Netflix has acquired Charlie McDowell's Hitchcockian thriller Windfall starring Jason Segel, Lily Collins and Jesse Plemons. Segel and Plemons starred in McDowell's last Netflix film, The Discovery, while Collins is slated to star in the director's upcoming crime drama Gilded Rage.
Windfall is described as a modern-day noir that follows a young couple who arrive at their vacation home only to find it's being robbed. The script hails from McDowell's frequent collaborator Justin Lader as well as Seven scribe Andrew Kevin Walker, whose presence alone bodes well for this project. Deadline broke the news, reporting that McDowell and Segel helped develop the story with the writers.
McDowell and his three stars produced Windfall alongside Alex Orlovsky, Duncan Montgomery and Jack Selby, while David Duque Estrada and Elika Portnoy executive produced for Mutressa Movies along with Rick Covert.
The timing of this announcement is funny to me, as just last night I was watching Nine Days with a friend and he said it reminded him of a recent Robert Redford sci-fi movie, and I had no idea what he was talking about. He'd stumped the former Schmoedown champ! It took a moment to realize he was talking about The Discovery, which I never bothered to see because it drew underwhelming reviews, even though I liked McDowell's first film, The One I Love, which starred Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss. I'm a big believer in making up my own mind, so I plan to rectify that oversight soon. For now, all I can say is that a Hitchcockian thriller featuring Segel and Plemons sounds right up my alley, especially coming in part from the guy who wrote the stone-cold classic Seven.
Segel is coming off of AMC anthology series Dispatches From Elsewhere, which I just could not get into, though I thought his performance as David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour deserved an Oscar nomination. Collins stars in Netflix's, um, Golden Globe-nominated series Emily in Paris, while Plemons will soon be seen antagonizing Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in Disney’s Jungle Cruise. He's also filming the lead in Martin Scorsese's big-budget Apple movie Killers of the Flower Moon, taking over a role once intended for Leonardo DiCaprio, who moved over to a flashier supporting role.