How Obsession's Inde Navarrette Went From Twitch Streamer to Scream Queen

This story contains major spoilers for Obsession. Director Curry Barker's zeitgeist-seizing indie horror film Obsession has a lot going for it, including Tim & Eric-esque long takes, shadows that make the ordinary turn uncanny, a twisted “Monkey’s Paw”-inspired premise—and most of all, a killer lead performance from Inde Navarrette as a victim trapped in an antagonist’s body. As Nikki Freeman, the object of desire for the misguided, lovesick, cowardly-then-callous Bear (Michael Johnston), the 25-year-old Mexican-Australian CW veteran elevates the straightforward narrative of Barker’s film, combining the menace of Misery’s Annie Wilkes, the instability of Isabelle Adjani in Possession, the emotional range of Toni Collette in I’m Thinking Of Ending Things, and the swift movement of a Deadite.

But even as Navarrette’s portrayal of Nikki grows more and more terrifying, a secondary psychological horror washes over the viewer as the film unfolds, because none of this was her choice. What sets Nikki apart from the jealous-girlfriend trope popularized by films like Play Misty For Me and Fatal Attraction is that she’s been stripped of her agency, damned to a sunken place by a friend she trusted. Navarrette communicates this disconnect between brain and body through quick eye flutters, jerky movements, and short spurts of lucidity, in which she takes back just enough control to feel confused, bewildered, petrified. Nikki is a victim, not a villain, a distinction Navarette wanted to make certain the audience understood.

We hopped on a call and spoke to the budding star about all things Obsession, how she fell in love with horror, the biggest misconception about the film, and why she’s not leaving the genre anytime soon. GQ: It's been a couple of weeks. You've seen the praise for your performance. Did you have any sense that the film would be this big?

Inde Navarrette: I actually didn't feel that way until a few weeks ago. I remember getting the phone call that we had gotten into TIFF, and that was one of the best phone calls I've ever received, because it was such a goal that we were trying to hit and we achieved it. If things had been left there, I would still be as proud of this film as I am today.

But I think where it really hit me was seeing the film doing great the first week and then continuing to go up. That’s usually unheard of. It really solidified it in my brain about how [much] people love the movie. I've seen you credit Mia Goth in Pearl and Toni Collette in Hereditary as inspirations for your performance.

What were your early memories of horror films, and what initially interested you in the genre? My Tía had two Chucky dolls, Chucky and Chucky's Bride, that were peekaboo dolls. So they were up against the wall. And I remember going to use the bathroom at her house and just being terrified that the dolls were going to turn around.

Or like, my Tía would babysit all of us and we’d watch Nightmare on Elm Street. I watched Rob Zombie films, and I think Rob Zombie is kind of where it turned for me because it was more campy and it just was a little bit different. And then whenever it got to the psychological horrors, that's where I couldn't do it.. I watched Hereditary, and I looked up every time I walked into a room because I just… I knew Toni [Collette] was going to be on my roof.

But my earliest memories were of Chucky at my Tía's house. I was probably 5. What is it about Nikki that jumped off the page and made you want this role? Initially, for me, it was the fact that I had never read a character like hers.

I've seen kind of the crazy-girlfriend trope or the jealous-girlfriend trope being done before, but I hadn't seen it in this way. Like, the way that I read Nikki specifically and I envisioned Nikki, I felt like it was different, and that was really enticing to me. To portray what I had initially in my head whenever I first read the script. No, for sure, because you're essentially playing an antagonist and a victim.

Yeah. And how fascinating that line is to walk. Like, it was just a very big Can you do this? for me. And a really big challenge that I was excited to take on.

Was there a key moment during the process that made you go: I get this character? Whenever I first read the script, my initial response was, “Can I do what it's asking?” And one of the biggest hurdles that I was reading was [stage directions like] “Blood-curdling scream.” I don't have the same scream as what I would consider and conceptualize as a blood-curdling scream. My voice is a little bit deeper. So I wondered if I was hitting my perception of what that would be.

There were a lot of moments in the script where I felt like I wouldn't hit the nail directly on the head, just like what that perception of a blood-curdling scream was, or, some of the dynamics. But what I thought was interesting was she's a human at the end of the day, and a human is fully capable of doing all of these things. And so, once I kind of let go of trying to be something that had already existed, it really allowed me to have full freedom in playing Nikki as just a person who feels really big emotions and portraying that. I kind of let go of the chains of what a scream should be, or quote-unquote scream queen is, or what a horror girl is.

It really allowed me to bring Nikki together. One thing that jumped out to me was your various facial expressions in the film. How were you able to pull those off? I guess just no Botox in my face! [laughs].

But I think that a lot of those ideas were Curry's. His need and want to portray the unsettlingness, like the uncanniness of those facial expressions, and the way that it makes you feel. He talks about taking away the intention, you don't know what she's going to do, and that's really terrifying. Him and I would kind of play with the squintiness.

Like, are her eyes fully open? Do you see the pain there? Or, is it just her smiling? And I remember Curry specifically with the scowl [during the party scene.].

He was like, “I want you to pout.” But I'm quite a visual person. If you tell me to pout, I just need to see a version of what you are meaning. And so once he realized that I'm a very visual person, Curry would make the face first and then I would mimic it. So I was his marionette doll.

Many times he would just be like “Lower, like really deep in it, and tilt your face this way and go this way.” It's not an emotion thing, it's an emotiveness. It was really, really fun to have him play around with me. I haven't been able to get the sleep-talk scene out of my head. You’re walking a tightrope in that moment—you have to convey horror, anguish, and tragic clarity, and you do it with so few words.

How did you prepare for that, and what did you want the audience to feel? We only get a few moments with Nikki in the beginning of the movie. And so I wanted to make sure that every time that we popped back out, we remembered who she was at the beginning and to also tell a story behind the scenes because we don't see where she is. We don't really see what she's feeling all the time.

We don't get to see her arc. So to really relay to the audience what's happening to her, and to do that in so few moments, was so beautiful. In that moment, in particular, I had to keep my body physically still but had to withdraw an emotion. It was such a fun challenge because—I don't know if it's the scene that they picked in the movie— but there were a couple takes where my body would get physical anxiety and would shake.

I found that really interesting because, you know, you're trying to keep still but you can't, and she's in such despair. So, it really was a lot of fun because I wanted to convey vocally the way that she was feeling, you know. It was tough because you want to convey so much in such a little amount of time, but I think the audience could piece together where she was at. Yeah, I think it's pretty effective.

Gave me goosebumps, especially in the theater. By that same token, what was the most difficult scene to shoot? Physically, smashing my head through a candy glass window [in the car scene]. I had to get it perfect on two tries.

The glass is sugar, but it's still sharp. So, I think that was difficult for me because I had never really done stunts before. And a lot of my own stunts I did in this film. There are a lot of interpretations and theories flying around about this movie.

What do you believe is the biggest misconception about the film? Oh, the biggest misconception I think is that Bear is this sociopathic, psychopathic person beforehand. I've been told that people think that Bear killed the cat. And no, I think what's really fascinating about this story is that it's a shift of perspective, right?

So, you empathize with the fact that, you know, Bear's lonely, he feels like a loser, he feels like this girl doesn't love him, and then suddenly gets everything that he's ever wanted but is really questioning why because he didn't really deserve it. But the moment that he does become the villain is after dinner when he's told that the wish is true, and that he doesn't care the way that it's affecting the real Nikki. That's where the shift is. And so, I think it's such a beautiful thing because somebody who makes a horrible mistake that will define them for the rest of their lives isn't that way beforehand, but there's pieces of it beforehand.

Like, he never admits it. He tells Ian in the very beginning, “Nikki's acting weird.” And Ian says, “Well, did you sleep with her? Because if you did, that's really fucked up.” And [Bear] goes, “No, no, I didn't, I slept on the floor.” That's a lie. He did sleep with her.

So, you see the things in the very beginning that lead to him making that decision, but it's only within that decision that he fully becomes the villain. I think that’s so smart, beautiful, and very human. Another one that I think is more fun it's Sandy [the cat] that's possessing Nikki. I choked on my water about that one, it was really funny.

But no, Sandy did not possess Nikki. Nope. Definitive exclusive! The cat is not Nikki. [laughs] Definitive.

Yeah, sorry. [laughs] Why do you think the film is connecting with so many people? I think that Curry did a really good job with applying modern technology to this movie while making it feel nostalgic. And I think something that my generation, younger generations, and the generation before me seek is nostalgia. We love this kind of home vibe, this community connection that we don't quite have anymore because of social media and the internet.

I think the second one is just how relatable the characters are, on both spectrums, right? I wanted to make sure that Nikki wasn't being seen as just like some crazy girlfriend. I wanted her to be very humanized. Michael [Johnston] really wanted Bear to be extremely humanized.

We don't judge our characters. It's for the audience to decide. So, I think that allows people to resonate and have conversations to have that connection. I think another part of it is the way that the film looks.

I think it looks incredibly beautiful, and that is due to our [director of photography], Taylor Clemons. And I think there’s an authenticity behind it that you can kind of feel through the screen. Those are all the reasons that I love the film, so I'm guessing that that's why people love it as well. Some people have called you the new scream queen of the year.

Oh, God. [laughs]. But Nikki's a final girl. Who would you say is your favorite final girl? Who was my favorite final girl?

Hmmm—Amanda Seyfried [in Jennifer’s Body] is [a final girl], right? Yeah I’d say so. Wait, no—Naomi Ackie in Blink Twice. I don't even categorize that as a horror movie, technically.

I mean, it's horrific, but that is one of my favorite movies ever. So, I'm gonna say Blink Twice, directed by Zoë Kravitz, 10 toes down. She’s the ultimate final girl. She takes full power and full agency over everything in the end.

Yeah, I love that movie. What else are you working on this year? Oh, well, they're all exciting things that I can't wait to announce. I can't announce them right now, but I'm really looking forward to the moment that we can.

But I'm just really excited for these next couple of steps and these next couple of movies. I think Invertigo is such a fun film, very, very different to Obsession.

But I can't wait to start doing films that are more like Obsession. I really got bit by the Obsession bug, and so we're gonna keep in that tone moving forward. You want to stay in the horror genre? Yeah!

Horror, thriller, suspense. I love how broadening and widening of a definition Horror has. I’d like to live tonally in that area for a while. Who’s the craziest person that's reached out to you since the success of the film?

Big Sean reached out to me and I think that was really fun because his message was so kind and so sweet. Apparently he had been watching me since Superman & Lois, and that was wonderful to hear. I love his music, and to know that he's loved my work. He said something along the lines of, "Keep it up, you pure thespian," and that made my day.

There’s no doubt that your performance in this film is going to lead to some pretty big offers in terms of on-screen acting, but with all the voices you're able to achieve, would voice acting be something you could see yourself doing down the road? Yeah! I grew up playing video games, and I love cartoons and animation. So that is absolutely something that I want to deep dive into because it's less about what I look like and more about what I vocally can achieve, and that just makes me incredibly excited, and we're working on some pretty exciting things so I can’t wait to step into that universe.

Speaking of video games, you used to stream on Twitch. How’d you get into that? It’s just something that I really love to do. One of my first games growing up that we would play, me and my older brother Amani, it’s the only thing we had to do at my Dad’s house.

We started on the PS2, and we would play Shrek games in Big Head mode with my mom. And then I would branch off by myself to play campaign games. Me and Amani would play Call of Duty. He was really into Halo.

Then we got into Red Dead and like, Fallout, like all of these games. I just would play or watch my older brother. And then I built my own PC during COVID and that was really fun to start to get into PC games. It really just took off with me loving watching YouTubers growing up, like Markiplier.

So for me, it was like, Oh, why not? If I'm not working on a show and I love playing video games by myself and I love playing with friends, then why not stream? It became a lot of fun. The clips look fun, with your Toad hat.

Yeah, [laughs] my Universal [Studios] Toad hat. Let's say you could adapt any story you want, be any character you want. What would be your dream adaptation to have a role in? Oh my God, I think I would love to dub an anime.

I want to be a little creature. I don't want to be a cute girl. I want to be like a little monster, like an evil little thing.