Ray Nicholson shares more than a few intensely intimate moments with Samara Weaving in their new movie. For first-time director Jimmy Warden — Weaving’s real-life husband — it’s all part of the process. 

Horror-comedy Borderline, out now, stars Nicholson, 33, as Duerson, an obsessive fan of Weaving’s pop star Sofia who breaks into her home to stage their wedding. “I wrote it with her in mind,” Warden tells PEOPLE of Weaving, 33, his wife since 2019. 

“I put all of her into all of these scenes when they were conceived,” the Cocaine Bear screenwriter recalls with a laugh. “So even kissing Ray Nicholson, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, my wife’s doing this. I should make sure that she kisses Ray for 10 seconds on screen.’ ”

“Without sounding too gushy, we have such respect for one another,” says Weaving, when asked about navigating personal and professional boundaries in such a scenario. 

“We’re giggling in between takes,” she adds, making filming even Nicholson’s creepiest scenes “not scary.” 

“Yeah, there’s a separation completely,” says Warden. “I guess that’s what they call acting, where I just can suspend reality when she’s on screen, completely.”

Watching the violent film later, however, Warden says one moment involving his wife in peril made him “flinch.” As depicted in the trailer, Nicholson shoves Weaving into a glass window of a door. “Watching it last night was the first time I was like, ‘Oh God, that’s a bit much.’ ”

Borderline, Warden’s feature directorial debut, was a chance for Warden and Weaving to leverage the “shorthand” developed in their marriage, he says. “To get an actor like Sam just makes your life way easier because she comes in so prepared and she nails everything without you even having to ask at all.”

Were there any creative differences between the married couple on set? “We argued about the wig,” recalls Weaving of her character’s hairdo. “I wanted a wig because my hair was dying. And he said no wigs.” Warden agrees: “I said no wigs.”

“I stormed off to the hairdresser and had to dye my hair really blonde again,” says Weaving, adding, “He was right, I think. He was right because wigs are really hard.”

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Borderline, which costars Eric Dane, Alba Baptista and Jimmie Fails, is in theaters now. It’s produced in part by Margot Robbie and her husband Tom Ackerley’s production company LuckyChap Entertainment.