Filming of 'World's First POV Sci-Fi Adventure Movie' Begins in Russia

South African actor Sharlto Copley stars in "Hardcore" for filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov’s company Bazelevs.

MOSCOW -- 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.”

“We are the first people in the world who are shooting a POV action adventure film,” first-time director Ilya 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.”

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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---er," released last March, became a huge hit, generating more than 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.