What You Wish For Interview w Director Nicholas Tomnay, and today, I was lucky enough to be able to catch him for a quick interview about this amazing movie.
So, yeah, a couple months ago the THiNC. discord brought me this amazing movie to watch. And What You Wish For was all I could have expected in an compelling Indie mind job film. If you are unfamiliar, the movie follows two friends, one who is just living the most amazing life traveling around the world and feeding rich folks. And his friend? Well, he’s incredibly jealous of this man’s “nother,” who is super jelly of this “amazing” life his friend has. But… be careful what you wish for! Do us all an enormous favor, and go watch it. Don’t read any more – just take my word for it… trust me though when I say, watch or not, go into this one blind. Even the trailer hints a lot. Better to have zero clue going in. I think it’s available over on Prime and Apple TV for rent – go forthwith and commence entertainment.
Regardless, I had a great chat with marvelous film creator, screenplay author, director, multi hyphenate… Make sure you support him by buying/renting, viewing his films regularly.
Onward to the Interview:
THiNC: “What inspired you to create the story of “What You Wish For”? Was there a particular moment or idea that sparked the concept? I know that with the film The Perfect Host – which was awesome as well by the way – you kicked that film off with a short film.
Nicholas Tomnay: “The idea for ‘What You Wish For’ began with the notion of a character who has an opportunity to leave his own life/identity, and take on someone else’s, and then regrets it. I felt this was a compelling premise for a feature film, and spent a few years trying to figure out the best story to communicate this idea. It also occurred to me that this idea would really lend itself well to a noir movie, which is a genre I have always loved.”
THiNC: “I really enjoyed the overarching theme of envy that carried throughout the film, and the dangerous side effects that are possible when we don’t appreciate our own reality. What was the larger message you were hoping the audience would take with them?
Nicholas Tomnay: “I think envy is unavoidable. It’s always been part of human interaction, but recently with the ubiquitousness of social media I believe it’s become supercharged. We watch other peoples highlight reels and react as if it’s reality, when in fact it’s a type of performance, and so this idea seemed very contemporary to me.”
THiNC: “It wasn’t lost on me that Bryan… a decently well-off individual, who was running from a bookie because of $50k debt – though in a pickle – is probably doing exceptionally better off (purely from a myopic materialistic standpoint) than Juan is probably doing. Was the 3rd world context intentional? It does seem like this team is intentionally preying on people solely because they believe they can, and are better off than… deserving even.”
Nicholas Tomnay: “Yes. Colonialism was on my mind when writing the screenplay.”
THiNC: “There is a pretty great justification of the mortality rate of their enterprise compared to tourism, construction, and other risk-filled money making opportunities. That dialog is inspired solely by just how evil it is… where did that come from? Were you just embodying Imogene when the dialog came to you?”
Nicholas Tomnay: “My point of view is that Imogene recognizes the conflict in Ryan’s conscience, and because she is, in her heart, a compassionate person ( I actually think this), decides to frame what they are doing in the same way she alleviates her own conscience. Namely, when you break it down – they are doing good, or at minimum, less bad than other corporations.”
THiNC: “I have to know about that fantastic location where the film was shot… I think I saw that maybe it was filmed in Colombia? How did you find the house? The location? Etc? Either you have a good friend, or that was the largest single budget item!”
Nicholas Tomnay: “The location of where the film is set is never stated. I like the idea that the story unfolds ‘somewhere in Latin America,’ which I believe increases the morality tale aspect. We shot the film in a small town three hours south of Bogota, and yes, the main location was made available to us through a connection one of the other producers had, and we got it for a good rate.”
THiNC: “The film takes a ton of pleasure feeding human flesh to unsuspecting victims… like for example, Juan’s uncle! What has the reception of this sort of schadenfreude been to audiences as more and more people are experiencing the film?”
Nicholas Tomnay: “Lots of uncomfortable and gleeful laughs in the cinema.”
THiNC: “What can we expect from you in the future? Are there any upcoming projects or ideas you’re particularly excited about exploring next? Let me know if I can pitch you my idea for What You Wish For 2 – “‘Jack’, running for his life, starts working as a ‘mortician assistant’ where it turns out that the dead clients aren’t actually dead.” I know… right? Brilliant. We should have our agents get in touch. hahaha.”
Nicholas Tomnay: “Good idea. I have a few things I’m trying to get going. It’s been 13 years between The Perfect Host and this one, hopefully the next one won’t be as long.”
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Thanks for taking a moment out to chat with THiNC, Mr. Tomnay – and we are definitely all in on whatever it is that that fantastic brain of yours concocts for another round of insanity.
Edited by: CY