Before A24 Bought Their Movie, Talk To Me's Directors Made A24 Jokes On Set [Exclusive]
There are very few independent entertainment companies that have garnered the attention and acclaim that A24 has amassed over a relatively short amount of time. There are certainly more niche production companies like Oscilloscope Laboratories and SpectreVision that have earned a loyal following from tapeheads and hardcore genre fans, but A24 is operating on a completely different wavelength.
Having found success in the horror space with Ari Aster's "Hereditary" and "Midsommar," A24 just swept last year's Oscars with wins in all of the major categories for the tripped-out family adventure "Everything, Everywhere All At Once." Even the average moviegoer is familiar with the brand, and they trust the stamp of quality that's associated with it. If A24 is behind a particular movie, chances are it's going to be a high quality piece of entertainment that's trying to do something unique and different.
A24's new horror film "Talk to Me" is their latest genre offering that's promising to deliver some ingenious scares that should breathe new life into a familiar setup involving possession from beyond the grave. Australian directing duo, Danny and Michael Philippou, never imagined that a company with the reputation and stature of A24 would take an interest in their work, let alone wind up getting behind "Talk to Me" to promote it as a high profile release hitting theaters right in the middle of a highly competitive summer.
A24's surreal pitch at the Sundance Film Festival
Now that they have the name behind them and the public's awareness with Barbenheimer mostly in the rearview, both filmmakers are being taken a lot more seriously. When the Philippou brothers were on set, however, the very possibility of A24 releasing "Talk to Me" was an ongoing joke as they were filming. In an exclusive interview with /Film's Jacob Hall, both directors were asked if they had the A24 audience in mind when they were making "Talk to Me." Danny Philippou was first up, saying:
"It wasn't an A24 film. I was like, when they said A24 was coming to the screening when they were looking at buying and stuff, I'm like, 'There's no f***ing way they're going to buy it.' But it was constantly a joke on set, it was very A24. That's very Sundance."
The twin filmmakers used the A24 name as a joke to remind them that what they were making wasn't quite on the level of auteur horror that the company has become synonymous with. "If we were arguing on set, we'd say, 'That's not very A24 of you to be lingering on that shot like that,'" Michael Philippou chimed in to say.
But then A24 suddenly came knocking after "Talk to Me" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (read /Film's review here), suddenly giving "Talk to Me" a lot more credibility. "We really respect them, they're like a prestigious company, and we never thought that we'd fit inside that bracket," Michael added. "So the fact that we were at Sundance and they were pitching themselves to us was completely surreal."
Will Talk to Me live up to the hype?
Without question, having a prestigious company like A24 with their unparalleled brand recognition is going to give "Talk to Me" an incredible boost as it rolls out into theaters across the country. With that association comes a certain level of expectation, though. That could leave some audiences underwhelmed if "Talk to Me" doesn't deliver the goods — something that Danny Philippou was well aware of:
"When we had that initial meeting and they were talking about it, I said, 'I'm nervous for it to be presented by A24.' Yeah, I felt embarrassed. The audience seems so sophisticated, I'm scared, I feel dumb."
Dubbing themselves the Racka Racka brothers, the filmmaking duo have already amassed a huge following on YouTube, boasting over 6.7 million followers with over 1.2 billion views and counting. That experience has led them to this moment, but that doesn't mean they feel overly confident about stepping into the limelight with "Talk to Me."
"We have a bio on YouTube and it's called 'Wannabe Filmmakers on a rampage,'" Danny Philippou explained. "I don't think we've lost that wannabe yet. We're still wannabe filmmakers, I feel, at this time." With "Talk to Me," the Philippou brothers are inevitably going to be compared to the stunning output that A24 has already put out into the world. That's a blessing and a curse, and it will be interesting to see if all the acclaim that "Talk to Me" has garnered so far will translate into another sleeper hit for the horror genre this summer.
"Talk to Me" arrives in theaters on July 28, 2023.