Parachute follows Riley, an unemployed twenty-something who has just been released from rehab after grappling with body image and an eating disorder. Just as she is released, she meets Ethan and the pair form a deep connection very quickly, but as this friendship becomes one of the most important things in her life, she continues to struggle with her mental health. As she falls further down the rabbit hole into her relationship, Riley will have to decide how to show her love for others while struggling to love herself.
Courtney Eaton infuses Riley with pathos and humanity, allowing the audience to root for her even in the moments when she makes destructive decisions. The cast is stacked with wildly talented actors, including Dave Bautista, Gina Rodriguez, and Joel McHale, and while their roles aren’t huge, their performances are memorable as they highlight different sides of Riley through their relationships. Parachute is an impressive directorial debut for Brittany Snow, taking a very honest look at mental health and eating disorders through the lens of empathy from her own experiences.
Screen Rant had the opportunity to speak with Brittany Snow about her feature directorial debut Parachute. She explained how the idea for this movie has evolved since it first sparked in her early twenties and the audition process with Eaton. Snow also shared why she wrote roles for certain people including Bautista and how she wanted to tell a love story that isn’t the traditional happy ending.
Parachute is a story close to Snow’s heart, being inspired by her own experiences both with mental health and a codependent relationship. She first had the idea for the movie and explored a different kind of love story in her early twenties, but over the years, as she has evolved as a creator, the story has as well.
Eaton has shown an impressive ability to command the screen with her performance in Yellowjackets as Lottie. In Parachute, she takes this to the next level as the lead of the movie with the story and emotional weight carried by her performance. Snow broke down the casting process and how her own experiences with auditions impacted it.
Parachute doesn’t tell the usual love story instead the central relationship while filled with love is codependent with toxic traits. The toxicity of this relationship still shows the deep love they have for one another, but how that isn’t always enough. Snow also made the choice to introduce their parents, which shines light on each of their own issues, later in the movie allowing the audience to click into how they grew into who they are and the roles they’ve taken in their relationship.
Snow has an impressive acting career showing her skills in a number of different genres, working with countless directors. From this experience, she used her knowledge of collaborating and communicating with actors to guide her directing style. Snow also notes the importance of listening to her actors and making sure they feel safe.
Snow, who also wrote Parachute, wrote characters specifically for friends she knew she wanted in the movie, including Dave Bautista, Gina Rodriguez, Scott Mescudi, and Joel McHale. While for some this meant shaping the character around who they really are in life, for others it was about tapping into their likability for more morally gray characters. Parachute has an amazing supporting cast, in part because Snow wanted the support of her friends, who are very talented actors in their own right.
Snow takes careful steps to make sure the audience roots for Riley in Parachute without letting her off the hook for her selfish and destructive choices. Mental health struggles in this movie are not framed through the lens of pity looking for sympathy, but instead with an empathetic understanding. When Riley stumbles and falls she isn’t a villain or a victim, but merely a person facing her own struggles.
Snow also reflected on the technical side of directing. Even though she felt prepared going into Parachute after making the movie she has learned so much more which she hopes to take into more projects.
Snow while also the writer explained why she didn’t want to be precious about the script. She allowed the actors to take the heart of the scene while the dialogue felt natural because they were given the leeway to make the conversation their own. This also helped with the chemistry, especially between Ethan and Riley.
Eaton goes to some very dark places, emotionally, with her performance as Riley especially in her struggle with body image which Snow is personally familiar with. She broke down not only how she shot those scenes to give Eaton the space to get there mentally and emotionally, but how she made sure to support Eaton in stepping away from those moments as well.
Snow also shared that while she initially planned to only direct Parachute she has been bitten by the directing bug. She reflected on what she loved about the process of directing Parachute, especially the collaboration aspect. Snow also teased a very different movie on the horizon as her potential next project.
Parachute follows Riley, who has recently been released from rehab after struggling with her addictions to food and body image. She will meet Ethan and finds herself navigating the line between love and a new addiction.