Talk to Me directors Danny and Michael Philipou have a new film coming out called Bring Her Back, and it's already promising to be another intense horror movie to add to their list of hits.
Not much is known publicly about Bring Her Back besides its hauntingly vague logline:
"A brother and sister witness a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother."
The Direct was invited by A24 to attend an event to get a first glimpse at what the movie has in store for audiences—including the reveal that the film follows a blind character, played by an actual vision-impaired actor.
Finding the Perfect, Vision-Impaired Actor for Bring Her Back
"It Was So Important to Try and Find an Actual Vision Impaired Actor..."
Sora Wong leads the cast of Bring Her Back as Piper, a vision impaired child, who, alongside her brother (Andy, played by Billy Barrett), end up going through a horrific experience not long after meeting their new foster mom, played by Sally Hawkins.
- Moderator: "Let's talk about some of the less experienced actors in the movie. Obviously, Billy Barrett plays Andy, and Sora Wong plays Piper. Yeah, they have this amazing, natural sibling chemistry. Can you talk about the process of casting them, and especially Sora as a discovery, this is her first piece of acting ever, right?"
Danny Philippou: It was so important to try and find an actual vision impaired actor, and so we, like, reached out to those communities, and he met with a bunch of kids, and—
Michael Philippou: Like, the pool for that isn't very big, 12-year-old vision impaired that also want to act... We did a thing where we ran through an exercise, We created a scenario and said, perform this like you normally would, like, put yourself in the headspace of this character when this has happened. And then we just improved. And she just blew everyone away.
She second-guessed herself a lot. And we saw throughout the film, her transformation from day one of never acting before to the final day where she looked like a seasoned pro, was the most amazing things. She had, sort of walls up and she was just like, there were parts of she's like, singing, dancing on camera. [She would say] I don't think I can sit and dance the camera. She's like, I don't think I can cry on camera. You know, there's all these things, you know, the walls that she put up.
At the end of the film, she's balling her eyes out. She's like, jumping on the dance floor, the rap party, scream singing. And she was such a badass, like, Did her own stunts at certain points, and then it was just about creating the environment. And luckily, this was Sally's process as well.
We very much trying to shoot in chronological order as much as possible so that the characters are unfolding with the actors and that we save the more intensive scenes towards the end of the schedule, where Sora has had more experience and is more comfortable doing those things. But yeah, she's incredible...
And then Billy Barrett is, I think, the youngest Emmy Award winner, or something like that. And we wanted him for 'Talk to Me,' couldn't afford him, but he actively really wanted to work with us as well. So he came to Australia, and his Australian accent is on point as well. And yeah, [they] were both amazing.
- Moderator: "You mentioned Sora being partially sighted. We saw that, obviously, [but] thematically, when you approach this from a writing perspective, how did that change the survival stakes for Piper? Like, Obviously, she has to navigate the horror she's experiencing, using her other senses. But can you talk a little bit about what was important to you about having a partially sighted actor?"
Danny Philippou: Yeah, there was a friend's little sister [who] is non-sighted, and she was at this crossroad where she wanted to be able to experience the world for herself, catch the bus by herself, and it's like an awkward transition for parents and stuff to allow her to do that, and then she was, like, didn't want to be babies through life, like she's not gonna be able to have those parents, when she's older and she's, you know, they're not gonna be able to help her get to work.
So, those conversations were sort of happening, and then even just talking to her and asking about seeing or what she thinks seeing would be like, and she said, 'I'm glad that I don't have to see because I don't have to see the ugly things in the world.'
And that was a really poignant [insight]. That line became very thematic throughout the film, and yeah, it's threaded all the way through. And Cheyenne's got an amazing singing voice, and we're giving her vocals in the film as well in the score and soundtrack, which is awesome.
The Inspiration Behind Bring Her Back
The Movie Is Birthed From Tragedy.
- Moderator: "So it's clear from Talk to Me and now from 'Bring Her Back,' and from what you guys have seen, that you guys like to use horror to get into the emotions of trauma. Can you talk a little bit about how you came to this particular story of this movie, and if you had any real life inspirations?"
Danny Philippou: It always will make things depressing. But yeah, we were in the middle of writing 'Bring her Back,' and my cousin lost her two year old, and we were in the hospital, and I was just seeing her on the bed, holding this kid, and the family were all around him, and they were holding his feet and his hands and his head and his arms, and eventually, over time, everyone let him go.
And my cousin was the last one to let him go. And horror is a fun way to look at dark things like that. And like the idea of her never being okay ever again after that, that sort of was an inspiration point, and how far she would go to heal herself from it.
And like the idea of like a never ending grief cycle is terrifying to me, and seeing really raw grief like that was terrifying, and that just happened while we were writing.
So, that became part of the screenwriting process. And it always is a way to, yeah, just to express those things or look at those things in a fun way. Hopefully, it's fun and [but] probably not.
How Their Experience on 'Talk to Me' Informed Making 'Bring Her Back'
With 'Talk to Me' Under Their Belt, Crew Knew Who They Were Working With.
- Moderator: "From a writing and producing standpoint can was there anything you guys learned making 'Talk to Me' that informed the way you approached making 'Bring Her Back?'"
Michael Philippou: I guess we had the experience of doing a movie, but we've done a movie before, and I think, like when we were first on set for 'Talk to Me,' even the crew, I think was like, they didn't take us seriously, though, which is good. And then during this shoot, the crew kind of had this sort of respect, almost.
But that was like externally, internally, we came up, we came on set, we had no idea what fuck we're doing. Well, that's how it feels. It feels like you're—it's just as unknown, it's just as scary, it's just as daunting. It was more anxiety-ridden because you have A24 to let down, you have Sally Hawkins to let down, like, it's like everything that you do, there's was an extra pressure to it.
So, it felt [like] there was more pressure on this one than there was on 'Talk to Me' and everything just goes out the window, and it feels like you've never made anything. And then you're in the deep again, and you feel like you're drowning again. And you're like, Oh, what a fuck do we put ourselves through this again? And then at the end of it, you come out, and you're talking about it, the film's done, and it's always a painful process, but a rewarding one.
The first poster for the movie can be seen here:
Bring Her Back hits theaters on May 30, 2025.
