In Nervous, Sarah (Bolger) and her husband Sungsoo (Sungsoo Yune) discover an old record in the attic of their new Korean home. Upon playing the record, they discover that there’s no sound imprinted into the grooves. That may be strange enough, but in the following days, Sarah finds she can’t hear men’s – particularly Sungsoo’s – voices. As she begins to lose her grip on reality, only her neighbour, Eunbyeal (Asung), takes her seriously. The film opened the 2026 Tubi FrightFest and reunites Pastoll and Bolger following the 2019 hit A Good Woman is Hard to Find.
STARBURST: What was the inspiration for Nervous?
Abner Pastoll: The initial concept was with me for many, many years. I was inspired by an article I read about a woman in China who woke up one morning and she couldn’t hear her husband’s voice. It turned out she had developed a very rare but real condition where her brain was tuning out certain lower frequencies. It wasn’t just her husband, it was other men as well. I thought that concept in itself was a pretty interesting thing. For years, I thought I have to make a movie out of this somehow. It sounded too nice for a woman to be unable to hear men’s voices! I couldn’t figure out a way in for many years.
Sarah and Ko, what did you think when you read the script?
Sarah Bolger: I remember thinking that it was everything I possibly would want to play as a female character. Someone who was re-finding herself, finding her voice, and going through a tremendous change. While the story can feel magical, fantastical, or supernatural, ultimately, I think there’s a deep sadness in meeting this woman who is not heard and is not seen. She’s not the priority in her marriage. And the negative festering that can occur when you suppress yourself to fit into the smallest box for years – and when she needs to burn that fucking box down.
Ko Asung: I found it interesting because it was within the psychological genre. And second of all, I was looking forward to acting alongside Sarah. Because who wouldn’t?
AP: Exactly.
The film’s set in Korea. Did that allow you to do things that you wouldn’t normally be able to do?
AP: I didn’t intentionally think, Oh I want to make a movie specifically in this location. Obviously, we had the house as a location. I wasn’t thinking from an outside perspective trying to superimpose the country onto a story. It just sort of naturally evolved from being in Korea that the story came out.I thought having that extra cultural layer on top of what’s going on with this couple made it interesting. I didn’t really think about it being specifically a Korean film until I was making it.
How did your own experiences with language barriers influence your performance?
KA: I’ve lost a lot of my English abilities, but before I was pretty good and did a lot of English acting. There’s a lot of dialogue, but because the chemistry with my acting partner, Sarah, was so good, I wasn’t that worried.
SB: We changed some dialogue on the day, which I think can be so hard for someone when your first language is not the language you’re acting in. I’m in awe of how well you took that, and not just your ability to understand fully in a whole other language and embody this character who was the ‘alt-Sarah’. You did such an incredible job. But also, I think Aspen is incredibly clever because you improvised quite a lot in some moments in English.
Sarah, was your Korean done phonetically?
SB: No, I had some time with that Korean dialogue. I think it’s important to know everything you’re saying at that point, especially because some of the conversations are arguments. Some of the conversations are frustration. It’s definitely a hard thing to do on camera, and it was a great challenge!
How do you feel about having the world premiere at Tubi FrightFest?
AP: It’s amazing because it’s the opening film. It’s an honour. This festival is very near and dear to my heart. I think it’s a smart festival because the movies it chooses has an element of a similarity, but ultimately it catches a wider net than most. And I think not only am I obsessed with the genre, I think FrightFest in and of itself, the people are incredible who run it, so we’re very, very grateful. I’m very grateful to Alan Jones, Greg, and Ian there for their support for my films over my career. I feel like they’ve always been there for me. It’s a huge step up for me for them to even consider this as their opening film.
NERVOUS had its world premiere at Tubi FrightFest. You can read our review here.
