Obsession’s Inde Navarrette Has Seen All Those Nikki Memes, And I Love Her Relatable Take On Them
If I starred in a new horror movie that turned my face into an internet meme, I would absolutely find a way to turn the newfound notoriety into some kind of family group-chat annoyance. Someone suggests a terrible idea? Send the appropriate reaction of my mug. Stepdad says something ridiculous? Hit send on the triple chin scare face. Apparently Obsession star Inde Navarrette understands this impulse perfectly, because she’s seen all those Nikki memes, and she has a relatable take.
Navarrette’s performance as Nikki in Curry Barker’s 2026 calendar release became a massive surprise hit and has produced some of the year’s most recognizable memes, particularly her deeply uncomfortable “No, no, no” scene. On The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, the actress admitted she’s enjoying the attention and has already found a wonderfully practical use for those memes when communicating with her father. She explained:
I am figuring this out. There’s no perfect way. Of course, attention feels great, but I think that it’s really important to recognize how it makes you feel and where you get your cup filled. The way that I’m handling it personally? I have this thing where, ‘It’s none of my business.’ I love the way that it shows up in my family members’ lives where now I can tell my dad [via a texted meme of her in Obsession], ‘No, no, no, no, don’t do that.’
For anyone who missed Obsession, the flick follows Bear (Michael Johnston), after he uses a mysterious wish-granting object to make his crush Nikki fall in love with him. Predictably, things get horrifying. Navarette’s performance swings between romantic affection and outright menace, and the scene, as previously mentioned, “No, no, no,” became a ready-made internet reaction.
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The film cost about $750,000 to make and has since earned more than $500 million worldwide, a ridiculous return for an indie horror movie. It also turned its female lead into a breakout horror star, and she’s obviously finding a useful way to use her most unsettling performance to tell her dad to knock something off. Naturally, the follow-up question is whether Navarrette really sends people memes of herself. She was not remotely embarrassed about it, adding:
Oh, absolutely, are you kidding me? I don’t think anybody in this audience, if they had the memes, would not do that, it’s the best. But it’s a two-hander. On the one hand, it feels wonderful and I can kind of he-he, ha-ha with it. But also, at the same time, the way to kind of keep my feet on the ground and head not up in the clouds is to go, ‘You know what? This is really fun, but some of it isn’t my business.’
That last part is probably the smarter advice here. Becoming a meme means strangers can remix your face, repeat your lines and form opinions about you at a speed nobody could realistically keep up with. The Trap House alum can enjoy the jokes without reading every reaction or allowing the internet to dictate how she feels about her work.
She has considerably more work ahead. After earlier appearances on Superman & Lois, Navarrette has been cast as Rogue in Marvel’s upcoming X-Men reboot. So she’ll soon have an entirely new fandom watching her every move.
For now, Obsession is available to stream with a Peacock subscription. I’d say watch it before sending your own Nikki memes, but by this point, half the internet probably knows the scene by heart.
