Shell is a provocative and stylised entry into the dark comedy horror genre, directed by Max Minghella and written by Jack Stanley.
Director’s Statement
From 1985 to 1994, my mother worked for the British Board of Film Classification. Each day, she would watch a film to determine its appropriate level of censorship and then at night, for my bedtime story, recite the plot to the movie she had seen that day. I would fall asleep, visualising these narratives, dreaming about the T-1000 or Nakatomi Plaza and then later I would get to see these characters
and locations realised on celluloid. This practice spawned an inevitable lifelong obsession with cinema.
Shell is a love letter to those bedtime stories.
Shel exists in a different time, when character-driven, genre movies were thriving. When the industry
relied on the talent and charisma of movie stars. When musical scores had recurring themes and
heroines delivered one-liners. Shel is like a dinner party in which an eclectic array of ghosts are
invited to eat together. Death Becomes Her can split a steak with Species, whilst Sliver and Soapdish
share a cigarette.
However, this is not just a referential exercise in satire. There is a deep and earnest love for this period
in film, and for the themes that this story explores, that drove al of the cast and crew to strive for
something unique and thri ling. Hopefuly this sense of joy and mischief comes through and you wi l
think of our movie the next time you order a Lobster Rol!
Max Minghela– Director, 2024
The screenplay, originally drafted in 2018, captivated Minghella with its surreal blend of body horror and psychological abstraction.
Though not typically drawn to horror, Minghella found the script’s emotional undercurrents and visual boldness deeply memorable. He collaborated with Stanley to reshape the narrative into a cinematic homage to the genre films he loved as a child, infusing it with a glossy, unsettling aesthetic that mirrors the film’s themes of vanity, identity, and transformation.
Shell is significant not only for its genre-bending tone but also for its commentary on the beauty industry and the commodification of youth. It explores how desperation and desire can warp perception, and how corporate glamour can mask grotesque realities.
Down on her luck actress Samantha Lake (Elizabeth Moss) is invited into the ultra glamorous world of Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson), CEO of health & wellness company Shell. When their patients start to go missing, including starlet Chloe Benson (Kaia Gerber), Samantha realises Shell may be protecting a monstrous secret.
Director’s Q&A: Max Minghella
How did you find Shell and why did you want to make this film?
I had been working on Teen Spirit, my first film, for close to a decade. It was a tremendously rewarding experience, but it was a long time to live with a story that was both deeply personal and quite melancholic in tone. I was yearning to make something less introspective for my own sanity.
I first read Jack’s original screenplay in 2018 and it realy stuck with me. Of course, I immediately thought of Death Becomes Her but there was also something deeply unique about its imagination that permeated my subconscious. It was a long and challenging journey to get the film made, but my excitement for it never dissipated. I fell in love with the characters and their ideas, but most of al, it was just a movie I wanted to see and share with an audience.
What was your approach to the film?
It was imperative to focus the film on Samantha and to create a stable narrative framework around her that could alow the movie to be bold and personal. I always found the story inherently funny and didn’t want to shy away from that in the execution. We al took the work very seriously but it was important to me that Shel never took itself too seriously. It goes to some pretty campy places, and you don’t want that to feel incongruous with the rest of the movie.
There is a whole other layer to the approach which I recognize may be a little eccentric…
Certain moments are designed to reflect the imagined studio notes of the early 90’s which had a tendency to push for happy endings and underline exposition. Lydia, the role Este Haim plays in the film, is a nod to the best friend characters that would often serve exclusively as a soundboard for the protagonist. The henchman personifies the Cold War panic that spawned a dozen henchman with shoulder length blond hair. I could go on but essentialy there is an attempt to make something that
is not just winking at it’s inspirations but hopefuly embodying them authenticaly.
What would you say are the main themes for the film?
Al of us contemplate our age and mortality, so it’s a deeply relatable story. What feels like commentary around vanity and the beauty industry becomes more interesting, especialy as we examine the relationship between Sam and Zoe, Elisabeth Moss and Kate Hudson’s characters. Their dynamic is complex and I’ve always been drawn to vi lains who speak truths with relatable motivations. Zoe is a deeply cynical person, but her arguments can be dangerously persuasive and hopefuly that prevents the movie from ever feeling pious or simplistic.
How would you describe the film’s aesthetic?
The film’s relationship to time wasn’t on the page but felt implicit in its tone. It takes place in a future that is not naturalistic but reflective of how we once imagined it on celuloid. Hopefuly this adds some humor to the technology and futurism. I started to identify al sorts of books, music, art, and film which seemed to share the DNA of Shel. Suddenly, we had various references that were so consistent with one another, in terms of set design, wardrobe, color palette… That I realized we weren’t aiming for something wholy abstract, but rather a world that exists with a rich wel to draw from.
When I met Susie Mancini, production designer, she realy bolstered my confidence in the approach and the excitement only grew once Mirren Gordon Crozier and Drew Daniels jumped on board.
Why is it important for people to see a film like this in a theater with an audience?
I think every director wants people to see their movies in a theatre but this movie was definitely designed to be participatory for an audience. There’s something almost vaudeville-like about it, so I think it’s fun to see those kinds of movies with a crowd. Shel dips into a wide array of genre spaces but it’s primarily comedic and it’s always more fun to laugh with in a group than alone on a couch.
When people walk out of the theater, what do you hope they take away from this film?
My hope is they had a fun time and are surprised by it in some way. And, of course, I hope it lingers with people. I think every time you make something, you hope that it wi l last and have a rewatchable quality to it and hopefuly this one is entertaining enough that you might want to throw it on again at Christmas and make your in-laws uncomfortable
Max Minghella is a British actor, screenwriter, and director known for his eclectic career spanning independent cinema, mainstream television, and genre filmmaking. Born on September 16, 1985, in Hampstead, London, he is the son of Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella and choreographer Carolyn Choa. Raised amid the creative energy of film sets, Minghella initially resisted the pull of acting, aspiring instead to direct music videos. However, a formative experience watching This Is Our Youth in London’s West End shifted his trajectory. He studied history at Columbia University, balancing academics with summer film roles, and eventually emerged as a compelling screen presence in films like Syriana, Art School Confidential, and The Social Network. His television work, particularly as Nick Blaine in The Handmaid’s Tale, earned him critical acclaim and a Primetime Emmy nomination. Minghella made his directorial debut with Teen Spirit (2018), showcasing his flair for stylized storytelling and musical rhythm. In 2025, he directed Shell, a darkly satirical horror film that blends body horror with psychological unease, marking a bold evolution in his creative voice.
Jack Stanley is a rising screenwriter whose work is defined by psychological tension, genre subversion, and emotional depth. He gained industry attention with his original screenplay Possession: A Love Story, which landed on the Black List, a prestigious annual roundup of Hollywood’s best unproduced scripts. Stanley’s writing often explores themes of identity, transformation, and the uncanny, making him a natural fit for the horror-thriller space. His credits include Lou (2022), a gritty survival thriller, and The Passenger (2023), a taut psychological drama. In Shell (2025), Stanley’s screenplay offers a chilling critique of the beauty industry and the commodification of selfhood, wrapped in a sleek, unsettling narrative. His collaboration with Max Minghella on Shell reflects a shared interest in stylized genre storytelling that probes beneath the surface of desire and control. Stanley’s voice continues to evolve, positioning him as a screenwriter to watch in the realm of elevated horror and speculative drama.
