Elijah Wood has been a busy guy lately! On top of everything else he has going on he's just joined a new film project from director Nacho Vigalondo. The film is called Open Windows and it's described "an innovative, high-tech suspense thriller unfolding on the screen of a laptop connected to the Internet." This is Vigalondo's first English language film, but he's best known for his film Timecrimes.
The plot centers on Wood’s character who is tracking down an actress, played by Sasha Grey (The Girlfriend Experience), who was abducted by vicious villain named Chord, played by Neil Maskell.
Wild Bunch is producing the film and their sales chief Vincent Maraval had this to say in a statement,
Open Windows develops in real time, delivering 90 minutes of suspense in a tense, fast-paced, high-tech thriller with action and terror, updating the key elements of 70s paranoid thrillers through today’s computer and online environment
Some of my favorite movies come from the 70s so it's cool that they are trying to capture that same kind of vibe but with modern day technology. Vigalondo added,
Just as in Brian De Palma’s Blow Out, the girl is captured. The hero will have to use every means at his disposal to discover where she is, and rescue her from the villain before its too late.
The action will be followed on the screen of a laptop connected to the Internet – an approach that has excited us all from the outset. Something like this means going beyond high concept films like Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield or Chronicle. Instead of simulating a home video camera, we will be representing a computer desktop. The movie screen becomes a computer screen, and the spectator becomes the protagonist of this adventure.
Open Windows is full of twists, but it’s essentially a 90-minute chase, a continuous climax with unrelenting tension… it is also a powerful viral tool, with a wide potential for different audiences.
The movie is currently in production and will use 12 different kinds of cameras including "webcams, head cameras, tablets, mobile phones, 3D mapping cameras as well as security and satellite cameras to shoot the multi-format picture."
Screendaily also reports that Vigalondo approached Wood to play the lead after a chance meeting at the Fantastic Fest last year. Wood had this to say,
I’ve wanted to work with Nacho since I first saw Timecrimes and his incredible short films. We got to know one another at Fantastic Fest in Austin and when he approached me with this project, truly one of the most unique and exciting films I’ve ever encountered, I leapt at the chance to be a part of it.
This sounds like it's going to be a great movie, and I'm excited to see how it turns out! What do you think of the concept for the movie?