Max Minghella on His Movie, Shell

I discovered how much glee people take from watching something that makes them squeamish

We had another busy week hearing some fascinating Origin Stories. Max Minghella is an actor, writer, and director. Born in London, Max has acted in projects as varied as The Social Network, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Ides of March. He also wrote and directed Teen Spirit, a coming-of-age drama set in the world of pop stardom.

In this episode, we talked about his latest directorial effort, Shell, a body-horror satire about beauty, technology, and transformation. His interest in this kind of material sprang, in part, from a previous acting gig on a Saw spin-off called Spiral.

I was excited to talk to Max because he’s been very open about his evolution as a director – open about the struggles and open about the breakthroughs, too.

“When we were focus-testing Spiral,” Max says, “I discovered quite a lot of things watching a movie with audiences that I didn’t expect. And one of them was how much glee people took from watching something that made them squeamish. I thought it would just make people turned off or uncomfortable. Actually, it made them laugh. And it made them laugh a lot in a wonderful way – a really joyous way.”

Watch now or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Thanks,

Matt