Obsession Director Reveals Tragic ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Ending Cut from Box Office Horror Hit
Director Curry Barker reveals the original dark ending for Obsession featured a double suicide before Inde Navarrette's performance changed the final film cut.
POLICY WIRE — New York City, USA — The breakout horror film Obsession was intended to have a far more somber conclusion than what audiences ultimately saw on screen. 27-year-old director Curry Barker revealed the alternate ending during a recent Q&A session at MoMa’s The Contender series, hosted by filmmaker Rian Johnson.
Barker described his initial vision for the finale as a Romeo and Juliet style tragedy. In the version currently released to the public, the character Bear, portrayed by Michael Johnston, suffers a fatal overdose to break the curse he placed on Nikki, played by Inde Navarrette. After Bear dies in her arms, Nikki awakens from her trance in a state of visible trauma.
The original script, however, envisioned Nikki taking her own life via gunshot immediately after Bear passed, resulting in the deaths of both protagonists. Barker noted that while financier Capstone Pictures requested a version where the character survived, he initially resisted the change due to his commitment to the morbid ending.
The director eventually agreed to film the alternate ending to satisfy the investors, but he was surprised by Navarrette’s acting. Barker stated that her first take was the best of the shoot, noting that her performance shifted the narrative entirely by leaving the audience to wonder about Nikki’s future actions. Rian Johnson commented that the original version was indeed much darker.
Obsession subverted the classic ‘be careful what you wish for’ trope through a story involving a cursed One Wish Willow. Bear uses the artifact to force his colleague Nikki to love him with absolute intensity, a wish that quickly devolves into terrifying obsession, haunting scares, and a series of fatalities.
Despite being produced on a modest $750,000 budget, the indie horror became a global phenomenon this summer, grossing over $500 million worldwide. This unprecedented success shattered several box office records and earned the debutant director a $10 million million bid for his next project, though Blumhouse-Atomic Monster holds the right of first refusal for the upcoming film.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
