“When you’re on set, everyday feels like you just got back from a war… but it’s the best thing ever.”
Welcome to Commentary Commentary, the place we sit and take heed to filmmakers speak about their work, then share probably the most attention-grabbing elements. In this version, Rob Hunter revisits one among 2023’s greatest horror movies with the Talk to Me commentary.
There are nice horror movies launched yearly, however 2024 is already shaping up to be one of the greats with gems like Exhuma, The First Omen, and Infested delivering recent thrills. The coming months are wanting even brighter with extremely anticipated releases like Longlegs, Cuckoo, Heretic, and extra. It’s in that spirit that we’re wanting again at one among final yr’s greatest horror films and giving a take heed to its commentary.
Talk to Me is a possession movie that finds a particularly distinctive angle on the trope whereas additionally delivering enjoyable scares, creepy beats, and a few gory thrills. The filmmakers are at the moment engaged on a sequel, so we determined to offer a take heed to their commentary observe exploring the story, manufacturing, and launch.
Now maintain studying to see what I heard on the commentary for…
Talk to Me (2023)
Commentators: Danny Philippou (co-director/co-writer), Michael Philippou (co-director)
1. They open the observe saying that they’re not going to speak concerning the movie’s themes or what it means as they like to depart such issues as much as viewer interpretation.
2. They credit score Causeway Films for being an enormous assist from the script-stage ahead, including that “they helped us take it out to market and get rejected by every Hollywood studio.” Apparently one of many large studios did say sure, “but they wanted to change the film too much.” They needed the movie to elucidate the hand’s powers and supply extra particulars behind what it might probably do, why it might probably do it, and the way.
3. The opening monitoring shot took ten takes — and ten smashed doorways — and was the very final thing they shot for the movie.
4. Sia gave them “Chandelier” at a 75% low cost as she’s from Adelaide, similar to the brothers. They tried to get “Green Light” by Lorde, however they had been turned down.
5. The overhead shot of the dying kangaroo within the street is “important… a reoccurring theme,” however they refuse to elaborate. (But the overhead shot at 1:27:05 is clearly associated.
6. One of the kids is seen utilizing an iPhone, and so they needed to get permission from Apple. Similarly, in addition they obtained permission to make use of Snapchat. Both had been important, of their eyes, as they needed the movie to really feel genuine to youngsters/younger folks.
7. They gave each head of division a “foot down,” principally a card they might pull after they felt very strongly that one thing needs to be a sure means. The costume designer used hers relating to Mia’s (Sophie Wilde) yellow-ish sweater.
8. They would play Uno day by day with forged and crew, and the losers must do a clumsy social dare which generally included deliberately messing up a take.
9. Apparently the typical purpose on a movie is to shoot 1.5 to 2 minutes (of the completed movie) per day, however they had been typically averaging eight. Both of those numbers really feel remarkably low to me, however I additionally don’t perceive how films value a lot to make within the first place.
10. The actor who performs the primary ghost, who we see for less than a second at 19:19, traveled from the inland, quarantine for 3 days, seem on set for roughly fifteen minutes, fly dwelling and quarantine for 3 extra days. “We just liked the look of him so much… we’re very specific about our demons.” Might simply be a semantics concern, however demons and ghosts are totally different, no? Curious.
11. They draw a distinction between script and display with regards to intentions. “When you’re writing a script, there’s things you have to kind of spell out to make sense of characters and moments, but a lot of that can be conveyed through looks, glances, and audio atmosphere.” Visuals can be utilized in a similar way, however the sounds of a movie are each bit as essential on this regard.
12. Early variations of the hand included one which was connected to a board, however observe runs made it clear it wanted to be extra versatile and straightforward to deal with. The artist who finalized the hand design accomplished it and instantly stop. They’re unsure why, though there have been apparently rumors that one thing disturbed him. They made 5 copies as they anticipated the hand to interrupt, however it by no means did.
13. The beat with Daniel (Otis Dhanji) sloppy kissing the canine was finished utilizing a puppet head — for the canine, not Otis — after which comped it along with a shot of the canine licking a snack.
14. Riley’s (Joe Bird) possession scene is an emotionally draining one, to the purpose that Bird would wish time each earlier than and after, away from the forged and crew, to gather himself. It was additionally bodily draining, for apparent causes.
15. They acknowledge that eye stuff managed with visible results typically seems a bit off, so that they went sensible for Riley’s eye harm scene. “We had to build Joe’s face on top of his face, so he could actually reach in and pull out the eyeball.” It’s one of many extra graphic scenes within the movie, however “if you saw our YouTube channel you know we can go a lot further.” They had been consistently conscious of discovering the stability in having a dramatic horror movie with out going overboard with gore. Takes every kind!
16. The overhead shot of the sink at 44:12 the place Mia’s washing her fingers options a number of bloody smudges which have that means. “How many blood drops, that’s all there for a reason that we won’t talk about.” There’s additionally one thing of be aware relating to Mia’s nail polish. They maintain doing this after which not explaining something.
17. There was initially an extended scene of Mia and her father Max (Marcus Johnson) arguing after Riley’s incident, however they reduce it regardless of loving the work by each actors. Mia and her dad are two folks unable to attach, and arguing — caring sufficient to really argue — exhibits a connection of some variety.
18. The transition shot exhibiting Mia in mattress, turning, and strolling into Daniel’s arms was finished along with her standing up whereas folks held Daniel’s prosthetic leg in place from above.
19. They drew inspiration from Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968) so far as having characters look instantly into the digital camera. People maintain pondering it’s drawn extra from Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017), however whereas it’s not, “that’s not a bad movie” to be in comparison with.
20. The sequence the place Mia goes to hell was initially two and a half minutes lengthy. “We shot so much violent stuff, it felt too far.” They determined to only present it in flashes and glimpses, which made their producers glad as among the stuff most likely wouldn’t have handed the censor board. The scenes had been filmed huge with a stand-in for Bird in order to not traumatize him, after which close-ups the following day with a extra restrained ensemble.
21. They solely had a number of days of the shoot the place that they had entry to a two digital camera setup, so that they saved it for scenes just like the emotional scene between Mis and her father as he reads her mom’s suicide be aware. They felt some stress to reserve it for extra action-oriented sequences, however the twin performances, every feeding off the opposite, was extra essential to them.
22. The font used for the opening/finish credit matches Duckett’s (Sunny Johnson) bag — Duckett being the child who kills himself at first.
Best in Context-Free Commentary
“We’re not gonna talk in slow motion.”
“Take a breath, Danny.”
“Parents would not let their kids hang out with us because we were really aggressive children.”
“That’s the only lens flare in the film.”
“When you’re on set, everyday feels like you just got back from a war… but it’s the best thing ever.”
“I’m so sorry if this was a terrible, shitty fucking commentary.”
Final Thoughts
Holy hell, do these guys discuss quick and furiously. While some commentaries see gaps ranging as much as a minute or extra, the Philippou brothers don’t go away even a single second of lifeless air. It makes for a enjoyable pay attention even when you sometimes get misplaced in what they’re speaking about. Talk to Me stays a terrific chiller too, with putting visuals and spooky beats that come throughout even with the commentary enjoying. I’m unsure I agree with their alternative to depart themes and such off the desk — a commentary observe is the precise place to debate them — however I respect the will to let viewers determine issues out for themselves. Great movie, nice commentary.
Read extra Commentary Commentary from the archives.
Related Topics: Commentary Commentary, Horror, Talk To Me
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