Nacho Vigalondo’s films usually premiere at Fantastic Fest. After festival hits Timecrimes and Extraterrestrial, his latest premiered at South by Southwest. Stars Elijah Wood and Sasha Grey joined Vigalondo on the streets of Austin before and after the premiere of Open Windows. Wood stars as Nick Chambers, a fan of actress Jill Goddard (Grey).
Nick thinks he’s won a date with Jill, but while watching a Q&A with her online, the voice of Chord (Neil Maskell) tells him the date has been cancelled by Jill. As Chord hacks into the video feed from Jill’s phone, we see the events of the night unfold on Nick’s computer screen, with different windows tracking him, Jill and other characters live.
The next day I had a chance to discuss Open Windows with the writer/director and stars of the film. Mild spoilers about the technical feats follow, along with a poignant discussion about how we treat people online.
CraveOnline: Elijah, do you see Open Windows as an unofficial trilogy with Grand Piano and Maniac?
Elijah Wood: [Laughs] No, not at all, but there is a weird kinship with Grand Piano because it’s two characters stuck in a situation that they can’t get out of, being spoken to by somebody that they can’t see which is odd.
And Maniac is locked in a first person perspective, so I thought they were similar technical and artistic challenges.
Sasha Grey: You see him a lot less in Maniac though.
Elijah Wood: That’s true. Very true.
Sasha, I saw Would You Rather also. Have horror movies been more open to you than other types of movies in Hollywood?
Sasha Grey: Of course, but I actually say no to a lot of horror movies because [it’s] the damsel in distress. I’ve been offered so many things where I’m just running through the forest naked and the dress falls off, like a Romero film, which is great but only if you’re Romero. So yes, but I’m very careful about what I pick and choose.
With Would You Rather it was cool because I got to play this hardass character who was really soft inside. With Open Windows, in the beginning I’m this sort of hopeless diva but in the end I finally take control for myself. I finally decide what’s right for me for the first time in my life, or Jill does in this case. I like to be picky when it comes to what I say yes to.
I’m surprised that it’s a damsel in distress. Wouldn’t they want you to be the badass final girl?
Sasha Grey: [Laughs] It’s a very topical film in this way, that Jill is a diva. She’s the actress that we all love to hate and that we follow in gossip magazines every day so that’s very relevant to the film and to the story. Like Nacho and I discussed throughout making the film, it was really important that the film didn’t end in a cliché way. It didn’t end with a romance, like this tragic experience and now we’ve come together. It’s so cliche and it’s really cool that it didn’t end like that.
Nacho Vigalondo: Now, the female we love to hate is Miley Cyrus. Now everyone hates and has a crush on Miley Cyrus. When we stop thinking about this girl all the time, we choose a new one, it’s always a female celebrity in the middle of this. There’s always one girl. That makes me think about why there always has to be one, why it’s always a female, why it has to be young.
What was the longest take in the movie?
Nacho Vigalondo: Wow, that’s interesting. I know the answer. The long take at the end. The point of view of Chord in the climax. It’s not a real long take, but there are really few cuts.
We can talk about the Q&A scene in the beginning because it’s not a spoiler of anything. Would you have to shoot the entire Q&A for the playback even when it’s going to be pushed aside on the screen and we’re not seeing or hearing it?
Sasha Grey: Yes.
Elijah Wood: Yes, in answer to your question. There’s apparently about eight hours of footage that exist in the film.
Nacho Vigalondo: I don’t know if there are seven or eight but definitely around seven or eight hours of actual footage in the movie simultaneously.
What sorts of things would ruin a take?
Elijah Wood: Just technical things really.
Nacho Vigalondo: I love that this is so technical. You know what, the things that ruin every take are the normal things in every movie. In all movies, for example, when the direction of the eyes are wrong, you have to cut. It’s the same with this, but on a different level of complexity. At the end of the day, the things that ruin every take were the same. Instead of watching the eyes of the other character which should be in front of you, you have to look directly into that specific point of space where you know there’s a camera showing you from a different perspective. I don’t want to go too technical, but at the end of the day, the problems were the average problem in every movie.
Because it’s so technical, was it important to all of you that there be more to the story than the technical exercise?
Elijah Wood: Oh, of course. The technical exercise is the frame for the story. It’s the device for which the story is told, but ultimately if there’s no story at the heart of that then we don’t have a movie. The story itself was extremely important.
Nacho Vigalondo: One of the challenges of this movie is that it has a lot of script. It’s just a big density of events throughout the movie. There’s a lot of things happening all the time. If you go to the bathroom and you come back, you’re going to lose too much. So it’s complicated to tell a complicated story in this complicated way.
For example, in the other found footage movies, the technical aspect tends to be complex but the story tends to be thin, as a way to compensate the complexity of the point of view. But in this case, man, I don’t know. I don’t know if that is a fortunate thing but in this case everything is sort of packed, a lot of things happening all the time.
Do you describe Open Windows as found footage?
Nacho Vigalondo: No, I don’t think so. It looks like it, but I think found footage movies are a key element of the genre is that you’re watching something that has happened and has been recorded. When you see Cloverfield or Blair Witch Project, you’re watching a movie that is seen from a distance because this is something that happened in the past and you find it. But in the case of Open Windows, no one is recording the whole thing.
Elijah Wood: We’re just watching something play itself out in real time.
Elijah, was playing a fan of an actress like Jill Goddard an interesting way to look at the other side of your relationship with an audience?
Elijah Wood: That’s interesting. Yeah, I suppose. It’s certainly an element of the film. I think what’s interesting about it too, as a viewer, I’ve seen the movie twice now. Last night was the first time I’d seen the whole thing. I think what’s interesting is that idea, we all follow people online, people that we don’t know, but it’s the actions that we take sometimes online that we don’t think are wrong or illegal, but because there’s that distance we allow ourselves the license to do these things. I find that interesting.
I think the movie deals with that in a very interesting way and I think a lot of these people who do follow or are fans of other people, there’s a sense of entitlement. There’s a sort of moral ambiguity about what they’ll allow themselves to do and I think that’s interesting. The movie kind of deals with that. There’s no internet ethics, at all.
I think we can all be an example to not be judgmental, to take it upon ourselves to build people up instead of tearing them down.
Elijah Wood: Yeah, and I think you give people a platform wherein they can say or do anything they like in the online space, for some reason people use that as an opportunity to say horrible things and to be extremely negative. I don’t understand that. There’s no sense of responsibility.
Sasha Grey: And also, in America in particular, we’re so obsessed with the destruction and downfall of human beings. It’s really sick. It’s also the internet.
Elijah Wood: We like to see people fail.
Sasha Grey: Yeah, we do.
Elijah Wood: But I think that’s also part of human nature. It’s fucked up and we show our true colors in that space, when we can hide behind anonymity.
Nacho Vigalondo: I think there’s something that’s maybe going into the spoiler section, but I’m okay with that. I found something really important in this movie, is something I just realized. The bad guy is really aggressive from a distance but when he meets her, he tries to be the white knight. I find that all the time.
People who are really angry at some other people, people for example who are really hateful, they show this anger towards this beautiful girl who writes poems for example. When they have a chance to meet her, they try to say that that is a character, that is not the real thing. I find that all the time. People use online identities, virtual identities as a way to mask all the bad stuff they have in mind. Why not do the opposite? I don’t know. That is something that makes me think of a lot of questions.
I think you’re right, Nacho. I want people to realize how much it hurts them to be so judgmental. I think if they understood that, they would be happier being more constructive than destructive.
Nacho Vigalondo: Yeah, I don’t respect the anger because every time I had a chance to meet a troll of mine, I have a chance to meet people who hate me, and when I face them they are all the time like, “That’s a character. I’m just playing a character. That’s not the real me.” So why are you doing that? Why is it always manifested that way?
Sasha, I’ve always wanted to tell you that when I saw The Girlfriend Experience, I wanted to tell your character, “Don’t give that critic a freebie! He’s not going to give you a good review!”
Sasha Grey: [Laughs] Yeah.
I know that type.
Sasha Grey: You know that type? Had to be done. It moved the story along.
I, on the other hand, would have paid for it and given you a good review, but also asked for a receipt for my taxes.
Sasha Grey: Oh God. [Laughs] That’s funny.
Your adult fans really miss you. Does that make you sentimental?
Sasha Grey: Not really. I’m not dead. I’m still here.
But making those movies, they miss you.
Sasha Grey: Yeah, the work’s still out there. It will always be there and I’ve just moved on to new things. I’ve written my first novel. It’s an erotic novel so it’s a continuation of who I am and where my interests are, but that part of my life is done and I’m moving onto different things. Speaking of the internet, I have people say, there’s always a comment, “Go back to porn.” I say, “Well, I have. It’s called The Juliette Society. You can read it if you want.” But I don’t really consider those people real fans either. The real fans have stood by me and appreciated everything I’ve done then and everything I’m doing now.
I was on the set of The Scribbler but it wasn’t one of your days. What do you get to play in that movie?
Sasha Grey: I have a really small role in that film because the role I was offered was the role of this girl who runs around naked.
Oh, the Ashylnn Yennie part.
Sasha Grey: Yes, so I said, “I understand the role and I understand it’s an important role, but I think if I played it, it would take out the importance. Just give me this role.” And I play this Bunny character. I liked the script, I thought it was interesting and I wanted to be a part of it, so I just asked them to put me in something else.
Elijah, what do you expect from the final season of “Wilfred?”
Elijah Wood: Well, it’s the final season so it wraps up a lot of what we’ve set up. What I’ve read thus far, where it’s going, I think it’s really satisfying. It’s good. It’s nice. I think when we started the show, I had this feeling that four or five seasons would be appropriate because I don’t think that that idea, the conceit of a guy who’s losing his mind and sees a dog, or a man in a dog suit, can last very long without just beating the same drum. So I always kind of hoped that it would wrap up in four to five seasons. The fact that it’s coming to an end feels really good and it feels great that we can try and encapsulate what we’ve set up to something that’s satisfying for people, so it’s cool.
Do you think Ryan’s journey is to stop seeing Wilfred?
Elijah Wood: I think it’s more about why he’s seeing Wilfred, for himself. Although, that shouldn’t be the focus. The focus should be about living his life and being okay with himself. It shouldn’t be about why and I think we’ll get to that hopefully.
Nacho, are you still working on Supercrooks?
Nacho Vigalondo: I finished my work. My work was writing the spec script with Mark Millar and it’s done. Now I’m just waiting for things to happen because one part of the equation is what happens with Open Windows so let’s see.
Were you not intended to direct Supercrooks?
Nacho Vigalondo: Yeah, I am but now it’s time to wait for news. I’m really focused on Open Windows now and I feel like my chances to direct a movie like Supercrooks has to do with what happens with Open Windows, the kind of reaction it receives.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
