of this dystopian future world would not come to fruition without the aid of the people behind the scenes. One of them goes by the name of Sam Raimi. The well-known director has championed the film’s creation and the style of Mohr’s art direction. We spoke with Mohr and Raimi at this year’s WonderCon to discuss the inspiration for the film, their collaboration, and the possibilities of a sequel.
Boy Kills World is pretty violent and gory and has a lot of action. It’s rated R, I would say hard R. Is there anything you had to pull back to keep it at that rated R level?
Mortiz Mohr: We had nothing major. We had a couple of things where we were like, “Maybe we don’t do that now.” Just because it’s just a bit too much, you figure it out in the editing where it is like, “Oh, the guy didn’t deserve that. He was a bad guy, but he’s also just a guard, so don’t be too violent to him.” I feel like in the movie, it works best when everybody gets what they deserve.
I have to ask you, was there at any point during the production when you wanted to direct a scene or an action set piece?
Sam Raimi: No. But as a director, there’s other thoughts that go through your head. I mean, as a producer/director, like I am. When you see dailies come in, you think, “How did he do that? Why didn’t I do that? Or you go, or you say, “How did he get that performance from that actress? She’s so good in this moment.” You rewind the dailies, and sometimes you hear Moritz say something or direct them, and you think, “That’s a great idea. That was the right note for the time.”
Or you think, “Wait a minute, where’s that scene? I thought we were going to shoot that.” I mean, it’s not like I wish I did it. I’m a partner of Mortiz’s and I’m so happy when this stuff comes out great. I don’t think directors think, “Oh, I wish I had done that.” It’s more like, “I want to tell a story. I want to tell my story. I see it like this”, or “I really think that’s funny.” But it’s never, “I wish my vision were what his was at that moment.” That thought doesn’t occur to directors, I don’t think.
Boy Kills World looks and feels like a video game brawler. Were there any video games that inspired you to give the movie the type of style?
Mortiz Mohr: Actually, I always pitched it as a comic book movie or graphic novel movie without a graphic novel; I play a lot of video games, too many video games, quite frankly. There’s a lot of inspiration coming from that side, especially for action scenes and just general mayhem that happens.
Would you want to make this into a sequel if given the opportunity?
Mortiz Mohr: I would definitely, yeah. Yeah, we would do that.
I feel like that’s the answer. Many directors say, “Yeah, let’s expand on that.”
Mortiz Mohr: We talked about it, we thought about it. It all depends on if people like it and then we’ll see what happens. It’s an ongoing conversation.
Boys Kills World hits theaters on April 26th.