Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - MICHAEL & DANNY PHILIPPOU (Bring Her Back) Turning Obsession Into a Career & Overcoming Rejection

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

Danny & Michael Philippou (Talk to Me, Bring Her Back) join us this week for a fun conversation about how their obsession with creation and filmmaking cultivated into a critically acclaimed career, progressing through YouTube fame and into Hollywood with ‘Talk to Me’ and ‘Bring Her Back.’ These guys were an absolute treat this week… We talk about their process for handling arguments on set, their advice to young filmmakers trying to get a shot, and the A-to-Z process of achieving grassroots success. Thank you to our sponsors: 🛍️ Shopify: https://shopify.com/inside ❤️ This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/inside and get on your way to being your best self __________________________________________________ 💖 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/insideofyou 👕 Inside Of You Merch: https://store.insideofyoupodcast.com/ __________________________________________________ Watch or listen to more episodes! 📺 https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/show __________________________________________________ Follow us online! 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🤣 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@insideofyou_podcast 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/insideofyoupod 🌐 Website: https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and the perfect pairing for your game time. When Miller Light set out to brew a light beer, they had to choose great taste or 90-color. per can. They chose both because they knew the best part of beer is the beer. Your game time tastes like Miller time. Learn more at millerlight.ca. Must be legal drinking age. You're listening to Inside of You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Thanks for joining me. Ryan, thanks for being here. Thank you for having me here. Yeah. Well, to treat. It's always a treat. We're lucky to be doing what we're doing and thank you for listening uh for those of you who are here for

danny and michael philippo look i'm a huge horror fan um these guys are extraordinary um they were so fun they were out of control in the best way i thoroughly enjoyed it uh i love that they were smallvo fans they were big huge smallville fans dude that that that was great the only and talkville vans yeah i hope they uh they cast me in something I hope they did too. I do because I'd love to work with them. I'd love, love to work with you guys. That was so much fun.

We had so much fun. I felt like I could have talked to them for hours. So hang on a few things before that. And thanks for choosing this podcast. As the podcast you listen to, there's a lot of podcasts out there. And look, all I ask is if you enjoy this episode, subscribe, write a review, follow us and support the podcast. If you really want to support the podcast and keep it going, go to patreon.

dot com slash inside of you and become a patron give back to the show we have a lot of content out there on the clips channel and the regular channel um so many great interviews so you know we we discuss we talk about mental health we talk about a lot of things that a lot of people don't talk about uh in the entertainment industry and it's not just actory talk so i hope you enjoy that this was me kind of geeking out a little bit on horror and stuff like that so i just really wanted to know a lot about how these guys made these films bring her back talk to me all that jazz uh but uh yeah and uh on the patron there's there's different tiers you can get packages for me every couple months and there's zooms and there's how deep is your love tier if you really

want to support the podcast where you get a zoom every quarterly you get something special in your box you get to be on the show you get to be on the podcast your face on the podcast So a lot of fun. Big shout out to my horror movie group on Tuesday nights. Love all you guys. I know you'll be listening. It might be the only ones. But look, if you want to check out what I'm doing, go to my Instagram at the Michael Rosenbaum.

My link tree. All the cons. I'm on cameo. I do really good cameo. I give good cameo. And what else? Got some products. Rosie's puppy fresh breath for your dog's breath.

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And the fart book, the talented farter, is still out on Amazon. It's perfect for Father's Day or Farters Day. So it's a sound book, my farts. it's hilarious and charming the talented fart are perfect father's day gift so do that for your dad and uh that would be great and a lot of conventions the smallville cruise is coming up uh so get tickets go to cruisville.com you could have excursions with me swimming with pigs and a bunch of other stuff and i'm hosting a karaoke night on the cruise and um yeah it's going to be so fun so get on the cruise man we're doing a smallville nights me and tom we're we already have 80 people

going to smallville nights it's a little event we do nice yeah so that's fun and a lot more so also the inside of you online store has a bunch of cool stuff if you want smallville scripts autographed by me the pilot script lexmus we got ship keys we got funkopops we got action figures we got small of a lunch box signed by me and tom we got tumblers and tons more so go to the inside of you online store and last but not least go to sunspin.com my band's new album you can pre-order the album be an executive producer on the album have your name on the album along with a bunch of other stuff go to sunspin.com and pre-order now for autographed albums and stuff like that the album's really great and i'm excited about it uh all right let's get into these guys these guys are awesome all right

let's get into it let's get inside of danny and michael philippo it's my point of you you're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. Yeah, all right, all right. Because the Adelaide, Adelaide, a little New Zealand that first one. Adelaide, Adelaide. Adelaide. I'm from Adelaide.

Are you from Adelaide? You are from Adelaide. We're from Adelaide. Wow. Yeah, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, It's, we love it, but it is quite boring. All right. I've been there a few times.

You've been at, oh, yeah, for like Supernova. Supernova and stuff. We actually got a photo together at Supernova. Are you serious? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We took pictures together at Supernova. I didn't, wait, I didn't. I was like, dude, my carose mom's going, I'm going to fucking Supernova.

Was that nice? You were so nice. Yeah. Has it been a couple of non-nice days? No, I'm always nice. But what happens is, if you catch me in the wrong time, like it's at the end of the day, my energy's kind of lower. Yeah.

Because it's like you give so much. You want everybody to be happy. And then you get just kind of tired. And you're like, hey, how's going, man? Yeah, yeah. All right. Can you see? It's like I smoked a joint or something.

I'm blown away by you guys. You guys look like just dudes that I would hang out with. Like, you're, how old are you? 32. And my twins. Yeah, yeah, you're twin. Yeah, of course. Six minutes older.

I'm six minutes old. Six minutes. Six minutes. Six minutes fatter. It just amazes me. that you could accomplish so much at such a young age. Like, when you made Talk to Me, how old were you? Well, we wrote it.

I think the first draft was written when we were around 28, and then we shot it when we were 29. Yeah. Did anybody, did you go to film school? We went to a media course. There was this media course that we went to. I dropped down off to the first year. Michael stayed for the second year,

but it was really good to find people that wanted to be in the same industry as us. Because there's no media culture or film culture, really, in where we grew up. So it was so cool to find people that actually wanted to do it as well. Were you always shooting shit when you were younger? Like constantly shooting things? Since we were like nine years old

and we had a big group of friends around the same age and we just get together and make stuff like we made that whole series like TV series that like 10 seasons all these episodes of all our friends. And then I think when we grew up when we became adults like 18 and most of our friends

everyone was getting over. They're like while we still doing this. We're like you guys ready to shoot the next season? that I like no we're out we're going we're like we're kids anymore why are we still doing this we're not getting paid anymore yeah right right right never got paid at all yeah we never had did you did you end up using any of those friends in any of the movies uh when when you made the big time uh we brought like uh there was this makeup artist that really helped us of all of our youtube stuff she would always help us out for free and so we got her like um positions on uh talk

to me a same so about the effects artist that we worked all the way through with as well he as well would always help us out, so him. And then a lot of our friends that were in our childhood videos or our YouTube channel, we put them in the movie in, in any way we can. We squeeze them in. That's great. Well, hopefully I'll become one of those friends. Oh, please do it.

Dude, I would do anything for you guys. That's insane. Maybe I'll grow a mustache, whatever you want me to do, shave my head again. No, but like, like, I'm really picky, but like I love what you guys do. it's rare that I see a horror movie that I actually really like that I really like it's just it's seldom there's so many movies out there

and kudos to all those guys and gals who make movies and do whatever they can put their heart and soul into it and make movies and even if they're not good they did it like some I was just watching this interview some guy was saying I'm trying to think of who it was

they were like look if Shark Nato was made you guys can make a movie and it wasn't dissing it was like look this guy put everything into shartanato he wanted to make shark nato everybody you'd be like what what and he made he got sharnato

make so you know I want to talk to you guys about that a little bit about the process of getting something made which is so hard and daunting but first the first thing you said is when we were focusing you on the camera as you go

well I have a little ADHD we sway we rock a little bit. We were like, was that something that you just, like, from a young age, you noticed, everyone noticed that, oh, they, they got a little ADHD. Oh, yeah. We used to rock in the car. I still rock myself to sleep. So when we're in the back of the car, if there's music, we're like this. And then like, if I go to sleep, I'll, I'll have to put my headphones and listen to the music and then do this to us, sort of like, yeah, rock myself out of energy. I know it's, I know it's a, it's a common term these days that, but we went like a, it's just always hard to concentrate unless you're interested.

interested in it, but we can go down the rabbit hole of things we're interested. If we are into something, I can go like three days without sleeping, working, editing, and that and like nonstop, your brain just doesn't stop. Because you just love it. Because you just love it. And that time disappears. You can't even, you can't even sleep sometimes because you're so overstimulated. And like everything is like, your brain feels like it's like prickly and it's like warm and it's fuzzing. And like, all you do is you live and breathe it. And so there were times on talk to me and we bring her back. If you're going to wrap out of our location, you're like we need to edit everything that we've done right now to make sure we've got everything

before moving on. So it's like staying up all night, editing, returning to set the next day, really? Oh yeah. Yeah. Like literally no sleep through three days. So you'll come back and say, oh, we need another close-up of the boy. Yeah. Yeah. With this on his face. We didn't get that or something. You'll go back and shoot it. Yeah. Especially talk to me because talk to me, it was so, like, we were supposed to have an eight-week shoot and it ended up being a five-week shoot for talk to me and there was so many locations it's a big cast and so when we're wrapping out of a location we know that we're not going to be able to go back there and we didn't have the budget too so we had to make sure that we had everything so there's always like editing the scenes

what we had at night and then go back to set knowing what it is I'm so sorry I'm sorry for the random tangent I like I just want to express how big of a fan we are of you because I don't know dude you're like smallville was my entire childhood, like, to like this really extreme thing. And it's such a comfort thing. It's such a comfort food. Every time I return to Smallville, everything goes away. And I'm so, like, it makes me feel good.

That's not, it's really nice of you. I'm not crying. I was, I was like, but no, that means a lot to me. Hearing that, it's just, I didn't expect that. So it's coming from you guys who are super talented, cool. But thanks. That's, yeah, and I started listening to your podcast during COVID. I started listening to, I saw a clips of Bobby Lee.

Oh, yeah. And then I'm like, probably Lee and I just found him fascinating. We've met him now. We've hung out a few times. He's awesome. He's hilarious. But then I listen to, yeah, you did like a bunch with him. And so in COVID, I was like listening to that.

And I was like, oh, my God. Michael Rosenbaum has a podcast. I mean, I started listening to that. It was through talk feel for me because I was like returning that and then watching a bit of talk feel. And then I know that like in those early ones, you didn't like those, the standalone episodes when it was Freak of the Week. Yeah.

But those are so comforting to me. You like those. You know, they're going to wrap it up. It's like, it's like, see, it's amazing what people, and you know, Ryan, of course, from talk to the old.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's how I'm a big fan. Hey, has it gone, mate? Yeah, I love that. Hey, do me a favor. Fix that poster. I have OCD. Oh, yeah, Michael.

Move it a little to the, your left, the other way, right? This one more to the right. Right there, perfect. Perfect. Why, if I let it go? Oh. It's all right.

It's not going to kill me. It's not going to kill me. You're going to keep looking at it. See, We have OCD, ADHD, I have ADD. Is that something that when you were younger, they didn't really know how to diagnose, they didn't know how to deal with it? So they just thought you're hyperactive or you're this. And did you finally see someone and maybe take medication to help it?

Or like, was it tough on your parents? Was it tough on you guys? It was tough in school. Like, what was that like? It was definitely delinquents. Yeah, it was definitely tough on everything. But our mom didn't want to get us diagnosed or get us medication because she said, said it'll, I don't want to change you guys. I want you guys to be you. Right. So she purposely

didn't go down the route of medication. But it also, maybe she should have. You have to find people that help nurture it. Like we had our friend's older sister Nelly that was, uh, we would like film us like literally doing crimes as a kid, as in like breaking into houses or like graffiti. Like we were like really wild children. And like our parents were never home. Our grandfather was looking after us. And then at when we were 13, he passed away. And then we were, it was literally Lord of the Flies. And like our friend's older sister was like, those little movies you were making,

you like focus on that, do that. And so she became this like a person that we'd make stuff and screen for. So we'd premiere stuff just to her. We'd make this series just for her and watch it with just her. Wow. Yeah, she was like, she told us about Sundance.

She's like, one day you guys are to get to Sundance. She's got to get to Sundance. And then literally we got into Sundance. And we haven't seen her in 10 years because she moved to Utah where Sundance is. And then at the premiere. Yeah, we had her come, and it was like the most wholesome, beautiful thing.

Oh, did you get emotional? Yeah, I cried. It was weird. It was like a cringy script. Yeah, like that moment. At the end, it was all perfect. And it was that for Sundance because we hadn't seen Nellie in so long. But she's wanting to help us get on our way to focus on that stuff.

She said, stop doing that stuff. Did you really think when you're doing all this stuff as a kid, did you think, we're going to make it? There's no doubt in our minds. We're going to make it or was it just sort of like a dream like, eh, that would be great. That would be great. Did you ever really think you were going to do it? No, we, it's just an obsession. So we'd never thought we'd get anywhere with anything.

It's just something, it's all we think about. And again, like from South Australia, there is no real film culture or media culture. Like, we don't even have an IMAX screen in South Australia. They don't show films in film in South Australia. So it's not, it's not something that's really available to everybody. It's something you have to go look for. Yeah, and that's the thing is, so when we were, it just, it's all we can do. It's all we were interested in.

So what's going to do it, because that's what is not thinking. thinking that it could go anywhere. How many movies do you watch? How many movies? Do you watch constantly? I do. Yeah. Danny's way more than me, I'd say.

And mostly horror? Everything. I like consuming everything. And obviously horror as well. It was my first love, my first genre. What's your favorite? I mean, you've got a lot of posters on the walls here. Like they are the classics.

Yeah. Like the original exorcist, every time you watch it, you pick something else up. It's like, there's that new term that's elevated horror, but like the exorcist was elevating horror. elevating horror back in the 70s, which is so incredible. Obviously, Rosemary's baby. Obviously, a nightmare on Elm Street. Oh, yeah.

And, like, my, like, goal, like, what I would love to is, like, I'd love to make my own Freddie Kruger. I'd love to be able to, like, start something that people can look back on in 20, 30 years and be like, let's remake that movie. Wow. Talking about things that don't ever happen. Oh, yeah. No, but yeah.

Well, you guys could do anything. I mean, the fact that you did this, what is the process like to get, we'll start with talk to me. and then I want to get in to bring her back because I knew I was going to meet with you guys and there's nothing worse than having to watch something if you don't like it and then kind of pretend. So the fact that my friends who were with me watching it

who were like horror snobs, the fact that they all liked it, it was universal and we all were like, wow. The fact that most people do a movie and then their second movie, you're like, ah, well, to make one good movie, one great movie is so difficult to make a movie, right? Just to make a movie, then to make a really good movie and then to follow it up with a really good movie.

I mean, the chances of that happening are slim to none. So I'm just, I'm just kind of amazed, but, you know, the process of getting, start with talk to me. Start with like, who wrote the script? So we were, because we got into you. YouTube pretty early after, like, we were volunteering on film sets, just doing that after school. And then we did this little media course just to be making stuff and being around film. And then we made this YouTube channel. And because we were trying to get into short films and write scripts. We're trying to do that for ages. And it wasn't, it's so hard in South Australia

to get those opportunities because there's only a certain amount of funding they'll give. So it was kind of an impossible task. When we fell into YouTube, which we just fell into, and we gained traction on there pretty quickly, we got sucked into the whirlwind of YouTube because it's so fun, it's insultaneous. So we were writing scripts, but it wasn't really the main focus. The main focus was,

let's put it into YouTube, because that's where everything's happening. But it also was always, always looked at it like to be a practice ground as filmmakers and to try out, let's build a set for the first time. Let's try and execute this stunt. Let's do this practical effect.

So every video was like trying different things and like trying to build ourselves. With no money. No money. yeah so we weren't monetized for the longest time and once we did monetize every dollar went back into those productions and those videos yeah so we met hundreds of stunt performers visual effects artists makeup people uh and and it was just everything was like going towards that and after a while youtube we kind of did everything we wanted to do on there i felt like and you couldn't uh i couldn't

express myself in like a more personal way and i felt like uh it was a very specific content for like a specific target audience and I was scared of having two characters even just have a conversation on a YouTube channel like I would never upload that I'd be so scared I'm like I'm gonna bore the fuck out of my audience if they're just sitting there talking right um so I needed another way to be able to express myself and so I started writing pages and I started collaborating with my co-writer Bill Hinsman and it just comes from like when you're writing a horror film like tapping into anything that makes you uncomfortable or anything that freaks you out or you look back in your childhood you're like that was a little bit weird

or like you look at use that yeah 100% use that that's what you should use right what you know yeah use your imagination use your yeah i i agree wholeheartedly with that yeah and there's things that they're like that that weigh on you and then like bother you and then you can get them off your shoulders and place them somewhere and then they can exist and you don't carry it anymore and it's like like even like we've um we've talked to me like one of the big inspiration points like i was in this car accident when i was 16 and i cut my eye up in here i've got like a scar up here and I thought I might have broken my back and I was on the floor and I was in hospital

and I just couldn't stop shaking in the hospital bed they were like turning on the heaters giving me blankets trying to warm me up but I just couldn't physically stop shaking and then my sister came and she sat next to me and she held my hand and then the shaking just stopped and it was like I was in such a state of shock

and then like the touch of someone I loved had like pulled me out of it and like that's something that's a seed for the hand and talk to me. Wow, that's how it all kind of came about. Yeah, it's always... That's crazy. Inside of You is brought to you by Quince.

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so they know I sent you. Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum. Rocket Money. crazy it's always little i remember after that accident danny his face was all swollen and he was like looking because we had to share a room back then and he was looking at those and the the phone was ringing he's like get the phone i'm like you get the phone he's like i can't and i picked up the phone and i was

stuck and i just threw it like this and hit him in the fact i'm already been through hell yeah what the hell was that about i don't know i felt so bad i remember i tore my stitches because i watched uh the dissent great movie so cool it's so good And then there's like a jump scare with this like, this log that smashes through a window. And I was like, oh. And I was like, oh. And then like, it opened up my stitches and I started bleeding. Oh my God.

But it was worth it. It was a good movie. So, so this accident propelled talk to me, essentially. Well, yeah, so many different things. Like, like, there's always little seeds. You write about moments in your life and you write about anything. And they just like, they grow and they turn into something. And then they draw inspiration.

And you could like work on three different scripts. and then you just cannibalize them once you're like okay these moments are really good in that one and these moments are good in this one let's put it all into this thing and it gets bigger and bigger and full and four. How long did it take to write talk to me from beginning to end? I'd say three to four years. Three to four years

are just writing and you would give the script to your brother? Dude yeah and he would just rip it apart with brutal notes. Were they good notes? There was like notes like boring shit I don't get this. Oh lame. Seen this before. Well I mean that's what the audience is going to be saying right. Hey, you know what? that's it's good to have someone as hard as that is you need this you need more of a hook why is it

why are we watching what the scene doesn't mean anything why you know you need that so it's frustrating i know but at the same time in retrospect you're like that sort of help shape the script yeah and you need that and we have an amazing so we will write because you get ideas from everything you know and we write just pages scenes moments characters about and then they kind of are naturally gravitating towards a particular project. And then we have an amazing, our co-writer, Bill Hinsman. He's so good at structure and he can

get it in it. So, you know, we're writing this action film called Peach Baby. And I'll just write set pieces, characters, scenes. And then he goes, okay, let's look at that. This could be here. And it kind of like putting it in the right place of a puzzle, you know, in the right ballpark.

How did you find Bill? Oh, so at that media course, that we done. So he just happened to be there and... He was a journalist, quit, and then, like, we met him at this thing. And he was just so much smarter than us. And so, like, his film knowledge... But he believed in you guys.

He did, yeah. No, no, he didn't. Oh, what do you mean? He didn't. Well, he didn't think he was going to get anywhere. He's like, this is fun. None of these are going to get fucking made. Every time that we're, yeah, he's just as brutal as Mike as the script. Like, once he finished the talk to his script, he's like, it's like, it's like, whatever.

Like, try and make it's shit. This is never going to happen. You think you're going to make movies? like he's a bit like that and then it feels like that's a good driver to be like prove you wrong so how so what's the first step like you have finally you have talked to me after three or four years of of making this script the best it could be and then who do you give it to so uh we had our manager we managed to get a manager and then we pretty much did before that we was sending it to well no this was part of it it was like the like we would send

it to the studios and we took meetings everywhere and everybody said no they're like no we're not really doing like a game thing oh we've we've got enough for that oh you make youtube videos uh like it was like well they met with you because they read the script they like they like but people didn't like the script no there were people that just wouldn't even have the meeting so like we got shut down by like everybody and then and then i ended up reaching out to um causeway films who produced the bubble right and like we'd met with what's her what's her Samantha jennings Samantha jennings yeah and she's incredible so fucking incredible and she She used to be a script editor by trade.

And so she would give us these incredible notes that would elevate everything, like really, really put a lens on the character, really put a lens on theme. So you kept developing it. Yeah. Yeah, it kept getting developed. And because we had met her, because we worked on the Babadu. We were on, like, way back when. What did you do on the Babadu?

I was a driver, so production runs. Nice. And then Danny was, I was, I was lighting assistant. So I was there assisting lighting. And I was like, I'm working for free. Can I get a credit at least? Like, I would love to get a credit. Like, yeah, you have.

have a big credit in the film. I was like, yes. And then they credit to me his work experience. I was like, that doesn't fucking help anything. Yeah, work, working experiences, I don't know what it is in America. It's, like, uh, you know, what is it when you, when you, like, attach to something for free and you're just learning. It's like an internship, maybe. Internship, yeah, internship. Yeah. But that's what I, I was lucky I got that job, because I was doing everything for free, um, because I just wanted to be around film sets. And then the producer, sorry, the production coordinator, uh, Julie Byrne, she's like, you can't keep doing everything for free, Michael.

And I was like, I just want to be here. I'm happy to be here. And she said, next movie, I'll make sure you get paid. And that was the bubble rule. So I was 19 or something driving on the ball. I was hoping you said you did the voice. Babba. Dog.

Dog. Oh, that's Jennifer Kentler did that voice. That's the director that did that voice. Really? Yeah, yeah. She's awesome. That set was amazing because it was the first film that I'd been on where I'm like, oh, she cares.

She cares. Did you know the movie was going to be good? I really wanted. knew was going to be good. I knew it was going to be good because how much she cared. She did like 20 takes throwing a book down the stairs. That is 90% of it, isn't it? Yeah, you've got it. Just having such a passion for what you're doing. Yeah. If you have that passion, it kind of translates and it moves around the set and people are drawn to it, right? They want to work harder. Yeah. I think. Yeah. Putting everything into it and not treating it like. And finding the right

team. And so that's the thing. Without Samantha Jennings, we'd be nowhere. She's everything. She helps with script, casting, on location, edit. She sits in the edit every day with us. She's there every day on set with us. And she understands a color. And it's just the whole thing. She's that crutch to lead on. Like, when we were editing, say, bring her back, we were, it's such a complicated movie. It was such a complicated movie to edit. And having that, like, we were did a pass by ourselves before she came and i was like we're drowning like but what you need you need other lenses to look at it yeah and she came and just like helps with everything she understands pacing and and it's like what if we put this here yeah what if we don't show this right away till we cut back

or you know just little things that bring the suspense and then more of a reveal yeah this and that so she helps you you have that you have was bill really involved or he's just like i'm done i wrote i wrote He wrote it, but the film changed so much when we shot it because we had a loss right at the start of production and we lost a really close family friend. And like, we had no way to process that grief and nowhere to put it because you get this horrific phone call saying that this, at this 23 year old who's like a family friend who was so supportive of talk to me that would drive, you know, an hour and a half out of his small town to watch talk to me seven times he did it to like watch the film.

And he was messaging. What's his name? His name is Harley Wallace. Holly Wallace. God bless him. He's so incredible. And then, like, he would message, like, how much he, like, was, like, excited for us, how proud he was of us.

And then you get a call from his mom, and they're like, oh, he's dead. And you're like, what the fuck? It's such a, like, a weird. Like, it feels like it just rattles you so bad. And then, like, you get this terrible news. And then you come on set and you're like, I've got nowhere to, I can't even process this right now. I can't do anything.

I have to. The sets are getting built. Sally Hawkins is in from the UK. And, like, that, like, the film became a way to. sort of process that and the script changed and moments changed and like scenes that were written to be scary turned sad and and it felt like a really really raw expression yeah yeah it's that's amazing but like so all these studios are rejecting you but you went to causeway films yeah and even then after we developed the script of them we got rejected again and there were like a so who finally made

it well there was a studio too that ended up saying yes but they wanted it they wanted it to be shot in America with American accents. We started to see that maybe they were wanting to change a couple of beats and stuff. And I started to feel like we weren't going to be in control of the process. And then we decided that we'd just make it independently. We'd raise the finances. You raised them. Yeah.

So like Samantha Jennings, like we were reaching out to people. We pretty much just like sort of like pulls the budget together. Yeah. From so many different places. Yeah. And then we reinvested Sam reinvested and it's everything we could to make it to make it work. And then even things like we wanted to cast Sophie Wai. but all the bigger investors were saying Sophie Wilde's not a name.

You're not going to make money off with Sophie Wild. So you can have Sophie Wild, but we're taking a million dollars on the budget away. And we're like, it's worth it because, and that's where the like the shoot started shrinking, you know, so we don't have that much time.

But we get this amazing talent. Did they ever tell you like, yeah, we'll make it, but you guys can't direct? There was questions. Did they try to do that? No,

there was questions. They're like, wait, what have they done again? What can you send us? Like, these are kids. Yeah.

What can they do? Yeah, they do Nerf Battle videos. Yeah. And Harry Potter of the Star Wars. And yeah, but eventually we got it over the line. Everyone, like, that was with the project backed us up. We surrounded ourselves of crews that we'd worked with on the films. You could see how much this person cares, that person cares, that Gaffa cares.

And you just surround yourself with people that you know are passionate. Yeah, that's always awesome because being on all those film sets, we saw people that care. Because I've worked at all different departments, unit, you know, catering. hearing, lighting, stunts, a sound, like we'd just be with everything. And I always saw the people that, oh, these people want to be here. These people are passionate and then surrounding yourself with those people when you make your movie. Because there's nothing like having that fucking dark, like that, like, you know,

those people that don't want to be there and they just make it difficult for everything. It's already such a hard process, having pricks on set as well that just make it because they don't want to be there. It's just like, yeah, fuck that. What did the budget end up being? Are you allowed to say? Yeah. Talk to me was four or four point five.

Yeah. Wow. And the look of it, the look of bring her back was bring her back more of a budget? Bring her back would have been more, but I don't know the exact budget of bring her back. Yeah. But another thing is like you could have great actors or you could have great director of photography or you could have, you know, great sound. But to have them all together to make a movie. They all have to be together to make a movie really work. And when I watch these movies, the quality really shines. The quality of these movies, the effects. how they're shot. These look like big studio movies. They don't look like independent movies. A movie, like, talked to me, $4 million, $4.5 million. That takes a lot of work to get the right guy that can shoot this movie and make it look like that with the right lighting, right?

Yeah. And that's the impossible task. It feels like if you have all these talented heads of departments, say sound and music stuff, if they're not unified in the vision and they're doing great things here, but it's in that direction, you know, and costumes doing something great, but it's over here, and it's getting tugged in different directions.

You've got to find a way to unify everyone, have everyone working together. Everything is balancing off each other. That's the, that's the, that's the, like the palette of the costumes, the colors, the everything, the sets, they all have to kind of work together. You can't, you can't as a director just be like, yeah, let the costumes do their costs,

let the, you know, the props, they'll have this. You have to have everything planned out. Yeah, and you have to have them, and they have to, Because it's more about, like, because you surround yourself people way more talented than you in a specific field and then getting them on that same path. It's like getting on that same line. And even like after production's done for the day, we'd all go back to like one of the

people's houses, one of the heads of departments, and everyone has a meeting together. And then you talk about, you know, what can we approve from this? We had two roses and a fawn. There are two fawns, one rose, like two thorns. This wasn't right. This wasn't right. How can we fix those? And then like a rose is like, this was really good today.

Let's keep going like that. So there's a constant communication with you and the crew and everybody. And then watching, yeah, it's, it's, it's, it is an impossible because it's a mammoth task. And it's trying to keep this vision what it is from the beginning to the end. And it's getting tugged in all these different directions and trying. And you have to say this, no, you have to stick to your gun. This is what we want. Yeah.

So even if that, okay, that's good. It could be good enough. No, it's not what I want. I'll be upset if I don't get what I want. Yeah. It's sad. It's sad as all because sometimes you've got to be. you got a roofless sometimes like diplomatic and sort of just say hey we've got to move on yeah

or that's not the right thing because i remember we we shot some certain scenes like oliver in the in the pool and bring her back we'd shot that and we'd moved on and it was like a weekend the one with the cat yeah and i'd edited it and oliver's look wasn't right i was like it just like he had like a wig on he had these fake teeth and i was like it looks like deliverance or something and i was looking and i'm like it feels false it doesn't feel real like we're losing what was striking about his face in his performance like we're losing that under makeup and we're losing it under like a false look and so it's like oh we need to reshoot it everyone's like what oh my god i'm so sorry we have to reshoot it like it isn't well well yeah Kevin costner talks about that when he did um

dances with wolves i think it was his first time directing and the whole crew is just like oh actor director here we go here we go and they have this whole setup their first set up and it's like all these horses and wagons and this and that and it's going you know they're all set up it took three hours to get it and he comes up and he goes this isn't right producers like what he's like no we have to be shooting this way and here's why and they're like that will take three hours you're going to lose the crew you're going to be he's like and he goes i could just let it go and work around it and he thought i can't this isn't right turn it around this isn't right and everybody was like what the fuck what is he doing they lost money

on the day, blah, blah, but he did it and it was the right move. Yeah, yeah. I mean, even just hearing that story gives me anxiety. Yeah. I mean, another thing is you have a lot of children. Yeah. You know, well, you know, a couple. I don't know how old the

Sue Wong was. Oh, Sarah Wong was Sarah, Sarah Wong, Sarah Wong. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. Sarah, um, Sora, Sora, Sora, yeah. Sora Wong. First time actor. Yeah. Terrific. Yeah. Is she really, um, visibly impaired? like can she see it all so she's got she's black completely blind in one eye and has limited vision in her other eye so seeing like people's faces and and expression stuff she can't really see that

so she's it's it's she sees shapes and it's like blur it's very blurred it's not very good see to me right i'm thinking stressful i'm thinking all right we got to shoot four pages on this day and they're like well we also have something that will take more time because she is visibly impaired and we have to take the time to make sure it looks real and she can get around and I'm sure things slow down they slow down on set and you're like well we just have to do it right and like was that stressful just those days dealing with you know the kid who plays all of her right yeah because even even like shooting rain

practically outdoors at daytime is like that's gonna that's gonna take time so all things that you don't really account for lighting like there because we're gonna we're on a location and the line changes and it's supposed to be raining and any and it doesn't look like it's raining and we couldn't afford to have big blackout things you know so all those things that you don't think about and yes you know we we like having a lean crew that we can move and okay change and do that but you have to acknowledge and be aware of that you have got a vision impaired you know you've got Oliver who's

young in prosthetics and you've got to you got to make sure you take those steps to make sure everything's safe and comfortable for them and it's like about designing the schedule as well where it's like don't have the heavy scene straight up like save those towards the end of the shoots let the actors build you know yeah let they get comfortable and sally hawkins holy shit god dude was she like who the fuck are you guys she had to be like because you're so ambitious you're so excited you're so was she uh charmed by you guys well people were saying they're like we don't know if your energies are going to match you and sally hawkins was like the the initial conversation and i'm like we're not going to get her anyway like like like

She doesn't really do genre film and her filmography. She seems so good. Shape of water, very artsy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's like, and she, yeah, she seems so, like, a prestigious actor. Yeah. What the fuck is she going to do? Like, we feel like we're down in the gutter a little bit.

But that wasn't the case. We sent her the script. She was the first person we reached out to, and she loved the script and wanted to have a meeting. And I was also afraid of, like, a Hollywood ego or something like a bigger actor saying, oh, I do two takes and we're done. or it has to be this way. I was afraid of that

because we like being deep and collaborative and open and being able to... Yeah, make it... Yeah, I'm there to just... Malleable. You're there to just like, tell me what to do.

Tell me what you want. Give me a line reading. I'm like, you know, I love that shit. Yeah. Because even times we're like, I'm like the crew's too much. Like, I feel like we're losing

a bit of freedom. Like it's like, we'd like go to turn here and everything like is slow to come around. But then there were days where we're like, do you want to just come on set? At like 5 a.m. in the morning, it'll just be.

me, you, Michael, the camera guy. And she's like, absolutely. So there were times where she would just come on set before anyone was even there. And then we just like record with the actual morning light. And with her like just being in character, being in the environment. Like she was down for all that stuff. You buy a pair of socks, that's two socks.

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Go to bombus.com and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's BOMBAS.com and use code audio at checkout. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. If you want to save money, then listen to me because I use this. Ryan uses it. So many people use Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscription. descriptions crazy right how cool is that monitors your spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings and you know what's great it works it really works ryan rocket money will even try to negotiate lowering your bills for you the app automatically scans your bills to find opportunities to save and then goes to work to get you better deals they'll even talk to customer service thank god so you don't have to um i don't know how many times we talk about this

but like you know you got it and they helped you in so many ways and with these subscriptions that you think are like oh it's a one month subscription for free and then you pay well we forget we want to watch a show on some streamer and then we forget and now we owe $200 by the end of the year yeah they're there to make sure those things don't happen and they will save you money you know rocket rocket money's five million members have saved a total of $500 million and canceled subscriptions with member saving up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features. Get alerts if your bills increase in price, if there's unusual activity in your accounts, if you're close to going over budget, and even when you're doing a good job.

How doesn't everybody have Rocket Money? It's insane. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Download the Rocket Money app and enter my show name inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum in the survey so they know that I sent you. Don't wait, download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show. She was down for all that stuff. Yeah, so we had the meeting with her and she really connected with the script, not because it was a genre of film, but from a character, a human point of view.

She loved the character. And she wanted to go deep, which we love with creating the character, rehearsals. She'd go shopping as the character, buy things and dress the set with it. She really put herself in the mindset of the character, which is amazing. But also, she really went there. She really went there. So it was a really difficult. She was extraordinary in the movie.

Yeah. Extraordinary. Like from the moment you meet her, you're like, there's this quirky energy. But what's going on? There's something going on. I don't know what it is. Is she good? Maybe she's going to be good.

I'm not going to give it away. But like, there, but again, I don't want to give too much away. But I guess just the fact that her character, she does all these things. And then at the end, there's something that happens where it kind of sort of redeems her in a weird way. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying. But you guys have to watch it.

But when you guys are on set, like when you go to talk to an actor, is it usually like, oh, I have a note or you both feel the same notes. You're twins. Do you feel the same energy? Do you both go, oh, yeah, we need something there that are. you're like no no no no it's perfect what do you want yeah like sometimes it's like that and then like i'm usually the main point of of contact for the actors so it's not coming from two different directions sometimes we break that rule but like she's one of those actors where it's like you could don't call cut keep the cameras rolling she's staying in that zone she's in that character yeah that's

what i like when people just say just stay there stay there say this do this do it again i just want to keep going i don't want to cut and like all that stuff yeah fuck that let's go yeah even sees where it's the scene ends she'll continue in the until you call cut she'll continue in that moment moving doing something yeah it's incredible you're like watching oh my god because even there's like a moment where she's cleaning the house and she has like a small amount of time someone's on their way to the house she has to clean the house we like purposely scheduled that right at the end of the day and we're like we've trashed the whole the whole house is completely fucked up and we're like Sally it's like you have 10 minutes to clean this house oh because then we've got to cut so you have to clean the house in 10

minutes. She's like, okay, like action. And then she's just fucking like a bad out of her starts running and scooping everything up. The cameraman is just chasing behind her. And there's like a real authentic energy. Visceral. Did you, did you shoot with one camera or two? Certain scenes with two and then like, like we were trying to focus mostly on one. But yeah, we don't, we don't like we've learned that on this one to not shoot too much of two cameras. Yeah. It's one of those things because we had child performers. It will try to think of the best way it's talk to me was one camera and then a few select days, two. cameras, deep, intimate conversations, things like that.

For this one, we, because we had child actors, kids had, you know, had never acted before. Let's have two so they don't get nervous. Okay, now it's your close up and they get nervous or they won't perform as naturally. Oh, they're running out of energy. Yeah, we'll try to think of ways to help that. But I think that it towards the end of it, we're just like, no more second camera. It's like, just folks on the main camera. Yeah, because you have to, you have to try and I cater for both cameras.

If you're doing that all the time, you're compromising the main shot to make room for the second shot. But also, if you shoot like 4K or whatever, and you could always jump in and not lose quality. So using one camera, you can do a lot. Yeah, you can do that sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you guys do that ever? What I did do with a 4K, much to, I'm sure my DOP's horror, was I would reframe shots, like in the edit. Like, well, I might just do this.

I might zoom in here. Like I did that. Yeah, I was like, what are you doing? Stop touching the shot. Like, I think it looks better. out um do you ever get into arguments oh yeah all the time every day oh do you try not to do it on set we argue over text on set so like if we're like smiling you're a fucking idiot yeah stop fucking contradicting me to the actors it's perfect leave her alone yeah yeah he was showing me

the screen i'll pretend i didn't see it uh let's get that uh so we argue over text but who says action Oh, our first AD. We allow him to say action. Yeah. So you guys can just focus and not have to deal with that. Yeah, he can call the action. We have like really intimate, like, words of the actors beforehand and be like with them and then step away. Do you sit usually in Video Village or do you get close to the actor?

I love hiding on set. I love being around it. Yeah. There was once I feel bad that because we were so. Oh, this was so embarrassing. This is when we hadn't slept for a few days and I was under a bed because I was under the bed and Billy and Sora that we were seeing. like him watching us sleep and him nervous you know and i was under the bed waiting for the setup and it was in between takes it was i was like i fell asleep and you start snoring yeah and they

heard you and they and the crew thought it was Sora sleeping in the scene so she's like laying down and i'm like oh she's snoring and then it was like god damn she sounds like a man and then like it cut and i was like sorry you need to wake up she's like that's not me And I was like, what? I'm like, where's that snoring coming from? And then Billy's like, I think it's coming from under the bed. It's under the bed. Did everybody laugh?

No, no one knew. No one knew. No one knew. I was like, oh my God. I'm like, oh, let's change the shot. Let's get a reverse. And then everyone's like moving out. I'm like, get the fuck out.

What are you doing? Yeah, that was my one embarrassing thing. That's just ridiculous. But, you know, once we were in talk to me, we were hiding in, like, a closet in talk to me. There's a scene where Mia, Sophie's like, hitting herself and banging things. kicking things and we did this room we take it out we were in the i was like hiding in the cupboard and she didn't know that and there was a seat she came up and said like punching the cover i know yeah when i go the door open you see and like try to close the door because she's she's like

she was so on the zone and there was certain days where we're like can you not sleep tonight can you come to set having stayed up all night because you'll be a bit more frazzled and a bit more like getting her she stayed up she stayed up she wanted to know and she's like i'll stay up if you stay up i'm like i'm staying up and then so like yeah we'll just have conversations keep her up all night and like really get her in the zone and and And like, even if it's a small thing, there's something about the way that people act and they haven't slept that just adds this extra layer of realism, which I love. What do you, what do you guys do with stress?

Like, do you stress? Do you get nervous? Do you get overwhelmed? And how do you deal with it? Because we talk a lot about mental health in the podcast. Yeah. What do each of you do? What do you do?

It's so tough, you know, even from since talks, we came out and then we're doing a documentary at the same time and then bring her back. and we did this it was like a whole process to get to bring it back but there was never a break so once we got to the pre-production

of bring her back I was exhausted and I was so like and there was like it was the first time that we kind of had money properly coming in so it was like tax things

and there was all this overwhelming yeah's overwhelming and then also there's this added pressure of this is your second movie like you said the sophomore slump is it gonna work

is it a flu and there's all these like precious there is and you do feel the pressure and it's kind of hard you got it it's kind of breaking things down to just moment to moment what do you need to do today sleep and we have I've really really bad sleep so even when I and it's an issue I've always had you know falling asleep is difficult and then every time I fall asleep within an hour and a half

I'll wake up so within 90 minutes I just wake up and it's like I could exhaust myself all day to finally fall asleep do you feel refreshed when you wake up yeah but I have only had 90 minutes so you wake up like your i've heard there's some people like that that actually can sleep for an hour hour hour and a half and then they're fine or a couple hours yeah i run off naps yeah no i'm not fine you feel fine for like 20 minutes and then you get tired and but it's just falling keeping a that's the one thing i'm trying to figure out is that keeping that constant get a good proper sleep you know my my thing is it feels like exposure therapy because once i talked to me had come out and then um there started to be real big pressure for the next one and then i was getting really nervous and

scared of the next movie. And I could feel myself, I could feel my feet getting cemented into the ground. And I'm like, I'm not going to make anything ever again. Like, I feel like, like, it's just too terrifying of a task. And then to get over that or to like, like, jump over that anxiety was just signing onto the next thing and boarding the train and being like, it doesn't matter. Like it's like, it's left the station. You have to make this movie now. You have to take these meetings. And like doing that, throwing yourself into it. There's no time to like think about it or get caught up in your own head about it. So it's about just like facing it and jumping into it. I think that's one of the biggest things with people that don't everyone's waiting to be a hundred percent ready to do

something and you're never going to be 100 percent ready ever you know it's never going to be perfectly aligned and that's the thing that's ever you get paralysis from starting something because you're afraid you want it to be i need this i need that it's at a certain point you just need to go you just need to jump and you'll figure out while you're falling how in your hand yeah yeah well because some people can't um they have to be busy all the time or they go crazy yeah do you think you guys are like that? I think so, maybe. Like if you have too much time to do nothing, are you not in a good place? Yeah, it is a thing. Like, once everything starts to get quiet, the only voice that you're hearing is the one that's in your head. And then that gets terrifying. So, like,

constantly staying stimulated and like, like, working, I think is a way to, to cover it. But I think it's an obsession as well with just creating. So I would say, okay, we're doing nothing now until, especially with the YouTube days, you could choose your own schedule. And then after two weeks, three weeks, you get that it again, okay, I've got to do something. I've got to do something creative. I've got to be making something, working on something. I've got a vice. I like to gamble that's my, that's my vice. I like to gamble a little, but I try to do it intermittently. I don't do it all the time. Yeah. So I'll go to Vegas a couple times a year and I'll give myself a limit and that's it. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, that's, yeah, you're making good money now. You shouldn't be

throwing your money away. I know, but you can double it. Or you could go back to YouTube. Yeah. What the fuck do you want to do? I've put a, I've, I've actually stopped. I'm on a, what's it called? There's like those apps that, like sober apps. I've done that. So I haven't, I've been careful for a while.

Do you guys still drink? I don't actually drink that much. I don't either. Yeah. It's so funny. There is those things when you're such stressful situations. You don't need that. You need, well, to me, it comes.

So my thing when I was, because I was doing online gambling, which was bad. And before that, it'd be. doing something physical, like risky, something risky. I like adrenaline things. I like doing stuff that's kind of dangerous. I love doing stunts with the YouTube stuff. When that's taken away and you're doing the film stuff and it's just sitting in a room, then I was doing the gambling because it's so weird because in that moment,

everything, all that stress goes away, even though you're doing something risky. It kind of evens it out. So not healthy, though. Not healthy at all. That's the thing is, it's a vice. It's a vice. So then when I stop that and. Now you masturbate constantly.

No, now it's eating. While masturbating. Now we're eating while that's true. Michael was like even like right before we entered pre-production of Bringer Back, he was doing a death match in Detroit. So like we went and shot and he was like doing this big match of glass and barbed wire and he's covered in blood jumping off these balconies and doing this sort of stuff. And it's like, that was the most fun ever.

Yeah, A-24 are like, we don't know how to insure him for the movie. Like what the hell? Like it's a documentary we're doing on death match wrestling, which is professional wrestling but like they use real weapons, real glass, real barbed wire. fire. People die. People have died doing it. It's really dangerous and it's like a violent performance art. And this exists. It exists. It's an underground form of wrestling. It's illegal. In some state. In some status, it's. And so that was, we've been fascinated with it since we were kids. So it was one of those things, you know, after talk to me, we kind of had, it was a surreal thing where you

could choose whatever you wanted to do. We could have done practically anything, any budget level, any movie. And so I was saying to 824, I want to do this document. on death match wrestling. And they said, okay. And we hadn't really probably thought about the direction. And I was like,

what the fuck, Mark? We don't know how to make a fucking documentary. It's certainly the last documentary we ever made. Yeah. And then we're just like done.

It's probably 70% done. Seven, second half of this year will be finishing. Is it good? I think it's pretty fucking awesome. Yeah. It's incredible.

Yeah. This footage on like, I don't think people have seen anything like this before. Like the camera's in the ring surrounding these environments. Yeah. So we went,

so we did a death match. It's scary. It's really scary. I don't know who the target audience is because it's so violent. Yeah, we should show you some of it. It's pretty incredible. And we're following different people from different countries that are unified by this one thing. So we filmed all over the world.

And that's what the second half this year is going to be finishing that off. After talk to me, I was expecting a certain movie. Yeah. This was completely different. but it wasn't only terrifying in moments it was emotional in moments it was an amazing story um it was tragic

it was there are some scenes with the knife that I probably shouldn't talk about it right no you can't do that please I don't know how you did it I mean this kid puts a butcher knife in his mouth

through his teeth into his throat and he's bleeding how old is this kid who's doing it? 10.11 he was at the time. How long did this stunt take

to get right? It's so interesting because anything that looks really horrific on camera is the most fun to shoot and the task of the challenge

for all of those set pieces or those moments is like how can we execute this practically? We have two prosthetics teams that are with us and we like pit them against each other be like oh do you see that head he's doing over there

you should try and do better than that like there's a healthy competition and like there's those conversations like I really want to execute this practically there's other stuff of a table like I want to execute that practically and it's like filling it out and then like you've got safely safe it was there was no danger yeah no real no real Biden I mean the knife I mean the knife looked real yeah yeah which is our plates of a real knife a foam knife like blending that stuff together and another thing that really we had a head his cast made up where we could put a real knife into a fake head that helped. We had fake teeth with magnet on the teeth and all that sort of stuff,

like magnets where you can sort of control like a chip tooth and everything. It was like all stuff like that. Because we've been obsessed with practical. Yeah, obsessed with practical effects since we were kids. And you look at movies like the thing. Why does that look better than modern movies? Because it's practical.

Exactly. It's tangible. Exactly. And there's something about getting it in camera in some way. For you guys. Because I always say that I'm like, why don't they just do practical? I'm so tired of too many effects in movies. It takes me.

out. Yeah, it always takes me out. I'm like, fuck, same shit. Yeah, exactly, it's exactly that. There's something about the realism that that puts you in this moment. If you're going to build up to a certain scene or a moment and then you just cover it visual effects, the same thing. It takes me out of it.

But there's something about there's a rawness to it. The more, most you can do practical, VFX should only be used to merge those things to enhance them. So, for example, to make sure there's no crinkles in the foam, the fake knife and how do you make it, you know, it's got to enhance it, not the whole thing. I mean, I say yes, definitely for these horror films, but I absolutely, there's some VFX, like, in those bigger budget, like a superhero film or something that I actually do love the spectacle of the big VFX thing. Sometimes. Yeah, it depends.

It depends on the project. I just think they're overdone now. And it's like, you know, a lot of movies just look the same. Like, they're the same movies, like a lot of superhero movies. They're just, they kind of like, it's like, people can say, oh, that's good, but it's pretty much the same with different dialogue and different characters, but the same things going on. They're just going to allow autos or like, like, director-led visions as opposed to filmmaking by committee. It feels like if they're like really like allowing them to put their fingerprints on it,

like I'm so fucking excited for the new Superman movie and what James got. I'm like that, like I know like he's, he's anuteur and he will have his own fingerprint and his own vision. So I'm so excited for that. And that feels like a filmmaker-led project as opposed to making it by committee, which yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And then also with the knife thing, so jumping back, once we'd shot it and it looks amazing and like pass after pass off the path of the path, like on the VFX thing.

It was like, I need to blend that. That doesn't look right. Blend this. We need this. It was like the sound still wasn't hitting. And like it doesn't sound. And these are like, I get people can like look away, but I want it to be like that what they hear is just as horrific.

There's a sound. You have to find that sound. It's not, you know. Do you know how we did it? How? We had a microphone like this. We were in the sound designer studio and I was like, get me a knife. And then, like, we got the knife.

I put it in my mouth and I did the action and we recorded it. And that's why it sounds like, oh, my God. Because it was like, it was like replicating exactly. Like hitting the teeth and like, yeah, all of that. And then same so with the tabletop. Like there was like a tabletop scene. Like same sort of thing. Like anything that's like, oh, this is a hard sound to get.

Yeah, we're in the studio. Oh, so the kids biting the counter, like ripping it apart this wooden, hard wooden counter. Yeah. It is on, I've never seen anything like it. And then so I walked in And Danny was biting the table of Emma's There's like teeth marks in there now And it was things like with Jonah who plays olive oats

It was lace with chocolate the table So he could bite it And after we called cut, he just kept eating it He just loved it Yeah, he loved it This is a really nice table This is actually really good Hey folks, it's me Michael Rosenbaum

Listen if you're a supporter of the podcast If you're enjoying these interviews we ask you if you can join Patreon, patreon.com slash inside of you, and help the podcast. It's a great way to build a community and friends, and there's a lot of benefits. There's different tiers. There's one where I give you packages every couple of months,

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in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Man, Jonah's so multi-talented. He's 10, 11 years old. He's had three more tie fights. He's a fighter. And he's been a lead in a film. And he's an amazing musician. He's like this so multi-talented, awesome kid.

You know what the most rewarding thing was having them come to the premiere out to, you know, they're staying in Beverly Hills. They come to the premiere, Sora, who's never acted before, who was doubting herself. And they call their names on stage and the crowd, like, erupts in applause and cheering. and then parents are proud on the sidelines because they worked so hard and then to spend that moment with them was the most rewarding, amazing thing ever.

It was the funnest, the funnest night ever. It was incredible. I love that. What was it like, by the way, going on Joe Rogan? I was so surprised, like he had you guys on.

Was that a weird thing? Or was that fun? Or was it just kind of odd? That was so surreal. And I feel like our voices are quite annoying to some people. So I feel like maybe people were annoyed by our voices on it, maybe.

Oh, yeah, definitely. But also, we're a massive UFC fans, and then people are like, dude, Joe Rogan reposted your movie. Did you guys pay him to do that? I'm like, no. Yeah, I remember I was playing Xbox, and then I got like, my phone just, I'm gone insane. They're like, Joe Rogan. And I was like, no way.

Like, that must be just like a fan account or something. And it wasn't. And it wasn't. And then our agents that reached out and said, oh, they, would you do the podcast for them? He said, yeah. And, dude, I've never been so nervous going on a podcast. I'm sure I mean he has such a following yeah and I so I hadn't slipped and I and I was shot I had a lot of caffeine and stuff and I was like ah I it was yeah we always it was like

it was like I probably a bomb before yeah we probably bond the interview yeah we apologize yeah sorry Joe Rogan have us again we'll be more calm next time well it just it was funny because I was I didn't think you guys I think you guys were just like doing your thing and you're this and you'd come back to him he's like yeah maybe he wasn't ready for the energy he was just like wow these guys are fireballs is that too much these guys are passionate i love it he was he was nice though i bet he loved it he's incredible talk to me grossed 48.3 million in us uh in canada 43.9 million in other countries and markets 92 million i mean you guys own a piece of the movie right i don't know how much we own of the movie i'm pretty sure we invested yeah yeah we're getting

a check i don't know when it should be a big for talk to me haven't been paid yet no we got paid some We got paid some. It still comes in. It's still trickles. It's going to be like another. Did you ever get a million dollar check? Oh my God. I don't think we got a million dollar check.

Not yet. But, but and it's not, you know, for the movie, would you say for this movie? I'd say, you know, I don't know. It's sort of like, I don't like, I don't know if we got that out. I hate looking at anything like that. That gives me anxiety as well. Right. But it's like kids, guys that just never imagined all the, and it's happening.

And it's like, good for you. You deserve it. To make a million. and make a good living to you're entertaining so many people you deserve it but it's terrifying

because every second feels like Just don't gamble the fucking money away You can have one million or two million No no no And it always feels like it's going to go away I was sitting next to Lee Wanel Who like directed you know The Insidious Films and Saw

and all that sort of stuff We were at this award ceremony And he was next to me And then I was like I was talking to him And I said I was I signed on to bring her back so quickly because I was so scared of it going away and we were attached to like a bigger property and then like I was scared of letting that fan base down or screwing that up and I didn't feel

like I was ready for I was like talking to him and I'm like I feel it's scary because it feels like the door could shut at any moment and he's like I've made so many films I've been a part of so many projects and that never goes away you always feel like you might lose it I was like god damn leave a no and I'm like that's scary that that's I fear that you're always going to have with you that that's terrifying but it is one of those things money's never never been the reason why we do it. So it's about now with the money coming in, like money coming in, it's finding. So now we've got people that take care of the money stuff and we just get paid a weekly thing. Just beyond them. Yeah. Just make sure every month or every couple months,

you sit down and go over your finances and make sure it's all there. Just I know you trust everybody and you know you do this, but I've heard too many horror stories. You have to. You have to meet with the person who's who is managing your life yeah and say okay so i had this much three months ago why is there this much gone okay well just ask questions takes 30 minutes it's so be smart just be smart yeah we've got to be smarter like that it's we've never understood so as soon as as we started talking about finances i might i just can't follow what they're saying exactly i'm like i i just i don't understand you don't but you put in layman's term you could say okay i had five hundred thousand dollars in march and now it's april marches after march

and now in april i have 200 thousand dollars there's something a little just pay attention it doesn't take much but you want to protect yourself yeah you need to know where it's so your business managers listening going damn it yeah he's like shut the fuck up why is he what would you say to young filmmakers who want to make their movies because you know at the officer, Sean Baker said, and we talked about this before, not with you guys, but he said, get an iPhone, go shoot something. It's pretty daunting. When you want to make a movie and a, you know, something that people could watch and maybe try to sell it, is that really good advice? Well, yeah, I think it's like anything that you first start off doing is going to be bad.

And it's about getting that bad stuff out of the way. And every single thing that you make, you get better and you learn from it. So I do agree, whereas I go out and start shooting, even if it's just you and a friend. But what if you have a good script that you know is great, but you can't get the money and you know that if you shoot it on this little budget, it's not going to be what it should be.

I would shoot a scene from that. I would have a scene where it's like, I'm going to put everything into this scene. I would pull out, me personally, I would take out a loan. And I'm like, I'm going to throw everything into making a scene. That's like a proof of concept to show,

look, I can direct. I can do this. And then you package it. You're like, try to find people. You reach out to producers that you really like. That's like a big step. And then you're sort of like, Here's the full script.

I've got a full written script, which is the best currency that you can have. And I've got a scene that shows you, I can pull this off. I can execute this. That's great advice. Because I have two horror movies that I want to make that I'm going out and trying to get money for. And part of me was like, you know, I want to shoot this one scene in the movie. Yes. And just because it's such, it could, it could be like a short film.

And it's intense and it's great. And it kind of gives you the idea. of the feeling of the movie. Yeah. So it's like, but I want to get a good D.P. I want to use your D.P. Yeah. I want to use quality people.

I want this to look because this is my opportunity. So put whatever money into it, not too much, but like, you know, get the scene, get your vision and then hand it off, right? Yeah. And especially because you have an in-built audience as well. Like that, that so much helps it. And like, even if it's like something that you upload and that exists and that you just package it in a way that feels exciting.

And it's finding the biggest thing. and I think for us and never wait for development funding that's the hell like don't wait for development funding that's my other advice like people wait I've applied for this grant

I've applied for this and it's like just write it just write it start writing it and they keep improving it send it to people that you trust and they can give notes on the script like don't wait for something to happen

well especially in the writing process when they're trying to get the whole movie in their head before they write it write it in whatever form it is in and then from at least get it out the first it's like just shit it out onto a fucking page to begin with and then you can

sort it and mold it and like that's that's where you got to like waiting for it all to be perfect in your head before radiance you should just start and get out and it's but a big important thing is finding people that you trust finding like that's what Sam is so integral and when you find those people that are passionate talented and hold on to them and create stuff together yeah what would you say if you had to pitch bring her back like why people should see it what would you say uh it's a film that feels like it could relate to like hardened horror fans, but there is an emotional underlay to it

that lets it exist also as a drama film. So we'd love for people to come in and be like, oh my God, that was terrifying. But why am I also moved by this? Yeah, perfect. That's how I felt when I watched it. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, because you're like emotionally driven.

You're rooting for these characters. You feel terrible from the beginning when their father dies and then they're you know uh i just i was with them and it's it's tragic it's dramatic it's emotional it's scary it's jarring there's all those things all those elements which i think make it a great horror movie like look at exorcists if you take away the fuck me fuck me all that stuff like it's it's a it's a mother who loves her daughter and we'll do anything she can to protect her and get her you know yeah help and And she goes through hell to do that.

Yeah. And that's such a big lesson to learn on The Exorcist. And with any of the films that we're trying to write, is like make sure it works as a drama film as well. Yeah. Like make sure those characters feel real. And then add the stuff. Yeah.

And you build around it. Like find the thematic core and then build around that. That always feels like the best. I always feel awful killing off the character in one of my movies. Do you? Because you do it a lot. Well, you killed one off. And I was like, Game of Thrones.

I was upset. But then it was like. But it was, it's a, it's sort of a survival thing that, you know, they did this with a movie I loved called Bone Tomahawk. Oh, yes. And in the beginning, they have this tough guy and this cowboy and this and then they have this guy who's dying and he's weak and the old man. And you're watching it. And everything you thought would happen didn't. The weaker characters survived and the stronger characters old.

died yeah and that was fucking cool and i don't want to give anything away but yeah pretty amazing um how was it meeting lucy lawless she was amazing you guys had such dude she's i text her she's like i want to go to horror nights because i have horror movie nights here and you guys are in town next you got to come oh please we'll watch a horror movie and we'll just we'll just rip it apart or we'll love it or whatever there's another there's a couple good movies out there will any movies that you've seen that you think people should see that are good horror movies Oh my gosh. The one that I'm really excited for is together. That's coming out soon. That's from another Australian filmmaker. So I'm really excited for that one.

The ugly step sister. I've heard so many good things. It's really good. Oh, fuck yeah. I really liked it. That's good. And the one with John Lithgow, um, which is this one? It's the one where the guy has a puppet. John Lithgow has a puppet and it's an old age home. Oh, I've heard of this. I don't know the title. It's um it's really cool, man. It's good. It's just not what you think it would be and it's creepy and it's good. Anyway I grew up as Zina I love Zena Warrior Princess

Dude she's awesome I love Lucy How did I say your last name again? Philippo It is Philippo Yeah Philipo This is shit talking with Danny and Michael

Philipo This is rapid fire So these are my patrons Rapid Fire Go to patron com slash inside of you And join and support the podcast Don G

Your movie talked to me Is very emotional grief base What did you draw upon To achieve that? personal emotional experiences be vulnerable, be personal and that'll make it feel more real. All right.

Rapid fire. Shit answer. Oh, thank you. Shit. Shit, man. Leanne says if you had to describe your twin in one word,

what would it be and why? Annoying. Damn it. That's what was going to be why would. Yeah, well, talented. Oh, thank you. Fuck head. Fuckhead.

Fuckhead and talented. That's good. Tipaw 1-2. Favorite A-24, A-24 movie. Moonlight. Come on. Dude, this is rapid fire. Didn't they do hereditary?

They did hereditary? Say hereditary. You know what my favorite one is? Bo was afraid. What? Bo was afraid. I didn't say that. I didn't see that.

You haven't seen that? Bo is afraid? It's a trip. It's Arias's third movie. Wait, is that Walking Phoenix? Yeah. It's good? I loved it.

Really? Yeah, I love that. I got to watch it then. If you guys say it's good, I'll watch it. Raj, tell me about a time you push through a different. of opinion with each other. The one that rings about the biggest one. It's, you know what it is?

It's always the smallest thing. It's the decibel of a sound effect. It's like how loud something is, or it's like frames on a shot. So we usually, we have like a third party that we like, like three or four people

that we really trust and we can send them both versions of this scene and be like, which one's better? Not tell them who's it is. That's how we said it. If they choose Danny,

I go, you're a traitor. When does the movie come out? May 30th. May 30th in theaters. May 30th in theaters. Two questions. One, sorry, another question. Remy,

Remy, look, I'm with Michael Rosenbaum. He's the biggest fan. We do Smallville nights. Come on, baby, Rami, Brad! MicroRos and Bob! As soon as we landed, they're like, what podcast?

Like, get me in the Macroisbaum. Please, please, please, please. That, and then two, can I see the talk feel set after this as well? Oh, it's just that we just hang something over. Oh, do you really? Yeah. So it's easy.

I'll show you the thing, but it's like kind of, it's styrofoam. Beautiful kind of treat. But, dude, dude, guys, this has been such a treat. I, I could talk to you forever about movies. in touch. We should. Let's keep in touch, man. And when you guys are back in town, you'll come over, you know, we'll just be boys. Yeah. We just do our thing. We would love that. And thank you so much for having us. I'm watching the movie and inviting us to your home. I'm so excited for you.

Like, I really am excited for you because I know this is a great movie. I know this is going to do well. Knock on wood. But there's no, there's no reason it shouldn't from the, you know, the guys who brought you talk to me. Bring her back. It doesn't let you down. This movie is not a letdown. This is a I don't want to say surprise because you guys are gifted, but it is a surprise, you know, to go into the second big movie you're making and then come out

going, awesome. Oh, hell yeah. It works. It's great. It really is. And I'm telling you, I have a friend Nick who's just shits on it. I mean, he shits on everything. More than, more than I shit on things. He's like, dude, it's lame. It's totally lame. And he was like,

it was good. Oh, that. And that means a lot. Like, Nick doesn't. We all were like all around. I swear to God, may I drop dead. All of us loved it. All of us loved it.

I would not lie to you. I'm so happy. I can't wait for the world to see it. Bring her back. May 29th. May 29th. May 30th. May 30th.

I'll get to the theaters early. Yeah. Line up. We'll be done the blocks. Danny and Michael Philippo. Thank you for being here. It was an absolute treat. And next movie you do, you got to come back.

on it's all 100% right here we're here thanks so much you no matter how big you get don't be those guys no no i'll be here it's tradition yeah you can stay in the guest room for god's sake all right we'll see you later cheers with amex platinum access to exclusive amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot track side so being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime that's the powerful backing of amex pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and very by race terms and conditions apply learn more at mx.ca slash y annex um i don't think i've ever had energy like that on a podcast before so i wonder what people are going to think are these guys like you know they even said it they're like are they you know our energy and uh they're they're such good guys

and they're so interesting and i i just i love these guys i felt like we're we're pals now you know yeah they love they were huge fancy yeah i was fans of there so it was a beautiful thing it was a mutual It was a mutual love, mutual admiration. Thanks guys for being on here. Smallville forever. And I just, you guys are awesome.

I put me in a damn moving. I'll hold you to that. Even if I have to be a delivery guy and say a few lines and then come back to kill somebody. Something, dude. Something. Come on, Danny, Michael.

All right. Let's get into, thanks for listening. We're going to get into the top tiers. These are the folks that really support the show going above and beyond. And I'm going to read their names off because this is part of the the perk.

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P.R. C. Sultan. Ingrid C. Dave T. Jeff G. Kareem. H. Kareem. Brian B. and Patrick H. Patrick. Welcome to Patron. I love you guys. Thank you so much for supporting this podcast. It means the world to me. And I'll see you at a con or I'll see you next week or you'll see me next week on the podcast. So from the Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, California. I am Michael Rosenbaum. I am Ryan. That's correct. A little wave to the camera. We love you. Thanks for being here. And be good to yourself. We'll see you. Football season is here. Oh, man. Believe has the podcast to enhance your football experience.

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