July 23, 2013 - 15:44 AMT
Timur Bekmambetov’s company starts shooting “Hardcore” action thriller

Kazakh director- producer Timur Bekmambetov’s company Bazelevs has begun shooting Sci-Fi action thriller Hardcore starring Sharlto Copley -- advertised as “the world’s first POV action movie,” The Hollywood Reporter said.

“We are the first people in the world who are shooting a POV action adventure film,” first time director Nikita Naishuller, told The Hollywood Reporter. “No one has ever done anything like that.”

“We have a very interesting mix,” he added. “We have wild action, we have lots of stunts that haven’t been done before, and we have a strong story.”

Naishuller got the directing job on the strength of a music video he directed for his indie rock band Biting Elbows. The video for "Bad Motherf**ker," released last March, became a huge hit, generating over 23 million views in four weeks. The video’s look and style is to be used in the movie, which is being shot with a GoPro camera.

The story is centered on a cyborg created at a secret Moscow laboratory who is trying to find a girl he was in love with in his previous life.

“In line with the title, this will be a very hardcore film, R-rated,” Naishuller said. “It’s going to be an absolutely male film.”

“I saw [Naishuller’s video], and it was amazing, it was a very different approach to action,” Copley told THR. “He’s almost reinventing the action genre for the new generation.” “We work on a very small budget but it gives us a level of freedom to try things and to experiment,” he added.

The release is tentatively scheduled for 2014.