‘Obsession’ One Year Later: Inde Navarrette and Curry Barker Dish on Memes, How Nikki Became More ‘Flirty’ and Their Wild Ride at TIFF

By Marlow Stern

Marlow Stern

Chief Correspondent

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• ‘Obsession’ One Year Later: Inde Navarrette and Curry Barker Dish on Memes, How Nikki Became More ‘Flirty’ and Their Wild Ride at TIFF 48 minutes ago
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“Obsession’s” origin story is the stuff of legend.

On Sept. 7, 2025, just two days after its rapturously received premiere in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival, distributor Focus Features offered to acquire its rights for $14-$15 million. The film, about a friend-zoned record store employee named Bear (Michael Johnston) who forces the object of his desire, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), to fall madly — and I do mean madly — in love with him via a mystical toy, was released the following May, where it became a cultural phenomenon, grossing over $500 million worldwide (against a $750,000 budget) and vaulting its 26-year-old writer-director, Curry Barker, and star Inde Navarrette, 25, to the top of the Hollywood A-list. Barker subsequently signed an eight-figure deal with Universal and Blumhouse, who helped shepherd “Obsession,” for his third feature, while Navarrette was cast as Rogue in Marvel’s “X-Men” reboot.

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