Filmmaker Christian Nilsson. Photo Credit: Joel Slocum.
Director and screenwriter Christian Nilsson spoke about his new film ‘Westhampton’ which had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival.
The movie stars Finn Wittrock (who also serves as an executive producer), RJ Mitte, Jake Weary, Amy Forsyth, Roxanne Schiebergen, Sam Strike, Chris Gray, Gabrielle Manna, Tovah Feldshuh, and Dan Lauria, among others.
Background on ‘Westhampton’
The synopsis is: Years after leaving his Long Island hometown to chase his dream as a filmmaker, Tom Bell (Finn Wittrock) is down on his luck as a director.
Unable to replicate the success of his breakout film, Tom remains haunted by guilt from the high school accident that inspired it.
As the black and white 16mm of Tom’s film creates a dreamlike, heightened connection to the past, his return to Westhampton forces him to confront buried secrets, broken relationships, and the past he is trying to rewrite.
Inspiration to write and direct this movie
On his inspiration to write and direct “Westhampton,” Nilsson said, “It’s a story that I have been working on for a very long time. It’s something that I started back in 2012.”
“As far as the starting point, back in 2012, I saw a documentary called ‘The Swell Season’, which is the follow-up to the film ‘Once.’ I was interested in the idea of cutting the film ‘Once’ with the documentary of ‘The Swell Season’ and that was very much the first draft that I wrote, and it was inspired by that connection,” Nilsson elaborated.
Working with RJ Mitte of ‘Breaking Bad’
On working with RJ Mitte of “Breaking Bad,” Nilsson said, “RJ is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. I’m fortunate to consider RJ a friend now.”
“As far as the cast, honestly, RJ was the first person that was onboard for this film, and I can confidently say that all of these pieces wouldn’t have come together if it weren’t for him,” Nilsson acknowledged.
Lessons learned from this screenplay
On the lessons learned from this screenplay, Nilsson admitted, “This screenplay taught me a lot.”
“It definitely taught me the values of self-forgiveness and atonement, which are certainly themes that are explored in this film,” he noted.
“Sometimes, it’s the shame that we have to shake to be able to live with things in our past; that is important to take a hold of those things and own them; that’s important,” Nilsson concluded.
To learn more about director and screenwriter Christian Nilsson, follow him on Instagram.
Read More: “Westhampton” review
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