Reptile director explains the frisbee moment in the Netflix movie's ending
Spoilers for Reptile follow.
Reptile director Grant Singer has given fans an insight into one of the most puzzling moments of his Netflix thriller.
Starring Benicio del Toro, Alicia Silverstone and Justin Timberlake, Reptile sees the investigation into the murder of young estate agent Summer Elswick (Matilda Lutz) unfold via a series of epiphanies. In one scene, del Toro's detective Tom Nichols is prompted to shoot in a showdown after a frisbee hits the window, leading to a sudden shot that kills a detective called Wally.
For Singer, the frisbee was one of the film's "serendipitous moments," as he explained in a chat with RadioTimes.com.
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"So there are these like, acts of God in the movie. These serendipitous moments – like Benicio at the end of the second act, where he's putting away the case binder of the murder book and these two photos just accidentally fall out," he said.
"And they end up being the photos that show the bite, which compels him to sort of revisit the case and look at the bite, which essentially creates the entire third act of the movie."
Singer continued: "We really like this idea of this act of God occurring in the standoff between these two characters. And the frisbee... well, first of all, the frisbee is motivated by just these kids playing right outside the house. And this idea that kids playing was like a really... I think a nice metaphor, a nice counterpoint to what is going to occur inside the house," the director continued.
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The director explained he enjoyed the jarring contrast between the tense confrontation in the house and the more relaxed atmosphere outside of it.
"You have this really tense, devastating conversation, moment, experience, convergence that's going to occur, and then outside you have this playfulness of just young people, young kids just having a good time," he said.
The first-time filmmaker also said that the frisbee can also be read as a metaphor for his own experience making his first feature.
"The idea is that I'm the kids playing. This is my first movie, I'm just enjoying myself, I'm just playing and this is my thing," he said.
"And then the moment when the kids look and make eye contact with Benicio in the window, that's me making eye contact with my lead actor, that's a moment where, like, the filmmaker and the actor have this moment of connection."
Reptile is available to watch now on Netflix.
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