The Ukrainian Filmmaker Behind Harry Styles’ “As It Was” Video on the Invasion, the Grammys, and Growing Up in Odessa

Ukrainian filmmaker Tanu Muino had been preparing for this moment all her life. Nine years after directing her first music video, the 32-year-old Muino found herself at the top of her field, after her video for Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” became a full-blown cultural event and earned a Grammy nod for Best Music Video.

None of that seemed to matter on February 24, 2022, when Muino’s home country was invaded by Russia. On that day, Muino was in the middle of shooting her “dream project,” the music video for Harry Styles’ new single “As It Was,” at London’s Barbican Centre. “We all rolled up our sleeves and were like, ‘all right, let’s just get through this,’ you know?” says Frank Borin, the executive producer at UnderWonder Productions who signed Muino and brought her to Hollywood. “Of course, when we wrapped up, it was a very emotional next few days.”

Since the shoot, Muino has been holed up in Spain, finishing post-production for the project but also left with not many other options. “All your life is [in your country],” she says. “I only have one suitcase and no money.” The Spanish production company CANADA has generously provided Muino and her friends some much-needed assistance, letting them stay in an apartment in Barcelona.

The world-building in Muino’s videos is imaginative, precise and well-rendered, assembled from a few centuries worth of references from Fritz Lang to Hieronymus Bosch. And as much as is going on within any given shot, what truly sets Muino’s fantasias apart is the suggestion of the galaxies just outside the frame’s four walls, like a Ziegfeld Follies for the TikTok generation. Her video for Styles’s “As It Was,” which sees the pop star traipsing through the Barbican Centre, does more of the same, with Twitter calling out the references to Berthold Lubetkin’s Penguin Pool and Charles and Ray Eames.

Lil Nas X, who decided to work with Muino after seeing her “sickening” work in Cardi B’s “Up” music video, says she’s a great balance of playful fun and serious craft. “From the talk we had with each other, I knew that she was going to really bring my vision to life,” he says over email. “The experience on set was definitely kinda crazy because at first, there was a Covid scare so she couldn’t come to set. But I knew everything was going to work out—and everything 100% did, especially due to her persistence and amazing guidance to everybody else who was on set.”

“Tanu is this generation’s Mark Romanek,” says Borin, referring to the filmmaker behind seminal ‘90s music videos like Michael and Janet Jackson’s “Scream” and Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer.” “Every frame is a piece of iconic imagery.”

There was a time Muino’s Instagram feed was a succession of screencaps from her blockbuster music videos, from Normani’s “Wild Side” to Rosalia’s “Juro Que.” In the weeks since the invasion, she’s used her platform to draw attention to the realities on the ground. “To all my friends abroad,” she wrote on February 25, “Things are worse than you can imagine.” A few weeks before the 64th Annual Grammy Awards and a few weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Muino talked to GQ about growing up in Ukraine, the country’s creative community and her meteoric rise to the top of the pops.

GQ: Your story’s so interesting ‘cause you came from Ukraine’s creative community and now you have this global platform. How would you describe the Ukrainian creative industry?

I think Ukraine, in the past 10 years, has become super independent. If you want to start something, like a business, it’s very easy. In Europe, in America, it’s very hard to start, but there it’s very simple. Everybody’s supportive of you, and you can ask questions here and there. People there, not just your friends—you can be like, “Can you make this for me?” and they’ll really do it. So it’s very easy to start anything you want; they support you, and there is a kind of freedom. In Europe, in America, it’s very expensive to shoot. When I started making it in Ukraine, it was cheaper, and you could make really cool stuff with lower budgets.

That experience sounds beautiful. Where did you grow up?

I was born in Ukraine but when I was six months old, we moved to Cuba and I was there until seven years old. I think that community is also very similar. Cuba is super free; everybody will open their doors to you. If a child is crying on the street, everybody’s watching him. A kid can do anything and nobody will stop him—No “You cannot do this or that.” Just do it_, you know? So it was also very important. After Cuba, I grew up near Odessa, which is where I also went for university. It’s the best place ever.

And do you still live in Odessa now?

Yes, and that’s the goal. Everybody’s like “Go to LA.” No, no, no, no. I want to—and will—go back to Odessa.

Home is always home. Just to paint a picture for the readers, how would you describe Odessa?

It’s near the sea, so a lot of ships come and go, and it’s a mixture of different cultures. People are very funny and sarcastic—that’s my favorite. For anything, you can come and just have a joke about it. It’s a very cool vibe. You have all the seasons, you have the sea, you have great food, the people also—it’s so amazing, and it’s not expensive to live. Amazing place.

I think it’s not even about the place but about your family and friends. It’s very hard work, making music videos. To put in your big effort, to make all of the stuff and make it good? You need to go somewhere and recharge yourself, and L.A. is not the place you can recharge.

I completely get that. In Odessa do you live near family and friends?

Everyone is like five minutes away from each other.

How are your family and friends now?

It’s different. Most of my friends left, and are here with me. But men cannot leave Ukraine. From the age of 18 until 60, they can’t leave. Some of them, people that have families, they stay with the men because they don’t want to separate. My mother is also still there. My family is there because Odessa is basically still okay. They prepared their bags just in case something happens, so they can leave quickly. But the men cannot leave. Each day, you wake up and just check on everybody… It’s crazy.

You’ve been outspoken on social media about the war; in one post, you said that this is not a time to just post a Ukrainian flag and go back to your life as normal. Speaking to readers in America and also around the world, what would you like to say to them?

Of course we need to help Ukraine with all the military help, with food and all the medicine. But it’s also Russian propaganda. They post lies about what happened; they all say we are doing it to ourselves, like what the fuck?

That’s my goal, for people to see what’s really happening. People don’t understand how crazy what they are really doing is. I have a big audience in Russia, so I wanted to open their eyes to speak and to spread this news that it’s not what we’re doing, but what the Russian military is doing to our civilian people.

I was very devastated about some of the big influencers in Russia, who just didn’t post anything about it, who just kept posting how they’re drinking coffee and going to the shops. Or even some people who are spreading lies like Russia is saving Ukraine. They have a big influence, and they spread these lies.

How has the Ukrainian creative community dealt with all of this?

I have friends who are musicians and they started this cool thing where if you want to make some art, they will help you make it happen—they will give you the grant. They’re saying we need to not stop, to not be afraid, but to make things still—make the art to help, so people see something different. Not just the bad stuff.

My work has always been very emotional and fun; I was doing all that because Ukraine’s history is sad, so I want to show something that can be better and beautiful, so people will be inspired and not just focus on the bad stuff. But nowadays, I have some treatments to write and all I can think of is like, people getting killed and bombs, you know? It’s all in your head. So the ideas are coming from a dark place. I think in the next few years, a lot of artists, paintings, musicians, all of that will come out in different ways.

It must be such a weird time for you because while all this is going on, you’re also working on your dream project and you’re up for a Grammy—which is happening next month.

Yeah, but to be honest, I know the Grammys are the biggest, but my biggest goal was the MTV Video Music Award. [laughs] People are like, “You’re crazy, the Grammys are better.” But MTV was my childhood dream.

Don’t you already have a VMA?

Yes, I have Best Music Video, I’m very happy. It’s my biggest dream ever!

How has your community in Ukraine responded to your success? I imagine you’re like a hometown hero.

Yeah, I think all of my friends can’t believe it’s happening. They’re very proud and are like, “Oh, now you won’t come home and shoot for us.” But I said, “I would never leave you, guys.” We’re always together. I love my artists and I grew up with them so I still do their videos. I’ll do a big music video and then come to Ukraine and help my friends.

What was the biggest adjustment in shooting videos in Ukraine and doing it in Hollywood with Cardi B and Katy Perry and Lizzo?

I think the difference is the pressure. It’s a big artist, and as I said, in Ukraine you have freedom to do anything you want. Here, you have to deal with a lot of people and a lot of notes from different directions. It’s more collaborative and you need to listen because some of these ideas are very helpful and you need to open your mind, be open to ideas from artists, from labels, collaborators. But still, you have to protect your main idea.

When I saw “Small Talk” for Katy Perry, it felt like a Hollywood version of your Ukraine videos. But then when I look at your 2021 videos—“Rumors,” “Montero,” “Wild Side”—it almost feels like they’re on another plane. How do you explain that jump?

I think for “Small Talk,” my first video in America, I don’t think that people believed in me. I did not go super crazy with my idea. I think Katy Perry’s an amazing artist and she knows exactly what she wants so for me, it was my first time, I loved this idea but it’s like, I have a box to work within, I can go here and there.

Then I got the Cardi B video. She’s so fun, and seriously her charisma is crazy. When she’s coming into any space, you light up. When the camera is on, she really performs; she’s a professional. And all her jokes? Oh my god, she’s the best. So that was open and “do whatever you want, make it big.” There, I could go crazy with my mind as I do in Ukraine… And after this I think people started to give me more opportunities to be more wild and go crazy. They trusted what I was suggesting, and I think the farther you go, they trust you more.

I really love what you did with Normani, too. Before “Wild Side,” she didn’t really have this distinctive image as a solo artist, despite being a great performer. But this one, I feel like this is what people are going to remember her for.

It’s my favorite video I made so far, I think because it’s all the things I love. As an artist, a vocalist and a dancer, I think she’s the best girl out right now. Even dancers don’t dance like her, you know? She’s a perfectionist; she loves what she’s doing, she believes in herself, and she’s working very hard. I think she has great potential.

For Lil Nas X’s “Montero” video, you’re credited together as the directors. How did that collaboration happen?

I got this amazing brief from Lil Nas: He had a story, but just a story that he wants. My part was to visualize what and how it should happen. I submitted this treatment; they loved it, and we started to make this imagery. It was my first graphics video, so imagine how nervous I was. It was a lot of work even before we shot the video, to know how to shoot it so we can apply the effects. I was lucky to work with [visual FX studio] Mathematic— really crazy guys and amazing to collaborate with. I never thought it would be a big deal that he was going to hell in the video. The devil, the lap dance? I never thought it would be seen as so wild.

I love how you’re like “I don’t think it’ll be wild” but he was giving the devil a lap dance.

Maybe for me it’s okay but for most of the people, it’s not. I thought it was a cool idea but I wasn’t thinking it would be seen as so crazy. I was crazy about the song! The song is amazing. When I heard the song, I thought, yes I need to write this treatment, because the song is the goal.

The Grammys are coming up. Are you going?

Yeah, I think I will go. But I’m still in Spain waiting because my family is still in Ukraine, so if something happens, I need to go to the border to meet them. I think I will buy the tickets but I will be here until the date. And I hope everything will be fine so I can go there.