I want to be like Charlize Theron in Monster. I want to be in prosthetics, and you won’t even know it’s me. That is my dream career.
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Man of the Moment
I’m Still HerePhotography by Reto Sterchi
Styling by Shameelah Hicks at The Wall Group
Grooming by Lucy Gargiulo using Oribe
Produced by Jesse Simon
Location: MVMT Studios
Global Brand Ambassador: Kee Chang
Special Thanks to Dominique Appel, Emily Rennert & Zoe Tucker
It is unremarkable for movies to receive standing ovations at film festivals. It is, however, unusual for a crowd to chant a director’s name before their film even begins. That was the scene buyers encountered inside the Royal Alexandra Theatre at last year’s Toronto Film Festival as Curry Barker, a YouTube sensation behind the found footage film Milk & Serial, unveiled his full-length theatrical debut Obsession in the Midnight Madness sidebar. He sauntered on stage to introduce the movie, telling the crowd flatly, “This movie fucking sucks.” The room erupted into laughter. There’s no burying the lede here: Obsession is about as good as horror gets. It is all kinds of messed up, and that is a compliment. This Midnight Madness gem lives on past the witching hour.
Michael Johnston stars as Bear, a quintessential nice guy forever pining for his childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Fumbling his chance to come clean once more and in a fugue state of dejection, he turns to a monkey’s paw object, One Wish Willow, which he acquires in a woo-woo curio shop. His wish? That Nikki would love him more than anything else in the world. In no time at all, Nikki is horny for Bear. A finger snap transformation, it is exactly what he had been fantasizing about. Once spirited and independent, she is a creature tirelessly living for just one purpose: to love him. She is a specter haunting Bear’s home—the horrific curdling of the perfect girlfriend. And now, after a litany of insane behavior, he is desperate for Nikki to change back.
Make no mistake: that Obsession works as well as it does rests firmly on lead Johnston’s shoulders. In a standout performance, the actor expertly embodies the bewildered anxieties and tragic guilt of a man, both victim and predator, whose soul rots in a relentless nightmare of errors. It is a tricky role and a tough balancing act, to be sure, playing a character that frequently inspires frustration, and even outright anger. But that is by design, which Johnston keys into. In the end, we arrive at Bear’s hollowed-out sadness as he is tortured by the very thing he once thought might save him.
Obsession sets the stage for a new, exciting chapter for Johnston. We are witnessing the reinvention of a major talent who, until now, has been most widely recognized for his work on Teen Wolf.
Obsession opens in theaters on May 15.
Hi, Michael. How are you doing, sir?
I’m doing great!
I bet you are!
[laughs]
Congratulations on Obsession. You must be over the moon.
Thank you! It’s such a dream… This is a tiny little movie, you know? It’s an indie movie. So to get this recognition—first getting into Midnight Madness at TIFF, and the news about the sale—it’s been a dream come true. It’s the little engine that could. We knew it was special. Everybody was so passionate and worked so hard. Now the ads are starting to appear in all the movie theaters. All my friends, and people I haven’t spoken to in years, are texting me pictures of the poster. It’s surreal.
You never know how something will turn out, and this is the best possible outcome.
It’s incredible. It’s getting so much attention and it’s not even out yet. I can’t imagine what’s yet to come. It’s a dream to be part of a movie that I would be the first in line to watch as a moviegoer.
Patience is a virtue in your profession.
Oh my god, absolutely. We shot this two, three years ago. I don’t even remember exactly. It seems like forever ago. Even when we did a week of reshoots, a whole year had gone by.
There’s just a lot of waiting around. Waiting for the call, waiting for the release… Really, waiting for opportunities like this one to come along I imagine. Has that gotten easier?
No way! Look, we used to go into audition rooms. But that pretty much died with Covid. There are some benefits to being able to redo a self-tape over and over to perfect it, but for the most part, I hate them because you do all this work and then it feels like it’s going out into the void.
But sometimes you do hear back. I recently played a firefighter on 9-1-1 and that’s something I had auditioned for years ago. They had held onto my tape. So those things do happen. But for the most part, you never know who’s watching or who’s a fan of yours until you receive the call.
I remember having a conversation with Oliver Stark during his freshman year on that show. He talked about going on ride-alongs with a firehouse. What kind of prep did you do?
They have firefighter consultants on the show and they push you to do everything as realistically as possible. They put you in the real gear so I had to wear the SCBA mask, which had oxygen hooked up to it ‘cause it would otherwise fog up. I did training for stuff like that. As the new guy coming in, there was also just the adrenaline rush, decoding the terminology and figuring out what to do.
What season are they on now?
Ninth. My first day on set, they actually found out they were being renewed for season ten.
I totally forgot that 9-1-1 is another Ryan Murphy show. There’s no stopping that guy.
There’s no stopping him.
You’re obviously no stranger to television. Teen Wolf was a particularly big chapter.
It was. And when I got cast, I didn’t know that my arc would go beyond one episode. It turned into almost thirty. It really changed my life. I’ll be forever grateful for my Beacon Hills family.
I see parallel in these two shows. Similar to 9-1-1, doing the final two seasons of Teen Wolf, you joined an existing cast and crew. You were also initiated into an existing fandom. I wonder if that might feel like being the new kid in school, which we know can be challenging.
You hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly what it feels like. I know what it feels like to be the new kid at school. I moved around to different schools when I was younger. I think I’ve been lucky because, coming into both shows, the cast and crew were so lovely. Everyone was so kind. Believe me, plenty of actors have told me they didn’t have a good time on certain shows.
Not a crazy amount of time has passed since Teen Wolf. Do you still get recognized from that?
I will get recognized every once in a while, but it doesn’t happen as much anymore. I mean, we still do a lot of conventions. A lot of those conventions are in Paris. The Parisian fans are die-hard.
There have been rumblings about a potential reboot.
I’ve heard that!
Is it something you’re keen to revisit?
If I get the call, I would love to. It would be interesting ‘cause the characters are now grown up.
I think you were nineteen when you were cast in Teen Wolf.
Yeah, I think I had just turned nineteen.
I think you got that show not long after moving to LA, so you hit the ground running.
Absolutely. I booked Teen Wolf like a year or so of being in LA. I was still a baby at the time.
The more common story you hear is that you hustle for a long time to catch a break.
Right.
If you catch one at all.
Certainly. But I think you’re also always moving the goalpost further and further, you know?
I always thought it would be cool to be an actor, but what really got me into acting was my voiceover work. When I met my manager, Tash [Moseley], I kept talking to him about my love of voiceover. But I think his plan was to get me in front of the camera all along. With one of my first acting auditions, he said, “Just do the same thing you would do in the booth.” I was a little hesitant in the beginning, but I fell in love with acting really quickly. I’ve been with Tash since I moved out to LA. I’ll never forget this thing he said to me: “All you have to do is show up as yourself. Be fearless and try things, and trust that there are other people whose job it is to make sure that you’re doing the technical things.” I think that was important to learn in my twenties. I just turned thirty. It’s a weird age because I’m still too young for certain things, but too old for high school roles. It’s an interesting time you hear a lot of actors talk about. But I’m excited for this new chapter.
I’m sure you’ve been told you look much younger than you are throughout your life.
Oh yeah. Well, I don’t get carded much anymore, which is okay.
So now it’s more you that’s going, “Are you sure? Are you sure you don’t wanna card me?”
[laughs] “Take my ID!”
With Obsession coming out, I’m not gonna lie: I’ve been excited to hear what people think about the film, so I have been reading some reviews. There are some extremely polarizing opinions about my character. Exploring that moral gray zone is what I found so satisfying about playing him. It’s not just black and white.
The reviews themselves have been overwhelmingly positive.
I know! And that’s a problem! Because you can read 99 great reviews and it’s like a drug, and then you’ll come across one review that’s not so nice and walk around upset all day.
Why are we wired like this?
Why are we like this!
It’s great to sit down with you because I’ve been unsuccessful in unraveling some of your mysteries. LA was by the way of Chicago, wasn’t it? How did you end up at Second City?
That’s a great question. As we established, I knew I wanted to pursue voiceover work. And I was curious about acting in more general terms. I applied to so many colleges. One of those schools was Columbia College Chicago. I was chosen for a scholarship there. But it wasn’t for an acting program. It was for their Comedy Studies program, which is interesting… Long story short, my dad was able to get a job in Chicago and that’s why we moved there. That’s how I was able to take some acting and improv classes at Second City. I really liked it. But I was only there for six months. I decided to move to LA and do the thing. That felt like something I needed to do.
The way my brain works, I hear Chicago and Second City and I immediately think of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. That’s why I wondered if you were also looking to explore improv.
I have so much respect for the craft of improv, but I always viewed it as part of my toolkit rather than my final destination. The key thing I learned was how to listen. That improved every single relationship in my life. And my work as an actor, of course.
I remember telling my dad that I didn’t want to accept the scholarship, that I wanted to move out to LA. He poured a big glass of bourbon. [laugh] He gulped it down and said, “Alright, son.” You know, I didn’t talk to my father a lot in my early teens. It wasn’t until I graduated high school that we sort of reconnected. So I feel lucky to have both parents who are supportive of me chasing my dreams. The idea of me moving out to LA by myself must have been stressful for them.
I think it’s wonderful, too, that in making this huge leap moving across the country to pursue your dreams, you were also able to come into your own identity in a really big way. You’re openly gay, and you played a gay character on Teen Wolf. Was that a coincidence?
That was a total coincidence. If I’m being honest, that was really scary, especially coming from North Carolina—the Bible Belt. Before Teen Wolf, there was also another movie I did called Slash. My character in that one is questioning. He’s trying to figure out who he is and what he likes.
Did it empower you, knowing that you had queer fans looking up to you and, really, relying on you to be strong to represent them? Because then it becomes so much bigger than yourself.
I did get thousands of messages and letters from fans thanking me, saying how much my character in Teen Wolf helped them. I had no idea what that representation would mean to so many people. I am very proud of who I am. But at the same time, I wasn’t sitting there thinking about how meaningful that representation would be. I approach every role with the same honesty and try to find the humanity in it. Love is universal—that’s how I approach every role. A character’s sexuality isn’t the first thing I’m looking at. It’s more important that I connect with the story.
You know, I haven’t talked a lot about my personal life. I’m still trying to figure out how I want to navigate all of this. I think it’s nice when there’s some mystery around actors’ lives.
I agree. I know I’m not exactly helping, but actors have lost so much of their mystique.
I show up every day and just try to be present. Life is crazy. There are a lot of ups and downs. I think knowing who you are and standing by your core values is your greatest strength. And playing these characters has absolutely helped me to better understand who I am. I’m looking forward to having more choices in my career with the roles I get to play. I’m also eager to step into a queer role that feels intentional and authentic. I want to choose the stories and be selective. So it is as much about integrity as it is about being strong.
You once described Rutherfordton, where you’re originally from, as a tiny rural town.
Yeah, I lived in a town called Ruth in Rutherfordton in Rutherford County. What a disaster… [laughs] I’m not talking about the county! The name is a disaster. A lot of people call it Ruff’ton.
Just how small is Ruff’ton?
It’s tiny. Driving along the highway, you know how you’ll see green signs telling you what’s in the towns? Well, when I was growing up there, that sign was empty. When I lived there, there really wasn’t anything. I actually went back there for a couple days recently. There’s still nothing there. The population has not grown. It still feels like just a stop on the way to somewhere else. I think growing up in a town that small only fueled my imagination. It worked out in my favor.
How outsized did your dreams feel growing up there?
That’s a great question. I feel lucky because I always had this little voice in my head telling me I could do anything I put my mind to. I always believed in myself. Maybe I got that from my parents. Maybe it was an angel sitting on my shoulder. But that’s not to say that my dream of moving to Hollywood and becoming successful didn’t also feel impossible. When I decided to find an agent, and when my mom would drive me to all the classes and showcases in Charlotte and Atlanta, it still felt like an impossible dream. It took years of persistence and constant rejections.
Failure isn’t an option for me. I love what I do so much. And maybe you have to be crazy enough to keep doing it. Everyone has their own story. Like you were saying before, it’s more often a slow burn. There’s that phrase: It takes ten years to become an overnight success. I live by this truth: You’re never a failure as long as you keep trying. I just haven’t given up. But it did feel impossible.
In all seriousness, do you think it helps to be a little bit delusional?
Delusional, or just able to accept the fact that there are no guarantees. I’m fortunate enough to not have anyone depending on me. I have a dog. It’s not like I have children. Everyone’s different obviously, but I’m able to keep doing it. I’ve always just kind of scraped by. I mean, you do have to be a little crazy, though. [laughs] When someone asks me how they can get into acting, I usually reply with, “Don’t do it.” And if they want to do it as much as I do, I know they won’t listen.
You hear that advice from actors a lot: “If there is nothing else you can do…”
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are you very ambitious?
I am. But again, I really try to give my full attention to what’s right in front of me. I mean, hyper-focused attention. I’m super ADHD. I really am. I didn’t just diagnose myself on TikTok. [laughs] I don’t take any medication for it. I actually think my crazy, squirrel brain is a superpower.
To harness.
Right! I harness the squirrel brain! [laughs] I’m like a little train on a railway. If I veer off, you just gotta put me back on those tracks. Because I’ll keep going. I won’t ever run outta fuel.
And to think this all started with Mortal Kombat. Do you know where I’m going with this?
Oh my god, yes! Where did you even find out? That’s absolutely right. I played a lot of Mortal Kombat games, and it was Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance specifically. In that game, I used the in-game currency to unlock a behind the scenes video. In that video, you see voice actors in the booth recording the effort sounds for the characters. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I hadn’t realized that could be someone’s job. So once I learned that it was voiceover work, I made it my mission to figure out how I can do it, too. In fact, I started making my own video games to explore that. They were two-dimensional, point-and-click games. What also did it for me was finding forums online where people would make fan dubs of their favorite anime, and finding animation students who were working on their thesis films. I would audition for those. They didn’t pay anything. It must’ve taken me two, three years before I got my first paying gig.
One of my first-ever paid voiceover gigs was for a national Little Caesars commercial. I remember getting that call. I was sitting in the cafeteria at school. I had my little flip phone and answered a random number. It was some casting director. They said, “We need a voice for this commercial. Are you interested?” I don’t even remember how much it paid. It was probably a few hundred dollars. I immediately went home to work on it. It was on the air in two days. That was like the proudest moment of my life. I wonder if that commercial is out there somewhere on the internet…
People love to rag on Little Caesars. It was my go-to pizza chain growing up in Minnesota.
I don’t think I’ve ever had Little Caesars. I don’t do well with dairy so I probably shouldn’t.
We’re sort of burying the lede here: You do have this wonderful voice.
You know, I used to hate the sound of my voice. I also had a strong southern drawl, which I learned to get rid of eventually. It took a long time before I believed that I have a nice voice.
Even now at thirty years old, I voice a lot of young characters. I certainly don’t have a deep, super manly voice. When I was a teenager, if someone called the house, they wouldn’t know if it was me picking up the phone or my sister who was a year younger than me. [laughs] I had such a high-pitched voice. I can still push it and sound super young if I wanted to. So I played that for a long time. It’s only in the last five years or so that I started voicing other types of characters. I learned that you don’t need a deep voice or a crazy vocal range to play different characters. It’s all about technique and vocal placement. Also, in the voiceover world, nine times out of ten, you’re cast to play your own voice. For the most part, you’re just playing yourself. There are a handful of character actors out there doing all the utility roles. So it is a common misconception that you need to have a nice voice, or you need to do all different accents and everything. That’s just a bonus.
Do you think it’s also a misconception that voiceover is an easy, cushy job?
Oh, I think it’s a huge misconception. But it can be cushy sometimes. Sure, you could show up in your pajamas if you wanted to. Maybe you’re not gonna have 12-hour days. And yeah, celebrities get brought in and get paid loads of money to do it. But that’s an anomaly. The most incredibly talented, high-profile working voiceover actors I know still work for scale. For most people, you’re still a working actor in voiceover. It is truly all across the board. It totally depends on the job.
You’ve done all kinds of voiceover work, but to me, the holy grail is X-Men ’97.
Yes! My character was introduced in the season one finale.
So you’re returning for the second season, right?
They’re very secretive about it. All I can safely say is, I’m extremely excited for season two.
I think it’s so neat that you came into acting voice first. If nothing else, it’s far less common to hear that. Then there’s your music. If I remember correctly, it was an opportunity to sing in a voiceover project that renewed your curiosity in it. Music was a dormant interest for you.
I love that you describe it as a dormant interest because it was for a long time. I didn’t grow up singing. I was always shy, I guess. But my mom always wanted me to become a singer, which is funny because she had never heard me sing before. [laughs] Neither had my dad. In fact, the first time I ever sang out loud in front of anyone was for my dad on our drive when I was moving out to California. He was like, “I wanna hear you sing!” I didn’t think it was anything special, but he was flabbergasted. From then on, my parents and my family always pushed me to sing.
I found a video clip of you jamming out with your dad. He seems so loving and supportive.
I’m so lucky. My family is always cheering me on. That has become a constant. You know, my parents divorced when I was young. That was really rough on me and my sister. But now that everything has settled, I’m grateful for my crazy family. My mom is my biggest warrior, my dad is my biggest supporter, and my grandma is my number one fan!
So what did you sing for your dad in the car?
It was “These Arms of Mine” by Otis Redding.
And you told it right: There was an animation job where I had to sing a little bit, which unlocked my voice. Music was always something I had in my back pocket. My dad had also given me his old guitar, which was just hanging on my wall for years. I was always looking at it, thinking, “Gosh, I wish I knew how to play that thing.” Before Covid, I played shows at places like Hotel Cafe. I sang on every open mic stage I could find. Through that, I met with some producers and recorded a few songs. Then I put out a music video. It was for “Gravity.” I’m really proud of that song.
How do you like to describe your music to new listeners?
Well, the songs that I have out there right now are very produced and poppy, which I love. My go-to is John Mayer. Another artist that I absolutely love is Ryan Beatty. I’m inspired by his music. I think he is brilliant. I was also influenced by my dad, so Ray Charles, Al Green, Otis Redding… I do have that soul kind of influence. I love a good lyric. I love a good story in a song. When a song is not only catchy but has really poignant lyrics, I geek out over that.
What is your plan with music nowadays? Do you have a career template?
I have a lot of unreleased songs, and I haven’t really been working on music. It’s something I put in my back pocket again because acting has picked up. But it is something I’m still passionate about. I think the dream is to land a movie or TV role where I’m playing a musician-songwriter.
I would imagine that music is also attractive because it’s something to own creatively. I mean, I certainly hear this from time to time: It allows for control in ways that acting cannot. You write the words. You sing them. No one else has any say. It can belong to you entirely.
Oh yeah. In acting, you don’t always have a choice in what you get to do. With music, I can just go off and write a song and put it out there. That feels sacred to me. I feel protective over it. If people have opinions about one of my movies or TV shows, it’s like whatever. At the end of the day, I showed up and did my part. But with opinions about my music, it can get really personal.
When it comes time to focus on music again, I want to give it the time and effort it deserves. But right now, with my focus on acting, I don’t want to burn out. The music will always be there.
You know, I’ve been thinking about control a lot, about agency. In Obsession, beyond the conventions of horror, the scariest thing to me is Bear and Nikki’s asymmetrical relationship.
I love how you describe it as an asymmetrical relationship. Of course, the topic of consent is huge.
I’m gonna tread carefully now. This movie is a landmine for spoilers.
Yeah, there’s a lot that people probably won’t expect going in. I think the movie has a lot to say.
The monkey’s paw concept isn’t new by any means, but the film is also deceptively simple.
I love the simplicity with which the movie presents its ideas. It also leaves things up to the audience. The reactions have been all across the board. Some people feel bad for Bear. Some people think he’s the most evil human being alive. I love all the conversations the film is sparking.
This is a tricky role. What was your approach to playing both victim and predator?
Well, I approached it with a lot of care! [laughs] Really, Curry [Barker] and I had a lot of conversations about it. Ultimately, I don’t think of Bear as being purely good or purely evil. I just thought about what he wanted, and what he wanted was for the girl of his dreams to like him back.
That’s something we can all relate to.
Exactly. We all know what it’s like to like someone and not have them like us back. Not to mention, I don’t think Bear really thought that the One Wish Willow was actually gonna work.
I’m also happy to report that I’m not like Bear in most other ways. [laughs] I hope I’m not like Bear at all, bless his heart. That’s what we say in North Carolina: “Bless his heart!”
This role would easily fall apart in the wrong hands. You’re very likable and I think that is a paramount quality because Bear inspires frustration, and even anger in parts. Because you’re likable, we’re able to withstand his turbulent journey and, crucially, feel for him, too. Have you ever gotten the opportunity to ask a director or a casting director why they chose you?
You don’t get to ask that question very often. Of course, I am always curious. I have a fun anecdote to share with you about this. I didn’t make a tape for Obsession. I just got the script, which I loved, and then I had a meeting with Curry on Zoom. What Curry told me is that, based on my headshot, he wasn’t convinced I could play Bear. I wasn’t what he was imagining. But once we started talking, and as soon as I did the chemistry read with Inde [Navarrette], it was very clear to him that this was what he was looking for all along. That was an incredible compliment to receive.
You know, had Bear just gotten Nikki a crystal, we wouldn’t have any problems.
He totally should’ve just gotten her a crystal, dude.
But we also wouldn’t have a movie, it turns out.
That’s right. Not only that, there’s someone else in the movie who’s a way better match for Bear romantically. But we’re making a smart horror movie. We’re not interested in obvious choices.
Do you have a favorite horror movie?
It changes all the time. The Silence of the Lambs. Hereditary. Midsommar. I love Ari Aster. Get Out… The first horror movie I remember watching is Halloween. I was ten when my dad showed that to me. As for movies that got me in the mood for Obsession: Fatal Attraction and Misery.
It’s funny you bring up Fatal Attraction. That’s my working title for your cover story.
It’s such a great movie!
I can’t wait to see what choices you make after Obsession. Let me ask you this: If you could snap a One Wish Willow, who would you wish to work with in any of your creative pursuits?
Oh man… That answer’s always gonna change, too. I just watched Big Mistakes so I would say Dan Levy. He is so good, and that show is so unexpected. Laurie Metcalf is phenomenal as well.
I absolutely adore Laurie Metcalf.
She makes me gut laugh and sometimes it’s not even a funny scene. It’s because she’s so specific.
She is top-tier Ghostface in Scream 2.
I totally forgot about that!
Do not sleep on Mrs. Loomis! That role wasn’t written for just any actor to play, either.
She plays an incredible villain. She’s incredible at everything. She’s the definitive character actor.
You know, the best compliment I get is when people say that I’m a chameleon. There are so many different types of roles I would like to play going forward. I want to be like Charlize Theron in Monster. I want to be in prosthetics, and you won’t even know it’s me. That is my dream career.
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