For many viewers and critics, the satirical Showtime drama series The Curse starring Emma Stone resembled a lot of Chip and Joanna Gaines’ home renovation show Fixer Upper. While there hasn’t been a direct, confirmed connection between the two, The Curse co-creator Ben Safdie might have just revealed one.
The Curse is described as the story of “a newlywed couple [who] struggle to make their vision for eco-living a reality in a small New Mexico town.” In Fixer Upper, Chip and Joanna Gaines “take on clients in the Waco, Texas area, turning their fixer uppers into the homes of their dreams.”
After having taken home an Oscar for Best Lead actress, Emma Stone is continuing to solidify herself as one of the greatest of our generation
Safdie featured in the cast of The Curse alongside Stone, as well as fellow creator Nathan Fielder, who has built a career working on absurdist comedy projects much like the 2023 series. The Uncut Gems star might have consequently spilled the beans on how he landed on the idea for the show.
The Curse Co-Creator Ben Safdie Is A Massive Fan Of Fixer Upper
Via Paramount Plus
Ben Safdie admitted that one of his goals with The Curse was to make the audience “uncomfortable.” He said this in an interview that he gave to The Wrap in December 2023, a few weeks before Season 1 ended. In the same conversation, he also confessed to being a huge fan of Fixer Upper, as well as other popular home renovation shows.
Safdie described his experience watching the genre on HGTV as “hypnotic,” after he first started catching the shows while attending pediatric clinics with his wife Ava Rawski in 2016. Fixer Upper is definitely one of the most highly rated programs within the sphere of property renovation.
In a list of 100+ best shows within this category on Ranker, Chip and Joanna’s popular show received a total of 209 votes. Out of the three that polled higher, two were from 1979 and 2001 respectively. The third was Property Brothers with Drew and Jonathan Scott.
Jonathan Scott’s response to a feud between The Property Brothers and Chip and Joanna Gaines would lead to more questions than answers.
Safdie got together with Nathan Fielder to pen the pilot for The Curse in 2018, two years after he had first started watching the property shows on HGTV. He predictably drew a lot of inspiration from there, and he confirmed as much to The Wrap.
How Ben Safdie Borrowed From Chip And Joanna Gaines’ Fixer Upper For The Curse
Speaking about how the ideas for the pilot episode of The Curse were crystallized between him and Nathan Fielder, Ben Safdie specifically name-dropped Joanna Gaines and a moment she had on Fixer Upper as a source of inspiration.
“There was a behind-the-scenes making of Fixer Upper that I remember seeing and Joanna Gaines was giving her talk to camera,” Safdie added. “But then it cut to the outside camera and she had all of her kids next to her just out of frame.”
He went on to explain how he broke down the characters’ experiences that he was seeing on his screen, and eventually came to the conclusion that he could create something similar, that would also be enjoyable to do.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh, that’s a really weird thing for the kids to see,’” continued Safdie. “You start piecing together what their lives are… [and] you start seeing these kind of over-compensations within the people in the show, and I realized there’s something really fun to do there.”
Chip and Joanna Gaines started hosting Fixer Upper on HGTV in 2013, after a decade of also being married to each other.
Showtime gave the greenlight for The Curse in February 2020. In December that year, Emma Stone officially joined the cast, with filming kicking off in June 2022.
What Other Inspirations Did Ben Safdie Draw For The Curse?
While Ben Safdie was quite upfront about having a lightbulb moment that eventually brought forth The Curse, he also disclosed the other real-life source of inspiration for the show. This particular bit was in fact attributed to Nathan Fielder, and also actually came to define the title that the series was given.
A review of TheCurse on The Hollywood Reporter referred to Fielder and Emma Stone’s leading characters as “TV’s cringiest couple.” The same report referenced a story of how the latter was reportedly approached by a random woman on the street, seeking some money from him.
When Fielder informed her that he had none to spare, she retorted: “I curse you.” This interaction was written into the script for his character, Asher Siegel, although in this case the person scrounging for cash was a young girl.
Wanting to give her $20 and catch it on camera for him and his wife Whitney’s (Stone) fictional home renovation show Flipanthropy, he discovers that he only has $100 in his wallet. He hands it over to her for the shot, but then takes it away, intending to look for change and give her the $20.
Needing a name change, Emma Stone looked to the Spice Girls for inspiration.
The moment, however, having been captured on camera, would later become a huge point of conflict for Fielder and Stone’s characters.
Ben Safdie Harbors Some Guilt For Making The Curse
Via Paramount Plus
The Curse was a resounding success, perhaps best illustrated by Emma Stones’ Golden Globe Award nomination for “Best Actress in a Television Series Drama.” Decorated and experienced director Christopher Nolan was also effusive in his praise of the show, claiming that it [had] no precedence [on television].
Despite all this success, Ben Safdie revealed that he did carry some guilt in his heart for the making of the show. He prefaced this with an explanation of some of the negative experiences that locals often face when a home renovation show canters into town.
Safdie and Nathan Fielder tried to address such issues in The Curse, including gentrification. “There was one time where they said, ‘if you don’t like your neighborhood, change it,’” Safdie said. “I was like, ‘Huh, what does that mean? What are they trying to say here?”
It was at this point that he came clean about his guilt: “You’re watching all these shows, and you’re seeing something go on that’s a little bit strange, and it’s kind of unfair that this is also the ideal for something — they’re going into these neighborhoods and changing the neighborhoods and making everything more expensive, and it’s all so positive and so happy.”
