The AU Review
The AU Review
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After previewing at the 2022 Adelaide Film Festival, before taking the world by storm at its global Sundance Film Festival premiere earlier this year, Talk To Me has become the little horror that could.

A supernatural horror experience unlike any other, Talk To Me is the twisted brainchild of Australian filmmaking duo Danny and Michael Philippou, aka RackaRacka - the YouTube channel created by the brothers that highlighted their love of all things horrific and humorous.

As the film prepares to converse with an unsuspecting public from July 27th, Peter Gray spoke with the twins about executing jump scares, how working on The Babadook was influential in their career, and if we can expect their love of wrestling to ever cross over into their horror-fuelled minds.
Transcript
00:00 Peter Gray from the AU Review.
00:02 Hello, hello.
00:03 - Howdy, howdy.
00:04 - I'm gonna say congratulations, first of all.
00:06 I saw this at Sundance in January,
00:09 double feature with Infinity Pool.
00:11 I have wanted to talk about this movie for so long.
00:15 I'm so glad it's getting a cinema release.
00:17 My first question was, the opening of that film has,
00:22 arguably, I think, one of the best jump scare moments
00:27 of horror in itself.
00:28 - Oh my God.
00:29 - Is there a jump scare across horror for you
00:34 that stands out as the one,
00:36 I was like a pinnacle, apart from your own, obviously.
00:39 - Ah, like a pinnacle jump scare moment.
00:42 Mahalo Hand Drive.
00:44 You know, where they're doing the story,
00:45 they're talking about the story.
00:46 - Oh yeah.
00:47 - Oh yes, Mahalo Drive.
00:48 Mahalo Hand, what'd you say?
00:50 - How do you say it?
00:50 How do I say it?
00:51 Mahalo Hand?
00:52 Molo Hand?
00:53 I don't remember how to say it.
00:54 - Yeah, yeah.
00:55 - But that jump scare,
00:56 they're talking about it in the diner.
00:57 There's this guy behind you.
00:59 That has the best lead up to a jump scare.
01:02 You should know it's coming, but it still gets you.
01:04 And it's like, that whole story,
01:06 you have an uneasy feeling throughout the whole thing.
01:08 - I can't remember the film,
01:09 but the one about the blind girl,
01:10 when it was the first jump scare in cinema,
01:12 it was a black and white film,
01:13 I think from the '50s or the '40s.
01:15 And they did the first ever jump scare.
01:17 And I remember that even got me,
01:18 'cause I wasn't expecting it,
01:19 'cause there was nothing like that in cinema at the time.
01:22 So I wasn't expecting it watching that film.
01:23 And I was like, "Oh, gosh."
01:25 Yeah, so I can't remember the title of the film there.
01:27 - But when you're executing those scares, those shots,
01:31 is it easier to write it down
01:34 and play it in your head
01:35 to how it is actually putting it together
01:38 and having that come across on screen?
01:40 - Yeah, it's funny some of the stuff
01:41 when you're shooting it, and it looks so ridiculous.
01:44 And it's like saying, "Trust me, guys.
01:46 "It's gonna work in the edit."
01:48 There was a few moments like that.
01:50 But with that opening,
01:52 we wanted every corner to be revealing something new.
01:55 It's one shot that we're filming
01:57 at 3 a.m. in the morning.
01:58 It was the last shot of the shoot.
02:00 But we wanted every corner to be revealing something
02:02 and the camera to kind of play into that.
02:04 So yeah, I'm glad that landed.
02:08 - But yeah, especially in the writing
02:09 and having a rough idea how you're gonna do it.
02:11 But then getting there on set on the day
02:13 and looking it through, it's just a process.
02:15 - And just understanding you can do so much with sound
02:18 and cinema.
02:20 Subtle things really go a long way.
02:22 - 'Cause we did one, there was one version
02:23 where it was gonna come right up to his face
02:25 and he was gonna be holding it there and then do it.
02:27 But it was like that thing from the wide shot.
02:29 I don't know if we're spoiling we are, but yes.
02:30 (laughing)
02:31 Spoiler alert.
02:32 - I was unnerved that whole sequence.
02:35 I'm like, "Something's gonna happen."
02:37 And then the way that throughout the film,
02:39 the way that you move the camera to the way
02:42 that when they're on the chairs and going backwards,
02:44 is that something that you storyboard out
02:47 or is that more something that you're like,
02:48 "Oh, this actually might look cool."
02:50 You knew that in your head, that's how you were shooting.
02:52 - Oh, I definitely had that shot in mind
02:53 when I wrote that.
02:54 - Yeah, yeah.
02:55 And wanting the camera to feel kinetic
02:56 and tied to the spirit that was inside the characters.
02:59 So that camera floating around
03:00 and then finding and expanding on that
03:02 with our DOP Aaron McCluskey was so fun.
03:04 - Every day in pre-production with Aaron McCluskey,
03:07 shot listing, finding the visual language.
03:10 It was so much fun to be able to explore that
03:12 with a talented cinematographer like him.
03:15 That's like, he makes up look better
03:16 than we could ever imagine.
03:18 And you know that whatever he does
03:20 is gonna look like gold.
03:21 But to be at the opportunity to collaborate with him
03:24 and come up with stuff like that was so much fun.
03:25 - Yeah, it was even fun.
03:26 Like pre-shoot, we pre-shot a bunch of scenes
03:28 of just ourselves on the iPhone.
03:30 That was so fun to do that process
03:31 and find the visual language and find the action.
03:34 - Yeah, because when you go to a location
03:36 that you can put the camera anywhere,
03:37 the people anywhere, block them anywhere.
03:39 And it's like the whole world, the world,
03:41 it's a canvas.
03:42 It's going in with that, as strong as you,
03:44 like a plan, as tight as you can is,
03:48 you know, it goes a long way.
03:50 - Pre-production was so fun.
03:51 It was great.
03:51 I understand you've got your start
03:54 essentially in film with like the Babadook.
03:57 You worked on that.
03:58 And then I understand you asked,
04:00 was Essie Davis your first choice
04:02 for the role of the mother that went to Miranda O'Hara?
04:04 - Oh my gosh, that's some deep trivia.
04:06 Yes, she was.
04:07 How did you know that?
04:09 - I just, I have my ways.
04:10 - Oh wow, yeah, we did approach Essie Davis.
04:12 It's true, yeah.
04:13 - Yeah, I was a driver on Babadook.
04:15 So I was 19 and I got that job
04:18 because I was just volunteering for films before that.
04:21 Like, I'll just do work experience.
04:22 She said, let me be on set.
04:24 And then the line producer, Julie Byrne,
04:25 she's like, you can't just keep doing everything for free.
04:28 But I just wanted to be there.
04:29 I was like, I don't care, I don't care.
04:31 Like, I just want to be on set.
04:32 And she said, next, you know, funded film,
04:36 I'll get you a paid job.
04:37 And that was the Babadook.
04:38 I was very lucky.
04:39 I was work experience on it.
04:40 Danny was very lucky to be work experience.
04:42 (laughing)
04:44 - But then, so you protest for Essie Davis.
04:47 But then you got like Miranda Otto's mom.
04:49 It's not exactly like, oh God,
04:50 I'm gonna sing it. - Oh yeah, no, not at all.
04:52 - How did that conversation come about for that?
04:53 - She just responded and said she wanted to do it.
04:55 Like, we approached her.
04:56 We did not think she was gonna say yes.
04:57 And then when she did, it was like, what?
04:59 And then I got scared 'cause I was intimidated.
05:01 And I was like, how do we direct Miranda Otto?
05:03 - Yeah, you feel like you can't direct to Miranda.
05:05 Like, hey Miranda, can you peel it back a little bit?
05:07 (laughing)
05:07 I'm thinking about like, you know,
05:08 doing that stuff was like intimidating.
05:10 Who the hell are we to tell her what to do?
05:11 - But then yeah, once we met her,
05:12 she was literally like a fun auntie.
05:14 She felt so warm and felt like, yeah,
05:15 she was just into it and so helpful and collaborative.
05:18 And we loved working with her.
05:19 - Yeah, she was so open for collaboration,
05:20 which we loved.
05:21 And like, there was no like ego or anything like that.
05:24 Like, she was just, it was just awesome working with her.
05:26 - Yeah, no, 'cause she definitely brought like,
05:28 there was this sort of unexpected humour
05:30 in the film from her character,
05:31 the way that she's just reacting to what the kids are doing.
05:35 And then obviously you've got Sophie Wilde leading this.
05:38 Like, what, I was like, what you managed to get out of her,
05:43 what she managed to bring to it,
05:44 like in terms of just her physicality and changing about,
05:47 like, was that something you,
05:49 like, did you know that that's what she could do?
05:51 Did you sort of bring that out of her?
05:53 - It was like, it was all of those audition tapes.
05:55 Like, once we saw audition tapes, we knew,
05:57 and we fought, like fought for her to have her
05:58 in as producers as well.
06:00 We lost budget from like casting her,
06:02 but we knew it was like, we had to have her
06:03 'cause she was so incredible.
06:05 And so yeah, we like, we really fought for her
06:07 and like, thank God.
06:08 And she would be so committed to the role,
06:10 there'd be days where like,
06:11 can you come to set not having slept?
06:13 So she would stay up all night and come to set delusional,
06:16 you know, to like, just like fit into like
06:17 certain head spaces of characters.
06:18 So committed, so talented and such an awesome person.
06:21 - And there was, yeah, whoever gets the, you know,
06:24 is lucky enough to work with her will see that
06:26 there's no bad takes of Sophie,
06:28 or you never had to cut around Sophie.
06:31 And the way that she'd listen to direction,
06:33 like even the most subtle things,
06:34 like she'd just nail it every time.
06:36 - Man, she's so talented.
06:37 - And every single emotion, like she can be,
06:39 she can do everything, like her scope is unmatched.
06:42 - Yeah, it's unreal, she's the best.
06:44 - And I understand, look, I've, from certain sources,
06:47 I guess I can say the words like,
06:49 wrestling death match and pool noodle,
06:53 pool noodle and punctured, something's going on there.
06:56 (laughing)
06:57 I was like, you obviously like wrestling
06:59 is obviously something that you have an affection for.
07:03 Going forward, directing,
07:05 could you see yourself meddling those two things together
07:08 and making like a wrestling film
07:10 with your love of horror blended in?
07:12 - I mean, I definitely want,
07:13 there's like a world or like a subculture of wrestling
07:15 that we're really interested in called death match wrestling.
07:18 So we love that as a topic and as like the background.
07:21 So yes, maybe we'd love to.
07:23 - You know, yeah,
07:24 it's a world we've always been fascinated with.
07:25 And there's a respect for that.
07:27 Like wrestling in general is dangerous,
07:30 but what they do for a much smaller crowd,
07:32 and like, you know, a fraction of the money,
07:35 there's a respect there that's like,
07:37 if you go to one of those death match events
07:39 when they're literally putting their bodies on the line,
07:41 like, and they're bleeding,
07:42 like, yeah, a match, you should not be bleeding.
07:45 It's like, there's a respect that comes with that.
07:47 That's like, yeah, I really am drawn to that world.
07:50 And I'd love to do something with that.
07:52 You know, definitely.
07:53 - No, 'cause it was amazing to see,
07:55 like to see the film and then have just watched that journey
07:59 of like A24 picking it up.
08:00 And then you go into every single meeting.
08:02 It was like, this is amazing.
08:04 And then now obviously we have Street Fighter coming out.
08:07 So I am very excited to see what you guys are gonna do
08:10 with Street Fighter,
08:11 knowing how well you handle the horror genre
08:14 and handle violence.
08:15 And obviously like we see what Mortal Kombat did.
08:17 So if you can one up them, that'd be great.
08:20 - It'd be awesome.
08:21 Come on.
08:21 - We'll have to see.
08:22 (laughing)
08:23 - I'm just, yeah, really excited to hope,
08:25 see Australian audiences pick up on this one.
08:27 So.
08:28 - Yeah, yeah.
08:29 Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, baby.
08:30 (laughing)
08:31 - Thank you so much, guys.
08:32 - Thanks so much.