Danny and Michael Philippou have been making videos for a while now. For over 20 years, to be exact. The twin brothers, now 30 years old, started making videos at home in Australia when they were 9, and in 2013 the duo decided to take their talents to YouTube under the name RackaRacka.
Ten years later, in 2023, the Philippou brothers landed their first feature film, Talk to Me, which is getting all the buzz in Hollywood. After making its world debut at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and its subsequent purchase by A24, the horror film has finally found its way to theaters. It’s already become A24’s second-biggest box office opening after Ari Aster’s Hereditary (2018), and it was recently announced that a sequel, titled Talk 2 Me, is officially in the works, proving the two brothers are here to make their mark in the world of cinema.
We caught up with the YouTube-turned-big-screen duo to learn more about their career journey, producing their first feature film, and what they have planned for the future.
(This interview has been edited in length for clarity.)
Well, first off, congratulations. We'll just jump right into it. So Talk to Me is already A24's second-biggest theatrical debut after Hereditary. What was your immediate reaction to hearing that news?
Danny Philippou:
I don't know. The night that it came out in cinemas, and I never usually do this, I got really drunk. I just told my managers and everyone not to tell us what the numbers were or anything. I got told that yesterday, and, I don't know, man, I'm very overwhelmed again. And yeah, lots of crying alone in the hotel room. But it was beautiful.
Do you remember the first time that you saw an ad or a poster for your film and what that was like?
DP:
Yeah, I went to AMC Theater to watch Into the Spider-Verse, and I saw the poster, and I wasn't expecting to see the poster. That was always my dream, was to walk into a movie theater and I'd see the poster for my film. Very surreal.
Michael Philippou:
I saw one yesterday and I went to go take a picture of it, and it changed because it was one of the electric posters. I wasn't quick enough. A24, we gotta get it showing a little bit longer on the walls.
I’m sure A24 can make that happen. Just curious, but who is in possession of the hand right now?
DP:
There's six. One of the main ones that we filmed in the film, because we only used one — we made six, but only one got used. So five of them are out there; like our production designer has one. Sophie Wilde, the actor, has one.
MP:
I had one, but we gave it away. To Sophie.
DP:
And then the main one we used is just sitting in my bedroom.
MP:
Danny sleeps with it.
DP:
It's comfortable to sleep with. It’s like holding someone’s hand.
This whole journey has been a long process for you all. It started in 2003, when you started making films. 2013 you jumped on YouTube. Ten years later, again, it’s 2023 and you come out with your first feature film. Can you talk about this long, 20-plus-year journey?
DP:
Well, every video we have made was in preparation to making a feature film. Like all of the YouTube stuff. Everything we did was always like, well, we want to make a movie; we want to make a movie. So like, we would always just set up different filmmaking challenges and everything that we were doing even before YouTube, even when we were kids. Like trying greenscreen for the first time and trying VFX, or like writing a script for the first time for one of these episodes or whatever. So it just feels like we've been doing this our whole lives.
MP:
There was a couple that we were gonna do before, but they didn't feel right. We could have made a film years ago, but it would have been not as good.
Speaking of horror, the concept kind of gained momentum for you all at the right time. What are your thoughts on the horror genre today?
DP:
I think that there is a resurgence in terms of how many people are interested in horror films. There's like this weird subgenre that people talk about called elevated horror. I think that there's like a really big communal audience hunger for it, which is so exciting because it used to be those big spectacle films, which it still is a little bit like. I like that horror can stand its own ground in the landscape. It's really cool.
Can you talk about what it was like building out a “mythology bible” for the story and developing those ideas?
DP:
Oh, well, honestly we just did more writing just to keep track of all the rules for the hands and the spirits of the kids who were connecting to it, all that sort of stuff. So we just did it out of necessity. And once we started writing it, we got really carried away with stories and backstories and histories that, like once we got writing, we couldn't stop.
How many pages is it?
DP:
It's probably like 60 pages or something like that. And it's just different stories and all this.
MP:
It's way more than 60 pages.
DP:
Alright. It depends on what font you're looking at. Once we started writing that, we started expanding on that as well. So it just became this thing where it was all just ever expanding and fun to explore. I just like having little hints of it in the film and not over-explaining things over-analyzing stuff. We wanted the kids to be out of their depth and only hint at things. So there's a lot of tiny Easter eggs that people can find.
If you just had to guesstimate, if every single one of your ideas for the Talk to Me universe could come alive today, how many movies do you think you’d have?
MP:
Six?
DP:
Maybe five and a spin-off TV show. It's so weird because like, right now, I would always want to favor the strongest stories first. So I feel like I’d only be comfortable doing a second and third film maybe, or something like that.
Speaking more generally, what are some staples across every horror film that are in every single one? What do you guys think?
DP:
Well, for me, like the staple for a good horror film are characters that people can connect to and relate to. So sometimes it's a bit of a distance with some film characters, where they feel like film characters, [and] they don’t feel like real people. And I think that it's cool to have characters that are maybe a little bit challenging to the audience. They're like, “I don't know why they did that.” Having something that's a bit unsympathetic and [trying] to have great characters and not just be black and white. I like when the characters feel multidimensional.
MP:
There's an extended cut of the film that's like 20 minutes longer, and it's a lot of the characters.
DP:
It's just drama.
MP:
It's like it's a whole lot of drama.
DP:
That was one thing that we really wanted, was Talk to Me to work as a horror film and as a drama film. And we've noticed that with people that aren't entirely horror film fans, they still like the film, which is cool.
For a lot of the cast, this was their big debut. But you two have been in the industry for a long time, at least in terms of videos and content creation. What is it like to have a twin brother as your counterpart to work on these things?
DP:
Oof!
MP:
It’s been great, hasn’t it, bro?
DP:
That's debatable, isn't it.
MP:
Oh, no, it's, like, terrible.
DP:
It actually is good to have someone that you grow up with making stuff and throughout all those experiences making all those things. You just have a creative shorthand and we sort of come — we just know what each other is thinking, and we're pretty united about it. The only time that we'd really fight was in the edit suite. We fought a lot in the edit suite because we both did an edit of the movie.
The last movie that received any kind of critical acclaim was in 2018 with Jordan Peele’s Get Out. He won Best Original Screenplay, but it doesn't seem like the Academy is really showing so much love to the horror genre.
DP:
I think that there needs to be a real cultural impact, like how it was with Get Out. It was such a powerful, cultural film. And yeah, and a lot of horror doesn't tap into some of that. And when they do, it comes across differently.
MP:
Yeah, it’s just baseline, like Danny’s film. You know, great performances, but writing like Best Original Screenplay? I keep dreaming.
DP:
Michael didn’t write a page of Talk to Me, but he sure likes to pretend he did during interviews.
What is your greatest horror film of all time that everyone needs to watch?
MP:
Probably The Exorcist.
DP:
Well, I mean, everyone’s seen The Exorcist, right?
MP:
I don't know about that. Like the new Gen Z has seen The Exorcist?
DP:
I think a lot of Gen Z has. Gen Alpha, that’s the next generation. Know your gens, dog. Gen Alpha, I think you really need to explore that.
MP:
Gen Alpha, what are they? Like 5 years old? Parents, you really need to show your 5-year-olds The Exorcist.
I know having someone like A24 backing your film is equally as important as a good cast and script. Why did you guys feel like it was important to collaborate with A24 on a horror film?
DP:
I'd collaborate with A24 on any film, you know, and we made it independently and took it to Sundance, and that's when A24 approached us and our minds were so blown. We were fanboying so hard. We could not believe it was happening.
You guys love A24. I think that's a pretty universally accepted opinion. What do you guys think gives A24 that, like, special sauce? People see it and know it's going to be a hit.
DP:
They trust the filmmakers and there's not a big studio system changing visions, maybe, is what it is. And they give the freedom to artists to really express themselves
MP:
They invest in unique stories and really stand by their directors. Whatever studio has the actors and whoever like they win all these awards, the Academy Awards, and everyone thanks A24 personally, you never get that. They're so director-friendly that you never have to worry. Working with A24 comes with a guarantee, like a safety net to be like, you will be able to express yourself, and you know do it your way and your vision, and they will back that.
You all are directing a Street Fighter movie. Who is your go-to character to use when you play the game?
DP:
Oh, always Chun-Li or Ryu.
MP:
There's a character named Sagat that's based on a real person. And I went to Thailand because he still trains, does privates. I went to Thailand to track him down a few months ago, and I went to different Muay Thai camps, and it was all these whispers. And I kept going, and I eventually found him and I trained with him, so I'd say Sagat because I've learned the moves in real life.
Who would win in a 1v1 fight?
MP:
Oh, I know me.
DP:
Shut up. No, you would. It's like, shut up.
MP:
Wait a second. You guys have Street Fighter here in the hallway? I will slap you off. Do you want to put money on it? I'll put money on it.
DP:
This is exclusive. Oh yeah. I will be 1v1. I guarantee it. I will beat you.
Are you casting Nicki Minaj?
DP:
Oh, look, I would. I 100 percent would love to work with Nicki Minaj. What the hell? That'd be insane. I'd be intimidated.
