Windfall Director Charlie McDowell on Making a Film Without a Traditional Protagonist
20With Windfall now streaming on Netflix, I recently spoke with director Charlie McDowell about making the Hitchcockian thriller. Written by McDowell's frequent collaborator Justin Lader as well as Seven scribe Andrew Kevin Walker, the film is about a wealthy couple (Lily Collins and Jesse Plemons) who arrive at their vacation home only to find it's being robbed by Jason Segel.
Unlike many films that explain every character’s motivation and feature people making decisions dictated by studio notes and test screening audiences, Windfall takes the opposite approach. In the film, Segel is known as Nobody, while Plemons is simply called CEO, and Collins is credited as Wife. And while you’ll learn a lot about each character, not everything is explained, and it’s refreshing. McDowell and his screenwriting team let the viewer decide why certain things are happening and between that and the three great performances by Segel, Collins, and Plemons, Windfall is worth your time.
During the interview, McDowell talked about making Windfall, why he thanked James Gray and David Benioff in the ending credits, if he made any big changed to the film in the editing room, why he used a clip from Three Amigos! and what he would have done if he couldn’t get the rights, why he never wanted to spoon feed the audience information or make them feel certain way about a character, if he came up with a backstory for Jason Segel’s character, and what he would make if he could get the financing for any film.
Watch what Charlie McDowell had to say in the player above, and below is exactly what we talked about.
Charlie McDowell
If he could get the financing to make anything he wants, what would he make and why?
Why he thanked James Gray and David Benioff in the ending credits?
How he sent the film to James Gray and David Benioff for feedback.
Did he make any big changes as a result of feedback from friends and family?
Why they used a clip from Three Amigos! in the film and what was he going to do if he couldn’t get the rights to the clip?
Did he come up with a backstory for Jason Segel’s character?
Why he never wanted to spoon feed the audience information or make them feel certain way about a character.
#Windfall #CharlieMcDowell #LilyCollins
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