For every bracing and original work in which couples deftly exploit public curiosity for the purposes of complex cinema (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut ), there are as many if not more flops (Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Gigli, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in By the Sea ).

Dave Franco and Alison Brie have made the midnight movie of the year. At January’s Sundance Film Festival, no selection was more raucously received than Together, a body-horror thriller about a relationship that gives new meaning to the term co-dependent.

The married actors tell IndieWire why there was no downside to playing a troubled couple on screen and explain how a Cronenberg deep dive during the pandemic paved the way for their foray into body horror.