Lily Collins has been a talent to watch for over a decade.
She's delivered impressive performances across all genres, from reimagined fairy tale favorites
and romantic dramas to sweeping, globe-trotting coming-of-age adventures.
For her latest, Collins stars in the eerie new thriller "Windfall" as the wife of a successful
technology guru.
She joins her husband for an impromptu retreat to one of their luxurious, isolated properties
-- but everything is upended when they find a stranger in their place.
In the role, Collins delivers a thoughtful and thought-provoking performance that will
keep you guessing right until the very end of the story.
"And there's a lot of moments in this where we kind of stop it before it can get to something
that you think it's gonna be, because it grounds it and brings it back."
Collins' turn throughout the whole film is enigmatic and complex, but all of this leads
to one particular scene that shows off just how much nuance the actress brings to her
role in "Windfall."
It starts when her husband insists that she try to get close to the intruder.
"Do whatever it takes, okay?"
"I don't…"
"Do whatever it takes.
That's it.
You can do it."
Even though we know this is at the beckoning of her husband, Collins is, as she has been
the whole film, subtly in charge of the situation.
Her performance makes it unclear whether her move to join Segel is forced or of her own
volition.
She uses the same calm and collectedness that's defined her character thus far to get her
captor to drop his defenses.
"I think it's still too early on to be trusting this guy completely, but by allowing him in
a little bit she gains a slight upper hand."
She then engages him in a revelatory bit of dialogue, getting him to reveal his own vulnerabilities
and regrets before sharing her own.
"I knew I wasn't marrying just him.
I can remember, on my wedding day, everyone was just waiting and I was standing there,
staring down at my feet.
And if I went forward, if I walked down the aisle, I knew exactly what would happen in
the next 30 or 40 years.
I knew.
And if I went back, if I didn't walk down the aisle, I wasn't sure what to expect.
But it would have been mine.
My choice and mine alone."
In a matter of minutes, Collins manages to shed the image of the so-called "picture perfect"
marriage, and she becomes very convincing that she might just have a real interest in
the story of this stranger.
"She's very much talking about memories and where she's emotionally at, but she's also
reacting to his reaction of her story.
And it's unfamiliar territory because he's still the person holding them hostage."
The way she plays the scene is masterful – you're constantly guessing whether she's sharing
to earn the confidence of her captor, sooth her own hurt feelings, or to punish her husband,
who she knows is well within earshot of the conversation.
"How smart is this guy?
How gullible is this guy?
And not even gullible, because what she's saying is the truth.
But how easily can she intercept his motives and his thoughts and his emotions.
Where are they at?
How can she get the upper hand?
But also, what is she gonna do?"
All in all, it's this scene that proves that this character is no damsel in distress.
In fact, she may be quietly holding more cards than either of the men who think they're in
control of the situation.
"It's not a familiar, warm, or comfortable situation, but sometimes it's in those moments
that we're best faced with a mirror of ourselves and given the opportunity to reflect, and
this is one of those moments for her."
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Was it worth it?"
"Ask me again in 30 or 40 years."
"She is so silenced and undermined and undervalued at the beginning of the story, but that doesn't
have to equal a bland, silent character.
And that's the hard thing, is creating a backstory that no one's ever gonna know.
Only I will in my head."
"And for this character, I've never played one where someone's backstory is so little
alluded to, but is so necessary in order to get to the end.
And that's hard, but really intriguing."
Collins has always brought some serious complexity to her screen characters, but in "Windfall,"
she manages to bring layer upon layer of emotional depth to her role without even needing a name,
creating a delightfully unpredictable persona.
This scene proves it, even though the thrills are just getting started.
"Go check out Windfall, now on Netflix."
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