Fantastic Fest 2023: Filmmaker Nick Tomnay Discusses What You Wish For, Finding the Tone of the Film, Building Suspense Through Silence, and More

Award-winning filmmaker Nick Tomnay has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting voices of his generation. His debut feature film, The Perfect Host, became a standout on the festival circuit, winning several awards, and was praised by critics and audiences alike.

This summer, he made his return to Fantastic Fest with What You Wish For, a twisted thriller that has had audiences on the edge of their seats. The noir-inspired morality tale follows Ryan (Nick Stahl), a down-on-his-luck chef who gets more than he bargained for when he steps into the life of an old culinary school pal, a private chef for the über-rich.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Nick about the delectable film, finding the tone of the film, building suspense through silence, and more.

PC: What You Wish For is such a transformative viewing experience where audiences are immediately placed into Nick’s shoes and his perspective. How early on did you know that you wanted to tell this narrative through that lens? What inspired the script?
Nick: I immediately wanted to tell this film subjectively. I knew it would be the most enjoyable if it was told this way because you’re essentially hitching a ride with him. As he finds things out, you find them out. That’s hopefully what makes the movie entertaining.

The film was inspired by Roald Dahl, Patricia Highsmith, and Donald Trump. [laughs] I wrote this at the end of 2018 into early 2019. It was my response to what was happening in America at the time. It’s a wicked tale. That is how I’ve described it to my collaborators. We’re making a wicked tale. Hopefully, it’s a good story that unfolds as you watch it.

PC: It is. Everyone in the cast does such a fantastic job bringing these flawed characters to life. As you were putting the script together, did you have these particular actors in mind? What was the casting process like?
Nick: I didn’t. I wrote this script as characters on the page and with no actors in mind for them. The first character that we tried to cast was Ryan. That took a second. I actually had been watching some of Nick Stahl’s recent work and I was immediately struck. I was like, “Yes, that’s him.” He’s a great noir, flawed hero. He’s someone who can play empathetic but isn’t afraid to go into the dark stuff. He was terrific.

The rest of the process was actually open-casting through our agents and people sending in tapes. We filmed this during COVID, so it was a tenuous time to be making a film. I was seeing all these tapes and it was about wading through them and creating a shortlist. Someone like Tamsin [Topolski], who plays Imogen, was frightening and amazing during the casting process. I was like, “Oh my God.” I completely believed her as Imogen. So I was very excited to work with her, Juan [Carlos Messier], and all of them.

It’s funny. We actually had an actor ready to go to play Detective Ruiz. Then we had some difficulty getting him over to where we were shooting, so we had to recast. We widened our casting. Detective Ruiz is a character who is thinking one thing but showing us something else. That’s how he was written in the script. A lot of actors were not doing that, but Randy Vasquez, who ends up playing the character, was absolutely doing that. That was a great moment because I hoped that’s how the character would be played. Seeing him play that in the audition was validation. He was so good. That was exciting. You’re casting these roles and then suddenly there they are.

PC: Time and trust are such key components in filmmaking, especially when you’re working on an independent feature and filming during COVID. How were you able to build that trust with your cast, especially Nick, whose character’s life goes from bad to worse over the course of the film?
Nick: Nick was shooting a film in Eastern Europe before he came to shoot with us. With COVID being a big deal, it was very difficult to get people who wanted to shoot a movie in Colombia. We don’t state where the film takes place. It’s sort of ambiguous where it’s happening, but we actually shot in Colombia.

We all remember what it was like during COVID. To convince anybody to get on a plane and come to another country with people they don’t know was tricky. But to Nick’s credit, he was up for it. He was shooting in Romania and flew to us when he wrapped.

We had maybe three or four days before he started shooting. I had a coffee with him and we talked about the script a little bit. Nick’s not someone who actually wants to talk a great deal about stuff. He just wants to get on with it. So we developed that trust moment to moment while we were making the film. Hopefully, the notes that I was giving him weren’t stupid and he was like, “He knows what he’s doing.” But by the end of the movie, we were pretty tight.

PC: Something that you’ve done so brilliantly with this film is you’ve created space through silence to build that tension and allow audiences to feel the struggles that Nick’s character is grappling with. As a filmmaker, what is the process of finding those moments and walking that delicate line of when to incorporate that technique?
Nick: That’s a really good question. It’s really interesting. I’ve noticed in some movies that they’ll play wall-to-wall music. The music is there to underscore what we should feel. I find that sometimes that dilutes the suspense if that’s what they’re trying to achieve. Music can do that and sometimes we need it to do that, but sometimes it can comment on a scene or sometimes it can be counter to a scene. Silence is not knowing how to feel. Not anticipating the next moment can actually be the most suspenseful and interesting way to tell a story.

There’s a moment in the film, within the first twenty minutes, where traditionally you’d have a lot of music. We went for absolute silence because that’s the reality of what the character is experiencing at that moment. He’s not hearing music. He’s confronted by silence. I thought that may be an interesting way to do it.

PC: Filmmakers often say that there are three films that are created during the process: the film that’s written, the one that’s shot, and the one that’s edited. It’s really in that final stage where things start to take form. As you headed into the editing process, were there new discoveries that you made that were less prevalent than when you were writing and directing?
Nick: It was discovering the tone and what the film wasn’t and what it wanted to be.

One of the most interesting things is that on some level, the film tells you what it wants to be. You can have these ideas that you try and pose on it, but it sometimes can hinder what the film is. The film takes on its own life on some level and you have to serve that. So I knew with this film that any time it was overly sincere, it wasn’t working. I had to get rid of it. Any time things got emotional in an earnest way, it had to go. [laughs] I wasn’t looking to cut that stuff, but there wasn’t a whole bunch of that in there anyway. That stuff just had to go, except for a moment at the end when Imogen and Ryan were having a conversation. It had a lot of dialog. What I discovered was that it played so much better if I got rid of all the dialog completely and it’s just looks. It’s one of the only moments that’s earnestly sincere.

Maybe that’s what it was. I had to pick my moments of sincerity, so that moment would play stronger. It’s actually my favorite moment in the film because I know what it was and what I took out and what it is now. It says so much because you’ve seen this whole movie and you get to this one scene at the end and it’s all done through looks. Hopefully, it says a lot about the characters without them having to use a whole bunch of words.

PC: The film has made its way around the festival circuit and it’s been incredibly well received. What do you think resonates most with audiences? What do you hope they take away?
Nick: I just want them to be entertained by a good story. That’s what I always look for in a movie. The film has some things to say about greed and where we are right now in the world, but hopefully, it’s not shoving it down your throat. Hopefully, it’s the combination of an entertaining film with some ideas to it. Hopefully, it’ll transport you.

PC: It definitely is. I will never look at sashimi the same way. Outside of this project, what’s next for you? Is there a story that’s left on your bucket list to tell?
Nick: I’ve got a stack of scripts that I’ve been writing over the years. There are a few of them that I’d love to get going. Hopefully, I’ll get that opportunity after this film.