Anthony Pavone Says He Learned “Obsession” Connections While Living With Curry Barker

Anthony Pavone, a 29-year-old actor, said his path toward the horror world that culminates in the upcoming film Obsession was shaped long before casting decisions, in part because he and Curry Barker once shared a home. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published July 1, Pavone described watching Barker’s career take off from inside their shared living situation, and said their early creative work came from day-to-day proximity rather than from a formal partnership pitch.

Pavone’s account places Barker’s professional momentum alongside the personal routines of roommates, where he said he could see how quickly opportunities emerged and how those opportunities changed their working rhythm. He characterized their relationship as both collaborative and intimate, describing the way he was able to observe Barker’s rise while continuing to pursue his own acting work.

The interview also looked at Pavone’s transition from those early days into structured projects tied to genre storytelling. Pavone said he and Barker made their 2023 horror short film during this earlier period, with the work serving as an example of how they built material together before larger audiences and casting cycles were in view.

Asked about how he approached auditions, Pavone said he resisted the idea that friendship should automatically translate into getting roles. In the interview, he said, “Don’t just hand me a role because it’s your friend,” framing his comments around credibility and craft rather than personal connection.

Pavone further described auditioning for Obsession and for Anything But Ghosts, presenting the process as a test of fit and performance rather than an extension of their roommate history. The Hollywood Reporter’s piece highlights that he viewed these auditions as moments where he had to establish himself with the same expectations applied to any other performer.

For Barker, the interview positions Pavone as an early presence during the period when their shared environment overlapped with creative production. The report presents their history as part of how Pavone understands the genre business, including the shift from making small-scale work to pursuing roles in projects with broader release ambitions.

The Hollywood Reporter interview does not provide additional details in the provided record about release dates, casting timelines, or specific role outcomes. The next publicly observable step for readers, according to the trajectory described in the piece, is continued coverage as Obsession and Anything But Ghosts move forward through production and distribution announcements.