Nathan Fielder was actually cursed by a woman long before Showtime’s The Curse ever began airing.
Speaking with Variety, Benny Safdie, who co-created and stars in The Curse alongside Fielder, recalled how he and the Nathan For You star first met one another in 2016. They hung out for a number of years with no plans of making a television show; however, when Fielder told Safdie about an odd encounter he had with a woman, the idea for The Curse was born.
According to Safdie, Fielder had just moved from Canada to Los Angeles when he was walking into a cellphone store and a woman asked him for money. Not having anything on him at the time, the woman promptly said, “I curse you.” Taken aback, Fielder went to an ATM, gave her $20, and asked if the curse was lifted, to which she said it was.
“What if she wasn’t there? Your life is potentially over because you’ll never see her again,” Safdie pondered.
Safdie said the idea for The Curse was also inspired by watching hours upon hours of HGTV. “I’d sit and watch House Hunters, Fixer Upper, Flip or Flop, all of them. I became hypnotized by it,” he explained.
What is The Curse about?
“The Curse centers on Whitney and Asher Siegel, a newlywed couple struggling to bring their vision for eco-conscious housing to the small community of Española, New Mexico,” the official synopsis reads. “But, their efforts are complicated when an eccentrically flawed reality TV producer, Dougie, sees opportunity in their story. As the series unfolds, the couple find themselves caught in a mysterious web of ethical and moral gray zones – all while trying to keep their relationship afloat.”
Along with Safdie and Fielder, The Curse stars Emma Stone, Barkhad Abdi, Hikmah Warsame, Nizhonniya Luxi Austin, Gary Farmer, Constance Shulman, and Corbin Bernsen.
The first eight episodes of The Curse are currently streaming on Showtime and Paramount+ with Showtime.
