Dylan O’Brien Was All-In on the Twists and Turns of ‘Caddo Lake’

[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Caddo Lake.]

The Big Picture

• Dylan O’Brien was lured to ‘Caddo Lake’ by the film’s unexpected supernatural element.
• The mystery thriller is deeply rooted in realism, and the shoot featured a collaborative process with passionate filmmakers.
• M. Night Shyamalan’s involvement as a producer is fitting with the twists and turns to the tone of the film, subverting expectations.

From writer/directors Celine Held and Logan George and producer M. Night Shyamalan, the Max original mystery thriller Caddo Lake is about a missing eight-year-old girl who brings up a broken history with a previous disappearance that’s reverberated through a family that’s just trying to hold it together. While Paris (Dylan O’Brien) and Ellie (Eliza Scanlen) are each out on the lake looking for answers, what they uncover provides answers they never could have imagined.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, O’Brien talked about why he wanted to work this the Caddo Lake filmmaking duo, his appreciation for the big swings the storytellers took, the collaborative process throughout the shoot, that Shyamalan’s involvement will lead to certain assumptions about the film, spending so much time in the water, and how he feels about his character’s fate.

‘Caddo Lake’ Was Born Out of the Filmmakers Seeing a Picture of the Location on Reddit

Collider: Because this is a challenging movie to wrap your brain around, when this came your way, did you immediately get what it was going for? Did you have a bunch of questions? What was your reaction to this?

DYLAN O’BRIEN: It was a two read for me. I finished it, and then started over, to do it again before I was like, “Okay, yeah, cool. Got it.” Honestly, there were so many elements outside that piece of it, that I was so drawn in by, the first of which would be (writer/directors) Celine [Held] and Logan [George], who I had met with about eight months prior to receiving this, just generally, because I had seen their short films. They have four or five short films that they did, that have such an eclectic range of genre and tone, and I thought they were just so talented. And then, we had a great meeting. When I first opened this project, they had sent a link of footage from when they had gone down to the lake and shot because they wrote down there as well. They were living down there for a couple months while crafting the story because it literally was just birthed from them seeing a picture of Caddo Lake on Reddit.

When I opened the test footage they shot, I was stunned. I was already in. These were filmmakers I was already excited to hear from because I really believed in them and thought that they were outrageously gifted and infectious and talented and passionate, so they were definitely people that I would get into bed with, in a creative sense. To see that breathtaking image of the lake and hear the sounds of this environment, immediately set the tone for me. And then, opening the script, I found the writing and the story to be incredibly compelling. It was so grounded and honest and entrenched in realism. The dialogue felt extremely naturalistic and an ode to the community and the environment. And then, when it spawned into this heightened supernatural element, I was like, “This is just fantastic. Even if I am not getting every piece of this now and I need to go back through and make a chart, I have faith in this. This is a swing and a half, but with these guys helming it, it’s fantastic.”

When you initially met with the filmmakers, was it specifically for this or was it a general meeting?

O’BRIEN: No, it was just general. I just wanted to meet with them. It was during the pandemic. I was watching a lot of stuff and looking for filmmakers to work with, to be honest. I was literally on the hunt. And then, their shorts were sent to me and I was like, “These guys are outrageously good. I want to meet them.” And then, we had a great meeting, and I found them to be so smart and passionate. I had never worked with a duo before, like a directing tandem. Even going into the meeting, I was like, “I wonder what this vibe will be like.” But they complement each other so well and their energy is so infectious. I just really loved them from the get-go. And then, eight months later, this was the follow-up. They hadn’t even written this when we met, and then not even a year later, they had sent this to me. They remembered the meeting and thought of me for this, and I was so grateful.

It feels like to make something like this, they would have needed to be very good communicators. Was that the case? Were they able to articulate what they were trying to do, throughout all of this?

O’BRIEN: They are extremely good communicators. That’s a very astute observation. They hired a lot of non-actors to fill the movie out with. They still teach acting on the side. They’re the real deal. They really love every aspect of filmmaking. They both used to be actors themselves, so the way they work with their cast is unbelievable, especially watching how they get these performances and instill this confidence in these people, many of whom had never been in front of a camera before. It was fantastic to watch, and the root of that was absolutely their ability to communicate. It was almost at lightning speed. They’re everywhere because there are two of them. They were so challenging with their notes, but in a good way. It would be exhausting sometimes. I’d be like, “Okay, I just need one with no notes, as a breather. We’ve been doing this for two and a half hours.” But it’s fantastic because they really pull every last thing that they can with you. They really challenge you in that way. It was a fantastic experience.

Producer M. Night Shyamalan’s Reputation for Twists and Turns Fits the Tone of ‘Caddo Lake’

This film wasn’t written or directed by M. Night Shyamalan, but he’s a producer and his name is attached, which generally means a project won’t be exactly what it appears to be on the surface. Does that set a bar that you have to rise up to meet with the storytelling, knowing that audiences are going to come into this with that name attached?

O’BRIEN: Night financed the film, but you do have to put that in the back of your head a little bit while you’re making the thing. It would be unwise not to. His name is certainly going to be a draw for people, and it’s certainly going to put a coat of paint on it from a perspective that might not be what it is, but I think that’s fine. He has an absolute reputation for twists and turns, heightened elements and extraordinary circumstances. I think he was such a wonderful fit for the tone of the movie. There are some aspects to how people are perceiving it so far that is leading to me getting asked if I did a horror movie. It’s not a horror movie, but okay. Subverting people’s expectations fits the tone.

The creepy location probably helps in leading people to think it’s a horror movie.

O’BRIEN: Yeah, and putting Lake in the title too. It wasn’t originally there. It was just Caddo. But then, people were like, “People aren’t gonna know what that is.” It adds eeriness to it. There absolutely is an eerie element to the lake in real life. There’s this real lore about it, so it’s totally within the spirit of the community for that to be the tone, or at least the perceived tone.

What was it like to spend so much time on the water and in the water? You can prepare yourself for that mentally, but then actually doing it is a whole other situation.

O’BRIEN: Yeah, it’s a trip. We learned to drive those boats and navigate that lake. Most importantly, we approached it really safely and everyone in the cast was taken care of. We had people who operate on this lake every day, guiding us through there. At the end of the day, it is me or Eliza [Scanlen] driving the boat with Lowell [Meyer], our DP and operator, with a 45-pound camera on his shoulder while we were performing. You’ve gotta really have a handle on things. Luckily, we were able to be down there for a few weeks before we started, and I had a lot of time on the lake and a lot of time operating that thing. I really wanted it to feel second nature to this guy.

Dylan O’Brien Likes How ‘Caddo Lake’ Leaves the Audience Longing for More

There’s something really tragic about someone who clearly does care, but events out of his control take him from the people in his life. How did you feel about your character’s fate in this story?

O’BRIEN: That’s a great question. It is tragic. The movie is fundamentally about loss, so I think his fate is fitting. Coming away from a movie and craving something that maybe you didn’t get is a nice place to be, as an audience member. There’s a vested interest there. If there’s a longing, that means the story was compelling. This is a story that’s ultimately about family and loss, and when you’re dealing with a time element, oftentimes that fate is almost required, in terms of the cycle. So, I would say it’s fitting to the emotionality of the film. Hopefully, it rounds it back out to the tone, or just the foundation that the film is built upon at the end, after the ride.

Caddo Lake is available to stream on Max. Check out the trailer:

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