There are certain filmmakers who thrive in the uncomfortable spaces most movies only flirt with. With Touch Me, sexuality, horror, humor, and emotional vulnerability collide in ways that feel equal parts exhilarating and confrontational, firmly planting writer and director Addison Heimann (Hypochondriac) in that specific, daring cinematic space that very few artists can pull off.
Touch Me is a psychosexual horror-comedy that’s as unabashedly bizarre as it is deeply personal. On the surface, the film leans into its wild premise - a pair of codependent best friends are lured back into the orbit of a seductive extraterrestrial ex - but beneath the tentacles, bloodshed, and surreal imagery lies something far more grounded: a messy, painfully relatable exploration of loneliness, addiction, and the kinds of relationships we struggle to let go of.
From its opening moments, Heimann's latest film establishes a bold sense of style and tone, with saturated colors, sudden musical flourishes, and an unforgettable introductory monologue that immediately pulls us into the chaotic inner world of its protagonist, Joey. Played with magnetic energy by Olivia Taylor Dudley (She Dies Tomorrow, The Magicians), Joey is both effortlessly cool and self-destructive, a character whose emotional spiral mirrors the film’s increasingly unhinged narrative. Alongside Jordan Gavaris’ (Orphan Black, The Lake) equally compelling Craig, the two form the beating heart of a story that interrogates the fine line between genuine love and toxic dependency - something Heimann himself draws from personal experience. As the filmmaker explains during our conversation, the film may be filled with alien encounters and grotesque extremes, but at its core, it’s rooted in something all too human.
It’s kinda hard to say that this movie is right in my wheelhouse, even though it’s true, without coming across like a total freak.
Addison Heimann: I mean, listen, I made the movie for the freaks. It's funny, people are either like “Oh, I fucking love this” or are like “I wish the director death.” From my perspective, because I am quote, unquote, a weirdo - I just thought I was writing a regular movie.
Despite all the wild extraterrestrial stuff and all that, I love how the character of Joey is such a distinctive character right away. She's funny, she's cool, but also kind of a loser. What was it like to create that character with Olivia Taylor Dudley?
Addison Heimann: The movie is loosely based off a friendship breakup that I had. I'm a little Craig, my friend's a little bit Joey. Neither of us are these real people, and we're still friends to this day, but it was an attempt to try to digest, like, what the hell led to this actual breakup? So I wrote that, and then Olivia got involved.
The big thing with her is she just fit the character like a glove. She’ll say this in interviews, that Joey felt so her, and what she really did was finetune and create the nuances of her relationship with Jordan Gavaris’ character, Craig, that might not necessarily have been directly on the page. With that, we were able to create that last 10% of the character that brings it in and really makes it. But, you know, it's mostly her, really, because she's just a phenomenal actress.
The opening monologue almost acts like a mission statement for the movie itself. How did you decide to start the story that way?
Addison Heimann: I watched this movie called Resurrection with Rebecca Hall. There’s a monologue halfway through where she just tells the most batshit story ever heard, and it completely changes the movie. That is so cool and I kind of wanted to recreate that, but I wanted to do it in the beginning. Unfortunately, because of the way movies work, you have to know [beforehand] that it's about aliens. But originally, when I was sending out the script, I would tell people nothing. They would read that monologue under the guise of it being a therapy session, and that she was making up this story with the metaphor of it being about a real person in an actual relationship. But then, of course, you find out later that it's aliens.
If you look carefully in that monologue, or you watch it more than once, every single thing that happens in it sets up the rest of the movie. Because the movie so fucking wacky and weird - we're imagining Japanese cinema of the 60s to 70s, horror, three aspect ratios, Japanese noir of the 40s, there's all these different kind of tones - you really need to be led into it. Which is why I wanted to do it.
Fortunately, Olivia, despite her dyslexia, was able to do it so phenomenally. And it was the first take that we used, and that was the first day that we shot. It was the first thing we did on set at all. It's just a wild and crazy thing, and it would only happen because of her performance, you know? I mean, I like the writing, but it’s about everybody coming together and creating a kind of perfect storm of talent, as it were.
There's still a story here if it's just Joey, Craig and Brian. But I love the extra surprise of a character, Laura, being thrown into the mix, and she almost immediately becomes the most interesting wrinkle in the film.
Addison Heimann: I wrote it specifically for Marlene Forte, who plays Laura. She played the mother character in my first movie, Hypochondriac. She spends a lot of her time playing, like, everybody's Latina aunt in every single TV show. She’s a theater actor, you know? She founded the LAByrinth Theater in New York!
I said “Girl, I know you can go crazy.” I wanted to make something that was just truly batshit, very much the Renfield to Dracula. I just think it's such a delicious role for a veteran actress to play, and I will take Marlene everywhere with me. She's such a phenomenal actor.
How did you create Brian's compound, especially places like the crystal room?
Addison Heimann: It’s heavily inspired by Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, which is basically a movie within a movie. There's the story of Mishima, who was queer fascist novelist in Japan who wanted to return to the time of the Emperor, and everybody laughed at him, so he committed seppuku. In the movie, there are four short stories of his that are retold on these theatrical style sets. That really aided to the design of what I was going for, because I think there's something that's so beautiful about practical effects and sets and stagecraft.
This movie is basically set up as a story, from the opening monologue to the closing remarks in the therapist's office, so let's create a story. Let's change the aspect ratio. Let's pay homage to the pink films of Japan of the 60s and 70s. Let's not pretend that we're not watching a movie. It's almost like we're watching a stage play at that point. I sent Stephanie Reese, my production designer, all these references and she was able to create and design the crystal room, what we call the cage room, and Eden, which is the one with the bridge and the blue lighting, depending on. I feel like telling the story that way aided the tactileness of the story.
How’s your Japanese?
Addison Heimann: Oh, yes, I knew I’d be asked this question at least once. I should have had Dualingo opened. Now, my current streak is 1984 days. I'm close to 2000 and I am nowhere near fluent. Although they say, the more you learn in Japanese, the less you think you’re fluent. I'm not quite Craig fluent. It'll be a decade before I can actually feel like I can speak it without being embarrassed. But, you know, we try.
'Touch Me' is coming to theaters March 27th and digital April 2nd.
