Is Netflix’s ‘Windfall’ Based on a True Story?

The 92-minute thriller Windfall hits Netflix on Friday, with this logline: “A man breaks into a tech billionaire’s empty vacation home, but things go sideways when the arrogant mogul and his wife arrive for a last-minute getaway.”

What happens in Windfall?

All seems quiet and tranquil at this fancy vacation home with a swimming pool and an orange grove and lots and lots of privacy. So much so that a nobody credited as “Nobody” (Jason Segel) decides to make it his home. He wasn’t expecting the homeowners, “CEO” (Jesse Plemons) and “Wife” (Lily Collins) to actually show up. When they do, this Nobody turns into somebody real quick.

He kidnaps them, holding them captive in their own paradise. But at what cost?

And who’s the real villain of this story?

Is Windfall based on a true story?

Nope.

The three main characters don’t have or go by names for good reason. This is an original screenplay, based on a story by Segel, with the screenplay written by director Charlie McDowell (The Discovery) and Andrew Kevin Walker (who previously penned Seven). It bears influences from Alfred Hitchcock, class warfare between the 99 percent and the Top 1 percent, and the pandemic. The latter, because, well, they’re trapped in their home.

There’s also a real-life coupling involved in the making of Windfall, as McDowell and Collins got married in September.

As for not giving the actual characters names, it’s a deliberate move to ensure you’re not even remotely thinking of anyone in real life. “We learned very little about these people previous to when the film starts, and we wanted the audience to project what they wanted onto these characters, and we didn’t want to spoonfeed the audience with manipulating them to feel one way or another,” McDowell told EW.

Watch Windfall on Netflix