Elijah Wood has been on my interview list for a while. While some people may be wondering where Elijah has been hiding recently, those people are silly, sheltered cinema fans who haven’t been enjoying his recent genre turns in films like Maniac, Grand Piano, Cooties, and his most recent film, Nacho Vigalondo’s Open Windows. Elijah wasn’t the only one though, as Vigalondo has been on my list as well with movies like Timecrimes, Extraterrestrial, and The ABCs Of Death to boast. This year’s South by Southwest festival was just an ongoing geekout for the horror movie lover slowly consuming my soul, and this interview continued my obvious nerding.
Open Windows tells the story of Nick Chambers (Wood), the runner of a fan website dedicated to actress Jill Goddard (Sasha Grey). After winning a contest to have dinner with Jill, Nick finds out via a mysterious webcam caller that his date has canceled and he’s flown down South for no reason. Sympathizing with Nick, the voice gives him an opportunity to have a little fun, receiving unprecedented access to Goddard by hacking her phone and other electronics. Getting lost in a web of deception, Nick may have bit off more than he can chew in trusting a random voice behind a computer screen.
In a bit of technology driven horror, Vigalondo frames the entire film while watching Nick’s computer screen. A risky move no doubt, Nacho gave me plenty of material for our interview based simply on a cinematography standpoint, and Elijah’s character choice gave me plenty of questions to shoot his way. Whether we were talking about the starlet culture celebrity actresses now face, the disgusting realization of people hiding behind computer screens on the internet, or which classic movies either talent would love to remake (re-imagine), I had an absolute blast filming this interview. Hope it makes an equally entertaining watch!
Check it out in the video above and stay tuned as we’ll update you as soon as Open Windows receives a release date!