Warning: This article contains spoilers for Borderline.
Ray Nicholson’s stalker Paul Duerson might spend most of Borderline trying to marry Samara Weaving’s popstar Sofia, but for the actor, the best part of his new movie was making out with another costar.
“My favorite [scene] was the wedding scene, kissing Jimmie Fails,” Nicholson tells Entertainment Weekly.
When Weaving jokingly asks who’s a better kisser, Nicholson quickly responds, “Jimmie, definitely Jimmie,” before adding, “That was definitely memorably funny. Everyone was cracking up.”
Magnolia Pictures
The wedding scene comes at the end of the film, which follows obsessed fan Duerson, who’s escaped from a mental institution to continue stalking Weaving’s Sofia, a world-famous popstar he believes wants to marry him. After executing an elaborate, murderous plot with help from fellow escaped inmates, Duerson finally forces a terrified Sofia to the altar, where a kidnapped priest is on hand to officiate. But Duerson’s “bride,” all dressed in white, turns out to be Fails’ character, Rhodes — Sofia’s NBA-player date. Duerson, lost so deep in his delusion, can’t tell the difference.
“There are subtle nods to Madonna,” director Jimmy Warden says of Sofia. “When I put her on a first date with a basketball player, immediately, Dennis Rodman came to mind.”
The end of the film gives viewers “an understanding of [Duerson’s] mental state and some sympathy for it,” Warden explains. “We really needed to see that he fully existed within his own head despite what anyone else is telling him.”
What you won’t see in the final cut of the scene is Weaving’s full ugly cry. “I had to cry, but was looking down. I remember I was like ‘this is so great’ then afterwards [Nicholson] and Jimmie started laughing because I had a massive booger coming out,” Weaving recalls.
Nicholson, for one, was a fan of that take. “It was a really good performance, but it was her breath. It was like dangling in and out,” he shares.
Magnolia Pictures
Ultimately, Sofia and the rest of the abductees are saved, and Duerson is arrested. But, despite being handcuffed and on his way to jail, he looks to be in a state of pure bliss. In his mind, he’s finally married to the love of his life.
Magnolia Pictures
“It was just one of those things where as an actor [you] have an out of body experience and invite something else in to put a knot on the real feelings behind what it is to have a mental illness, to be stuck in that trap, in that cycle,” Nicholson says of that final shot.
“I love that he has the whole range of emotions of what he goes through because it’s really just guilt and satisfaction turning into just bliss. And I applaud him for that,” Warden adds.
Borderline is out now in theaters.