Curry Barker was deceived.
Last week, the 26-year-old writer-director of Obsession was told he was going to a routine meeting at the Focus Features offices in Universal City. Instead, he arrived at the production company to find himself facing 250 employees — all holding glasses of champagne.
Barker thought — for perhaps the hundredth time in recent weeks: Holy shit.
Focus Chairman Peter Kujawski declared, “Congratulations on the biggest movie Focus has ever had!” The employees burst into applause and toasted Barker’s success.
Then Kujawski held out a box. “In the music business, they hand out gold records,” Kujawski said. “We don’t do that. So here’s this.”
Inside the box was, of course, a One Wish Willow — the spell-casting prop from Barker’s hit film. Only this willow was in a glass case … and gold.
It was a fitting gift for a young filmmaker from Alabama who, during his film’s pre-release marketing tour, had snapped a One Wish Willow toy as part of a press stunt. “I wish for Obsession to be a huge hit at the box office,” Barker declared at the time.
Then, like a character in his own story, Barker’s wish was fulfilled to an almost supernaturally sarcastic extent: His movie shot for just $750,000 has toppled one box office record after another on its gravity-defying trek toward $300 million globally. Almost overnight, Barker became the hottest young horror director in the industry (he has already shot his follow-up, Anything But Ghosts, and has signed to write and direct an A24 reboot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre). One company even offered Barker $10 million for literally whatever idea he wants to pitch next.
“It is like when The Wish gives you more than you bargained for,” agrees Barker, who got his start by posting sketch comedy and horror shorts online while working in a coffee shop. Producer James Harris took a chance on his Obsession script, then Focus picked up the project at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Below, in his first-ever cover story interview, Barker gets candid about what the last month has really been like for the Gen Z filmmaker. From those tumbling box office records, to being overwhelmed with career options, to suddenly having famous friends, Barker lets us live vicariously through his Hollywood dream come true.
First, I want to walk you through the wild ride you’ve been on since Obsession was released. The film was initially projected to open at $8 million to $10 million, which seems funny now. What was your reaction when you heard that?
A little disappointed. I’m a dreamer. The film was bought for $15 million, so I was hoping it would make at least that [on opening weekend]. People told me that doesn’t really happen.
Then it made $7 million its first day …
I told myself, “I’m not going to turn off my phone. I’m going to check the numbers every moment I can.” So when I woke up that morning and I saw that number, my jaw dropped. I was like, “Holy shit. What does this mean?” My agent, manager and I made a pact: If it passed $20 million that weekend, we would get tattoos of the One Wish Willow. But it didn’t.
It came close — $17 million. Then weekend two is when things began to get crazy. Because the numbers went up, which almost never happens.
When it made $27 million, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know that was an option. Like I didn’t think it was mathematically possible. It became a word-of-mouth movie. I started going to the theater to sneak in and watch the film too because I wanted to be part of this thing.
Did it feel different to watch it with a non-premiere, non-festival audience?
Yeah. It was so exciting to be with a crowd “in the wild.” I told my friends, “I’m not going to watch the whole thing. I’ve seen it too many times.” I ended up watching the whole thing. I’m not going to lie — I’ve done that three or four times.
And your phone must have been ringing …
The opportunities were just unbelievable. I realized I can do whatever I want now. My whole career, I’ve had to come up with crazy ideas and pitch them and if it didn’t go over well, I’d have to come up with something else. They were like, “If you could do any movie you wanted, what would it be?” I was like, “Whoa. Let me think about that for a second.”
When the box office numbers went up yet again for weekend three, it tied a record for week-over-week growth that went all the way back to 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Did other filmmakers reach out?
Yeah, that’s when people really started to reach out. Nathan Fielder reached out. Tim Robinson, who I freaking love. Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson publicly said things. I was becoming numb because it was so unbelievable, my brain couldn’t really process it.
It also seemed like every entertainment outlet was suddenly doing a “rise of the YouTubers” story given Kane Parsons’ Backrooms opened to $118 million globally that weekend. But you actually did the classic Hollywood thing of moving from Alabama to L.A. when you were 18 to make it in showbiz. Like that’s the old-school way of breaking in.
Exactly. I never thought of myself as a YouTuber. I feel my journey isn’t that much different from the greats we know and love like Spielberg — not to compare myself to those people, but they started by making short films. They made films over and over until finally someone gave them a chance. YouTube was just a platform. Also, most of our fame started on TikTok, then we started putting [videos] on Instagram, and then we started putting them on YouTube. It’s just a buzzy thing to say “this is a YouTube thing.”
Did you trade messages with Parsons as all this was going down?
We very briefly chatted but haven’t really talked. He followed me on Instagram, I followed him back, and that’s been it — nodding our heads at each other in a way that feels very internet style. I’ve heard he’s such a nice kid and wish him nothing but the best. I’m definitely down to chat. I’d love to talk to him because we’re having very similar experiences.
Do you think you still would have been able to accomplish what you did if you had stayed in Alabama and made content from there?
I feel like people can stay in Alabama and accomplish this. For me, moving to L.A. kind of put me in a city where I felt like this was possible. The industry is all around you, and it’s contagious. It fuels you to drive past Warner Bros. every single day and wish I could go on the other side of that fence. In Alabama, [Hollywood] feels so far away that it doesn’t feel real. If my parents weren’t so supportive, I don’t know if I would’ve had the guts to move out here.
During the fourth week of release, there was a viral Instagram post from the film’s art director (Sally Choi, who criticized being paid $6,741 and advocated for industry change on low-budget films). I know you didn’t produce the movie and aren’t responsible for writing checks. But I wondered if you have feelings about this.
I have nothing but respect for the art department, and the work they did was extraordinary. Everybody on this film worked so hard and they deserve to be recognized. This movie was made for so little money that it’s typical that the only people who [directly] benefit from its financial success are the people who took on some sort of risk. But what I hope is that every person that worked really hard on this film will see opportunities to catapult their careers in ways that can be very financially fruitful for them — like what’s happening for me.
Speaking of which, I heard there’s been a bit of a feeding frenzy over your short films — that people are looking to see if there’s like another Obsession in there.
The Chair could definitely be a horror film. I think eventually it would be cool to bring a feature version of the haunted chair story to life. Milk and Serial [about a serial killer with a YouTube prank channel] is probably going to happen [as a film]. I wonder if there’s an opportunity to bring somebody else onto Milk and Serial and I’ll produce but not necessarily direct.
There’s been debate over what lessons Hollywood should take from Obsession. What lessons would you like to see Hollywood take from it?
I saw — I think it was Hollywood Reporter actually — a “Who’s the next Curry Barker?” story. I did comment on a video like, “Guys, I just got here!” But as for what Hollywood should take away from it — and not to sound conceited — but they let me do my own thing. And because it was such a low-stakes movie for these people, they didn’t feel like they needed to babysit the process. So let a filmmaker take the reins and have creative freedom and not try to stick your claws into it is a lesson Hollywood should learn.
What do you wish studios understood about Gen Z audiences — who are now the biggest moviegoing population?
I wish they understood that we’re tired of slop. We want good movies back. People are still hungry for movies that are original without some big IP, as long as the story is good.
You’ve said there were multiple moments on Obsession where you fought for things that others doubted. What’s an example?
The [scene where there’s] money dropping from the ceiling was a big battle for me.
I wouldn’t have expected that. Because there’s an element of comedy to it?
Yeah. I wrote the script and pitched it as a horror movie. Some people got to that scene and were like, “Oh, this is silly. This is a silly movie where money falls from the ceiling. You have to take it out.” I’m like, “No, it’s not silly. It’s crazy that it’s real.” They didn’t understand that the way I was going to shoot it wasn’t going to feel silly. I had to fight for it.
I found it fascinating how the movie handled the tricky issue of consent. From the first night Bear (Michael Johnston) and Nikki (Inde Navarrette) spend together when he’s worried about crossing a line, to the Hansel and Gretel poem at the party, and many other moments, it’s clear you put that issue front and center — only in subtle ways. I wondered if there was nervousness about that aspect, and if anybody wanted to make it more clear what side the movie was on.
Yeah, there was. When we were shopping this around, there were companies that told me they would give me $2 million if I just rewrote the script to make Bear a hero. I was like, “I’m not rewriting the script to make Bear a guy that does all the right things. It’s so much more interesting that he doesn’t do the right thing and instead tries to make [the relationship] work and he just keeps making bad decision after bad decision.” The movie would have been so boring if Bear was going on a journey to figure out the lore of the One Wish Willow. So I turned down more money to tell the story that I was more interested in telling.
You’ve talked about casting Inde and how she nailed the wide range of notes the character needed. Was there a particular moment you knew you made the right choice?
There was a moment when shooting that we were nervous about, because we hadn’t yet seen her do any of the big explosive [acting]. She’s very reserved in rehearsal, which is pretty common. We were on set and she was on the bed kissing Bear. My producer, Haley Nicole Johnson, and I looked at each other like, “OK, here we go. I hope she can do this.” I [said to Inde], “You’re going to look at Bear, look around the room, realize where you are, and freak out.” Then she did it and — boom. First take! That’s what we used. I was like, “OK, this movie might work.”
Has Focus given you a sense of whether there will be an Oscar campaign?
There’s going to be an awards campaign. I’m not sure exactly what that entails. I’m not trying to get my hopes up about it and stay focused on what I’m doing next.
Let’s get into that. I know you haven’t written the script for your take on Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But how do you take something that’s been made and remade so many times and make it feel fresh?
I wouldn’t be interested if I didn’t think I could find a way in that feels fresh and new, while still respecting the original. The canon itself is all over the place, so there’s not much to stay loyal to other than the original. I want to make a new generation of people scared and give them this feeling of: “What if you went on a road trip with your friends and this happened to you?” I want to capture the rawness and the grounded-ness of the original.
You recently watched the previous 10 films. Is there anything you learned about what works and what doesn’t in this franchise?
Some of those movies just turn out to be a guy with a chainsaw chasing a person around. It doesn’t work to just have a chase movie. They’re hiding in a barn. It gets old. And I don’t buy it — a chainsaw is loud but they don’t hear it? I hate when you’re watching a movie and you’re thinking, “Just do this [instead].”
You’re currently editing your next film, Anything But Ghosts (which stars Barker and his YouTube channel partner and Obsession actor Cooper Tomlinson as ghost hunter con artists who encounter their first real haunted house — which is owned by characters played by Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard). Is there anything from the reaction to Obsession that’s impacted your post-production on that film?
There was a time when Obsession was on the festival circuit that Cooper and I were thinking we needed to make Ghosts scarier. It affected the script a little bit. It’s a buddy comedy, but it’s still going to be scary and messed up. You can’t not have these feelings when your first movie is breaking box office records and you’re in your room editing your next movie thinking, “Oh my god, did I take this beat from Obsession?” Thank God I have people around me to ground me and tell me that Anything But Ghosts is good and different, and that’s OK. Nobody wants the same movie twice. So people can expect it to be very different than Obsession, but my voice will still be very strong in it.
You shot this film before having any idea of how big your profile was going to get. Now that you know your second film is going to be a big deal, does it make you nervous to put yourself front and center as a lead in the film?
No, because I was meant to play this character. This character is really fun because I got to play a really selfish guy who doesn’t realize how rude the things he says sound when he’s saying it. He’s a con artist and lacks empathy and he has to learn to empathize with people. There’s real growth to the character, and to Cooper’s character. If I’m worried, it’s comparing it to Obsession that’s hard.
You’ve said you were nervous to direct Aaron and Bryce. What about acting opposite them?
It was only intimidating for a day, then I got over it. And it wasn’t [nerves] about acting with them, but about being in the film in general. I knew the producers were going to be watching and [thinking], “We let these YouTubers be the leads of this movie. I hope they can carry it.” I was like, “I got to show them I’m supposed to be in this.”
I don’t think people realize you’ve appeared in a few things as an actor and went to tons of auditions. When you first moved to Hollywood, how much of your goal was to be a filmmaker versus an actor?
My love for acting started at a very young age. When I moved out here, I went to film school, but I was in the acting program. I tried to audition for everything and luckily booked a couple things here and there. But my love for filmmaking is something that grew and grew and grew.
You’re still living in an apartment with Cooper and The Chair star Anthony Pavone. Have you guys talked about getting a bigger place, or your own place?
I still live in the same apartment I’ve had for the last three years in my tiny room. We’re still going to live with each other and we’re just going to try and get an upgrade. I’m not going to go crazy. I just want enough closet space for my clothes and shoes.
Somebody said you also have 200 pairs of eyewear.
About 60 or 70. As a kid when watching Kingsman, I thought those glasses were so cool. Even watching Harry Potter as a kid, I would search at the glasses shop to see if they had round glasses. I think Jacques Marie Mage is my top favorite.
Do you expect Cooper to continue to be your creative partner on all projects? Or do you see yourself doing solo work?
Absolutely. We’ll always work together. I have my solo things. I don’t think Cooper’s going to help me write Texas Chainsaw. But we’ve got a lot of stuff going on and I’ll always ask him for input. I’ll ask him to come on and produce. We’re becoming our own production company.
Who do you turn to for professional advice at this point?
I’ve been reaching out to my heroes, and they’ve been reaching back. I’ve befriended [Weapons director] Zach Cregger. [Hereditary director] Ari Aster. I had a dinner with Zach and [Alien: Romulus director] Fede Álvarez the other night and picked their brains and asked them for advice. They’re all so welcoming and I feel like I’m part of this community now. Apparently there are these dinners where a bunch of directors get together and talk about stuff.
What part of success has been disappointing, or not what you thought it would be?
All you see is the glory of [celebrities] and you assume they’re living this super fun life. I think it would surprise people if they saw my day to day. I live pretty humbly and my life is kind of boring. I’m not complaining because I choose this. I could make my life more interesting, but I’m a pretty boring guy.
So what do you want to do next?
The big conversation is: Do I want to do an IP movie? Or do I want to do my original? I have an idea for my original, but I have so many ideas for Chainsaw as well. I have a lot to weigh and that’s where the stress really comes from. I don’t know what to do next.
Is there something you know you don’t want?
I don’t want to go straight into Obsession 2. I have such a cool idea for it that I won’t say. I’m not saying it has to be five, six years from now. But I think people would be just as excited for it if it came a little down the road. It’s a whirlwind and I’m trying to figure it out.
Original Article on Hollywood Reporter