It's hard not to look at Bob Odenkirk's new action film Nobody and see traces of the John Wick formula, but director Ilya Naishuller merely views this as a form of flattery.

Naishuller told Inverse about Nobody's approach to action and Odenkirk's commitment to the film's extensive fight choreography, "I was told a long time back by a smart and successful artist that if you're compared to something people love, you shut up and take it as a compliment." In addition to its story featuring parallels with the first John Wick movie, Nobody was also written by Wick creator Derek Koslad and co-produced by David Leitch, who previously worked on John Wick before directing films like Atomic Blonde and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbes and Shaw.

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"Without John Wick there would be no Nobody. Without [John Wick creators] David [Leitch] and Chad [Stahelski] and Keanu and a hundred other people, we wouldn't be able to make this movie at the studio level," Naishuller admitted. "We are standing on the shoulders of a giant franchise"

However, Naishuller also pointed out that Hutch Mansell, the protagonist of Nobody, is not like John Wick, despite the two characters being seemingly ordinary individuals with violent, blood-soaked pasts."The difference is Bob's character doesn't need to go back, he wants to," he continued. "He's addicted to violence, to an exciting life. Nobody is a different beast. I know Bob is a different actor from Keanu. Nobody is a deeper film. There's more happening below the surface."

Currently rated fresh on Rotten TomatoesNobody stars Odenkirk as Hutch, a mild-mannered husband, father of two and a metal factory worker whose wife Becca and two kids think very little of him overall. After his house is robbed and Hutch gets chastised for not doing more to stop the burglars, he attempts to seek them out personally, only to end up in a fight with a group of drunk Russians on a bus, one of whom happens to be the brother of high-ranking drug lord Yulian Kuznetsov. When Kuznetsov sends men to kill Hutch in retaliation, the drug lord soon learns that Hutch has his own dangerous past as a government "auditor," and now relishes the chance to fight back.

Starring Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Alexey Serebryakov, Christopher Lloyd and RZA, Nobody is currently in theaters nationwide.

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Source: Inverse