Obsession's Cooper Tomlinson Says One Scene Left The Cast Completely Stunned [Exclusive]
This article contains spoilers for "Obsession."
"That was a big night."
When I spoke to "Obsession" actor Cooper Tomlinson, who plays Bear's (Michael Johnston) best friend Ian in writer/director Curry Barker's sensational horror movie, that's how he described shooting what is certainly among the most disturbing scenes in the entire film.
It's a credit to the creativity and ingenuity of "Obsession" that such a low-budget movie contains several moments that I could be referencing with that description. Some candidates include Bear being unwittingly fed pieces of his own dead cat; Nikki (Inde Navarrette) murdering Sarah (Megan Lawless) by repeatedly smashing her into the steering wheel of a car; or the final moments, when Bear dies, and the real Nikki emerges, screaming, back into her own body after being subjugated for the majority of the film. But maybe the most uncomfortable moment is when Nikki shares an excerpt from her book during a party.
Nikki, who has said earlier in the film that she's working on writing a "love story" (she clarifies that it's not a romance), stands up and begins reciting a twisted version of "Hansel & Gretel" that includes as much incest as an episode of "House of the Dragon." The party attendees are naturally horrified, but they ain't seen nothin' yet: The party ends with Nikki smashing herself in the face with a broken glass bottle.
I asked Tomlinson about what it was like to witness this scene up close and personal, and he told the story of how the memorable and disturbing set piece came to be.
Obsession's big party scene was 'very frightening and fun'
We've all been there: A friend has been acting strangely, and during a Jenga-style drinking game at a chill house party, she busts out her Notes app and freaks us the eff out with an unscheduled reading of her incestuous creative writing project, throwing in the occasional British accent for good measure. It happens. For Cooper Tomlinson, though, it was a "big night" on the "Obsession" set, and Inde Navarrette's performance left the cast stunned:
"It was, I believe, a 14-hour overnight shoot, and we [filmed] Inde's side, then we do the whole thing. It was very specific on how we shot everything, and then we do our side, right? So Inde, when she did her side, she didn't want many people in there. She wanted to surprise us, so we weren't in there for her stuff, so she got to do her sequence, her close-up. A couple of people who were in the shot got to see it as well, but when we came in and did our side of things, that was the first time we got to hear her read it, say the thing aloud, and it was very frightening and fun. And that take you see of us in the movie is the only take, I think.
I was just stunned watching her playing with voices. It was so cool. And then the laugh — us all in that wide shot, and she's doing the crazy laugh. It was like, 'Oh, my gosh.' We didn't do much rehearsal on that. We just went into it. It was super fun."
Navarrette's work as Nikki is tremendously physical, but this scene, in which she commands the room with her quiet delivery and sly smile, showcases a range that I hope will serve her well throughout her career.