Say More: Danny and Michael Philippou on 'Bring Her Back'

With every character that we write, we always want it to feel as if the characters could lead their own drama film

Take the horror elements out. You can still track this character's arc. You can still care for this character

They feel like a real person. They can pick their own outfits and they can change lines if they want to

And then just whatever they can do to give it an authentic performance. And then we rip them apart

Welcome to Say More, a podcast where we talk with your favorite artists from film and TV and the internet

about their careers, their latest projects, and their online obsessions. This week on Mashable, we have our weekly nudist streaming column

which brings you the highlights and lowlights of new shows and movies available on Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, and more

Plus, we have reviews of Karate Kid Legends, Wes Anderson's new movie, The Phoenician Scheme

and Bring Her Back, the new movie from Danny and Michael Filippo

who were the brothers that gave us talk to me. And that's who we're talking to this week in depth about their new film

They are so much fun. I got the chance to talk to them back in 2023 when they were promoting Talk to Me

And that movie is so intensely horrifying. Like, I had no idea what to expect from, like, who I was going to be interviewing

And these masters of horror, like, I was intimidated. And then they walked in the door and they were so humble and hilarious

And I just got to really, like, nerd out with them about horror films

They're terrific. And they show a deep love of movies and practical effects in their work starting off with, like

when they used to do fake fail videos and then they moved on to doing like Harry Potter versus

Star Wars. They've done all these incredible things. And then Talk to Me was a huge box office

hit, huge with critics. Then now they're doing Bring Her Back, which stars two-time Oscar nominee

Sally Hawkins. And Talk to Me, I loved it. It was probably my favorite movie the past like

10 years. Favorite is a weird word to use with horror, but it's definitely one of the most

like affecting films that I'd seen since like Midsommar. Yeah, but Bring Her Back is a movie about a teenage boy and his little sister

who are taken in by a foster mom, played by Sally Hawkins. And while she is initially very warm and caring

there's something wrong in this house. And the more the teen boy becomes aware of that

the scarier and more upsetting this movie gets. That sounds truly gnarly

And the reactions on the internet have been pretty wild. Yeah, they've been doing like advanced screenings

and then showing fan reactions online. And I'm glad I wasn't recorded, because as you know

I have big feelings in general, but especially in movies. But yeah, I think you can get a feel for people reacting

And it's very lovely, because in our interview, they allude to some of the things people are reacting to

without actually giving it away. So this isn't a very spoilery interview

in case that is something that concerns you. It's probably one of the few instances where I actually look forward to a sequel

They already have a sequel promised by A24. That's not this, but I do think Bring Her Back feels like a sister film

It's handling similar concepts. So how do these two films relate? So both films deal with grief, and in particular teenager grieving

and that teenager encounters supernatural elements that could kill them. And I think it's actually a really interesting way to grapple with grief

which we talked about in the interview, but where Talk to Me kind of has a party vibe

because getting possessed by the dead in that movie is part of a kind of metaphor, essentially

Almost like party drugs or something, where you're young, you feel invincible, your friends are doing it, whatever, grab the hand

Bring her back, not that. That's every party I'm at. Every party I'm at also has a cursed hand

because it's not a party until the cursed hand gets thrown on the table. But Bring Her Back is a different vibe

It's less a party. It's more Psycho Bitty, which is, for me, very exciting, because I love a Psycho Bitty

Psycho Bitty, legitimately the greatest name for a subgenre. Can you break down what exactly a Psychobitty film is

Yeah, typically a Psychobitty movie is about a lonely older woman who is so lonely that she is driven to the brink of madness and murder, often murders involved

And in this instance, you know, that's Sally Hawkins' character. And it's just a really fascinating genre because it's essentially kind of playing against gender expectations and playing against these ageist tropes

but in ways that are often very interesting, because for as much as these women are psycho biddies

you kind of can't help but empathize with them on some level

And if you haven't seen Chrissy's interview with John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush for The Rule of Jenny Penn

they talk extensively about psycho biddy films, and hearing John Lithgow say psycho biddy

is one of the greatest things you will ever hear. I'm a big psycho biddy thriller fan

Are you guys... Psycho biddy, what is that? Oh, exciting. It lives rent-free in here

Well, enough buildup. Let's get into the interview with Michael and Dani Filippo

So excited to have you guys here. Excited to be here. Thank you for having us

Yeah. So we want to talk a little bit about how you guys went from being, like, YouTube stars to doing Talk to Me and now Bring Her Back

For me, there's such an interesting connective tissue between, like, the earliest stuff you guys did was, like, WWE-style backyard wrestling videos

Yeah. So tell me about, like, how did that get you into filmmaking? I think we grew up with a big group of kids around the same age

and we would do two things, backyard wrestle and be s*** out of each other

and make home movies. And we made our own TV shows and movies and stuff

Marco always says that. It has never been on TV. It was never anywhere. It was still a TV show

It's a show. It played on our TV. Same name. Yeah, so we created these whole things

and the goal was never to become, we were never interested in YouTube. We kind of just fell into it

We were making stuff, and then Danny posted some fake fail videos. We were pretending things went wrong

so we did a spin on the Harlem Shake, and there was a bomb that went off

Apparently, it was all CGI, or there's a dare where I have to stick a knife in the poster

and the poster blows up. And what was cool about the online videos was just short, quick videos

and just honing our craft, and learning how to do practical effects, or visual effects or building a set for the first time

It kind of felt like in Australia there's this path you have to take. You have to apply for this to get this little bit of funding to apply for that

And it kind of feels like it's who you know and you're going to create these relationships. And we would always submit stuff and get turned down

And I was working on film sets at the time, just volunteering, trying to be around film crews because I was just so amazed that movies were being made

It's so crazy. It's a real job. Yeah, it's an actual job. And then, but we're getting kind of rejected for all these funding things

With YouTube, when we got this kind of audience, we were able to kind of carve her and path and create her and following

And it felt like we could sidestep that way. So the YouTube stuff, we just kind of fell into

It was so fun and rewarding. And it was always, we were able to get a lot of those smaller ideas

out of our heads and onto the screen with the YouTube stuff

And it's just crazy and fun and quick. But then the film stuff was where we always wanted to be

It was slowly building ourselves up to taking the leap into finally getting the courage to make a movie

Oh, well, watching over some of your videos, like I know Harry Potter versus Star Wars was a big one for you guys

And watching it, it's really incredible, not just that you guys figure out a way to make special effects

that look so dynamic in this medium, but also the clear appreciation for these properties

while playing with them. Well, yeah, that was just because our friend Remy was sleeping over

and we watched a Star Wars film and then we watched a Harry Potter film, and then just naturally the argument, you know, arrived

And so that was just, we're like, we just shot it the next morning. Well, let's make a video on this

And so we just started. Yeah, it was one of those. That was the first video that went really viral on our YouTube channel

And we gained like 100,000 subscribers in one night. But we're a big fan of pop culture, all those things that we love

Doing spins on them is always fun. And what's so exciting to me is like watching Talk To Me

I rewatched this weekend. I have to tell you, it was a very hot day in New York this weekend

and I'm watching it at home just on TV as opposed to in a theater

And I got chills like in a very hot rewatching. Like I already did

Very incredible But what I love so much about that movie is the energy you guys capture yeah about like being a teenager and feeling like this invincibility that allows them to make all

these decisions that we as an audience are going like god yeah yeah yeah and it was always like i

think even bring it back as well sort of has it there's naturally that energy on set with us and

then especially with moments like that montage sequence we had two hours to shoot 50 shots

and it was like this is impossible at first sight he's like he's like mathematically it's impossible to get this i'm like no no no like just throw the camera around like create the energy in

the room and we're just more high on the couch yelling out direction and all the actors are bouncing off of each other and like yeah naturally having that energy on set and because the schedule

was so short and it was just like everything was at a breakneck speed uh and all the actors were

down for it was awesome and like between having seen now talk to me and bring her back there's

such an incredible connection and it's not just that both films deal with grief it's also this

respect that you guys give to teenagers that I think often in horror is abandoned in favor of

making them kind of morality puppets that we get to just watch get ripped apart

Yeah. Yeah. Well, like, uh, it's always the, like, for every character that we write

like we always wanted to feel as if the characters could lead their own drama film

like take the horror elements out. You can still track this character's arc. You can still care for

this character. They feel like a real person. And that also comes with everyone that they

cast for them to be able to integrate themselves into the role like they can pick their own outfits

and they can change lines if they want to and then just whatever they can do to give it like an authentic performance and then we work from a part i was just saying they're still bad they're

still there's still bad yeah yeah yeah but it's like watching it last night i won't i don't want

to get into spoilers because people listening to this may not have seen the film yet but there was

a section where i was just like felt so connected to these characters that i'm like this can't

happen this can't happen this can't happen oh my god whereas i think in slashers where we're

working a lot more with archetypes, as soon as you identify the archetype

you know that character is going to go down. And so you can kind of like

in your head, I think, check out a little bit from caring about them. Yeah. That was the thing for us

Killing a character is the biggest thing. Like, it just feels like you're killing a real person

Well, yeah. Especially in your movies. Well, yeah. I mean, I always

I struggle to write a slasher because I'm like, what is that? How's that going to affect this

What's going to? So like killing a character that is like, like not many people die and talk to me

Yeah. Yeah. It's like the violence in that movie is so profound

We talked a little bit before off camera about like, it's part of the sound design. It's part of the fact that you guys love practical effects

Can you talk to me a little bit about, because obviously you do also embrace visual effects

but there's something about practical effects. Can you talk to me about why that matters to you

and what in this movie you were like, we have to do this practically? Everything possible we wanted to do all of practically

Because there's a realism to it. There's still something even with the best VFX. it feels like there's an authenticity or a realness

a rawness that comes with doing it practically. And I have respect for movies that do that

When they go and they try their, whatever the effect is, if you're going that extra mile and not to go

ah, we'll deal with it in post, let's actually figure out a way to do it in camera

There's this, always from a kid, I respected movies that did that. Yeah, but also, yeah, so I also love a bit of VFX

but I always love it to blend those practical elements. Capture as much as you can on certain and use that VFX

to help blend that stuff there to hide some of the rough edges. Sure

Yeah. So yeah, every challenge is like, how do we pull this off for real

Like, how? Right. And it was like, because the first time I saw it talk to me was Sundance

And it was kind of before people had buzz about it yet. It was just one of the early things to see

And the way you guys shoot being possessed was so instantly upsetting

because it relied so much on the physicality of the actor. Yeah. And similarly in Bring Her Back, especially with the young boy in the film

And some of the things he does are so deeply upsetting. They're always the funnest things to shoot

Like there's a scene of a table. We won't give it away

And finally created it. Yeah, like behind the scenes. Andy, just go ahead

Let's go ahead and go for a Michael. We'll do it with the other podcasts. Yeah, yeah, yeah

Let's destroy that set. It was all chocolate was used. And like chocolate was put in there

And it was always like the most horrific stuff is always the most fun to film. It's always the part where they have to really get into a headspace for a dialogue scene

That can be like, that's when the set needs to be a bit quieter and a bit sadder

And like to like create that environment for the actors to be able to, you know, live that, you know, those feelings

But that other horror stuff is always the funnest stuff to film. I've heard that for the sound design, you guys got pretty personal with it and made some of your own sound effects

well yeah there's like a certain sound uh for example metal on teeth uh that it's like you

can't fake it like it's and like that's when you're writing as well tapping into the stuff

that you that makes you cringe or makes you be like oh god like what is it about that that is

making me uncomfortable yeah let's put a lens on that or a microphone to it and uh yeah create that

in a horror sense like all of the stuff like thematically tying it into the film and making

sure it makes sense for character it makes sense for the theme and for the story but also what can

we do that we feel like hasn't been done and how to execute it in the most practical way possible

we were talking before about how harry potter versus star wars was like a slumber party

project essentially yeah and it seems like that energy and that sense of collaboration

continues to influence how you work i've heard you say that like sally hawkins who's incredible

in this movie oh my gosh we love her so much she also contributed to like set design can you talk

a little bit about that but also how more broadly you have this collaborative acts attitude toward

your filmmaking it's finding people that are better than you at specific in specific areas and

then like finding those people that are passionate and i remember being on sets when we were just

volunteering on sets i could see the people that wanted to be there and they're passionate about it

and love what they were doing and then the others that were there kind of just like a paycheck and

i remember even seeing them like certain crew members groups unit catering that i i just was

like oh when we do a movie i want to get these these people and then so finding those people

and then having them all working together to create this vision is the best thing ever and

that's what sally does sally is uh she embodies this character so full in this way that's so

in depth like every single line every single moment she's thought about and as and she would

go shopping in character and get stuff to put in so she wanted that set to be uh lived in to be her

home as laura so she would go and buy stuff to put in the drawer even if they're sort of on camera

just putting them in drawers and stuff so there's a familiar it's so awesome and yeah that's like

the first thing we do when we've cast someone and they've come into pre-production like sitting down

with them going through every single scene and like breaking it down i'm like this is what i'm

sort of conveying here this is what i'm drawing off of uh like is there anything that you can sort

of relate to with this and what do you think the character's going through here and just breaking down all those scenes and mapping the character and like allowing them yeah giving them the freedom

you can change the dialogue you can do all that sort of stuff like whatever you can do to feel the

most comfortable and make it personal and you guys are so great at casting because like talk to me was

so wild i had never seen any of those actors before and then in this i wasn't familiar with

the children i know some of them was their first time acting yeah but then you have sally hawkins

who has done genre stuff but like you know happy go lucky and paddington yeah i'm spring her back

and it's like what's so alarming is she brings that same energy like there's a part where she's

driving with the kids in the car and she has this face and i'm like yeah that's that's happy

go lucky and so to watch that turn is so alarming can you talk a little bit about what it was like

to bring her into horror well that was what was so exciting because she's such a powerful character

actor like she's so incredible in every performance that she gives she feels like she's somebody else

and and i don't know just that idea that she would say yes okay we want a really powerful

character saturday was the very top of our list and mike there's no way that she's going to say

Yes, we just thought it was impossible. And when she's like, Sally loved the script

she really wants to meet you guys. We were just like, okay, she's gonna be a nightmare. We're not gonna be able to talk to her properly

Like, the vibe won't be there. And then we met with her and she was the nicest

kindest humblest person And then there were some people as well that were like I don think your energies are gonna match Like you guys are very like up here like i feel like yeah i didn think so it just like a two academy award and we just losers yeah some australia they make youtube videos

and so that the fact that we and we just got on a lot like a house on fire yeah it was yeah you

know when you meet someone you talk to them and feel like you've known them your whole life just sort of felt like with her i love that and then something that excited me as a fan of psycho bitty

movies as you've described this as an abit. Can you talk a little bit about why that subgenre excites

you? There's something about that and like with that it's never that the characters are inherently

evil in the best psychobity films it feels like the world has been evil to them and and it's

turned them and you can look at the character in all these different lenses or like like try and

see it from their perspective and their point of view and and I love like whatever happened to

Baby Jane like these two powerful actors at their the peak of their power like they've had these

entire careers and i've led up to these performances i feel like and then yeah i think

bennie davis is just incredible and it just brings so many layers to these sort of characters same

same sort of misery or whoever slew andrew you know uh yeah i'm like you so because watching

this i kept being like oh my god i'm getting so whoever slew auntie roo yeah yeah yeah so it's

like i don't know all those films i find so incredible and there's something even like if

you look back on those films in the 60s even just the audio quality there's something about the way

that those films sound and the way that they feel it just feels uh comforting to watch i don't know

there's also just a lot of fluid in this movie i'm kind of curious for you guys when you're like

where is there ever a point where like that's too gross oh well it's always like you do find it in

the script like there's things that you sort of like try and you know level out in the script and

have feel balanced and also it's in the editing process as well we have an amazing producer named

samantha jennings we have an awesome editing team as well i think our lines naturally maybe a bit

further than not but yeah people help balance it but you also want to push the envelope a little

bit like i don't mind treading over the line here and there for those sort of scenes like it is a

horror film after all but yeah like you don't want it to feel like blood for the blood's sake

always make sure it's ruined in character i mean it also feels like you talked about the idea of making people feel uncomfortable with the sound design and kind of getting under your skin that

way yeah and what i thought was so impressive in the film is like personally when i experienced

grief. It's like when that person is gone, the world doesn't make sense anymore. And I like the

way your film is playing with these characters' sense of reality, where they have to kind of

question, like, this can't be happening. That doesn't make sense. And it's like tying into

the grief, but not directly about the grief. Can you talk about how your own experiences and your

own grief was making the film cathartic? Was it difficult? Well, it was like right at the start of pre-production, we'd lost a very close family

friend and and because we were on set at that moment and we were making the movie there was

nowhere to put that or process that and there were times on set where we it was such a small

set and like we're on location there was no one like there was times where i just break down crying

but i had nowhere to go to process it and then the film became the place to deal with that and

then scenes that were written to be scary yet like turned sad naturally and there was just this moment

in the pool shed at the end of the movie with sally and the thing and then mark was crying

directing her i'm crying sally's crying cinematographer's crying i don't know it felt

like uh it's an expressive it's like this r-form is expressive in the most pure way so i don't know

it just felt like yeah it felt catholic making the film sure was there a scene that like kind of

you rediscovered in making it like what it was on the page felt different when it was on the set

oh my god so many scenes right because even like the way that laura was written was so different

to like we always pictured her being bigger than the kids and more powerful than the kids and then

naturally when Sally Hawkins was cast that just like that dynamic was different as well so so many

different things like you sort of adapt to the the world around you like everything changes every

time you make a decision even if it's down to the color of a wall or it's like this location is

different how you imagine it but it's still with the essence of what you were picturing so much of it feels different it's never a one-on-one exactly as you pictured it as you

as you write it well you guys are working on other things already like it worst talk to me

too is gonna happen oh my gosh i i don't know and i've written two versions i mean i co-writer

bit kinsman i have written two different versions of talk to me too that are focusing on different

sets of characters and yeah i don't know if i even want it to be next like i want to have like

i want to step away from it enough that i can come at it with a really fresh perspective and

I'm not going to use her. It's been a while already. But, like, here's the thing

I think it's totally about, like, I appreciate that you want to protect what you created and that you want to take your time

I know you guys worked on the set of The Babadook, and very famously, Jennifer Kent was like

we're not doing a sequel. Yeah, yeah. And it feels like there's certain films

that lend themselves to sequels and others that don't. So, like, Bring Her Back feels pretty self-contained

Yeah. Like, it doesn't feel like there'd be any sequels or anything to that. But talk to me. For some reason, as soon as I finished writing

with Hinsman, the same as my co-writer, we just couldn't stop writing after that

It's like, what happens after this? Where does the hand go, like, before this? And then we're writing out the mythology Bible

and, like, tracking who had the hand when, like, you know, like, where did it go passed down to

And then naturally, like, along that linear or, like, along that, you know

whoever got handed it down, there was a story here and a story there. We're like, let's pull it out for a little bit

And I don't know. It's just like, it feels like a whole world, like a whole universe. So I'm so tired

It's a rabbit hole. Well, because, like, in this film, there's definitely a lore. And what I liked about it is

instead of having somebody sit down and go, well, the thing about, and, like, just giving us the next position up

it's like we're getting snippets of it. And I feel like we get enough that, like, I was able to follow what was happening

but it also felt like you guys knew much more than is, like, necessarily on screen

I'm so glad you like that sort of thing. I think that does annoy some people or piss them off

But I always like when you're figuring things out or when you're connecting the dots

And I love coming in with a character and being in their point of view

because the first half of this ritual has happened already. this isn't like the lead up to this thing like this is in the middle of happening already

and so i like that the audience has dropped in on that as well and like the law is there

the history is there it's lived in and there's little hints at things as well there's hints that

that aren't in an overt way so it's three different things that's for those that are

that rule die hard about figuring it out they're there but in a different way sure this is going

to sound like a really out there comparison but for me it was like steven universe where i started

watching that show and i kept waiting for the episode where they would sit down and explain to me the world and i was like oh we're not doing that oh my gosh yeah yeah yeah like so much horror

and stuff like if you look at the shining as well like they don't explain what's happening there and

there's this picture of jack torrens on the wall and you're like how does that connect to this and

if you read the script those hints are in there the answers are there but they remove it all and

it's so much stronger when it's there the world's lived in and people can like connect the dots

yeah i think also especially with horror because there's something about not putting all the pieces

together and not necessarily giving us that that catharsis that allows us to be like well that's

closed up and walking away i think that was what i thought was so powerful about the way you guys

make this film is that it addresses these big issues and these big feelings but it doesn't

necessarily give us an out to be like but it's all gonna be okay yeah in both films it feels like

like it's not all gonna be okay yeah we're gonna do a happy ending for once yeah you know i mean

there's a little bit of happiness yeah no you well here's the thing you both described the film

is grim ahead of showing it last night in new york and i don't disagree but i would say for like

a psycho bitty it's actually surprisingly kind of hopeful yeah yeah and it always depends on like

how you're viewing things or how you're perceiving it i mean yeah there is sort of a happy ending

that twisted way like i'm not gonna say 100 i feel like this is to be one of those things where

yeah someone's gonna come up to me afterwards and be like a happy ending what is wrong with

you i'm like look i said within context yeah within context there is for the character it is

in a way yeah yeah i mean it is pretty grim as well but you know all about how you perceive it

right i think that that when you're dealing with grief because i will say personally look when i

am personally dealing with grief i do look for movies and music that is going to let me like

tap into that yeah and i think that why this hit me so hard was that i was just like okay like this I get this feeling of just I so upset and I so angry and I don know what to do with it And you see these characters trying to figure that out in a way that is

brutal and tough to deal with. And like auto auditory wise, like

Oh goodness. You guys have me like, I didn't only at one point have my notebook and I'm not covering my face

but I'm covering my mouth. So like, we were going to scream and it's going to be distracting

Biggest shout out to our sound team, like Emma Bording-Yong and our mixer Pete Smith and our composer Cornell

All these people add so much to a film. We love the way it is. Yeah, it's so cool when you finish the edit, you lock the edit

and then seeing those other elements come into it. Even with color and VFX and when that all starts coming together

that's when the movie really starts. To feel like a movie. Yeah, it feels like a problem. I have to say, I really love Talk To Me

and I thought the energy of Talk To Me was so house party energy. And what's so interesting about this is you still are focusing on

like a teenage hero you were still focusing on adolescence and these big feelings but the tone

is very different and and i think i want to say more mature but i don't want to say that in a way

that takes away from what talk to me did but it feels like a progression in in understanding grief

yeah and that was the challenge for us was to make a dip commit to a different kind of energy

because and and our instincts from youtube are the quick look bang bang bang and that kind of

fast, rapid movement. Yeah. It was one of those things where, you know, the movies that we respect

are the ones that... Respect? What's the movie we all respect? I don't respect you. Oh, that's..

But, like, those movies that we enjoy, it was a challenge to us

to make a different kind of horror film. Yeah, we were going to slow burn

Like, that was... A snowball. Spiral out of control. Yeah, character study

Yeah, just to have a different tone to talk to me. And it was terrifying

because even when you're editing, you're instinctively, instinctively okay let's like make it boom boom boom but it made the punches land harder i feel

by having that kind of like being with the characters more and then it felt it felt like

those those moments just hit harder yeah i think it's interesting you say that kind of works against

the impulse of like youtube and making things online where it's like you need it needs to be quick quick quick like it's very interesting to see you play out those things because i think you

understand audience expectation in watching on your phone versus watching in the theater yeah but

that must be terrifying to make that leap yourself because even like with the opening shot was

initially this really elaborate one three minute shot like at the beginning of talk to me there was

this big opening sequence and all this death and carnage was happening and in the moment and as a

scene as itself it's so like oh this is perfect this is so amazing but when you put it in front of

the first half of Bring It Back, which is like, you know, it's sort of like, it's building to those moments

I felt like it overshadowed that. So that's another part of the editing process where you have to sort of

control the tone and control like how the film was going to build

It's so crazy how much one shot or one moment or one scene can change everything

So that constantly watching it and revising it and ironing things out

it's such a, yeah, it's an interesting puzzle. It's so complicated. But once it's like, and because anything can change everything

and you don't realize what you know moving this does to something down there you know

so that that was always a constant thing trying to juggle that well is there anything because you

guys have talked about your love of pop culture but you've been making these very original films which is interesting because like watching them as a big horror fan i can place references but

nothing feels like a nod it just feels like because i'm deep in it i'm like i get what you're

doing i see that yeah yeah so i'm curious for you are there any big like projects or franchises that

you'd like to be a part of whether that's par or not we were i texted street fighter at one point

yeah i remember but our schedules it's what wasn't lining up and it was like yeah we have to pick

between them like i was that that's one that i was like oh i would have loved to do that i felt

like it was a natural that was so much fun like we were yeah creating something i think really cool

and and and special but it was just it was just conflict of schedules um but yeah it's so much

time and it's like you're like i'll do that i'll do this i'll do that and then when it starts

happening you're like oh well it's two years it's it's and at least two years so minimum yeah minimum

so it's one of those things that you know we'd love to get the opportunity to do it but this

one's not right because you know this is an original idea that's in our heads and it won't

get out of our heads until we make it yeah so it's just it's got to get made is there anything

you want to put out to the ether you want to manifest that you'd like to be a part of i mean

i'm i'm so excited about to see if i could write another original film like there's something about

the original stuff where it's like, instead of doing a Freddy Krueger movie

the challenge of making your own Freddy Krueger, that is so stimulating or exciting

And I probably never achieve it, but the idea of aiming for that. Yeah, and then we're not messing up

someone else's franchise. Yeah, that's the scariest thing about doing a franchise is doing something that people end up hating

We screwed up that franchise. Screw that. At least if we screwed up, it's our own movie

Yeah, that's awesome. There's a feel to that as well. I don't want to let people down

I really appreciate, and I think that this is part of what works so well for your films

is that you guys do have, even as you're making these films, they're very dark

There's a real vulnerability, I think, not just in your films, but also in how you express yourselves in, like, an interview

Well, yeah. It's always, like, the film is the way to exercise it and, like, to, like, talk about things and, like, look at things

But we always feel out of places directors. like say A24 was having a party

and there was all these amazing directors and actors and we're sitting there what are we doing here

yeah a fraud outsider sneaking into this party and every time they bring a director to a screening

I want to go up to and apologize to them afterwards I'm so sorry we wasted your time

I don't know I just feel like we're wannabe filmmakers yeah we're wannabe filmmakers

respectfully as a film critic I disagree you guys absolutely belong in those rooms we're super happy to have you here

today it's been an absolute pleasure thank you guys so much for coming and talking about this movie that i genuinely loved i'm very excited to see it again oh my god thank you so much

these guys are so much fun to talk to they're and they're so humble and just like the joy that

they have of just making things and of like being filmmakers is so infectious yeah i was also really

impressed because their films while terrifying have a very earnest emotional core and in talking

with them, that was what was most clear. They are guys who wear their hearts on their sleeve. It

might be a very bloody heart, but it's there, and I appreciate that. A delightfully bloody heart

Next week on Mashable Say More, we've got a lot of fun coming your way. For Karate Kid legends

Ben Wang, Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, they can buy the Mashable Studios to play Choose Your Squad

where they have access to the entire Karate Kid canon. Fighters, senseis, and they're basically

drafting a whole karate tournament squad. And they're going head to head

And you, the viewers, will have the opportunity to cast your vote for whose squad you think

will dominate in the karate tournament. It's going to be an epic battle you won't want to miss

And we have our full interview with the one and only Bob the Drag Queen

Previously on Mashable, we released a clip of our interview with Bob where he talked

about his new historical fiction novel, Harriet Tubman, Live in Concert. In the full interview, we go deeper into the book, but we also get into traitors, dungeons

and drag queens and how online fandoms of reality shows compare. We're talking Housewives versus Drag Race fans, people

And between Bob the Drag Queen and the Karate Kid cast, this episode is going to be pure, untethered joy

Yeah, I'm really excited. Bob coming by was a very rock star moment

Like, sometimes you can be intimidated to meet somebody and then they show up and you were like

oh, wow, you're even cooler than I could have imagined. And that was very much the experience. So we can't wait for you to be a part of that

This has been Mashable Say More. You can subscribe to us anywhere you find your podcast

You can watch us on YouTube at Mashable. You can also find us on socials on TikTok and Instagram at Mashable

And if you have any thoughts about what you've heard here on the podcast or anyone you want to see us interview on the podcast, let us know

But until then, we will see you next week on the Say More Couch. See you then