The drive to be the best has always carried a cost, but in Justin Tipping’s new film “HIM,” that cost curdles into something nightmarish. Opening September 19 through Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Universal Pictures, the story takes the familiar arc of athletic ambition and twists it into a surreal descent where glory and terror run side by side. As one of the rare entries in the sports horror genre, it pushes the language of both forms into strange, unsettling territory.
In the film, Tyriq Withers plays Cam, a rising football star whose career is derailed after a brutal assault leaves him with brain trauma. Salvation seems to arrive when his idol, legendary QB Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), offers to train him at a remote desert compound. But mentorship quickly warps into manipulation, and the pursuit of greatness becomes a sinister crucible threatening to consume him entirely. The ensemble also features Julia Fox, Tim Heidecker, Jim Jefferies, and more.
Director Justin Tipping joined The Playlist’s Discourse podcast to discuss the film, and during the conversation, explained why the script instantly felt like his. “I was an athlete, played all the sports, and my father was a quarterback and like a pole-vaulting champion. I understood the drive and the passion and the agony of defeat and ecstasy of victory and the locker room aspects of it,” he said. “And then the sheer mashup with this horror genre — I cannot point to another comp. The opportunities here were to create a new language and combine languages to create something new.”
Working with Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw provided the freedom to push into those sacred cultural spaces, even if they couldn’t directly reference the NFL due to some of the film’s darker themes. “From the jump, it was like, we can’t touch the NFL. We can’t, even if it’s kind of adjacent, like push it farther away. And that was freeing,” Tipping explained. “I felt protected, and it felt more like fun mischief. It felt more like that than anything else.”
Tipping also shared how Peele helped shape the film during the development and post-production process. “Every time I came back with a new draft, I would at least have the opportunity to sit down with him one-on-one and page turn some things,” Tipping said. “Sometimes we’d even tennis match these fucked up ideas back and forth. He’d say, ‘What if you tried this?’ and then I’d be like, ‘Oh yeah, then I could do that fucked up thing.’”
The casting of Marlon Wayans as Isaiah felt like fate to Tipping. The director came up with the idea of his first feature (“Kicks”) after being jumped for his shoes on the way to seeing Wayans’ film, “Scary Movie,” creating a sort of full circle moment for Tipping. “It did feel kismet. I told him that story in a letter – that the first movie I saw after getting stomped out in the parking lot as a kid was Scary Movie – and he just laughed and said, ‘Well, I’m so glad you got stomped out,’” Tipping recalled. But beyond that coincidence, Wayans brought a wealth of experience to the role. “I don’t think he’s been given his flowers in that respect. He just hasn’t had the role. But for Isaiah, why he himself is a GOAT. It felt like the perfect opportunity to get that emotionality and then put him through the regimen to get built like a professional athlete.”
Tipping also admitted he went deep into symbols and rituals while constructing the film’s mythology. “I definitely got a little weird in development. There were times when I was deep diving into alchemy and Zoroastrianism and trying to create an original mythology,” he said. “I remember looking up from my computer and a dead spider just dropped down in front of me. I was like, ‘Did I just summon the dead?’”
As for whether this is a one-of-one, Tipping isn’t ruling out expanding the concept into other sports for future sequels. “Oh yeah, there’s definitely a soccer movie. I could see a soccer world. I could see ‘Her’ being a sequel – What’s up, Caitlin? What’s up, Angel? Like, let’s go make movies,” he teased.
Listen to the full Justin Tipping interview below:
The Discourse is part of The Playlist Podcast Network, which includes Deep Focus, Bingeworthy, and more. We can be heard on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and most places where podcasts are found. You can stream the podcast via the embed within the article.. Be sure to subscribe and drop us a comment or a rating, as we greatly appreciate it. Thank you for listening.
The Playlist Presents: Justin Tipping’s Film & TV Recommendation Playlist
- “Suspiria” (2018)
- “The Holy Mountain” (1973)
- “Jacob’s Ladder” (1990)
- “Any Given Sunday” (1999)
