There’s a fine line between love and obsession, and an even more dangerous one between getting what you want and understanding what it might cost you. In writer-director Curry Barker‘s unsettling supernatural horror Obsession, that distinction becomes terrifyingly blurred when Bear (Michael Johnston), a lonely shop clerk harbouring romantic feelings for his longtime friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette), makes a seemingly innocent wish for her to fall in love with him. But as his desire becomes reality, what initially appears to be a dream come true quickly descends into a nightmare, exposing the disturbing consequences of confusing affection with possession.
For Barker, whose distinctive approach to horror has been shaped by years of independent filmmaking, Obsession represents something of a wish fulfilled in its own right. Yet, unlike his film’s unfortunate protagonist, the filmmaker has remained acutely aware of the responsibility that comes with opportunity. Alongside longtime creative collaborator and Obsession co-star Cooper Tomlinson, who portrays Bear and Nikki’s friend Ian, Barker has cultivated a working relationship built on trust, instinct and an understanding of when creative silence can be just as valuable as collaboration.
Speaking with our Peter Gray, the pair reflected on the unspoken language that defines their creative partnership, the peculiar habits they’ve learned to embrace in one another, and why the pressure of making a career-defining film isn’t necessarily any different from the uncertainty of starting out. For Barker, it seems, getting exactly what you’ve wished for doesn’t mean the pressure disappears. Sometimes, it’s what drives you to work even harder.
With this film, I’m assuming you both have a creative language between you because you’ve spent years creating together. And it’s probably a language that maybe people don’t understand. I wanted to ask both of you what’s something about the way the other person works that you initially found frustrating, but you’ve come to recognise as essential to making your partnership successful?
Curry Barker: Oh, interesting
Cooper Tomlinson: I don’t really get frustrated working with Curry.
Curry Barker: Yeah, you do.
Cooper Tomlinson: No, I don’t. I don’t even know what it’d be.
Curry Barker: I sleep in sometimes.
Cooper Tomlinson: (Laughs) Oh, okay, yeah, but that’s barely work. Sometimes I’m a morning guy, he’s a night guy. We have to find the perfect moment. But that’s not, like, during the work. Oh, you know what I’ve come to realise, sometimes when he’s really figuring out a super scary scene or how to make something really work, he gets really quiet. You don’t want to say anything to him. You can’t talk to him. I’ve let him be sometimes for 10, 20 minutes, and then he’ll come (up) with it, and we’ll make it happen.
The process clearly works for you! I say, let him be in as much silence as possible. Curry, I feel like there’s this interesting parallel between the film itself and your journey as a filmmaker as Obsession is about someone getting exactly what they wish for, only to discover the consequences. You’ve spent years wanting to make movies on this scale, was there anything about finally getting that opportunity that surprised you or made you nostalgic for the freedom when nobody was watching?
Yeah, I mean, it still really felt so low stakes. Actually, that’s not true. I knew this was the biggest opportunity that I’d ever gotten. It was a low budget movie, but to me that was my ticket to something bigger. When this producer, James Harris, came up to me and said, “I want to fund your movie,” that was a life-changing opportunity for me. And I took it as such.
I worked so hard on the script every day, and I knew that it was only going to work out if James had picked up the script and read it and liked it. He said he wanted to help champion this, but that was before I’d written the script. He said, “Okay, write a good script, and we’ll see.” I had to work really hard to write a good script, so I knew this was a big deal for me. In a way, if you think about it, the same amount of pressure I had on Obsession is the pressure I have now. I know it seems like I have more pressure now, but no, I’ve kind of always operated under that pressure.
Yeah, best to look at every movie as maybe the last opportunity. What you made with Obsession is incredible. I’m so happy everybody got behind the movie the way they should have, so congratulations again. Awesome to talk to you, and I’m looking forward to everything that’s next.
Curry Barker: Oh, thanks man, that means a lot. I really appreciate that.
Cooper Tomlinson: May 7th, Anything But Ghosts! (Laughs).
Obsession is available to rent/own on DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K and On Digital. It’s also now available to stream on HBO Max in Australia.
