Fantastic Fest 2025 Interview with VICIOUS Writer / Director Bryan Bertino

I had the opportunity to check out Vicious at its Fantastic Fest premiere. It’s a tense, moody story about a woman who is gifted a mysterious box. When she opens it, she finds herself at the mercy of the force that dwells inside; one that knows and preys upon her doubts and fears. I sat down with writer/director Bryan Bertino following the screening to talk about the film, casting Dakota Fanning, and how the past can haunt us all.

In the Q&A after the screening, you had talked about how the genesis for the film was the idea of Polly (Dakota Fanning) getting this box and where it would lead her; can you talk a little bit about how the concept unfolded from there? Once you decided on the box, how did you then build out the rest of the plot?

Bryan Bertino: Yeah, once I had the jumping-off point of the woman getting the box, I always knew that it was going to go into who she was as a character; and the things that she was going to face were going to go hand in hand. So, I spent a lot of time, after coming up with the initial idea, just thinking about Polly the character. What were her struggles? What were the things that she had been dealing with over the course of her life before that night? And then how could the box sort of force those things out, as well as cause her pain… so it was really about a demon inside of a box using her own personal pain to hurt herself.

The way we were seeing the character, prior to the woman coming to the door [and giving her the mysterious box], it really read like this woman struggling with the day-to-day stuff of her life. And seeing the way that unfolded was really interesting and effective. So, how did Dakota Fanning become involved? She gave a powerhouse performance—so much of the film was relying on her presence.

Bryan Bertino: Honestly, she was just one of the names that had jumped out at me from the very beginning. Somebody that I thought would be great for the role. I never write with someone specifically in my mind, but I knew that I wanted someone that talent-wise, could carry… because with movies like this, if you don't have the right actor with the right charisma, then the movie falls flat even if they’re strong as a talent. And I knew, based on things I’d seen from her in the past, that I felt she could carry the movie.

We sent her the script a year before we made it, she read it, and so once we kind of knew that she was on board, I had the luxury of being able to spend months thinking more specifically, now that I knew that Dakota was going to be in the movie, and we were able to email and communicate and I was able to start sharing stuff with her, and just bringing her into the process. Because I knew that she needed to be a partner for this. And she really was. She was really part of the filmmaking team, more than any experience that I’ve had with another actor.

It’s really cool to be able to have that kind of collaboration between creatives: your ideas from the jump, and anything that she’s bringing into the character as well. It really felt like a unique fusion on that point.

Bryan Bertino: Yeah, she's so smart and she’s so sharp. And it’s very rare that you’re going to have an actor that’s 30 years old and has 25 years of experience, and has more experience than almost anybody in the room. But, I feel like on so many levels, she’s just beginning her prime, because she has so much experience and so much talent. But she also now, more than ever, is in total control of who she is and what she is capable of as an actress. It’s really exciting. I’m excited to see what she’ll do after this, she’s a powerhouse.

She really is. And the way you phrased that: she has so much experience under her belt, but she’s very much in a different stage of her career and professional ability. And personally, I hope she sticks with horror because she’s nailing it, and that’s just a bias on my part, but… she’s doing a great job.

So, the opening of the film is really grounded in a lot of anxiety. The stuff that the character is going through, there are a few details that just personally, for me, pushed my anxiety buttons, like her listening to this litany of unanswered voicemails about this long list of tasks that either she has to do, hasn’t done, or somehow has messed up. It really helped to lay a lot of the groundwork for the tension that builds through the rest of the film. So, can you talk a little bit about how you brought in her anxieties and her struggles to build up what the box was going to ultimately reveal for her?

Bryan Bertino: When I started writing it, I was thinking a lot about the women that I had known when I was in my early 30s, struggling, trying to figure out certain things. Some had more answers, but everyone was kind of lost. And I was lost. So, I got really interested in wanting to go back and explore those characters or that headspace and use it. And as I did, it was such a fertile ground for something that I had wanted to tell as a story, which was looking at unhealthy relationships that people have. Whether that’s with themselves, with their jobs, with their work, with their health, with their lovers, and it’s something that we all listen to people talking about, we all know that we’re dealing with it. So, it became an interesting way to have this box almost be the ultimate unhealthy relationship. Because there is so much damage that we do to ourselves, even as we’re trying to avoid damaging others. So, I think that they all kind of worked hand in hand… becuase it really is this exploration of one woman. What is in her head? What is in her mind? What is in her past? To try to explore that as she has to explore herself.

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Vicious is available on Paramount+ starting on October 10th.

"When Polly (Dakota Fanning) receives a mysterious Box from an unexpected late-night visitor, it comes with a simple instruction: place three things inside: something you need, something you hate, and something you love. What begins as a strange ritual quickly unravels into a waking nightmare. Trapped in a terrifying world where reality bends and memory betrays, Polly must navigate a series of impossible choices. As time slips away, she’s forced to confront the darkness not just around her, but within her—before it consumes everything and everyone she’s ever known."

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

• Melinda Whitaker, Shane Boucher

PRODUCERS

• Richard Suckle, p.g.a., Bryan Bertino

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY

• Bryan Bertino

STARRING

• Dakota Fanning, Kathryn Hunter, Mary McCormack, Rachel Blanchard, Devyn Nekoda, Klea Scott, Emily Mitchell