In the film “Obsession,” actor Inde Navarrette focuses on how the story makes its villain feel believable—especially through the early choices that turn on-screen suspicions into something darker. He also addresses the buzz around the film’s cat “Sandy,” and w
When the conversation starts, it’s already tense—because the character has lied from the first minutes.
Inde Navarrette is talking about “Obsession. ” and he begins with a moment that sets the tone: “Like. he never admits it. He tells Ian in the very beginning. ‘Nikki’s acting weird.’” Then the exchange follows. sharp and personal—Ian asks. “Well. did you sleep with her?. Because if you did, that’s really fucked up.” Bear answers, “No, no, I didn’t, I slept on the floor.”.
But Navarrette doesn’t let that sit.
“That’s a lie,” he says, explaining that Bear did, in fact, sleep with Nikki. What makes the early scene matter. he adds. isn’t just what the viewer learns—it’s how those tiny choices build toward a decisive shift. “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.”.
The film’s fascination doesn’t stop there. Online discussion has also latched onto a different, more playful detail: the cat.
Navarrette laughs when he brings it up, saying, “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.” Then he delivers a clear correction. “But no, Sandy did not possess Nikki. Nope.”
He repeats the point with emphasis—“Definitive exclusive! The cat is not Nikki. [laughs] Definitive. Yeah, sorry. [laughs]”—before the conversation moves to the bigger reason the movie is catching fire with viewers.
“Why do you think the film is connecting with so many people?” comes the question.
Navarrette points first to the way the film blends old comfort with a modern feel. “I think that Curry did a really good job with applying modern technology to this movie while making it feel nostalgic.” He ties that nostalgia to community—something audiences seem to be craving. “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.”.
Relatability is the next hook. He says the characters on both sides of the conflict feel human. and the movie refuses to flatten Nikki into a single-note stereotype. “And 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.”.
He connects that approach to how the filmmaking team talks about the characters too. “Michael [Johnston] really wanted Bear to be extremely humanized. We don’t judge our characters. It’s for the audience to decide.”
And for Navarrette, audiences feel that authenticity visually as much as emotionally. “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.”.
When fans began calling him “the new scream queen of the year,” the reaction isn’t exactly what he expected.
“Oh, God. [laughs].Right! Who would you say is your favorite final girl?”
He thinks for a moment, then lands on classic horror lineage—“Hmmm—Amanda Seyfried [in Jennifer’s Body] is [a final girl], right?”
But then he pivots again, naming another performance. “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.”
That “final girl” energy, he says, is about agency at the end. “She’s the ultimate final girl. She takes full power and full agency over everything in the end.”
He returns to liking that kind of outcome—“Yeah, I love that movie.”—before the conversation turns toward what comes next.
“What else are you working on this year?” he’s asked.
He keeps the details deliberately out of reach. “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.”
Still, he’s clear about the direction of his work. “But I’m just really excited for these next couple of steps and these next couple of movies.” Then he frames where “Obsession” fits into his ongoing momentum. “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.”.
He ends by describing how “Obsession” didn’t just land—it got under his skin. “I really got bit by the Obsession bug, and so we’re gonna keep in that tone moving forward.”
Obsession Inde Navarrette Scream queen final girl Blink Twice Zoë Kravitz Jennifer’s Body Taylor Clemons Michael Johnston Invertigo Sandy the cat