The Stars of ‘Obsession’ on Crafting Their Perfect, Creepy Characters

The new horror film, Obsession, works as well as it does because of two actors you may not know now, but you’re about to. Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette play Bear and Nikki, characters with so many layers, experiencing such intense emotions, and put in such impossible situations that you both love and fear them in equal doses. The skill level needed to achieve that is almost too hard to fathom.

Bear is a seemingly normal, low-key guy who has a massive crush on his best friend and co-worker, Nikki. He wants to tell her how he feels, but he’s too frightened. So, instead, Bear jokingly makes a wish using a “One-Wish Willow” for Nikki to love him more than anything in the world. The wish is then granted. But if Nikki loves Bear more than anything in the world, what will she do to make sure they stay together?

Bear is seemingly the protagonist in Obsession, but he’s no hero. When he realizes the wish worked, instead of working to fix it, he rolls with the fantasy, with horrifying results. Nikki is also kind of the antagonist of the film but also its most sympathetic character. She wasn’t given a choice in this matter. She’s forced into this situation, and we can’t help but wish she could get out of it.

io9 spoke with both Johnston and Navarrette about creating those characters, what it was like living with them, when they knew Obsession was something special, and much more. Check it out below. (And check out our interview with the film’s writer/director, Curry Barker, here.)

She’s always watching. – Focus

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Germain Lussier, io9: As an actor, not every movie you make is going to be great. But I think this one is. Was there ever a point where, compared to other things you’ve done, you realized like, “Oh my God, this is special?”

Inde Navarrette: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I specifically wanted to do something completely different than I had ever done before. And I feel like I found that in Obsession. I was like, “What can I do to be a part of the process and be a part of this?” Because I knew when I read the script, I was like, “I know how to play her. I know who she is. And I just want to be able to do this.” And then I was lucky enough to be able to do it.

Michael Johnston: I felt the same way when I read the script. It got the wheels going in my head. I love that my character was the protagonist but also kind of an antagonist as well. And then he was responsible for the mess that he got himself into. And I felt the same. I was like, I have to be a part of this. And there were so many moments that just stood out, like, we’re making something special. And just the one that comes to mind right now is when I first met you; we met at a chemistry read. Do you remember this? You said, “What’s up, dog?” And you put your hand up *here.* And I have this fear of handshakes that aren’t like the straightforward handshake. It’s just one of my biggest fears. And I didn’t know what to do. So I just like kind of did *this,* and you were like, “Okay, fine.” And we went into the read! Right into the characters. That was it. But that was the perfect chemistry because it was like a lack of some type of chemistry.

Navarrette: Yeah, they’re not supposed to be together. So we got it.

Johnston: I think everyone was watching like, “This is great.”

Navarrette: Yet, it felt amazing.

io9: The high five nailed it for both of you guys. I love it.

[Both laugh.]

Navarrette as Nikki. – Focus

io9: Inde, what was it like living with Nikki? It’s obviously such an intense performance. What is it like going home at the end of the day and then getting back into it? Did you carry it? Was that part of your process? Tell me a little bit about it.

Navarrette: No, I don’t feel the need to carry it. I think that for me personally, I love having access to my emotions. And so kind of on a day-to-day basis, just making sure that I feel like I do everything humanly possible, or at least I did, on the set. And so I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t show anybody. I felt very comfortable with Michael. I felt very comfortable with Curry. I felt very comfortable with Taylor Clemens, whose job was to capture everything. So I didn’t necessarily hold on to her in that aspect, but I just felt like I understood her and that I knew her and that it was an easy well to tap into. And it kind of just felt like therapy. You could just scream and cry and throw stuff.

Johnston: I did not see it that way.

Navarrette: Yeah, he had a different experience.

Johnston: I mean, look, I was a little jealous of some of the things you got to do. I mean, you killed it. But I can’t wait to be able to just let loose like that. But honestly, like my body didn’t know the difference between what was real and what wasn’t. Like reacting to Inde, sometimes I hadn’t seen what they had rehearsed, or you just discovered some things too in the moment, and she made it so easy, just reacting and then living in that. We had long days. It was grueling. And I took that home with me. I like to just go, go, go, but I had to stop and take a bath, try to read a book, and relax. Like, it was intense for me.

io9: Yeah. It’s definitely a movie you have to kind of wash out of your hair.

Johnston: Yeah. A lot of washes [laughs].

Johnston as Bear. – Focus Features

io9: Michael, similarly, as you mentioned, Bear is a very interesting character. On the surface, he’s not a bad guy, but obviously, through his actions, we see that’s not really the case. So how do you strike that balance? What was it like not making him too likable or too unlikable? He’s kind of a perfect pro but also an antagonist.

Johnston: Well, you said something interesting, which is he’s not a bad guy. When I read a script, I try not to judge the person. I try to just think more about their perspective and their desires, and that’s really what I had to double down on with Bear. I really wanted him to be grounded and likable enough. And I knew what was coming with his character. And I mean, most films are shot out of order. But this one in particular, like we were shooting some of the most intense scenes in week one. So it was really just a balancing act to keep him likable. To think about every possible variation. Because we would also shoot scenes with different levels of intensity just to kind of cover our bases, because we weren’t sure how things would land. So I imagine it being sort of like how a script supervisor or someone has to just think of every possible thing. It was a mental exercise. A lot of conversations with the director. And yeah, it was ultimately the most rewarding challenge for an actor.

io9: Yeah, that’s awesome. Inde, one of my favorite parts about Nikki and your performance is those moments where, I don’t want to spoil it, but where real Nikki kind of pops up, then gets pushed down. So I’m wondering, I know you said you understood her, but I’m wondering what kind of direction Curry gave you about that. What was the collaboration to figure out those moments?

Navarrette: Curry really loves human psychology. And so I love that he had that knowledge and background to play with because the brain will need time to process something. But also, what would happen if you limit that processing time? How does it process it? So we kind of played with the audience’s interpretation of her coming in and out with the timing in which she would be shown. So her being like, “Wait, what’s going on?” and then popping back in—the audience is also like, “Wait, what just happened? It was there, and then now it’s gone. That’s creepy.” So kind of playing with those times was really, really great. And then also you think that you’re having like a great conversation like this, and then all of a sudden somebody just goes like, “Oh my God.” And you’re like, “Also, oh my God.” It just messes with your nervous system, which was really, really fun to play with. So we kind of did a lot of that.

io9: Yeah. Oh God. Yeah. There are so many jump scares in here that aren’t actually scary, but they’re just like, “What is happening?”

Navarrette: Yeah, they’re mentally messing with you, and you go, “I may or may not like this.”

Nikki watches Bear. – Focus

io9: Right. Exactly. For each of you, when you read the script, was there a scene that you were most scared of doing, and did it end up being as scary as you thought it would be?

Navarrette: Oh! I didn’t know how to scream before this film. I have a very low-toned voice sometimes. And so I find that hitting a higher register of a scream is really difficult. So I was very nervous because I felt like it wasn’t girly. It wasn’t like that horror girl necessarily. And so that was scary. But Curry and I had fun, and we did it, and it wasn’t as scary.

Johnston: The finale of the movie. I’m so happy with that. Really. I love how it lands. And we all just wanted to get it right. And there’s a moment in the end where Bear is wrestling with… I don’t want to spoil it. But the finale. There’s a scene in the bathroom, and there are so many things to think about. Is this how the character ends? Where does he land? Who is he at his core? I’m really happy there’s a moment that I actually added that made it into the film, that it really worked really well. Oh. Also, just worrying about the subject matter too. Just like, “I hope that this isn’t insensitive to people.” That was just a really demanding day. But ultimately, I think it paid off. We only did a couple of takes.

Navarrette: I think to carry the weight of the subject is really important. But to also recognize that movies are different to different people. It’s daunting. But also it’s kind of nice to be like, this is yours. How do you feel about it? We can talk about it and just kind of open the conversation.

You are definitely going to walk to talk about Obsession when you see it, which you absolutely should. It’s now in theaters and destined to be one of the year’s best films, horror or otherwise.

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