I wrote that title and I meant it. In the end, I did feel this way about a few Sundance 2023 films, but given the order I watched them in, Michael and Danny Philippou's Talk To Me was the very first film to light a fire in me. One that signals we’ve found something special at this year’s festival, and one that had me running around Park City telling everyone they absolutely had to see it.

Talk to Me involves an embalmed hand that gives its wielder the opportunity to willingly become possessed by a spirit. The keepers of that hand are Hayley (Zoe Terakes) and Joss (Chris Alosio), and they organize parties/sessions where teens can essentially get a quick high by holding the hand, saying “talk to me,” and letting a spirit in for 90 seconds or less. If you dare stay connected for longer than that, you run the risk of the spirit staying.

Not only does Talk to Me feature a fascinating and hugely entertaining core concept, but the Philippou brothers have assembled a stellar ensemble, all delivering magnetizing characters and absolutely crushing their intense, supernatural-powered scenes. In addition to amassing a slew of rave reviews out of Sundance, Talk to Me also caught the eyes of the folks over at A24, which appears to have acquired the North American distribution rights to the film.

In celebration of Talk to Me's festival debut, the Philippou brothers, Terakes, Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, and Miranda Otto all visited the Collider Studio presented by Saratoga Spring Water in Park City to talk about their experience working on the Sundance standout.

Danny Philippou began by explaining the key to accomplishing what winds up being impossible for many, getting a first feature off the ground. He explained:

“The best first step is to find good producers, and that was our first step. I’m reaching out and contacting Causeway. We could not believe they responded. Causeway responded and that was the big first step, and they guided us and let us know how to — because I'd already reached out to some studios and I said, ‘I’ve got a script,’ and they're like, ‘This is not how you approach people,’ and I was like, ‘Oh.’ [Laughs]”

Even though they came to learn that that’s not the traditional way to score a green light, there was some studio interest in the project. However, the Philippou brothers opted to forgo the bigger budget in favor of more creative control. Danny Philippou began, “We were starting to develop it with them and they were trying to sort of steer it towards a more conventional route where there was a lot of exploration with our main horror item, our main horror prop, and I just wanted the kids and the characters to be out of their depths.” Michael Philippou added, “Creative control is very important to us. With a studio, you get more money upfront, but that control can get taken away from you, and that’s scary. And we knew that with Causeway, who we did it with, that we'd be safe and they would put the film first over everything.”

Another benefit of working with Causeway? They made sure the team had enough rehearsal time. Danny Philippou recalled:

“There were days when we had to get 10-minute scenes in two days, so we had to get into the space and block it out, because otherwise, we just wouldn't have been able to execute it. And luckily, our producer, Sam [Jennings], was able to make the time in pre-production. We had a very small pre-production, but she made sure to prioritize the rehearsals and it was amazing to be able to go into the space, block it out and work [with] the actors and find out if there's any lines or beats that just weren't working for them.”

Otto jumped in to praise the Philippou brothers' tendency to keep things fresh by surprising their cast. “I also love how you guys will do all the curveball lines and stuff.” Otto continued, “Every time we'd be doing takes, they’d do a curveball kind of take where they’d tell you to come in and say something different to try and throw people off and see if you can get an interesting reaction.” Danny Philippou further explained, “Like if the scene is let them into the door, what happens if you don’t?” Michael Philippou added, “And you get cool reactions, genuine reactions. I think it keeps it fresh.”

Whatever the Philippous did for their cast, it worked. No matter the amount of screen time, every single actor in this film has great presence, makes their character feel whole, and well sells a personal arc. Another wildly impressive element of the Talk To Me performances? The possession scenes. Here’s what Wilde said when asked for one do and one don’t when playing possessed:

“I think rhythm’s really important, like shifting of rhythm. And don’t? I don't know if there are don’ts. I think the whole point of being possessed is that you can do whatever you want and go as far as you want, and the further you go, the better.”

Terakes added, “Don’t be embarrassed. Don't be ashamed.” They also emphasized the value of Wilde being the first to tackle a possession scene and getting to see her absolutely crush it:

“I do feel like we all kind of followed Soph’s lead in that way. I was shit scared when I read the script and I was like, ‘Oh man, this is gonna be so embarrassing.’ As an actor you're like, ‘Ahhh!’ My first day on set was [Sophie's] first possession and I think [she] just set the tone. Everyone was like, ‘Okay, that's where we're going.’ And I think we needed Soph to commit and then everyone saw what they needed to match, and I think that's how we all got up there.”

I hope you’re ready to fall hard for this ensemble of stars on the rise, and also to become mighty obsessed with the hand like I did. As someone who always enjoys laying out and digging into movie lore, I had to ask the Philippou brothers if they created a movie bible for their conduit. Sure enough, they did, and while describing it, they also teased hopes for more Talk to Me films. Danny Philippou explained:

“Even down to the writing on the hand. There's a lore and a story and a deep mythology. Even the spirits that are connecting with every character's emotions. Everything's really thought out and put through a mythology hopefully we can expand on if we were able to do a sequel. But yeah, we wanted the characters to be out of their depths. We didn't explore it that much, so we just sort of hinted at it with the characters. But yes, everything's ironed out and there's a whole big bible. It’s called the mythology bible. So we've got that.”

While I hope this article conveyed my enthusiasm for Talk to Me and all the movie has to offer, trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to miss out on experiencing the cast and directors’ infectious energy in this interview. Be sure to watch the conversation in full at the top of this article!

Special thanks to our 2023 partners at Sundance including presenting partner Saratoga Spring Water and supporting partners Marbl Toronto, EMFACE, Sommsation, Hendrick’s Gin, Stella Artois, mou, and the all-electric vehicle, Fisker Ocean.