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From working at a coffee shop in L.A. to inciting a $15-million US bidding war at TIFF, the 27-year-old director joins Q’s Tom Power to reflect on the wild ride behind his breakout horror hit, Obsession.
From working at a coffee shop in L.A. to inciting a $15-million US bidding war at TIFF, the 27-year-old director joins Q’s Tom Power to reflect on the wild ride behind his breakout horror hit, Obsession.
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.was bought by Focus Features for roughly $15 million US — one of the largest festival acquisitions ever. Since then, the sleeper hit has grossed more than $500 million US worldwide, bringing the 27-year-old director back to TIFF this year for a special fan screening..
“The first time I ever left America was to go to TIFF…. Now, in that year, I've been to Italy, I've been to France, I’ve been to Paris — or I guess that's the same place — I've been to London, I've been to Mexico. I could have gone to Japan, but my schedule just didn't fit. So I'm traveling the world, and that's all happened in one year.
”premiered, Barker was prepared for an audience more akin to a rock concert than a film screening , but he wasn’t sure how it would be received elsewhere.
“I knew the movie played well, I knew that the scares were scary and the laughs were funny, but I didn't know how it would play in other theatres or if that would be the same case everywhere,” he says. “I woke up the next day and I had missed calls from my manager — I didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing,” he says. “I was like, ‘Hey, what's going on?
’ And he's like, ‘Dude, everybody's putting in a bid for this thing. ’”Hailing from Mobile, Ala. , and later relocating to Los Angeles for film school, Barker got his start making short films and sketches, which he shared on YouTube and TikTok. He noticed a growing wave of young directors leveraging online platforms to bypass Hollywood’s traditional gatekeepers, proving that a loyal social media following can be the ultimate proof-of-concept for feature-length movies.
He was still working at a coffee shop and sharing a bunk bed in a small apartment with his brother when a producer approached him to pitch his own feature idea.
“There was this, like, almost promise that was being put out in the universe — like if you make a good enough short film someone will find it and someone will give you enough money,” he says. , for people that don't know, there's a character named Julie who snaps.
She'll be happy one second, and then she'll be upset, and then she'll be happy again … and I think what I love about that is that it's an unpredictable thing. You don't know what she's going to do next. ” Looking back on his whirlwind year, Barker has found the experience of having a hit film both baffling and intimidating.
“‘Intimidating’ is a great word because I start to have this weird out-of-body experience where I'm like, ‘What did Curry Barker do? ” he says with a laugh.
“I'm not even myself anymore. I see people dissecting my work, like whole videos about ‘see what Curry Barker did here’ and I'm learning. I’m like, ‘Interesting, I guess I did do that! ’”
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