Interview With Nick Stahl, Star Of ‘What You Wish For’

One of the best films I’ve enjoyed this year is Nicholas Tomnay’s What You Wish For (read our interview with him HERE). I don’t want to give too much away because it’s best to go into this one blind, but it’s pretty fantastic. Starring Nick Stahl (Carnivàle) and Tamsin Topolski (Penny Dreadful TV series), What You Wish For is a jaw-dropping thriller that will shock you with a multitude of bad decisions and pique your interest with beautiful culinary delights. But be careful what you wish for as nothing is at it seems.

A down-on-his-luck chef with gambling problems flees to a Latin American villa, where he assumes the identity of another man.

To celebrate the film releasing in theaters and on VOD, I chatted with star Nick Stahl about what intrigued him about the script, preparing for his role, The Shining, and more!

PopHorror: I loved What You Wish For and I’m a huge fan so I’m super excited to talk to you about it today.

Nick Stahl: Cool, thanks! Appreciate it.

PopHorror: What intrigued you about the script and made you want to be a part of the project?

Nick Stahl: I just thought it was a really smart thriller, kind of reminded me of an old Hitchcock movie or something. Hitchcock in the jungle. Loved the character and just thought it was really well written, unpredictable. I loved the themes of the movie. I just thought the character was really relatable. All of the above.

PopHorror: I think the character was relatable in a sense that if someone were to find themselves in that situation and that is what they would do to get themselves out of it, take that way out.

Nick Stahl: Sure, absolutely. You kind of think that you know or like to think that you’d know how you’d respond in certain situations, but I think the choices he makes are pretty understandable given his situation in the beginning of the movie. It made sense to me.

PopHorror: I’d probably do the same thing.

Nick Stahl: Right?

PopHorror: You filmed this on location in Colombia in just 23 days. What was that like?

Nick Stahl: We had a blast! It was great to film down there. It was beautiful. It was a quick shoot but we had this incredible Colombian crew and everybody just hustled. Luckily a lot of it is a pretty contained story so all the actors got to live together. We were out in the middle of the mountains in this remote location so the actors had this little summer camp. We just had a great time doing it, even though we were under the gun. It was a lot of fun to do.

PopHorror: For a movie that has such a horrific storyline and the themes that are dealt with in it, it has a beautiful location and it’s just a beautiful movie to watch. I went to culinary school so I love to cook and just watching the amazing looking food and the techniques spotlighted, it was in contrast to the horrible things that were going on in the rest of the film. 

Nick Stahl: I would say that was probably intentional on Nick’s (director Tomnay) part, this very mesmerizing scenery and it kind of puts you in Ryan’s headspace. This is a seductive place, it just lends itself to this idea that if you scratch under the surface there’s a lot more to it and that’s definitely what Ryan discovers as he goes along in the film.

PopHorror: This film focuses a lot on food and cooking techniques. How did you prepare for shooting?

Nick Stahl: There wasn’t much time to prepare so I did some pretty minimal training with a chef in LA. He taught me how to chop properly and I just discovered that I would need a lot more time to do it in that fast way that looks really cool. I really wanted to do that, but I don’t think it was very safe because we literally had met a week before the film started. Luckily, they had some experts on set that made me look good.

PopHorror: Do you find that you cook more at home now or not?

Nick Stahl: You know, I go through phases. I like to follow a recipe and I can do that pretty well but that’s definitely balanced by my Uber Eats as well. I try not to do that as much anymore. Lately I haven’t been but it’s so easy and so convenient. Most of it is stuff that is a lot better than anything I would probably make.

PopHorror: Was there anything that you were adamant about bringing to your character?

Nick Stahl: That’s a tough one. I can’t think of anything specific. I think Nick sent me the script for a reason. I guess he thought there was something I could bring to it. The character just made sense to me. I kind of like to keep things simple for myself. Nick’s a great director; he’s very honest. I definitely knew if there was something that he didn’t like, which I really appreciate. Actors definitely need a good director, and he was really meticulous with his feedback. I can think of a couple of times where we had a difference of opinion on maybe how Ryan would react, kind of a nuance of it, but ultimately, I deferred to him because he created the guy. 

PopHorror: I have just one last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?

Nick Stahl: The Shining.

PopHorror: That’s a great answer.

Nick Stahl: It’s just a classic. It’s an art film disguised as a horror movie.

PopHorror: There’s a lot of debate out there on if The Shining is, in fact, a horror movie. I’m just like, I don’t know what you’d consider it.

Nick Stahl: If it’s not horror, yeah. These days, man, there’s stuff that’s considered horror that I don’t think is scary. Things like that really take their time. And honestly, What You Wish For is not a full-on horror movie.

PopHorror: I’d say more thriller.

Nick Stahl: Yeah, more of a thriller. But in a similar way, I like that Nicholas really took his time to get to know the characters so when scary stuff is happening, you’ve kind of earned and you actually care about these people and stuff like that. These days, there seems to be a lot of jump scares, a lot of gore and stuff that I don’t think is ultimately all that scary. But then again, maybe it’s a generational thing. My daughter watched The Shining, and it didn’t faze her. I was shocked. It traumatized my childhood.

PopHorror: That breaks my heart.

Nick Stahl: I was very confused, and she was cool. Didn’t bother her at all.

PopHorror: That breaks my heart a little bit.

Nick Stahl: I know, I know. It’s all very sad.

PopHorror: Not that I want her to be traumatized. Please don’t get me wrong, but still.

Nick Stahl: Thank you, she’ll be traumatized in other ways, I’m sure.

Thank you so much to Nick for taking the time to speak with us. What You Wish For is in theaters and on VOD May 31, 2024.