Written and directed by Graham Parkes in his feature debut, Wishful Thinking stars Pullman and Hawke as Charlie and Julia, a couple who find themselves in a volatile chapter of their relationship as they find themselves unable to fix anything. However, after insistence from one of Julia’s friends to attend a couples-therapy seminar run by healers that claim to fix relationships through energy work, Charlie and Julia sees their emotions start to directly affect the world around them in supernatural ways, forcing them to confront who they are together.
Alongside Hawke and Pullman, the sci-fi romantic drama features a star-studded ensemble cast, including The Residence‘s Randall Park, Jake Shane, Deli Boys‘ Amita Rao, The Paper‘s Eric Rahill, A League of Their Own‘s Kate Berlant and RENO 911! vet Kerri Kenney-Silver. Having premiered at SXSW on March 12, Wishful Thinking has garnered widespread acclaim from critics thus far.
In honor of its festival release, ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan interviewed Maya Hawke, Lewis Pullman, Jake Shane, Kerry Kinney Silver and Graham Parkes in our SXSW media suite to discuss Wishful Thinking. In reflecting on the production of the film, Kenney-Silver recalled having “got an almond caught in my throat” on the first day of filming and having “to get surgery” during production.
The five-time Emmy nominee went on to share that “I’ve never missed a day of work in 38 years of my career,” explaining that the almond incident came from a salad in which “an almost sliver caught in my larynx” and her airway started closing. Despite the real dangers of the situation, the group were able to find some humor in it, with Pullman even saying that “one of my favorite scenes” in Wishful Thinking came “when you were battling the almond internally“:
Jake Shane: But she didn’t know for over 24 hours. She was like, “Why does this s*** feel weird?”
Kerri Kenney-Silver: Listen, as an actor, I use whatever I have around me. And that day was the almonds. So, you’re going to hear this speech again at the Oscars.
Parkes & Pullman Were Shocked By How Quickly They Found Chemistry With Hawke
ScreenRant: Lewis, as a producer on the film, can you guys just talk about how the cast came together? I’m obsessed.
Lewis Pullman: We kind of shot our shots in every department, and we were so lucky to get our first picks with everybody. I don’t know how it happened. We were talking about Maya [Hawke] for so long, as if we were actually going to be able to get her, and then we did the meeting with her, and it was like immediate symbiosis. We were like, “How is this happening?” This role is so specific. There are so many shades that an actor needs to be able to oscillate in between so quickly and so rapidly. And have incredible wit, incredible sense of humor, incredible ability to improvise, and then also just a good family-style attitude about what filmmaking looks like. It’s so rare. And Maya has all those things tenfold. So the fact that we got Maya, we were like, “This is real. It’s all happening now. Oh my God.”
Graham Parkes: They only met, I think, once before, and it’s sort of shocking how much chemistry they had. As a director, I got so lucky. Maya Hawke and Lewis Pullman are two of the best young actors, but you don’t know if they’re going to work together, because that’s a whole other vector line. Something clicked with these two, and I never had to worry about it. They were speaking the same language from day one, and it just made sense. [To Hawke and Pullman] You guys were comfortable with each other, and I was just like, “Oh my God.” Yeah.
Lewis Pullman: And then these two over here [gesturing to Jake Shane and Kerri Kenney-Silver] and a whole different story.
Maya Hawke: These two are amazing. We got so lucky that so many wonderful people came in to support and fill out this world, because no matter how good of a job you do in directing something and writing something, if the world doesn’t feel full and real, and every single person in the story isn’t a full, hilarious person, then it’s just not going to work. We got so lucky that these guys jumped in with us.
ScreenRant: I think that “J-O-H-N. Half the page” is one of the funniest videos of all time.
Jake Shane: Oh my God. Thank you so much.
ScreenRant: Genuinely, you’re so funny. You’re so quick.
Graham Parkes: I like “Pink hearing about Hot Pink.” It’s a lesser-known one.
Jake Shane: I hate that one, but I love that you love it so much.
Kerri Kenney-Silver: Just wait until people see him in this movie, because you know him as one thing. People are going to be blown away.
Maya Hawke: He’s going to be booked and busy.
Kerri Kenney-Silver: You would not expect the subtlety and the absolute real presence.
Graham Parkes: When Jake signed on, the role of Jeff was a good amount smaller. He was in a lot fewer scenes. As soon as Jake showed up, I was like, “Oh, I’m writing Jeff into more scenes.”
Kerri Kenney-Silver: [Jokingly] And my role was bigger. It was actually about the mother and the children were incidental, and then I got there. I did my best, I was not always great. And then that was cut back, and this little story is left.
Maya Hawke: [Sarcastically] You’re talented, you’re just really difficult to be around.
Wishful Thinking made its world premiere at SXSW on March 12 and is awaiting a global release date!
- Release Date
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March 12, 2026
- Runtime
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105 minutes
- Director
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Graham Parkes
- Writers
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Graham Parkes
- Producers
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Matt Smith, Lewis Pullman, Dan Gedman, Kara Durrett, Matt Smith
Cast
Be sure to dive into some of ScreenRant‘s other SXSW coverage with:
- The Sun Never Sets Review
- Brian Review
- The Fox Review
- I Love Boosters Review
- Dead Eyes Review
- One Another Review
- Kill Me Review
- Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Review
- The Saviors Review
- Family Movie Review
- Power Ballad Review
- Seekers of Infinite Love Review
- Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice Review
- Over Your Dead Body Review
- Sender Review
- Crash Land Review
- Normal Review
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