Meet Kirill Sokolov, the latest Russian to gatecrash Hollywood (PHOTOS)
He studied under Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov, but chose cinema rather than physics as his career. Now, he's making his Hollywood debut: Sokolov's thriller ‘They will kill you’ starring Heather Graham, Tom Felton and others will premiere worldwide on March 25, 2026.
Sokolov was born in 1989 in Leningrad. A brilliant scientific career awaited him: After graduating from the Physics and Mathematics Lyceum, he was accepted without entrance exams into the solid-state physics department at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. There, Sokolov studied under Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov, but his love of science wasn't his only passion. While working on his master's thesis in the physics and technology of nanostructures, he made videos and short movies. Afterward, Kirill worked in an optical lab, wrote articles on nanocomposite materials and, ultimately, chose cinema.
In 2013, he returned to school – this time to the Higher Courses for Screenwriters and Directors in the workshop run by Vladimir Khotinenko, Pavel Finn and Vladimir Fenchenko.
He later admitted: If he hadn't chosen cinema, he would have still chosen physics. But, he would have been a very sad physicist.
In 2018, Sokolov's feature-length debut, ‘Why don’t you just die!’ (‘Papa sdokhni’) won the main prize at the ‘Window to Europe’ festival. Behind the neutral tagline: "Meeting the Parents Won't Go Smoothly" lay a very violent black comedy about a corrupt police officer whose apartment, by coincidence, becomes the gathering place for a group of extremely unpleasant people. For an hour and a half, audiences got to witness action in the style of Park Chan-wook's ‘Oldboy’ (2004) and any one of Quentin Tarantino's beloved B-movies.
This blood-soaked family drama earned a 97% rating on RottenTomatoes.com and was included in the catalog of Hollywood company ‘Arrow Video’. "It's like ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994) meets ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ (1998)," marveled foreign audiences. "Imagine a Takashi Miike-style yakuza massacre on steroids taking place in an abattoir during its closing down sale when fully stocked." "Perhaps the world didn't know it needed a Guy Ritchie film shot in Russia." But this is it," many critics concluded.
In 2020, Kirill Sokolov's second movie, ‘No looking back’ (‘Otorvi i vybros’) was released about a mother and grandmother's struggle to protect their child. He himself said the movie was inspired by the true story of his wife, actress Victoria Korotkova. However, he immediately added a disclaimer: cinema is a place for fantasy and the idea that one should only film about what one has personally experienced is not close to him. "It's important for me not to carry a social message like a banner, but to honestly reflect on the reality around us," the director noted. The movie was released not only in Russia, but also internationally and was presented at the prestigious ‘South by Southwest’ festival in Austin, Texas.
The director's next feature was supposed to be ‘Alone in the Ocean’, the story of Soviet oceanographer Stanislav Kurilov, who escaped from a tourist ship and swam for three days to the coast of the Philippines. The lead role was to be played by Danila Kozlovsky, one of the most sought-after and popular Russian actors today. However, the project's fate remains unknown.
Sokolov admits: he grew up on old cinema, citing Sam Raimi's ‘Evil Dead II’ (1987) and Sergio Leone's ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’ (1966) among the movies that had a major influence on him. He writes his own scripts ("It's a lot of tedious work!") and when searching for visual solutions for his movies, he always turns to the experience of other directors. He loves the process of filmmaking more than the final product. "I want to make different kinds of movies, of course," he said in an interview. "But, I'll probably always be characterized by irony and a mindset of reference."
Sokolov doesn't share details of his personal life: On social media, he mainly posts photos from production sets. A few years ago, his feed often featured travel pictures and he even occasionally posted a Jack Russell Terrier. He cites Victoria Korotkova, his wife, as a major source of inspiration. They met in 2013: Kirill saw her in a performance at the ‘Big Puppet Theater’ in St. Petersburg, found her phone number and invited her to star in his short movie as a girl named Mikhail. Two years later, they married. Korotkova has since cameoed in almost all of his movies.
In 2024, Kirill Sokolov's first Hollywood movie, ‘They Will Kill You’, was announced. He co-wrote the screenplay with Alex Litvak, who also wrote the synopsis for ‘Predators’ (2010) starring Adrien Brody and ‘The Three Musketeers’ (2011) starring Milla Jovovich as Milady and Christoph Waltz as Richelieu.
Audiences are promised "unique and captivating horror". The plot follows the protagonist as she takes a maid’s job in a New York skyscraper and discovers that its residents are devil worshipers who perform human sacrifices. Naturally, she won't give up easily and decides to confront them. Judging by the first trailer, ‘They Will Kill You’ is shot with the Russian director's signature drive and is visually reminiscent of ‘American Horror Story’ and ‘The Squid Game’. The movie stars Patricia Arquette, Heather Graham, Tom Felton and Zazie Beetz among others and is set to be released worldwide on March 25, 2026.
