After Australian actor Sophie Wilde starred as Mia, the (literally) haunted protagonist of Danny and Michael Philippou’s debut horror movie Talk to Me, the writer-directors promised her they’d work with her again — even though she wasn’t going to lead their follow-up, Bring Her Back.
“We made a deal that she would appear in every single one of our films, in one way or another, as a cameo,” Danny Philippou told Polygon ahead of the movie’s release.
They were true to their word with Bring Her Back, but even the most eagle-eyed Easter egg spotters aren’t going to notice her appearance. In the film, bereaved mother Laura (The Shape of Water’s Sally Hawkins) repeatedly sits with her adopted son Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) and watches videotapes showing a demonic ritual that plays heavily into the movie’s story. The footage is in grainy black and white, and the camera moves in an erratic handheld way — it’s a lot like watching an early found-footage horror movie.
“There is a flash of Sophie Wilde in one of the home videos that Laura is watching,” Danny says, “but you only see her arm and her body. You don’t see her face, unfortunately. But she was there! She’s in the credits as ‘Middle-aged Mum 4.’”
That glancing appearance wasn’t always the plan, though. “The plan was to see her face!” Michael says. “But ultimately, it had to come down to what was right for the story. The shot just didn’t work. We sent it to Sophie. We’re like, ‘Hey, look! This is your cameo!’ And it’s her arm.”
“So it’s less coy, more like nonexistent,” laughs Danny.
That said, the directors do say that Talk to Me and Bring Her Back are set in the same universe, and they’d like to continue to use small Easter eggs (though maybe not quite this small) to establish connections between all their movies. “It feels like all of the films that we work on are probably going to exist in that sort of world, I would say,” Danny says. “It’s just fun to have your own universe.”
That could include literal flashbacks or glimpses into the backstories of their existing movies. “Imagine in the next movie, [the characters] are driving along, and in the background, Laura is kidnapping Oliver,” Michael says.
“I can see it happening in future films — that’s definitely something I’m open to,” Danny says. “It just has to feel natural. That’s something I do love, a good Easter egg. With Talk to Me, having all the actors hidden in the opening scene, dressed up as different characters — [I love] things like that that people can see it and find. It’s so much fun. I mean, Michael tried doing an Easter egg to force himself into this movie, but we cut it out.”
Bring Her Back is in theaters now.
