The Touching True Story Behind Talk To Me's Haunted Hand
A24's summer horror hit "Talk to Me" is absolutely devastating, but the movie is even sadder when you know the true story behind it. Danny and Michael Philippou crafted a supernatural narrative for their debut feature film, but they also brought in a bit of real life experience.
Mia (Sophie Wilde) is struggling to cope with the passing of her mother when she discovers a way to commune with the dead through holding an embalmed hand. Holding hands is a central motif in the film — it's both the way characters lift each other out of hard times and get pulled further into darkness. But believe it or not, the hand itself was not even in the first iteration of the story. However, the hand quickly fell into place with the other concepts the co-writers had in mind for the movie.
Danny Phillippou explained in an interview with Indiewire:
"It wasn't in the first draft of the script. It came in the second draft of the script because we knew we wanted a haunted object and thematically, all the way through the first draft, it was all about touch and human connection. Hands were such a recurring motif. Like, if you go back and watch the film, there's a whole lot of hands in there outside of the hand that it just felt right to be our object of horror. It felt like once we found that, we were like, 'Oh my God, this has been here the entire time.'"
The hand was inspired by a tragic accident
Even though a disembodied hand is a familiar trope in horror, from acclaimed classics like Luis Buñuel's "The Exterminating Angel" to worldwide phenomena like "The Addams Family," the 2023 take on hand-holding-horror is a bit more emotional. This heightened drama surrounding hands was infused into every moment of the film, even in ways that were totally disconnected from the haunted hand. For example, Mia focuses on a couple holding hands right before deciding to commune with the dead for the first time.
"It's about knowing that you don't have to bludgeon people over their heads," Michael explained to Slant Magazine. "Just the tiniest thing about a glance, or something tiny in the frame, it can mean so much."
But it wasn't just in the little details. Hands played a deceptive role, but also a highly tender one. Even fans of "Talk To Me" might not know that the haunted hand was inspired by a traumatic experience from one of the filmmaker's pasts. Danny Phillippou shared his story with Roger Ebert:
"I was in this car accident when I was 16. I'd split my face open, and they thought I might have broken my spine. I was in the hospital, and I just couldn't stop myself from shaking. And the doctors would come in, turn the heaters on, and give me extra blankets to try to warm me up, but they couldn't get me warm. I just couldn't stop shaking. And then, my sister sat next to me. She held my hand, and the shaking just stopped. The touch of someone I love brought me out of this state of shock that I was in."
The hand is a bit of a Rubik's cube, co-director says
The co-directors of "Talk to Me" knew that they were treading on familiar ground when it came to paranormal possessions. However, given how personal this film was to them, they wanted to tap into that raw emotion in this film. For reference, they looked to "The Exorcist." Danny told Time:
"The mom's reactions to everything feel so real, like her trying to figure out [what's happening to her daughter] and, after everything, finally succumbing and going to the church and asking them about exorcism because there's no other possible answer. It was always in my head to try to have characters that feel as real as she did."
The horror of this helplessness could be found in Riley's family members during his possession. Just like Mia, they process their grief through hand-holding. The only difference is that Riley's family grieves his possession in a productive way that breeds human connection.
But when it comes to the supernatural capabilities of the hand, these possessions are only the tip of the iceberg. The Phillippou brothers have hinted at a lot more lore behind the hand that's only subtly referenced in the film and will be developed in future sequels.
"It's a physical representation of everything that was being spoken about, and it was important to us to find the history of the hand — just like the characters," Michael explained to Indiewire. "It makes it so much more dynamic of an experience if you know the backstory and what led the hand to being where it is."
There are also lots of etchings on the hand that hold mythological significance, according to the "Talk To Me" directors. Danny added, "The hand itself is a bit of a Rubik's cube, and there's some hints on there as well."
The filmmakers wrote a whole mythology bible
The movie itself is told from the perspective of amateurs who don't know much about possession and the spirits that they are talking to. However, the Philippou brothers carefully developed the supernatural world of their film in what Danny dubbed a "mythology bible."
"It was all in that mythology bible where we broke down every single spirit that's connecting, why they're acting a certain way, what emotions they're connecting to, and how that spirit died," Danny revealed to Slant Magazine.
This will probably be expanded upon in the prequel film, which has already been shot. However, they don't want to spoon feed this well of knowledge to the viewers and prefer to drop hints for attentive viewers.
"We tell you a little bit about how the spirits died even with the sound design and all that sort of stuff," Danny continued. "Part of me really wants to publish [the mythology] and say, 'Look! Look at all this work we did for the thing!' But the other part of me is excited about planting the seeds and having people find [out]. There are scenes I know that people rewatching it will be able to figure out."
If a rewatch doesn't give you the answers you're looking for, you'll just have to wait for the prequel to learn more. Hopefully, we won't have to wait for too long!