Focus Features
Obsession has become one of the most remarkable stories in modern Hollywood history as the film has grossed nearly $300 million against just a $750,000 budget. Had director Curry Barker followed the money instead of his artistic intuition, however, it may have never come to pass.
During a recent profile interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Curry Barker, who got his start as a content creator on Youtube, revealed that he was offered $2 million to make Obsession if “he rewrote the script to make Bear [the male lead, played by Michael Johnston] a hero.”
Obsession director Curry Barker says he turned down $2 million to make the movie due to requests to make Bear the hero of the story
Without spoiling the film for those who haven’t seen it, that change would have fundamentally altered the DNA of the story.
“I was like, ‘I’m not rewriting the script to make Bear a guy that does all the right things. It’s so much more interesting that he doesn’t do the right thing and instead tries to make [the relationship] work and he just keeps making bad decision after bad decision.’ The movie would have been so boring if Bear was going on a journey to figure out the lore of the One Wish Willow. So I turned down more money to tell the story that I was more interested in telling.” [via THR]
Barker instead stuck to his guns and made the version of the story that he wanted to tell and has now helmed one of the most remarkable Hollywood success stories in recent memory.
To put into context just what an unprecedented success Obsession has been, the film made more money during its 25th day at the domestic box office than Avengers: Endgame — the second highest-grossing film of all time — made on its 25th day in theaters: Obsession made $4.2 million domestically on its 25th day in cinemas, compared to $3.2 million for Avengers: Endgame.