It can be daunting to work with your significant other, but for Lily Collins, she didn’t even think about it when collaborating with her husband, Charlie McDowell, on their new flick Windfall.
“Weirdly, there were moments when I forgot that we were together, because the way in which he directs, he such a communicative and collaborative director that is all about how the actor feels and grounding it in truth and someone that you feel very safe with in an environment where you’re the most vulnerable,” the actress, 33, said on CBS Mornings. “That’s what you want in a life partner and it is what you want as an actor in your director.”
“He treats everyone the same, and there were very few of us in the cast so we all had a very intimate, collaborative experience that sometimes I would forget that it was my Charlie as opposed to Charlie-my-director,” the Emily in Paris star added. “It was so fun.”
The duo — who met randomly — tied the knot in 2021, and since then, their bond has grown even stronger — especially after working on their new Netflix flick together.
“I honestly attest so much of it to Charlie,” the brunette beauty gushed. “There’s something very specific that he saw in all of us, we all play against type. But for me specifically that he saw in me and he got out of me that I haven’t been able to do. [He] creatively believes in me sometimes maybe more than I believe in myself.”
“Again, as a spouse and a director, you want that person to say, ‘No, you can do this,’ and push you creatively,” she added.
The film, which stars Jason Segel and Jesse Plemons, is about a man who breaks into a tech billionaire’s empty vacation home, but things get a bit crazy when the mogul (Plemons) and his wife (Collins) arrive last minute.
“We had such a good time making this film. The collaboration between she and I was really special. Jason Segel, I’ve known for 18 years and is a dear friend,” McDowell told Entertainment Tonight. “It was like being at camp with all of these actors. It was really fun.”
“It was so easy, and it was such a collaborative team effort,” Collins added. “And it was really fun. It actually was really fun. Then, at the end of the day, we got to pick apart the day and go, how did you feel, how does it … It was great. It was a really great time.”
