Script Splitting: ‘Weird Darling’ Writers on the Power of Midpoint Twist

weird darling Writer-director JT Mollner loves early twists. Why wait until the end of the movie to pull the rug out from under the audience, the writer-director reasoned, when you can shock the audience when they least expect it, or around the midpoint?

This is not a spoiler weird darling— his stunning new thriller — spends a good chunk of its time guiding one genre of storytelling before venturing into shocking new territory. But filmmakers recently told me on my podcast Script Apart that while a twist is important, it’s even more important when it’s in a movie—a lesson budding screenwriters might want to heed.

how weird darling Perfect time to turn it around

“There is a version [Strange Darling] When you find out who’s who, that’s probably the end of the movie,” Molnar explained. “But I never wanted this. I love [Twilight Zone creator] Rod Serling and I love M. Night Shyamalan’s movies. “Alfred Hitchcock has a lot of great movies that end in a way that you can’t believe what you just saw,” he said, discussing classic films that reveal twists in the film’s final moments.

“But I’m not setting out to compete with any filmmaker or any movie because that’s already been done. That’s hard to do, especially now with so many spoilers and how smart the audience is.

His point is important.

In 2024, the audience raised a question on the Internetsixth sensepost-lost The world has come to expect narrative curveballs and is now able to sniff them out in a different way than it could just a few generations ago.

Showing your hand early in the script gives the audience less time to figure out what surprises you have in store for them. This also makes it more satisfying. Even if the audience guesses what the twist is, if that shock occurs near the midpoint, then the twist is not the destination of the film but the journey point. The rest of the movie could be about what this twist means for the characters, not just what it means for us the audience.

Listen to the full interview above, and try Molnar’s advice at work today.

Read More: Ups and Downs: Five Ways to Approach the Midpoint Top

Al Horner is a journalist, screenwriter and presenter based in London. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Empire, GQ, BBC, White Lies, Time and more.