Meet Danny and Michael Philippou, the twin directors behind this summers biggest horror movie.
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Is it all filmmakers in the cemetery?
Michael asks, stepping out of a chauffeur-driven car with a pair of oversize earphones wrapped around his neck.
Danny follows, his hair currently a bright magenta.
In the beginning, it was likeLord of the Flies, Michael says.
Wed get together every weekend and just beat the shit out of each other.
Before theyd graduated from high school, the brothers had begun developing a knack for going viral.
We were just posting, says Michael.
We did one video, went to sleep.
Woke up the next day, it was at 500,000 views.
At the end of that day, it was 1.5 million.
And the news wanted to talk to us.
Thats how I got money to buy my first camera.
After high school, a one-year filmmaking course calledMAPStaught them the basics.
We didnt want to rely on anyone else, says Danny.
Did any filmmakers in particular inspire their output in those early days?
Kents way of working was a revelation.
She was the first director I saw that cared about what she was making, Michael says.
It didnt matter how long it took.
She would not break from her vision, no matter what.
(Michael, in the meantime, maintained the brothers YouTube channel.)
They submitted the screenplay to Causeway.
Once I sent them the first draft ofTalk to Me,they were in, Michael recalls.
They really took a gamble on us.
Because YouTubers sometimes dont make the best filmmakers.
Theres so many examples of YouTubers fucking up films.
Theres definitely a stigma that comes with being a YouTuber, adds Danny.
This is the most random cemetery Ive ever been in, he observes.
The brothers path to overnight success decelerated soon after they turned in that first draft, though.
We started getting these creative notes steering it into this stereotypical, boring direction, says Michael.
Oh, we need to investigate this hand more.
And The kids need to learn how to defeat it.
Im like,Dude, Im so bored listening to this.
Even though its a third or half the budget.
We lost money by casting Sophie, Danny says.
Because she wasnt a name.
But she is so good.
The camera loves her!
Every single aspect of performance, she would nail it every time.
We reinvested all our fees.
Causeway reinvested all their fees.
Were like, Lets go all-in!
Then our lawyer is like, Dont do that.
Only 8 percent of Australian films make their budget back.
Hes like, Youre never going to see a dollar.
That didnt really matter to us, says Michael, because we werent there to make money.
That was the roll of the dice.
The joke on set was always This is very Sundance, Danny says.
Youre going to linger on that?
Thats not veryartsyof you.
We submitted it to Sundance and were like,Cool.
Anyway, says Michael.
There was, in our mind, not even a flicker of a chance.
The Philippous still seem thunderstruck by the reception and the offers they and the film received in Utah.
A whole bunch of companies made offers.
One made a bigger offer than the A24 one, says Danny.
The turning point for us was everyone else was faces on calls.
A24 met with us in person.
They made an offer, left.
That sort of thing was like,Oh, fuck.
These people are committed!
And despite their burgeoning acclaim as Serious Filmmakers, the brothers have no intention of forsaking their digital renown.
Were never going to walk away from YouTube, Michael says.
Thats how we came up.
We want to give back to fans because theyre the ones who helped us get here.
The Philippous say they would jump at the chance to do a follow-up installment.
Toward that end, theyve already drafted a mythology bible, filling in blanks surrounding aTTMcinematic universe.
But our goals are just to keep making stuff.
Man, we have scripts and scripts.
We got scenes, Michael continues.
Its to an annoying point; weve got to start making stuff.
The bigger ideas, weve just brushed the surface.
Were ready to go.
