Samara Weaving and Ray Nicholson star in the new comedy thriller 'Borderline' from writer-director Jimmy Warden. The two stars of the movie and the filmmaker spoke to The Hollywood Reporter's Tiffany Taylor all about the project, including how popstars like Madonna and Britney Spears inspired the film and its lead character, Sofia. Plus, Ray Nicholson, the son of Jack Nicholson, details why he wanted to be a part of the project and how Warden was the first filmmaker he felt truly believed in him. And Weaving and Warden, who are married in real life, opened up about working together in an actor-director capacity for the first time. 'Borderline' is theaters and on digital March 14.
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00:00Jimmy was really, like, absolutely the first person I felt that truly believed in me."
00:05Borderline, a comedy-thriller starring Samara Weaving and Ray Nicholson, tells the story
00:10of a 90s pop star and her delusional stalker who breaks into her home.
00:14You're hilarious, Sophia.
00:16I'm ready to be yours forever.
00:19We're getting married?
00:22What are you having second thoughts?
00:24The stars of the film and writer-director Jimmy Warden spoke to The Hollywood Reporter
00:27all about the new movie.
00:30Now this is a creepy character, so for you, what drew you to this script and this movie?
00:35It's so weird.
00:38It's so weird.
00:39You know?
00:40It was definitely one of the more excited I felt about reading a script.
00:44It was just something that I felt that I could really play.
00:47Always like a character type that I wanted to play, and when we first met, Jimmy was
00:51really, like, absolutely the first person I felt that truly believed in me.
00:56Not even in filmmaking?
00:58Not even, just like in general.
01:00It came from that.
01:01You know what I mean?
01:02It came from someone just seeing, like, you are the person that should do this, and filling
01:08in that work, and talking to each other about what we thought was going to be the best for
01:13the character.
01:14Weaving and Warden are married in real life.
01:16This film marks the first time the couple has worked together in an actor-director capacity.
01:21Jimmy and I had wanted to work together for a while.
01:24I was just waiting for him to write a script that had a role for me in it, and I love Jimmy's
01:29writing and I'm such a fan, so it was awesome that we could work together.
01:34What iconic pop stars did you look to for inspiration for Sophia?
01:38A lot.
01:39Kind of all of them.
01:40I think kind of like a bunch kind of smooshed together, but just that idea of being a female
01:46pop star in the 90s, like how hard it would have been, how strong you would have had to
01:51be to survive in that world, but also how much fun it would have been.
01:57Yeah, it creates an amalgam of pop stars.
02:00We created a whole backstory together where we shot album covers of what her, and a lot
02:05of them are in the movie, maybe just in the background, but it was that type of character
02:09that was too young, or just young when her first album was sexualized and objectified.
02:17I think that first album was called Minor Crimes.
02:21Her name is Sophia Minor, and like, I don't know, it's just...
02:24Yeah, but you know, Christina, Britney, Madonna, yeah, just like all those classic 90s pop
02:32stars.
02:33Worden also opened up about how Madonna's 1983 song Borderline inspired the title of
02:38the movie.
02:39The song title actually was from a cover of that song that the Flaming Lips did, and it
02:47was just like listening to them do it, and it just changed the entire meaning behind
02:55the song for me.
02:57Like when you hear it from a guy saying something in the way you love me, well, let me be you.
03:03It's like, it's creepy, and that's just kind of, it snowballed from there.
03:10Borderline is set to be released in theaters and on digital platforms March 14th.
03:15For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.