How ‘Heart Eyes’ Has Helped Director Josh Ruben Heal After Losing His Home in the L.A. Wildfires
Heart Eyes director Josh Ruben may be a horror filmmaker, but nothing could’ve prepared him for the waking nightmare he experienced last month.
On Jan. 7, just weeks before Ruben and his wife Lauren Sick were slated to move into their dream home in Altadena, they watched along in horror as the Eaton Fire headed straight for their new neighborhood in Los Angeles County. While they assumed the worst when their security camera cut to black, Ruben and Sick received confirmation on Jan. 9 that their vacant home was gone. Immediately, friends and collaborators like Mark Duplass, Jordana Brewster and Christopher Landon came to their aid and rallied wider support from the general public, raising nearly $75,000 to get the beloved filmmaking couple back on their feet.
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In the process, Ruben also overcame two of the most common fears a person can have: asking for help and accepting it.
“It’s virtually impossible for me to ask for something or say, ‘I need help,’” Ruben tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So the interesting lesson is that self-care is acceptable, and self-care can take on the form of accepting help from your community. So I’m glad I accepted it because we don’t know how long this road is going to be.”
Ruben’s 2025 was supposed to begin with the realization of two back-to-back dreams including home ownership and the release of his first major studio movie, Heart Eyes. His previous two independent films, Scare Me (2020) and Werewolves Within (2021), were released in and around the global pandemic, so neither film, despite being “certified fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, had the chance to reach the widest possible audience. However, the industry still took notice of Ruben’s genre chops, leading Heart Eyes co-writer Michael Kennedy to nominate his friend to direct the script that he co-wrote alongside Landon and Phillip Murphy.
“Thank God Werewolves Within and Scare Me were both well received enough for people to say, ‘This guy’s got a vision. What else could he possibly do?’” Ruben says.
The slasher romcom chronicles two advertising professionals, Ally (Olivia Holt) and Jay (Mason Gooding), whose Valentine’s Day business dinner is mistaken for a romantic date by a serial killer who targets couples. Ruben aptly pitched his vision for the film on Valentine’s Day of 2024, and he impressively turned it around in time for today’s release less than a year later. Fortunately, Heart Eyes is now currently positioned to change Ruben’s recent fortunes, as it’s sporting stellar reviews at the most opportune time, as well as a wide theatrical release.
Looking ahead, Ruben is still in development on a sci-fi horror film known as Green Bank with Tatiana Maslany and Gooding’s Scream co-star, Jasmin Savoy Brown. But in the interim, he and Sick need a sojourn to the desert after losing their home and promoting a movie in one fell swoop. (Sick served as Heart Eyes’ second unit director.)
“What’s catching up to us now is exhaustion and low energy,” Ruben admits. “So [some self-care in the desert] is certainly priority one.”
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Ruben also discusses the genre community’s contributions to Heart Eyes, including a hilarious addition from filmmaker Zelda Williams.
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You’re batting a thousand.
Oh, come on! It’s funny. Every time I release a film, there’s either a global pandemic, a wildfire or some kind of personal hiccup, pardon the euphemism. So let’s see if this one actually makes money. The other two [Scare Me and Werewolves Within] were so independent, but maybe this one will actually keep me afloat and make me an adult.
I keep thinking about how you began the new year with two dreams on the verge of becoming reality: home ownership and the release of your first studio film. But then you and yours quickly experienced one of the worst nightmares anyone can experience. So how are you doing at this present moment in time?
Thank you for saying that. Honestly, I feel extremely grateful because our circumstance is very different from folks who lost generations’ worth of treasures or families whose kids lost their school. But we did lose our neighborhood, and our dream was shattered. My wife [Lauren Sick] and I worked our tails off for years and years, and we deliberated about buying a house. And then, just weeks before we were supposed to give our apartment’s landlord notice, our new place, along with thousands of others, went up in flames due to the Eaton Fire.
But all things considered, we’re extremely lucky. We’ve still got most of our stuff and Heart Eyes is coming out, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that we experienced quite a loss. We’ve lost a house that we’d yet to build memories in, and that’s the biggest frustration of it all. So I’m welcoming this distraction of pounding the pavement, and I’m happy to put on a pretty face and spread the joy of this film. I do actually think Heart Eyes is going to bring folks a lot of joy. These are the kinds of films I want to make so you can take ten of your best friends to go see them.
Between the fundraiser your friend organized and the glowing response to Heart Eyes, have you felt some degree of hopefulness in recent days?
Absolutely. I’ve constantly been asking, “What lesson is this supposed to teach me? What am I supposed to be learning through all this?” And, honestly, it’s virtually impossible for me to ask for something or say, “I need help.” When somebody says, “Hey, do you need anything? Can I bring you anything?” my first reaction is “No, absolutely not.” So the interesting lesson is that self-care is acceptable, and self-care can take on the form of accepting help from your community. So I’m glad I accepted it because we don’t know how long this road is going to be.
This isn’t the most graceful segue, but let’s go back to the period of time before you landed the Heart Eyes directing assignment. Did your well-received second film, Werewolves Within, open the door for you to pitch your take on Heart Eyes?
Well, we were “coming out of Covid.” The industry was course correcting, and we were on the way to the writers’ strike [in May of 2023]. But in that time, I was able to pitch on a whole bunch of exciting stuff, and do some odds-and-ends gigs like polishing scripts. I have another life as an internet comedian with Dropout [formerly CollegeHumor], which was started by my buddy of many years, Sam Reich. It has since taken off, so to be able to exercise the comedian part of myself within that enterprise has been such a thrill. But it’s been a lot of independent film and a hodgepodge of hustles, and I love that. I love not being able to be pinned down. I produced a vampire film called Blood Relatives for my friend Noah Segan. I also rewrote a horror script.
So things certainly picked up after Werewolves Within, but as you know, nothing is a guarantee in this industry. No one has a crystal ball, and I certainly didn’t. But thank God Werewolves Within and Scare Me were both well received enough for people to say, “This guy’s got a vision. What else could he possibly do?” So Heart Eyes came to me through my buddy [co-writer-EP] Michael Kennedy. He said, “I’m working on something with Chris Landon. We’re going to put you up for it. We’ll go through all the proper channels, but do you want me to slip [the script] to you?” So that’s how it came my way.
Fittingly, you pitched your vision for Heart Eyes on Valentine’s Day last year. Considering the film takes place on that day, did you view that as a sign that things were working in your favor?
It felt unusual, but it also felt pretty good to bring [Heart Eyes EP] Gary Barber a 4K of Werewolves Within as his Valentine’s Day present. I said, “Happy Valentine’s Day!” And he said, “It’s Valentine’s Day? Gosh, I have to call my wife.” So, after pitching it on Valentine’s Day 2024, the fact that it’s now coming out a week shy of Valentine’s Day is just phenomenal. We really hustled, and it’s truly a nine-month baby.
Olivia Holt surprised me when she said that she didn’t do a chem read with Mason Gooding. Ultimately, they didn’t need it, but what made you guys roll the dice in this way? That’s like a multimillion-dollar blind date.
(Laughs.) It really is! On these types of films, you’re always going to get “the list.” Folks will say, “Well, you’ve got to get the most expensive, most famous person ever and pair them with today’s Julia Roberts.” But once realities become realities and people’s availabilities actually present themselves, the road to actually available terrific actors is revealed. Olivia and Mason were also a result of great background checks. I had not worked with them, but I trust Radio Silence implicitly. That team sang the praises of Mason. Greg Gilreath, my producer on Heart Eyes, then said, “I just worked with Olivia on Totally Killer, and she’s an extreme pro. She’s got a great sense of humor.” So it was me taking a gamble on them being two good people, and there wasn’t one bad apple in the bunch. I’ve been fortunate enough to not have one bad apple in any of my three bunches. So we rolled the dice, and they got along. Their chemistry just sizzles.
Olivia’s character makes the valid point that we’re all sold the idea of fairytale romance at a young age, and it sets such a high bar for people to reach. The couple at the start of the movie literally scripted and produced their engagement in order to live up to those expectations. Do you agree with most of Ally’s champagne rant despite her dash of cynicism?
I was never really a cynic. I was always an idealist in romance. I was the kind of kid who would watch My Best Friend’s Wedding or Sleepless in Seattle or even The Bodyguard. I begged my mom to play The Bodyguard soundtrack in the car on the way back from the mall. So I always idealized romance, maybe because my vehicle to that world was someone like Tom Hanks, someone who was sweet but funny and normal. I could see myself in him or even Robin Williams, when he would do romantic roles. So I was always a romantic and an idealist, but I loved Freddy Krueger as much as I loved Nora Ephron. So that’s probably how we got here.
Ally and Jay’s (Gooding) showdown with the Heart Eyes Killer begins with Ally throwing an intimate bedroom object at said killer. That moment took place early in the shoot, so was that quite the icebreaker for everybody?
It kind of was. (Laughs.) Thank God we had a female props person. I said, “Rosie, would you mind going to Olivia and seeing which one she chooses?” And Olivia just loved it. So that was all that mattered, and we knew it was going to be a great moment. Of course, everybody was very respectful, but it was hysterical.
How many throws did Olivia need on the day?
I think it was three, and the third one definitely made an impact, pun intended, on our stunt man’s face. Even though Alex [McColl] was wearing that foam mask, I think it would’ve shattered a nose without it.
We also talked about her and Mason’s other awkward scene involving a heart-to-heart conversation inside the van of a hippie couple that’s fornicating in the back. Apparently, you provided the background noise on the day for Olivia and Mason, so how would you review that experience?
Oh, it was so fun. I was like the Nick Bottom of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Any opportunity to “play with” or act with anyone is welcomed. So I got to break their genuinely vulnerable moment with me going, “Ah,” or, “My butt!” I was trying to make them laugh, which was actually supposed to happen. It was not just me being a show-off jerk. So it was super fun, and I’m glad it worked.
I did notice your cameo once that scene went haywire. Did you leave much time for yourself?
Oh God, I’m always just undercutting myself. I did the same thing on Scare Me. I’ll say, “That was probably enough.” Then, on the quiet drive home, I’ll do line readings to myself and say, “Man, if only I said it this way.” But I am so hyperaware of my crew and of what limited time we have, even when we have plenty of time.
The most common advice that actor-directors give each other is to not shortchange your own coverage.
Yeah, you want to leave more time for the people who are actually leading it. If this was a Redford or Eastwood operation where they were in the lead, I’m sure they’d give themselves a bit more grace.
There’s a memorable Hobbs & Shaw joke, and it’s well timed given the recent exchange between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson at the Golden Globes. Jordana Brewster’s loyalty is likely tied to Vin since they both go back to the start of the Fast & Furious franchise, and so I did wonder if her character being unaware of Johnson’s Hobbs & Shaw spinoff had the potential to cause some renewed friction between those two guys. You wouldn’t think so, but they seem to have such a fragile alliance. Anyway, did she have fun with it regardless?
She had so much fun with it. I might have seen Fast Five in the theater whenever it came out [2011]. But the line was always in there. We didn’t add it once Jordana came aboard, and she is most famous to me for The Faculty. I’ve seen The Faculty so many times. I’ve seen it as many times as there are Fast & Furious movies, so like 55. But Jordana didn’t seem to think much of it other than a smirk. So the fact that she and Devon [Sawa] had that timing makes for one of the biggest laughs of the film, and I’m so glad it made it.
It’s probably a good thing that Jordana’s character was named after Jason Statham’s character, Shaw.
Absolutely. She’s family.
Chris Landon is one of your writer-producers, and a few months before you committed to Heart Eyes, he exited another Spyglass-produced slasher movie under dramatic circumstances. Did the Scream 7 business have any effect on his involvement in your movie?
No, not at all. This was an opportunity for the studio to work with Chris Landon, and why wouldn’t you want to? Having his name branded on a property guarantees that it’s going to be a good fun time. It was honestly part of the reason why I came aboard. I was like, “If these writers are aboard and Chris is going to be my bulldog, my guardian angel and my producer through this, along with the Divide/Conquer guys who were behind the success of M3GAN, Greg Gilreath and Adam Hendricks, then I’m all for it.” That was the most reassuring piece of joining this film.
Do you know if Chris smuggled anything from his version of Scream 7 into Heart Eyes?
That’s a great question. If I were him, I would do the same thing. I’d be like, “Well, if I can’t get this Darkman project off the ground and I can’t give Darkman night vision in my version, I might as well give this slasher night vision.”
I’ve heard a lot of Darkman references lately.
I think it’s all my fault. I stunk up Twitter, RIP, with me wanting to do a reboot. I blasted the masses with that manifestation, and I got pretty close. But I recently admitted to the world, on Bluesky, what my pitch would’ve been, because I don’t think it’s going to happen. But I have Heart Eyes. I have Heart Eyes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. [Writer’s Note: The Don’t Move directors also recently told me that they talked about a Darkman reboot with Sam Raimi.]
I’m glad that Heart Eyes explains the mechanics of each kill. Scream fans still debate who did what and when, and I like that you didn’t put us in that spot.
I love that you bring that up. You’re only the second person who’s brought that up. I don’t want to say that’s a thorn in the side of genre fans, but I appreciate that it’s appreciated. It was in there from the first iteration of the script that I got.
I didn’t expect you and Michaela Watkins to outdo her oddball character in Werewolves Within, but you both somehow did it. Was Bonnie Raitt the inspiration for her jeweler character?
I believe the descriptor in Chris and Michael’s version of the script was: “Dolly Parton, if she hated everything.” Michaela took that and ran with it, and she was really the sole improviser on this film. We have endless outtakes of her. She is just as biting and esoteric as any genius comedian. So I’m sure that Trisha [from Werewolves Within] and Crystal Cane are related, but she made us all cackle. It was probably the only time I saw Olivia Holt break.
One of Totally Killer’s writers, Jen D’Angelo, was thanked in the credits of Heart Eyes. Was she brought in to polish Ally’s dialogue since she did a great job with Olivia’s character in Totally Killer?
Jen was brought in to polish. There’s a lot of dudes behind this movie, and it was super important for us to just get a lot of perspectives from a solid group of folks. So Jen offered her absolute genius for a whole swath of sequences, from inspiring [Ally and Monica’s] friendship to action and comedic moments. We pulled quite a bit from what she was offering.
Zelda Williams is also thanked, and she was one of the first people that we invited into the edit bay to watch this movie. And she was like, “You know what would be great is if you interrupted this genuine conversation with hippie sex in the background.” So I ran with it and made the soundscape you now hear.
I loved Lisa Frankenstein …
Me too.
So that completely tracks with her sensibility.
Yes, I will forever thank and credit Zelda for that.
You also thanked Mike Flanagan, Kate Siegel and Mike’s producer, Alex Magistro. Were they also part of your note network?
Absolutely. That’s the great thing about the genre community, specifically. People reach out to you after following you on all your socials, and you’re like, “Holy shit, these people care about me?” It’s a small community, but it’s a very gracious, accepting and giving community where everybody wants to help. And Mike, Kate and Mike’s right hand, Alex Magistro, invited us into his home where he has this beautiful home theater. So they let us screen it for him and our little crew just to hear their feedback. And however this thing nets out, if filmmakers at their level appreciate this film or anything I do, then that’s the validation I’m looking for. I want the validation from my community.
The community lost a key figure last year, so I caught the criminologist’s name tribute to Scott Wampler during the newscast. You met him as a guest on his The Kingcast podcast before he passed?
Yeah, several times. My texts delete their archive after one year, and so I just lost all my text messages with Scott. I poured over them from the moment I heard the news, and then I looped back around recently when I remembered that I still had them or thought I did. I was just on The Spiel, the new podcast from Scott’s former Kingcast co-host Eric Vespe. We started by talking about Scott’s legacy and the stamps that each of us are applying to our films, like Flanagan did in The Life of Chuck or BenDavid Grabinski’s latest film [Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice]. I love that tradition, and I think Scott would’ve gotten a kick out of it. But it was a real loss. It was tragic.
His loss is bigger than Twitter, of course, but that place isn’t the same without him.
Truly. I honestly think he textured Twitter. It’s a lot like how I think about Robin Williams. If Robin were alive today to comment and riff on this ridiculous situation that we’re all in and just the state of the world, I’d be in heaven.
Lastly, you’ve been developing something with Tatiana Maslany and Mason’s twin sister in the Scream movies, Jasmin Savoy Brown. I know you’ve got bigger concerns right now, but is that potentially next?
I’m juggling different things as you have to do. Green Bank is the project with Tatiana Maslany and Jasmin Savoy Brown, and we’re dying to make it. We’ve got exciting news in terms of a cast addition, but it’s tough out there. Movies are tough. It’s a miracle each time, and I’ve been so privileged to have made the few that I have in a short span. Green Bank would be the dream because it’s truly going to be with folks I love and admire, including my producer, Andy Horwitz, and his brother, Aaron Horwitz, who wrote it.
But roping back to the beginning, part of the lesson is self-care. I’ve accepted a little love from my community and learned that that’s cool. But what’s catching up to us now is exhaustion and low energy. I’m like, “What about a little bounce off to the desert to just chill for a minute and do some writing and catch up on all the stuff I’ve been trying to do?” So that’s certainly priority one after two weeks of pounding the pavement about our heart-eyed psycho.
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Heart Eyes is now playing in movie theaters.
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