10 Things You Didn’t Know About Nobody
As 2021 began, I am not sure anybody knew that Bob Odenkirk (of Better Call Saul fame) would end up being the unexpected action hero of the year thanks to his starring role in Nobody.
Nobody received rave reviews from action fans and critics alike and it would get my vote for action film of the year. So it is probably no surprise that I decided to rewatch the movie recently, but I did so with the commentary track on featuring Bob Odenkirk and Director Ilya Naishuller (of Hardcore Henry fame).
Now courtesy of the commentary track, I present to you 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Nobody…
1. The opening scene where Bob Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell is being interrogated by two police detectives was shot twice. Once with Hutch smoking a cigarette (the version that made it into the film) and one where he was not smoking.
2. The scene where the Mansell family become victims of a break in, hit close to home for Bob Odenkirk. Odenkirk actually had two break ins at his home, so he was able to pull from that real life experience and use it in the movie.
3. While there were many actors suggested for the role of Hutch Mansell’s father, David Mansell, they ultimately went with Bob Odenkirk’s suggestion of Christopher Lloyd.
4. Daniel Bernhardt, who is one of the bus goons in the movie (along with an other Bulletproof Action favorite, Alain Moussi), trained Bob Odenkirk for two years in preparation for the fight scenes that Odenkirk was determined to do himself. Odenkirk put Bernhardt over as one of the best people he has ever worked with.
5. The main villain in the movie, Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksey Serebryakov) is introduced at a night club where he gets on stage and performs the song “The Auditor“, a Russian pop song released in Russian in the early 90s. This is an ironic choice, since the man who will be Yulian’s ultimate undoing, Hutch Mansell, was an auditor during his military days.
6. The original idea for the Harry Mansell character (played by RZA) was for him to live on a distant island… but that made it difficult to explain how Harry was able to come into town and help his family on such short notice… so they opted to say Harry was living in an undisclosed location.
7. Director Ilya Naishuller’s wife, Dasha Naishuller, had a small role as Yulian Kuznetsov’s computer expert, Beta.
8. One regret Ilya Naishuller had, was not having “Jim the Neighbor” run after Hutch after Hutch steals Jim’s 1973 Dodge Challenger heading into the movie’s big action finale.
9. Ilya Naishuller played Anatoly, one of the two hitmen that are dispatched to the nursing home that David Mansell resides in. The other hitman, Valentin, was played by Russia’s biggest rock star, Sergey Shnurov.
10. The restaurant scene in Heat where Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro’s characters interact was the inspiration for how the scene at the club where Hutch Mansell delivers an ultimatum to Yulian Kuznetsov was shot.
