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Few directors shoot their debut movie, land it in a big fest, and find themselves at the center of a bidding war. It’s the sort of thing that could mess with your head, especially if you’re in your twenties and your biggest successes to date have been posting shorts to YouTube.
But Jason Blum says that Curry Barker seemed surprisingly calm when they met in person for the first time, a day after the filmmaker’s Obsession screened at Toronto International Film Festival to a rapturous response. The $750,000 film would go on to sell to Focus Features for around $15 million in the following days.
“A lot of times, someone in that position is in shock and off their game,” says Blum. Not so with Barker, who was 25 during September’s TIFF. “He was so grateful and modest, but not falsely modest. He was very clear about what he wanted to do next, and this wasn’t going to change his mind.”
Written and directed by Barker, Obsession tells the story of Bear (Michael Johnston), who uses a mysterious novelty item called “One Wish Willow” to wish that his longtime crush Nikki (Inde Navarrette) would love him more than anyone in the fucking world. His wish comes true to horrifying results that have won over critics, who gave it a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It dramatically over-performed this weekend, where it grossed $17.2 million domestically, up from projections in the $10 million range. Its word of mouth has been strong, with the film declining just 11 percent from Saturday to Sunday, a hold rarely seen.
