Danny and Michael Philippou may have started on YouTube, but they are not social media influencers. Don’t get it twisted. The Philippou brothers are legitimate filmmakers who hit a home run with their 2022 feature film directorial debut, Talk to Me. On a budget of $4.5 million, Talk to Me grossed $92 million worldwide, A24’s highest-grossing horror film. Instead of pursuing projects in other genres, the Philippous stayed in horror for their sophomore feature, Bring Her Back.
After the death of their father, Andy (Billy Barratt) and his visually impaired younger sister, Piper (Sora Wong), move into the home of their new foster mother, Laura (Sally Hawkins). Laura tries to be their friend first and foremost. However, Laura is hiding a sinister secret behind closed doors. The key to uncovering the truth might lie with Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a mute boy who exhibits unsettling behavior. Bring Her Back does not skimp on the violence and gore. It’s disturbing and upsetting. However, the Philippous smartly snuck an emotional drama about grief at the center of their supernatural horror.
Below, the Philippou brothers discuss why horror is the “best way to exorcise your demons” and how they bring out the best in their young cast.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: How was the premiere?
Danny Philippou: It was amazing. It was incredible having everyone there, and it was just the best vibe.
With YouTube, you put out videos and wait for feedback through comments and messages. At a premiere, people can literally walk right up to you and tell you what they thought. How does it feel to receive that instantaneous feedback?
Danny: My gosh. The buildup to it feels like a really long YouTube video. It feels like you’ve been working on a YouTube video for two years, and you’re premiering for the first time. It’s terrifying.
Michael Philippou: So much anxiety leading up. As soon as we walked up to the theater, and all those people came to watch it — we had the cast there — it was an incredible experience. Such amazing energy in that cinema. People who love movies come in to watch something together. It’s awesome.
Danny: It is a weird thing interacting with people right after that. They have an experience. We had to go to dinner because one of the cast members was too young to watch it. We had dinner and came back. It’s so weird. They [the audience] have gone through something. They’re talking about it. The vibes were really incredible.
What’s your most memorable movie theater experience?
Danny: We watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when we were, like, 10 years old. Our dad’s friend Jenny would take us to watch these MA 15+ movies, which is like America’s R. She was like, “They’re OK. They’re old enough. They’re all right.” And so I felt so cool that I got to go watch these films. We went to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Michael was the biggest coward. [Laughs] He was so scared. He left the cinema and ran out. I was humiliated.
Michael: Yeah, I literally felt sick. I thought I’d never get scared by anything, and that really scared me. When she’s stabbing the friend hanging from the meat hook, I’m like, “Oh my god!” It said, “Inspired by true events.” I was like, “This happened!” I ran out. It was terrifying.
Danny: It’s a rite of passage to be terrified by a movie when you’re younger.
Michael: In American film culture, there’s so much more passion. In Australia, it’s not really anything like that. We went to the John Wick 4 premiere at SXSW. Someone [in the movie] is like, “You need a gun,” and John Wick is like, “Yeah.” [Screams] The crowd is like, “Yeah!” [Laughs]
Danny: New York and LA, every time we come out here, I just want to go to the cinema and watch movies with people because I fucking love it.
That’s what it feels like seeing an Avengers: Endgame or a Spider-Man movie. People are running up and down the rows going crazy. Did you see The Substance?
Danny: I did watch The Substance.
When it ended, my whole theater was silent. There were maybe 30 or 40 people. For one minute, no one talked or move. This guy turned around and said, “Is everyone OK?”
Danny and Michael: [Laughs]
The whole theater erupts in laughter. It was a perfect icebreaker. Thankfully someone said it because we had no idea what to do.
Danny: That’s wicked.
Michael: Awesome.
With horror, what makes it such a good vessel to tell a story about grief?
Danny: It’s the best way to exorcise your demons. You feel like you’re carrying stuff on your shoulders, and you’ve got this weight. It’s just somewhere to place it, somewhere to put it, and somewhere to disconnect from it. There’s a cathartic part of it. It’s the purest thing of expression. It doesn’t have to be hitting you over the head with a message. You can express something in a really visceral way. It’s not a one-on-one analogy … horror allows you to dive into really, really dark themes in a fun way.
Talk to Me and Bring Her Back both tackle grief. They deal with how people cope with tragedies. Two movies, but they align thematically. How do you group these two movies? Do you see them as a pair? Is one an extension of the other?
Danny: Because we developed and wrote them at the same time, Bring Her Back feels like a spiritual successor or a sister film to Talk to Me. That’s what it feels like to me. I feel like they’re siblings.
Michael: Once Talk to Me finished, it felt like we hadn’t gotten that out of our system. Thematically, there was still stuff to explore. There was enough there that if we didn’t make it, it would always stay in our minds. It’s one of those things where once a movie gets in your head, it won’t leave your head until you make it.
You get it out into the world, and then it becomes real.
Danny: Yeah, it’s so odd. It was such an awesome place to put things because we had a loss right at the start of the film. We lost somebody, a family friend. The script changed. Things changed. Everything turned. This [Bring Her Back] was somewhere to put that and come to terms with it. We also didn’t have time to reflect on the movie. We delivered it, and then straightaway we’re on a flight to America to start promoting it. I haven’t even watched it properly back. It was such a surreal thing.
I like how you put it in the notes, Danny. The creation of Laura was a character you “uncomfortably sympathize with.” I never found myself rooting for her per se, but I can somewhat rationalize why a broken person would do whatever it takes to get by and keep living. In developing Laura, how did you balance her nefarious actions with her more humane elements?
Danny: It was always important that Laura’s struggling with what she’s doing. It’s not something she outwardly wants to do. Always looking at it from a human perspective and making sure that it feels real and lived in. A big part of the writing process is making sure that the film can exist as a drama film. Then, the horror elements can grow out of that.
Having a performer like Sally Hawkins brings such weight to these sort of roles. She brings such realism to it. That automatically helps bring that to life. She was good at toeing the line. It’s a weird thing in the script. Does this feel contradictory? If you don’t nail these beats in a super subtle way, it’s going to feel contradictory. With a performer like Sally, she’s able to bring that to life in such an awesome way.
That scene where she’s standing by the window with blood all over and looking at Ollie, the camera starts to move in a circle. That was like my aha moment in the movie. I’m like, “OK. I now know what she really wants to do.” Take me through building that scene.
Danny: She’s on this screwed-up cycle. She’s pulling these kids into this demented circle she’s got. She’s going in circles, and grief sometimes feels like that. It feels never-ending. It feels like you always end up on the first step. There are a bunch of different themes that we’re trying to convey.
What’s the most visual way possible? I don’t want dialogue. I want to be able to show this and feel this visually, having the camera movement tie into that. Also, the sound design and the score, using all those speakers, I want to pull the audience into it. Those circular motifs were in the sound design and in the music.
Michael: We gave the script to our composer, Cornel [Wilczek], and he created these two pieces that were like 10-minute ideas of what the sound should be. That part where she’s doing the circle, that was one of the moments in the music. It was perfect. That was his representation of it. It was so perfect. That was like, OK, let’s work with this, and let’s find out what this is. That’s when the camera movement and all that came together.
Danny: You have the music, and you’re listening to it, and you’re reading the script. It’s such a valuable tool to have on set. That was something that we changed from Talk to Me, which had the music at the end of the process. Having that at the beginning in pre-production and having that music when we edit while we’re on set helped the process so much. Having the actors be able to listen to it creates such a mood.
Michael: [Making circular movement] That camera movement is hard. There’s one guy on this rig, and it’s like three people controlling it. You’ve got to try and keep it straight each way.
Danny: There’s someone on the wheel focused on the pull.
Michael: [Laughs] Yeah, it was hard.
You’ve worked with a younger cast in two movies. Obviously, you have Sally, but you also have three awesome young kids in this movie. There are things you can say and do around an adult that you wouldn’t necessarily do around young people. What have you learned about working with a younger cast and how to direct them on set?
Danny: Obviously, an important part of the process is having their parents on set, having them be comfortable, and letting them know that there’s no such thing as a bad take. There’s no such thing as a bad performance. Whatever you need to do to feel comfortable, you can do. You don’t have to stick to this dialogue. If it doesn’t feel right or it doesn’t feel natural, how would you say it? How would you do it?
Collaborating with them and letting them bring their voices into it — that is the end result for all of the actors. You can pick the costume. You can dress the set. Collaborating with them as artists and allowing them to express themselves as well.
With someone like Sora, who is vision impaired and can bring another layer to the script that we couldn’t have possibly written, that’s an amazing part of the process. They’re [the child actors] so open and a bit more raw because they’re not fully pretending. They are themselves. I think that’s a cool part of the process.
Michael: And keeping it fun, keeping the energy on the set. You’re dealing with such a heavy subject matter. … It’s keeping it fun and light and getting into these headspaces for specific scenes. The kids would sometimes put too much pressure on themselves, thinking, “Oh my god. This movie, I’ve got to make sure it’s right.” All of that doesn’t matter. All these cameras, all these people around — it doesn’t matter. Do what you did in the audition and put yourself in this moment and feel this emotion.
Let’s get that. We have time. We’re not going to rush it. It’s not one-and-done. We’ll work with you. Let’s just make this moment feel real and genuine. There was an amazing transformation. Sora, who had never acted before, from the beginning of the film to the end, was incredible to watch. She’s amazing.
Danny: Even with Sally, there are certain scenes she was nervous building up to where she’s like, “I don’t know if I can pull this off. I don’t know if that’s right.” If we need to come back and shoot it, even though we don’t have the budget or money, we will find a time to come back and shoot it. Let’s try and tackle these scenes head-on. Whatever lets people feel comfortable, we try to accommodate.
A24’s Bring Her Back is now in theaters.
