{"id":645531,"date":"2026-10-30T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/645531\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T05:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T05:00:13","slug":"curry-barker-on-the-secret-to-obsession-even-crazy-needs-a-motivation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/645531\/","title":{"rendered":"Curry Barker on the Secret to \u2018Obsession\u2019: Even Crazy Needs a Motivation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Made with a reported budget of $750k, Curry Barker\u2019s Obsession has now grossed over $520 million worldwide. Part of the film\u2019s success is certainly due to the 27-year-old\u2019s natural instinct as a storyteller. Part of it may have to do with Barker\u2019s willingness to first build an audience on YouTube. And part may be due to the extraordinary popularity of the horror genre at the moment. Or maybe he had a real One Wish Willow that he used strategically to create this box office sensation. However he did it, we jumped at the chance to sit down with Barker and learn how he painstakingly crafted a character-driven story that didn\u2019t need a big budget to dazzle audiences.<\/p>\n

Obsession follows Bear (Michael Johnston), a shy young man who\u2019s desperately in love with his friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette), but Nikki doesn\u2019t see him the same way. When Bear discovers a magical tree branch called a One Wish Willow, he wishes Nikki would love him more than anyone else in the world. His wish comes true, but Nikki\u2019s newfound devotion quickly turns from a good time to a bloody, homicidal crusade.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Barker says he began conceiving the story by asking a simple question: How far can obsessive love go before it becomes something monstrous? Initially, he imagined a movie about two people who were obsessed with each other, or perhaps one person whose romantic fixation spiraled out of control. But he didn\u2019t have a complete story – yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t until later that I thought it could be a wish that goes wrong,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then I was like, oh my God, I got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Barker had his story engine.<\/p>\n

Creating the One Wish Willow<\/p>\n

A wish requires some sort of mystical charm or talisman. He considered familiar wish-granting objects like a monkey\u2019s paw, a wish bone, even a shooting star. But none were unique enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to have some sort of item that you could purchase at the store that felt kind of harmless and felt kind of innocent,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

So Barker decided to invent his own. The result was the One Wish Willow, a seemingly harmless novelty toy that grants a wish when broken. Its simplicity makes it an effective horror device. But once Bear makes his wish, the rules become increasingly sinister, and he soon discovers the wish cannot be undone.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Making Obsession Feel Real<\/p>\n

One of Barker\u2019s biggest screenwriting challenges was figuring out how to continually escalate Nikki\u2019s behavior without making her actions feel random or repetitive. Surprisingly, he says he may not have pushed the character far enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, looking back at it, I don\u2019t know if I went far enough,\u201d he says, admitting that he\u2019s thought of additional disturbing scenes since completing the film. But finding fresh ways to demonstrate Nikki\u2019s obsession wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is, it has to be rooted in some sort of reality. It can\u2019t just be, she does crazy shit for the sake of doing crazy shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Barker, every horrifying action needed an emotional justification, even if Nikki\u2019s behavior was completely irrational. \u201cIt needs to be because she loves Bear, and it has to be rooted in, I\u2019m doing this for him because I love him so much. Or, I\u2019m doing this for him because I\u2019m getting jealous, and I feel like he\u2019s not paying enough attention to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Keeping Nikki\u2019s behavior grounded in character motivation helps explain why some of the film\u2019s most disturbing moments aren\u2019t necessarily its most violent. In one scene, Bear wakes up to discover Nikki has cut his hair while he was sleeping. The act is relatively minor compared to the later violence, but it\u2019s deeply invasive. Bear has a very relatable, authentic freak-out.<\/p>\n

Again, going back to Nikki\u2019s character motivation, Barker also considered that Nikki might want to keep Bear\u2019s hair as a memento or add it to a shrine, which she later does. By allowing Bear to react like a real person, Barker makes Nikki\u2019s behavior feel even more unsettling.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Finding Horror in Character<\/p>\n

Another memorable scene occurs at a party when Nikki shares a grotesque, sexually disturbing reinterpretation of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. While the scene initially appears designed simply to shock the other characters, Barker says it actually connects to an important detail about Nikki\u2019s relationship with Bear.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Earlier in the film, Bear learns that Nikki once described him as being like a little brother to her. Barker used that detail to motivate the twisted fairy tale. \u201cIf the real Nikki sees Bear as her brother, but this entity is so in love with Bear, then incest would be an interesting thing to bring up in her writing,\u201d he says. Even Nikki\u2019s most outrageous dialogue is rooted in character rather than shock value alone.<\/p>\n

Barker Outlines but Leaves Room for Discovery<\/p>\n

When it comes to structuring a screenplay, Barker doesn\u2019t treat his outline as gospel. \u201cI do outline, but I also like to outline with room for discovery,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Often, he\u2019ll begin writing and discover that his characters or story have taken him in an unexpected direction. \u201cI find myself reworking the outline, then writing again, then reworking the outline to fit the new thing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

One thing he does try to establish early, is the ending. \u201cTo me, the ending is so important,\u201d he says. Barker recalls advice from Aaron Sorkin about how a disappointing final act can undermine everything that came before it. \u201cHe said you can do a two-hour movie and your first hour and 30 minutes could be the best thing that anyone\u2019s ever seen, but if those last 30 minutes suck, then you won\u2019t get any credit for the first hour and 30 minutes. That really stuck with me,\u201d says Barker.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Another storytelling principle Barker relies on is the \u201cbut then, therefore\u201d approach to structuring scenes. Rather than writing a series of episodic events connected by \u201cand then,\u201d he tries to ensure that each scene directly influences what happens next.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, and then, and then can be really boring,\u201d he says. \u201cBut if you follow but then, therefore, it kind of forces you to connect all of the scenes in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n

We also weren\u2019t surprised that Barker writes his scripts in Final Draft, admitting he sought out the software early in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I used Celtx for a year, maybe? And I was like, I want to use the real deal,\u201d says Barker.<\/p>\n

From YouTube Sketch Comedy to Feature Filmmaking<\/p>\n

Before making Obsession, Barker developed his comedic instincts through his YouTube sketch comedy work, That\u2019s a Bad Idea, and his horror short The Chair. Although The Chair was accepted into a few film festivals, Barker wasn\u2019t seeing the career momentum he\u2019d hoped for. \u201cNothing really was breaking for me, or changing my life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Eventually, he decided to put The Chair on YouTube. The results surprised him. \u201cIt just blew up on YouTube,\u201d he says, explaining that the film attracted far more attention online than it had through festivals. That exposure helped open doors to feature filmmaking.<\/p>\n

Although Barker had already written several feature screenplays, none had been produced. His earliest completed script was actually a straight comedy, but he\u2019s now happy working in horror, a genre he believes offers tremendous creative freedom. \u201cI really like that it\u2019s such a broad genre. I could really do anything,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Advice for Filmmakers: Write What You Can Afford to Shoot<\/p>\n

For aspiring filmmakers hoping to shoot an original low-budget film, Barker offers practical advice: Don\u2019t write a movie you can\u2019t afford to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cWrite one location, maybe two locations,\u201d he says, emphasizing the importance of using places and resources already available to you. \u201cLook around at your surroundings and think, what story can I tell with the resources that I have?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

While limitations can feel frustrating, Barker believes they\u2019re actually beneficial for filmmakers just starting out. \u201cYou should be limited for your first couple films,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His advice is to build those limitations into the screenplay itself rather than writing an ambitious production and hoping to figure out how to pay for it later. \u201cDon\u2019t try to shoot something for $1,000 that should cost $40,000. Write something that maybe could cost $1,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s some of the best advice we\u2019ve heard in a long time.<\/p>\n

Obsession is currently streaming on various platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Made with a reported budget of $750k, Curry Barker\u2019s Obsession has now grossed over $520 million worldwide. Part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-645531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}