With Obsession taking over the world, alongside the long-awaited Backrooms, YouTuber filmmakers have been all the rage as of late. Now, it's time for another project, one from the famous YouTuber Jacksepticeye called Godmother.
Godmother, which premiered at Fantastic Fest 2026, follows Paige Evans' Theo and Cameron Cuffe's Colby, a couple on a romantic weekend getaway in the middle of the desert in a fancy Airbnb. Things don't go quite as planned when Theo's sister, Riley Dandy's Katie, is added to the trip at the last minute, causing uncomfortable tension between everyone in the house. To make everything worse, their Airbnb hosts happen to be psychopaths.
At Fantastic Fest, The Direct caught up with Godmother director John Veron, who revealed how involved YouTuber Jacksepticeye was in the process. Veron and star Cameron Cuffe also gave some insight into why their film will make you question booking an Airbnb again.
How Jacksepticeye Elevated Godmother
Jacksepticeye Almost Starred in 'Godmother,' But Chose Something Better
- The Direct: "Well, also, so Jacksepticeye is involved with this film, and we're kind of in an age where we have all these famous YouTube filmmakers really like putting their name on a bunch of stuff. I'm just curious, what was his involvement with the process of creating this film? How was he? How did he put his hand?"
John Veron: She's been friends with Jacksepticeye for years and years, and when we were actually writing [the characters of] Trey and Titus, the couple that Katie brings home, she offered Jacksepticeye one of the roles, and was like, 'Do you want to take a look at this?' And he read it, and he rightly and admirably, I think was like, 'I think queer actors should play these characters, but I really, really like this, and I'd love to help get it made. What can I do?
"He provided some financing," the director revealed, as well as making sure the movie maintained the same production standards throughout:
Veron: And he provided some financing. He was also there for a few days of shooting on set. And one of the days he was there was for our original ending, which on the page is pretty much the same, but the effects were not the same, and a lot of the elements just weren't as developed. And he rightly said, 'This is the only part of the movie that doesn't feel up to the production standards of the rest of it. Let's go back in.' and he pitched some ideas and was like, you know, maybe we could do this and this. It was really, really great...
Throughout the process, the YouTuber provided valuable notes that improved the pacing in the middle of the movie and at the climax.
Veron: Spoiler alert: the ending takes place in a house... But we actually rebuilt half of that set... You're looking two ways in that final scene, and we rebuilt on a stage half of that house, and you wouldn't know... It's seamless... He provided all of that. He was just there, kind of every step of the way. He gave some notes on the cut that were really, really valuable. There's a great moment of sort of letting it breathe at about the midpoint that was his idea. He was great. He was a dream collaborator.
Why Godmother Will Make You Terrified of Booking an Airbnb
Director John Veron Compares AirBnb Stays To a "Feeling of Invasion of Space"
- The Direct: "This movie, Godmother, focuses on some crazy events that unfold after arriving at this remote Airbnb house. So my question to all you guys is: Why will this movie give audiences a reason to be scared about booking their next vacation home?"
John Veron: Well, so whatever I initially wrote, 'Godmother,' I wrote the first draft in December of 2016. It was originally titled 'Crash Pad' because Airbnbs and Verbos weren't really a thing yet, so I had to come up with a fictional version and then have a page of really stilted expository dialogue explaining how Airbnbs work. And then it took so long to make the movie that everybody just kind of knew, and so I could take that page out, and also 'Crash Pad' [is] a crappy title. So we retitled it 'Godmother.'
Veron reminisced about what Airbnb stays used to feel like, which was invading someone's space and haunting them.
Veron: But yeah, whenever I initially wrote it, now they're all run by like rental companies and everything's kind of done up in that sort of black-white beige late-stage capitalism veneer, but very clean. But it used to be you were just in someone's house, like you'd be partying with your friends and you'd look over and see like some kid's soccer trophy, and I was really fascinated in that moment of time with that like feeling of invasion of space, and like you, you almost like, you used to feel like you were like haunting someone when you stayed at an Airbnb.
Cameron Cuffe: It's strangely voyeuristic, like seeing someone else's life on the shelves and stuff like that, and also it's so like, because we were raised, you know, pre-internet with the last generation who are, and we're always taught don't get in strangers' cars, don't go into strangers' houses, and now that's all we do is get into Ubers and do Airbnbs.
The Direct's conversation with Godmother director John Veron and star Cameron Cuffe, alongside his co-star Riley Dandy (Katie), can be seen below:
