The Voyeurs Stars on Observing the Intimate Lives of Others

Between access to social media and cameras existing in virtually every public space, it feels like it's easier than ever to investigate anyone's personal life, no matter how well or how little you know them. In the new film The Voyeurs, these ideas are put to an extreme test, as new residents in a neighborhood determine just how involved they will get into the lives of their neighbors, which will surely inspire audiences to question what they would do in such situations. Stars of the film Justice Smith and Ben Hardy recently weighed in on how the filming experience impacted how they observe others. The Voyeurs debuts on Amazon Prime Video on September 10th.

"I'm definitely a people watcher. I think I always have been even in a pre-social media world," Hardy explained to ComicBook.com of his own intrusive tendencies. "I think, definitely, if I hear a conversation going on at a table next door, I do listen in. I just find people really interesting. Maybe that's why I'm an actor. I don't know. But in terms of Instagram and social media, I think less so. Or, if I do, I'm there trying to discern what the truth is behind the picture. I'm like, 'Okay, so that person thinks they look good at that angle. What else is going on here? Like they're not actually that happy, or maybe they are, in which case brilliant.' I definitely like to be a fly on the wall, though, in public situations. If that makes me a voyeur, then so be it."

In the new film, "After moving into a beautiful loft apartment in Downtown Montreal, a young couple (Sydney Sweeney and Justice Smith), find themselves becoming increasingly interested in the sex life of their eccentric neighbors across the street (Ben Hardy and Natasha Liu Bordizzo). What starts out as an innocent curiosity slowly turns into an unhealthy obsession, after they discover that one of these neighbors is cheating on the other. Temptation and desire cause their lives to become tangled together in unexpected ways, leading to deadly consequences. Breathing new life into the forgotten genre of erotic thriller, The Voyeurs asks the question, 'Is it okay to watch?'"

Over the course of the film, the audience is treated to a number of unexpected reveals, with Smith revealing that he attempted to get involved in the endeavor before he had even finished reading the script.

"I was 40 pages in and I called my agent. I was like, 'I need to do this movie,'" Smith recalled. "I remember, I know exactly where I was. I was in New York in an apartment that I was staying in, like an Airbnb or something, and I remember the couch was blue. I remember I was laying on the couch reading this script. And it was just exciting and thrilling and sexy, and it was like nothing I'd ever done before. It was like the rebirth of these erotic thrillers that I was a really big fan of, like Fatal Attraction. I mean, I wasn't born then, but when I watched it I was a big fan of it ... I just thought it was like a really cool resurgence of that genre, and I really wanted to be a part of it."

The Voyeurs lands on Amazon Prime Video on September 10th.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!  

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