Bill Hader is directing and starring in They Know, a horror film about a divorced dad who suspects a mysterious man is influencing his children, and he’s credited Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s films with shaping the project.
Hader’s first feature as a director puts him opposite Linda Cardellini as divorced parents whose daughters come under a mysterious man’s influence. In They Know, Hader’s character suspects his ex-wife is secretly dating the man. Lilou Lang and Lorelei Olivia Mote play their children.
Cardellini also plays Pamela Voorhees in Crystal Lake, the Friday the 13th prequel series.
Hader wrote the screenplay from a story he developed with his Barry collaborator Duffy Boudreau. They’d worked out the setup but struggled to make the story work beyond its first act, and Hader put it aside. Seeing Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cloud gave him a way forward: he kept the setup and rewrote the rest, completing the draft while Boudreau was working on The Lowdown.
Kurosawa also came up when Hader was asked about the film’s horror influences on the November 5 American Cinematheque Podcast. He described it tentatively as psychological horror, then said, “I really like this movie Cure by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Like I like those like Serpent’s Path and stuff like that.” Both films make familiar surroundings feel increasingly wrong, using atmosphere and suggestion to build dread.
The Rosemary’s Baby comparison came from people he’d shown the movie to, whose names he didn’t give. As Hader put it: “Rosemary’s Baby’s one that a couple people have thrown out or things like that.” The film also reportedly tested very well with early audiences.
He’s also described a mix of humor, fear and seriousness familiar from Barry, saying, “It’s funny, and it’s scary, and it’s also kind of weirdly sweet at times.” Discussing They Know in an interview published November 10, he said, “It’s really funny. It’s about divorce. So that’s all I can say.”
MRC financed the film, with Hader and Bob Graf producing through Hader’s Hanarply banner and Alyssa Donovan co-producing. Filming began in Los Angeles on April 13, 2026, and Hader said it wrapped in late May.
In his November 5 interview, Hader said they were locking picture that week and weighing a festival appearance or screenings for potential buyers. He was still looking for a distributor, and no release date has been announced.
