“When you’re on set, every day you feel like you’ve just come back from a war… but it’s the best thing ever.”
welcome to Comment Comment, where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, theft hunter review one of the best horror movies of 2023 with Háblame’s commentary.
Great horror movies are released every year, but The year 2024 is already shaping up to be one of the great with gems like exhumes, The first omenand Infested Offering new emotions. The coming months look even more promising with highly anticipated releases such as Long legs, Cuckoo, Hereticand more. It is in that spirit that we look back at one of last year’s best horror films and hear from you.
tell me is a possession film that finds an extremely unique angle on the trope while also delivering fun scares, creepy beats, and some gory thrills. The filmmakers are currently working on a sequel, so we decided to listen to their commentary track that explores the story, production, and release.
Read on to see what I heard in the commentary…
Talk to me (2023)
Commentators: Danny Philippou (co-director/co-writer), Michael Philippou (co-director)
1. They open the topic by saying that they are not going to talk about the themes of the film or what it means since they prefer to leave those things to the viewer’s interpretation.
2. They thank Causeway Films for being a huge help from the script stage onwards, adding that they “helped us get it out there after all the Hollywood studios turned it down.” Apparently, one of the major studios said yes, “but they wanted to change the movie too much.” They wanted the movie to explain the hand’s powers and give more details about what it can do, why it can do it, and how.
3. The opening shot took ten takes (and ten smashed doors) and was the last thing they filmed for the movie.
4. Sia gave them “Chandelier” at a 75% discount because it’s from Adelaide, as are the brothers. They tried to get the “green light” from Lorde, but were rejected.
5. The overhead shot of the dying kangaroo on the road is “important… a recurring theme,” but they decline to elaborate. (But the overhead shot at 1:27:05 is obviously related.
6. One of the teens is seen using an iPhone, and they had to get permission from Apple. Similarly, they also got permission to use Snapchat. Both were essential, in their view, as they wanted the film to be authentic to teens and young adults.
7. They gave each department head a “foot down,” basically a card they could pull when they felt very strongly that something should be a certain way. The costume designer used hers regarding Mia (Sofia Wilde) yellowish sweater.
8. They played Uno every day with the cast and crew, and the losers had to do an awkward social challenge that sometimes included intentionally ruining a take.
9. Apparently the average goal for a film is to shoot 1.5-2 minutes (of finished film) per day, but eight minutes was often averaged. Both figures seem surprisingly low to me, but I also don’t understand how films can cost so much money.
10. The actor playing the first ghost, who we see for only a second at 19:19, traveled from the interior, was quarantined for three days, appeared on set for about fifteen minutes, flew home and was quarantined for three more days. “We really liked the look of him… we are very specific with our demons.” It may just be a matter of semantics, but demons and ghosts are different, right? It’s curious.
eleven. They make a distinction between script and screen when it comes to intentions. “When you write a script, there are things you have to detail so that characters and moments make sense, but a lot of that can be conveyed through looks, glances, and audio atmosphere.” Images can be used in a similar way, but the sounds of a film are just as important in this regard.
12. Early versions of the hand included one that was attached to a board, but testing made it clear that it needed to be made more flexible and easier to handle. The artist who finalized the hand design completed it and immediately quit. They aren’t sure why, though there were apparently rumors that something disturbed him. They made five copies because they expected the hand to break, but it never did.
13. The rhythm with Daniel (Otis Dhanji) The sloppy dog kiss was done using a puppet head (for the dog, not Otis) and then combined with a shot of the dog licking a treat.
14. From Riley (joe bird) The possession scene is emotionally draining, to the point that Bird would need time before and after, away from the cast and crew, to compose himself. It was also physically exhausting, for obvious reasons.
fifteen. They acknowledge that ocular stuff handled with visual effects often looks a little out of place, so they went practical for Riley’s eye damage scene. “We had to build Joe’s face on top of his face, so he could reach in and pull the eyeball out.” It’s one of the more graphic scenes in the film, but “if you’ve seen our YouTube channel you’ll know we can go a lot further.” They were constantly conscious of finding the balance in having a dramatic horror film without going overboard with the gore. Take all kinds!
sixteen. In the aerial shot of the sink at minute 44:12, where Mia is washing her hands, there are several blood stains that have a meaning. “So many drops of blood, all of that is there for a reason that we won’t talk about.” There is also something noteworthy regarding Mia’s nail polish. They keep doing it and then don’t explain anything.
17. Originally there was a longer scene of Mia and her father Max (Marcus Johnson) arguing after the Riley incident, but they cut it off despite loving both actors’ work. Mia and her father are two people unable to connect, and arguing (who care enough about each other to actually argue) shows a connection of some sort.
18. The transition shot showing Mia on the bed, turning around and walking into Daniel’s arms was done with her standing while people held Daniel’s prosthetic leg in place from above.
19. They were inspired by Ingmar Bergman. The hour of the wolf (1968) in terms of the characters looking directly at the camera. People still think he’s more inspired by Jordan Peele. Go out (2017), but even though it is not, “it is not a bad movie” to compare it to.
twenty. The sequence where Mia goes to hell was originally two and a half minutes long. “We shot so much violent stuff that it seemed too far away.” They decided to show it simply in flashes and glimpses, which made their producers happy since some of the stuff probably wouldn’t have made it past the censors. The scenes were shot in wide format with a stand-in for Bird so as not to traumatize him, and then in close-ups the next day with a more restrained set.
twenty-one. They only had a few days of shooting where they had access to a two-camera crew, so they reserved it for scenes like the emotional scene between Mis and her father as he reads her mother’s suicide note. They felt some pressure to reserve it for more action-oriented sequences, but the dual performances, each feeding off the other, were more important to them.
22. The font used for the opening and closing credits matches Duckett’s (sunny johnson) bag — Duckett is the boy who commits suicide at the beginning.
The best in comments without context
“We’re not going to talk in slow motion.”
“Breathe, Danny.”
“Parents didn’t let their children go out with us because we were very aggressive children.”
“That’s the only lens flare in the movie.”
“When you’re on set, every day you feel like you’ve just come back from a war… but it’s the best thing ever.”
“I’m so sorry if this was a terrible, shitty comment.”
Final thoughts
Oh my goodness, these guys talk fast and furious! While some comments leave gaps of up to a minute or more, the Philippou brothers do not leave even a second of silence. It’s a fun listen, even if you sometimes get lost in what they’re saying. tell me It’s still a fantastic horror film, with stunning visuals and creepy beats that come through even with the on-screen commentary. I’m not sure I agree with your decision to leave topics and such off the table (a commentary track is exactly the place to talk about them), but I respect the desire to let viewers figure things out for themselves . Great movie, great comments.
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