Talk to Me is one of the best horror filmsof the year.

It is quietly scary… and yet the directors are the biggest pair of goofballs I have ever met.

They light a candle, grab a ceramic hand, utter the phrase, “Talk to me.

Unsurprisingly, things go wrong.

We spoke with Danny and Michael about their highly anticipated film, Talk to Me.

Warning: the pair gets silly.

GameSpot: Where did the idea for Talk To Me come from?

Danny Phillipou:There were so many different things that inspired it.

There were these neighbors that we watched grow up down the road with three boys.

He was on the floor and he was convulsing.

All his friends were just filming him and laughing at him.

I remember seeing that footage from Snapchat and it really bothered me.

That was always in my head.

I knew I wanted to explore something there.

I just rewrote this thing and I took his bones and I just couldn’t stop writing after that.

Are you the writer in this pairing?

Danny Phillipou:Yes, I am the smarter twin, yes.

Thank you, yes.

Why a hand of all the things?

How did you come up with the idea for the hand?

Danny Phillipou:It came in the second draft.

It was already so evident and it was such a big part of the script already.

There was so much about human connection and hands and closeups on hands.

It was such a recurring motif.

It just felt like it’d been there all along.

Once we found it and we knew it, it was like, “Oh, my God.”

Before that, it was just haunted objects.

Michael Phillipou:That’s Danny’s great writing.

It was haunted objects, right?

In the first draft, you didn’t even know what it was?

Danny Phillipou:It literally just said haunted object.

I wanted the spirits to be really hideous and disturbing.

I would always just write a Michael jot down because he’s just so hideous.

Michael Phillipou:You do know you’re my identical twin by the way.

Danny Phillipou:Somehow you’re just so much more hideous.

It’s interesting because you don’t really present the backstory of the hand.

You have the rumor-y backstory, but did you have one in your minds?

Danny Phillipou:My gosh, yes, we’ve got the thickest mythology bible.

The mythology bible is bigger than a novel.

We were going to do this film with a big studio.

You always see those horror stories of directors getting screwed over by Hollywood.

We just care too much about what we’re making to allow that to happen.

We decided to go independent and make it with creative control.

It was a big risk, but it also just felt right because we just care about everything.

Do you guys work well together?

Danny Phillipou:No, it’s constant arguments and fist fights.

Michael Phillipou:No, it’s not.

Danny Phillipou:It is.

Michael Phillipou:Come on now.

Now you’re in an interview.

Danny Phillipou:We’d argue over text [message] and notes.

We wouldn’t want to argue in front of the crew.

I’d just aggressively be pointing my phone to Michael’s face.

There was a lot against us.

We just had to work together for once.

It was more in the post-production phase than production.

I think we’re pretty in sync.

Danny Phillipou:I think that overall you’d say I’m probably more right about those.

Danny Phillipou:You edited that and made that.

You tailored the vision.

That’s on you.

How did your experiences compare to your expectations of what it was going to be like directing?

Michael Phillipou:We were lucky enough that we had crewed on films beforehand.

We had worked with them.

We knew what we were getting ourselves into.

Then, with YouTube we were able to hone our craft as directors and put ourselves in corners.

It was about going there and coming up with things on the spot.

That was awesome as well.

Can you talk a little bit about casting Sophie Wilde?

She drives the film.

We were like, “Yeah.”

We really fought hard to get her.

She was so inspiring and she just was so committed.

There’s days that we’d asked her to not sleep and she came to set not having slept.

She just brought such an authenticity to the role and such a charisma.

She’s such a physical performer.

We’re in awe of her.

Those are big boots to fill.

We never had to cut around Sophie.

She was just amazing in every single scene.

I’m just picturing her the whole time.

Are you working on your next film already?

We’d love to make that.

We’d love to make another one ASAP.

We’re ready to go.

With Talk to Me, it was the first one that gained momentum the way it did.

This one, Bring Her Back, has gained that momentum.

It would be great to do that next.

Do you consider yourselves horror filmmakers?

Danny Phillipou:I just think we’re still wannabe filmmakers.

We have no idea what we’re doing.

Michael Phillipou:Our YouTube description is “wannabe filmmakers on a rampage.”

I don’t think we’ve lost the “wannabe” yet.

We’ve met so many.

Danny Phillipou:We don’t know what we’re doing.

Michael Phillipou:We’re YouTubers that made a film.

We’re not filmmakers yet I don’t feel.

Getting A24 to distribute your movie is quite a coup.

How did that happen?

Danny Phillipou:Taking it to Sundance.

It’s A24.”

A24 would do it like this."

Danny Phillipou:Then, they came and introduced themselves to us.

We’re like, “Oh, my gosh.”

Danny Phillipou:“We know who you are.”

Michael Phillipou:We love them so much.

I’m wearing A24 pants right now.

Danny Phillipou:He’s a fanboy.

Michael Phillipou:I’m a fanboy.

It shows us reacting to when we got picked up by A24.

Michael Phillipou:A literal dream, I couldn’t think of a better studio.

Michael Phillipou:Unworthy.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly?