Curry Barker says he rejected $2 million offer to rewrite major 'Obsession' plot point | indy100

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images, Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2026 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

Obsession is has become a major box office hit - but the horror film's plot could have been entirely different...

The story follows Bear (Michael Johnston), who breaks the mysterious 'One Wish Willow' to win his crush's heart, childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette)...and that's exactly what he gets.

But he "soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price," the plot synopsis reads.

A big theme in the film is the horror of your bodily autonomy being stripped away, as we see happen to Nikki, and how Bear cruelly dismissed Nikki's agency to fulfill his desires, making him the true villain of the story.

Curry Barker attends the Los Angeles Special Screening of Focus Features' "Obsession" at the Hollywood Legion Theater on May 11, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

However, this plot could have been completely different as director Curry Barker revealed in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, that he was offered $2 million to rewrite the script to change Bear's character arc.

“When we were shopping this around, there were companies that told me they would give me $2 million if I just rewrote the script to make Bear a hero," Barker said.

He continued: “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'.”

Blumhouse

The director noted how the film would've been "so boring" if he had altered the story for Bear to 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," he added, and instead made the film with a $750,000 budget which has since gone on to make $286.5 million globally.

As for the potential of a sequel, Barker has said not to expect a follow-up anytime soon.

"I don’t want to go straight into Obsession 2. I have such a cool idea for it that I won’t say. I’m not saying it has to be five, six years from now. But I think people would be just as excited for it if it came a little down the road. It’s a whirlwind and I’m trying to figure it out."

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