Timur Bekmambetov | |
|---|---|
Тимур Бекмамбетов | |
 Bekmambetov in 2012 | |
| Born | Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov (1961-06-25)25 June 1961 (age 64) Guryev, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union |
| Alma mater | Alexander Ostrovsky Theatrical and Artistic Institute |
| Occupations | |
Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov[a] (born 25 June 1961) is a Kazakh-Russian filmmaker and tech entrepreneur.[1] He is best known for the fantasy epicNight Watch (2004), the action thrillerWanted (2008), and the historical horror filmAbraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), as well as for thescreenlife filmsUnfriended (2015),Searching (2018),Profile (2018), andWar of the Worlds (2025).
Bekmambetov was born on 25 June 1961 in the city ofAtyrau, Kazakhstan (then part of the Soviet Union), formerly known as Guriev.[2]
After graduation from school, Bekmambetov entered theMoscow Power Engineering Institute in 1979 and left it in 1980, on the eve of the1980 Summer Olympics. He was deported from Moscow on the grounds of being "unreliable" and moved toTashkent,Uzbek SSR, to study at theAlexander Ostrovsky Theatrical and Artistic Institute, from which he graduated in 1987 with a degree in theater and cinema set design.
Bekmambetov started his career in the late 1980s as a production designer at theIlkhom Theatre inTashkent,Uzbekistan, and at Uzbek national film studioUzbekfilm.[3]
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bekmambetov moved from Uzbekistan to Moscow, where he started making commercials for the Russian market. His commercial seriesWorld History, retelling life episodes of the world's prominent rulers (fromNero andTamerlan toNapoleon and thelast Russian emperor Nicholas), is still considered the best video advertising in Russia.[4] In 1994, he foundedBazelevs, an advertising and film production company, in Russia. Its advertising division continues making commercials for major Russian and international brands; in 2021, its commercial featuring Apple's new iPhone in theHermitage Museum interiors was nominated for theCannes Lions festival.
Bekmambetov's directorial debut wasPeshavar Waltz (1994)[5] depicting the war fought by theUSSR in Afghanistan. The film was dubbed in English asEscape from Afghanistan and releaseddirect-to-video byRoger Corman in 2002. In 1998, Corman invited Bekmambetov to direct his production ofThe Arena (2001) starringKaren McDougal andLisa Dergan. The film was aremake of the 1974 gladiator exploitation filmThe Arena.
In 2004, Bekmambetov wrote and directedNight Watch (2004), a Russian fantasy film based on thebook bySergey Lukyanenko. The film was the first Russian production which, after the demise of the Soviet Union, managed to top the domestic box office, making$16.7 million in Russia alone, thus overtakingThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The sequel toNight Watch,Day Watch (2006), was likewise written and directed by Bekmambetov and set a new record for the Russian domestic box office, having grossed more than $26 million in the first two weeks.[6] The Russian blockbuster epic attracted the attention ofFox Searchlight Pictures, which paid $4 million to acquire the worldwide distribution rights (excluding Russia and theBaltic states).[7][8] In 2010,Night Watch was named among the 100 Best Films of World Cinema byEmpire.[9] The film also received positive reactions from American directorsQuentin Tarantino andJames Gunn.[10]
Bekmambetov's Hollywood directorial debut was Universal's action thrillerWanted (2008), an adaptation of the graphic novel series created byMark Millar andJ. G. Jones.[11] Starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman, the action film grossed $341 million worldwide, and became Universal's highest grossing R-rated film, as well as earning two Oscar nominations.[12]
In 2009, alongsideTim Burton andJim Lemley, Bekmambetov produced an animated film titled9 (2009), the story of a rag doll in a post-apocalyptic world, directed byShane Acker.
In 2011, Bekmambetov produced the science fiction thrillerApollo 18,[13] together with The Weinstein Company, and the science fiction filmThe Darkest Hour[14] set in Moscow and produced byNew Regency.
In 2012, Bekmambetov directed and produced thelive-action adaptation ofSeth Grahame-Smith's novel –Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter,[15] together withTim Burton andJim Lemley. He was awarded the 2012 International Filmmaker of the Year award by theNational Association of Theatre Owners.[10]
In 2013,Variety (Russian Edition) named Bekmambetov one of the most commercially successful Russian directors of the decade.[16]
In 2016, Bekmambetov directedBen-Hur, the fifth film adaptation of the novelBen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ byLew Wallace.[17] At the same time, he produced the action filmHardcore Henry, directed by Ilya Naishuller, using the perspective of a first-person shooter.
In 2017, Bekmambetov produced the historical dramaThe Current War starringBenedict Cumberbatch,Tom Holland,Nicholas Hoult andMichael Shannon. The film was inspired by the 19th-centurywar of currents betweenThomas Edison andGeorge Westinghouse.
In 2021, Bekmambetov directed the WW2 action filmV2. Escape from Hell, with its aircraft battle scenes using the War Thunder game engine. The film was released in Russia both theatrically as a feature and on a streaming platform as a smartphone-only vertical series.
In 2021,Deadline announced that Bekmambetov would be bringing to the screen a new universe based on the unexploited works in the horror genre by theMarvel Сomics creatorStan Lee.
In December 2022, Bekmambetov sold the Bazelevs film studio in Russia to its general producer, Lala Rustamova, and commercial director, Timur Asadov.[18] Bekmambetov has completely retired from the Russian business, but the studio will continue to cooperate with him as a filmmaker and screenwriter.
In 2024, he signed to Artist International Group.[19]
Bekmambetov is the pioneer of thescreenlife filmmaking movement, thus responding to people's life migrating to the digital world of mobile gadgets. In a screenlife film, viewers see the action play out from the POV of the computers, tablets or smartphones used by the characters.
In 2015, Bekmambetov's debut screenlife production, the teen horrorUnfriended, was picked up byUniversal, grossing $65 million worldwide with a budget of $1 million; three years later, a sequel,Unfriended: Dark Web, appeared.[20]
Bekmambetov followed that up with the 2018 thriller led byJohn Cho,Searching, grossing more than $75 million worldwide.[21][22]
In 2019, he produced the ten-episode seriesDead of Night forSnapchat, with the story revolving around a viral outbreak that turns people into zombies. It scored over 16 million viewers in the first releasing month, and got extended for the second season.[23]
In 2020, Universal and Bekmambetov signed a deal to partner on five Hollywood features to be made in the screenlife format in various genres.
In 2021, Focus Features releasedProfile, Bekmambetov's first directorial feature in the screenlife format, where a reporter goes online to catch a Jihadi recruiter to get a story on why and how European women join ISIS. Inspired by the 2015 nonfiction bestsellerIn the Skin of a Jihadist by a French journalist Anna Erelle,Profile won the 2018 Audience Award byBerlin Film Festival.[24]
Bekmambetov's recent screenlife production,R#J, a Gen Z adaptation of Shakespeare'sRomeo and Juliet, premiered at Sundance 2021 and won a special prize atSXSW.[25]
The invention of the screenlife filmmaking technique brought Bekmambetov's Bazelevs a spot amongFast Company's 2021 World's Most Innovative Companies.
Bekmambetov owns the formerWalt Disney mansion in Los Angeles.[26][27]
Bekmambetov is married to Russianurbanist Natalia Fishman-Bekmambetova, who worked on the restoration ofGorky Park in Moscow and the renovation of the city ofKazan.[28]
In a 2007 editorial aboutDay Watch inThe Guardian, Bekmambetov compared presidentVladimir Putin to the film's "light ones", saying "[Light and dark] doesn't mean good and bad. Dark means freedom and light means responsibility — and, in real life, Putin, for sure, is a light one. He is trying to fix everything, make everything organised somehow. But it's very bad for freedom."[29]
In 2022, Bekmambetov condemnedRussia's invasion of Ukraine, and called the boycott of Russian films in the West "emotional, sincere and reasonable".[30]
| Year | Title | Credited as | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | ||
| 1994 | Peshavar Waltz | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2001 | The Arena | Yes | No | No |
| 2004 | Night Watch | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2006 | Day Watch | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2007 | The Irony of Fate 2 | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2008 | Wanted | Yes | No | No |
| 2010 | Yolki | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2011 | Yolki 2 | No | Yes | Yes |
| 2012 | Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2014 | Yolki 1914 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Squirrels | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 2016 | Yolki 5 | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ben-Hur | Yes | No | No | |
| 2018 | Profile | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2021 | V2. Escape from Hell | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2026 | Mercy | Yes | Yes | No |
Producer only
