Delta Goodrem surprises commuters with a piano performance at St Pancras
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
Bring Her Back director Danny Philippou: ‘I love the psycho-biddy genre. It allows actors to really play'
The artists formerly known as RackaRacka require no drawing out. Danny and Michael Philippou , Australian YouTubers turned acclaimed horror directors, share answers like doubles partners in an Olympic ping-pong match. You're never quite sure who's replying. But you know the ball will be moving at speed. We last met a little over two years ago. Talk to Me , the twins' first-rate supernatural shocker, was receiving raves after a smash US debut at Sundance Film Festival . They were enjoying the surprise elevation. I imagine making Bring Her Back, the follow-up, may have been a bit more nerve-racking. They once had nothing to lose. The new film was easier to finance, but now there were expectations. [ Talk to Me: RackaRacka's Philippou brothers get serious with a bracingly grim horror Opens in new window ] 'Definitely way more pressure,' Michael practically yells. 'There was a kind of prebuilt expectation, whereas the first time there wasn't. So you're exactly right. It was easier to get it up, but then it also had a lot more eyes on it. The first critics screening was the most terrifying thing ever.' 'There was an expectation of how it would be received by critics,' Danny adds. 'I didn't expect that. I still don't know what the hell we're doing. We always feel out of our depth. The pressure was on.' READ MORE I'll trust him when he says they don't think they know what they're doing. But the Adelaide lads, now 32, still radiate a blistering confidence. At any rate, they needn't have worried about Bring Her Back. The chilling new film, which expands and intensifies their transgressive aesthetic, stars Billy Barratt and Sora Wong as troubled orphans sent to live with an apparently amiable former social worker. Pay heed to that 'apparently'. It soon transpires their new foster mum – in the deceptively familiar form of Sally Hawkins – has been driven to necromancy by the death of her own daughter. Genuinely horrible events follow. At the early public screening I attended, grown adults were covering their eyes and hyperventilating. But, as well as delivering gross shocks, the film has important things to say about the process of grief. 'Our cousin lost her two-year-old while we were writing,' Danny says. 'So I think that made its way into it. And then our family friend passed away right at the start of pre-production. That, again, shifted and changed the script. It altered where we were going and the tone of things. You're always trying to be as personal as possible and to write from real experience.' The time has, perhaps, passed for us to treat the Philippous' route into cinema as novelty. Film-makers once saved every penny to buy stock for their Super 8 cameras. They went to film school. A later generation came up through advertising. The one after that honed its skills on pop videos. For the past decade or so, YouTube and its competitors have provided a hotter path to the big screen. The lads began by filming their own backyard wrestling matches. By 2013 they had launched a YouTube channel called RackaRacka and were scoring hits with parodies such as (do we need to explain?) Harry Potter vs Star Wars . 'I hope that this helps other YouTube creators get their foot in the door,' Danny says. 'While we were trying to get Talk to Me up, it was not easier because we were YouTubers. That was to our detriment a little bit. A lot of people would say, 'What have they done?' We'd send them YouTube videos for an example. They're, like, 'What the f**k? We're not funding this.' There was a little bit of that. 'But there's a whole generation of people who are going to become film-makers that have access to Instagram or TikTok or YouTube – people that are storytellers at heart.' Some Australian veterans were supportive. The creator of Mad Max is just the sort of fellow you'd expect to warm to these renegades. ' George Miller was the first film-maker that we spoke to who said, 'If had YouTube back in the day, I would be on it. One hundred per cent'.' Danny confirms. 'He was the first film-maker we'd known who was not looking down at us. He could embrace it. That was back in 2015. Even now the attitude is changing with the studios. Which is great. It's so rare for an Australian film to break through and get seen.' [ 'It was our film and Oppenheimer. I thought, What the f**k? This is crazy' Opens in new window ] Talk to Me really did land like a doodlebug. Following that triumphant Sundance premiere, distributors were fighting over the title in the foyer. It got raves. It took close to $92 million on a budget of less than $5 million. My guess if that, after the film proved a hit, they must have got offers from all directions. They are just the sort of guys who Marvel or DC like to inveigle into the franchise game. Can they tell me what they turned down? Danny and Michael Philippou, directors of Bring Her Back 'We can't speak specifically what we were in talks about,' Michael says. 'It felt like every door had blown open. We had so many amazing opportunities. We had offers. I guess there was an expectation to go bigger and broader. You have to step it up. But we wanted to do something that was personal to us and felt right in a story – not to be won over by a Hollywood offer. That's not to say we wouldn't do that in the future.' They will point out that they were not complete novices when they moved to the big screen. They had worked on the crew of such features as Jennifer Kent's groundbreaking The Babadook. But the assurance is still astonishing. Neither of their two films has a hint of ramshackle about it. Lushly shot by Aaron McLisky, Bring Her Back, again making great use of Australia's humid suburbia, is as rich in its visuals as any studio blockbuster. They are disciplined guys. When you ask film-making brothers how the work is divided, they usually hum and haw. That is not the case with the current directors. The Philippous, of Greek descent, are clear as to who does what. 'Yeah, especially with post-production,' Michael says. 'Danny would be more focused with colour and VFX; myself with the sound and the music. That's how we do those different things. But we're both there every day in the edit. We're both there for every day on set. The writing is more Danny with the co-writer [Bill Hinzman]. And I'll give input there. I couldn't imagine doing this completely by myself. My hat goes off to directors who do that. Seems an impossible task.' They look to have a great connection with their actors. Barrett and Wong are utterly convincing in the juvenile roles. Sally Hawkins, the Oscar-nominated star of The Shape of Water and Happy-Go-Lucky, revels in the opportunity to move away from the warmer characters she so often plays. There is maybe a little of Paddington's pal in the opening scenes, but, as events progress, the Londoner gets to roar, rant and spit blood. 'Sally is so great. She's such a character actor,' Michael says. 'Every film that she does, she embodies a completely different person. So the idea of a sinister version of that was so fascinating to us. We didn't think she'd actually say yes. She'd never done a full, proper horror film before – a villain like this.' The Philippous admit that they were looking back to scary mature ladies from earlier horror films. One thinks of Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (More 'horror-adjacent', perhaps.) Kathy Bates in Misery meets the criteria. Also, Beryl Reid and Flora Robson in the British cult gem The Beast in the Cellar. 'I love the psycho-biddy genre,' Danny says. 'I love a really powerful actor like Bette Davis going to these extremes. She always would have to play things really realistically. She would be at seven, but the genre allowed her to hit 10. It's such a big performance. That's what's so exciting about the genre, how it allows these actors to really play.' As we speak, the brothers have made it back home for a spell. They are working on a documentary about deathmatch wrestling. One wonders if success has changed their relationship. It doesn't seem that way. 'Exactly the same,' Danny says with a cackle. 'We fight just as much. Yeah, I don't think anything has changed between us at all.' Bring Her Back is on general release
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- The Irish Sun
I was set on a 3-course meal for our wedding but my KFC loving hubby won & we had a fast food buffet of fried chicken
MANY brides and grooms spend hours choosing fancy food for their wedding guests. However, one couple ditched the formal flair for a 'Finger Lickin' Good' spread that was a whole lot cheaper - and apparently went down well with guests. 2 A bride shared how she had dreams of having a fancy meal for her wedding Credit: tiktok/@moniquexxharris 2 However, her partner had his heart set on a KFC buffet, which is what they went with Credit: tiktok/@moniquexxharris Australian bride Monique Harris uploaded a video sharing how they had served KFC as the main course at their wedding reception. Guests dined on chicken, fries, and even KFC's signature gravy, instead of the usual multi-course meal. In a video on her 'He said 'nah I want KFC catering.' More on weddings 'Anyway here's him with his KFC buffet because it's his wedding too.' Fair from being annoyed that she didn't get her way with the food, the bride said they had saved so much money in the process with the total coming to $800AU (£390). Monique added: 'Was way cheaper than getting it catered and everyone loved it. '$8AU (£3.89) per person compared to the $120 (£58) we kept getting quoted.' Most read in Fabulous Many people clearly loved the informal and tasty idea, with the video racking up over 130,000 likes. One said: 'I'm showing this to my man he would LOVE THIS.' Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause says 'I do' to G-Flip for a fourth time in Medieval castle ceremony Another added: 'I'd be thrilled if I was at this wedding!!' Even KFC commented, saying: 'For better, or for buffet.' However, some people weren't sure about the idea of dishing out fast food as a main meal at a wedding. One wrote: 'cold dried up chicken and rock hard fries. should have went with the three course.' MACCIES MEAL We previously shared how a couple decided to And the couple clearly share the same down-to-earth food tastes, as they even chowed down on some burgers on their way to their ceremony earlier the same day. The cheeseburger acts as a romantic reminder for the pair, who shared their first meal together at McDonald's six years ago after they met clubbing with a mutual friend. The couple had spent time planning for the delivery of the burgers, which they knew their guests would love, ordering the £700 burgers one month in advance. Average cost of a wedding in 2025 Recent research by more than £20,000. Food - £6,000 Honeymoon - £4,329 Wedding outfits - £3,500 Entertainment - £2,000 Engagement ring - £1,948 Flowers - £1,110 Wedding ring - £1,000 Wedding transport - £700 Total = £20,587
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Irish Examiner
TV review: Why Prime Video's The Assassin is the perfect hate-watch
Telly is different during the summer. You need something frothy and fun to distract from the fact you should be cutting the grass. The Assassin (Prime Video) feels like it should fit the bill. Keeley Hawes plays Julie, a hit-woman who has retired to a Greek island. The opening sequence, a flashback to a hit in Bulgaria, is full of brutish villains and cartoon violence, a parody of Jason Bourne films, which were parodies of themselves, so this should be fun. But it isn't. It's like they've invented a new genre, a comedy caper that isn't funny, where they run with the first draft of the script because that's just the kind of people they are. The result is a story-line with holes big enough for a fleet of trucks, fleshed out with pancake-flat dialogue. Julie is given one final job, to kill a woman called Kayla on a yacht. She decides not to at the last minute, for no reason, but it's just as well because the next day her dweeb of a son, Edward, arrives and announces that Kayla is his fiancée. There is an inevitable Greek wedding attended by everyone in the village, where less predictably, most of them are shot. Julie and Edward flee to Kayla's yacht, and they all go to Albania for reasons which aren't clear. Keeley Hawes attends a photocall for the Assassin at the Soho Hotel, in central date: Thursday July 3, 2025. PA Photo. Kayla, a rich heiress, doesn't seem to mind that her future mother-in-law kills people for money, maybe because she didn't kill her. Meanwhile there is a Dutch IT nerd in a Libyan prison (keep up!) who is trying to blackmail an angry Australian businessman who lives in huge house in France. There is very little humour and way too much chopping off limbs. At no point do I believe any of this. And still, I'm five episodes in and still watching. The new genre they've invented is a kind of immersive hate-watch, where you stay glued to the action because you don't want to miss a giant plot-hole. My wife and I have really enjoyed pointing out why something doesn't make sense. The show looks great, with sweeping views of Greek islands and Albanian coast-line. And here is the odd funny scene, probably by accident. But mainly I've stayed watching because they've put just enough intrigue into the plot to keep me hanging on. What does the angry Australian businessman keep in his safe? Is Julie's estranged husband behind all of this? What could Kayla possibly see in dweeby Edward? If you're stuck for something to watch, give The Assassin a go. It beats cutting the grass.
