Latest news with #SallyHawkins
Vogue
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Bring Her Back Is the Perfect Kick-Off to Horror-Movie Summer
A scene from Bring Her Back Photo: Ingvar Kenne And it has Sally Hawkins. I suppose after seeing unimpeachable talents like Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, and Florence Pugh topline horror movies, it should come as no surprise that Hawkins has done the same. But still there's something novel here: reimagining the brightly beaming star of the Paddington movies as a suburban psychopath is a world-class act of counterintuitive casting. Hawkins's Laura is a diminutive, hippy-dippy monster who takes the two siblings, Piper and Andy, in and promptly starts fucking with them. The younger sibling, Piper, who is mostly blind (she's played by the vision-impaired actress Sora Wong) and stridently independent (she refuses to use her mobility stick), is seduced by Laura's ministrations. Her brother, Andy (Billy Barratt, who is a tousle-haired revelation), is a different story. He's suspicious from the start, but also vulnerable and traumatized and not able to do more than keep a wary eye on Laura, a watchfulness that amplifies the movie's unease. There's also another boy in the house: Laura's young son, Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips), who says not a word and stalks around, mostly shirtless, like an adolescent zombie. What is going on in Bring Her Back? I personally loved how coy and restrained the Philippous can be in their storytelling—mood is more important than careful explanations to these writer-directors—but the leaps in logic may annoy some people. Nevertheless, you viscerally understand that the occult rituals Laura furtively watches on hoarded videotapes are a prelude to something awful she herself is planning. And you figure out early that Ollie isn't actually Laura's son, or entirely human. His eyes aren't right, his belly is distending grotesquely, and he eats anything in sight, including, in one indelible scene, the blade of a kitchen knife.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Bring Her Back' Directors Went To Extremes For The Nightmarish Horror
Bring Her Back's directors, Danny and Michael Philippou, are keeping it real, or at least as real as possible. The supernatural horror film, their sophomore effort after bursting onto the big screen with Talk to Me in 2022, took them and their cast down a series of rabbit holes, many of which they didn't see coming. From movie nights and practical effects to two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins buying trinkets from thrift stores to decorate the set, Bring Her Back is as terrifyingly authentic as it can be. "Sally wanted to disappear into this character and be her as much as possible," Michael explains. 'Every character has moments in their life, and in rehearsals, we'd like to play those moments out, even though they're never going to be seen. We were like, 'Let's act them out so there's some history.' Sally's like that, even with the house. To her, this is Laura's house. She said, 'Let me make it familiar to myself, dress it and be in it.' She wanted to familiarize herself with every corner of the set, so she would buy things and bring them in. It helped give it a lived-in experience, rather than feeling like a set, but more like her home. She was in the rabbit hole, which I loved. She is deep in every single aspect, which is incredible because we were in there too." Bring Her Back is about Andy, played by Billy Barratt, and visually impaired Piper, played by Sora Wong, a brother and sister whom Laura, played by Hawkins, fosters after their father dies. However, it's not long before they realize their new guardian and her home are hiding a darkness they could never imagine born out of tragedy and a terrifying ritual. A24's Bring Her Back is R-rated and in theaters now. "There's a scene in the movie that is the aftermath of an argument," Danny explains. "These two people are looking at each other with this rage. As a director, you can sit the characters down and go, 'Okay, you guys are angry at each other… and action,' or you can go, 'Alright, have a fight, scream until your voice is gone, and then sit down and the camera's already rolling.' That way, you've actually captured something that is much more real than just saying 'action' at a certain point. Sally would take that all the way back. She'd start at the beginning of waking up that day if she could. She didn't do that, but she would do that. The best thing about Sally is that we would continue rolling after the scene was done. I'm not calling cut. She would stay in it and be in there, and it's the best thing." Sometimes, the Philippou brothers didn't even know that Hawkins, whose work includes The Shape of Water, Paddington 2, Happy-Go-Lucky, and Wonka, was continuing to delve deeper into her character when they weren't around. "We went and did a thing with her in London recently," Michael recalls. "We had lunch, and we went for five hours. She's such an incredible person. When you're working with Sally, you want to hang out. We get along so well. Anyway, she had all these script notes. It was this big, fat Bible of the film's story where she had all these annotations. I was like, 'Can I take this home?' and she said, 'You want that?' I was like, 'I would cherish this always,' so I've got that at home. It's all of our script notes for Laura, and it's wicked, all of her scribbles and everything. It's so cool." Sally Hawkins in 'Bring Her Back.' A24/Ingvar Kenne Keen collaborators, the Australian filmmakers also have some set ideas and principles that they won't shift on. One of them is using practical effects as much as possible. Whether it's makeup and prosthetics or realistic sound design, it has to create a visceral reaction – even if audiences have to look away. "We love practical effects because they always seem to stand the test of time," Danny, who also co-wrote Bring Her Back, muses. "When actors are interacting with something tangible and present, even for a character that has got prosthetics on, it changes them and the way they move and act. It brings a level of realism that visual effects (VFX) can't achieve. However, VFX are so good at tying that stuff together and helping to smooth out all the rough edges. It's always a beautiful dance between the two of them, where it's 90 percent practical, you got five to ten percent VFX helping blend those elements." Instead of having one FX team on the movie, the Philippous brought in two companies so they could compete and complement each other in a creative and bloody ballet to raise the bar and achieve the best results possible. "It's always the funniest part of the most exciting thing when it's like, 'How can we execute this practically?' There were things in the script where I was like, 'I don't know how this is going to be possible. How do we do this practically?' We had two epic special effects teams on the ground the whole time, each specializing in different aspects. They were incredible and helped bring everything to life," Danny explains. "Bring Her Back's sound design is amazing, too, and she's so incredible. Emma Bortignon was our sound designer, and we love her to death. She's so down and game for anything. We were asking her, 'What is the sound of this?' and she also knew when a sound wasn't right. I wanted a sound for Oliver, the mysterious other child in the knife scene. She was sending me things, but they didn't sound right." He continues, "I cringe when I think about metal on teeth, but I was like, 'Let's just record the metal on teeth.' Get me a knife.' So, we had a knife, she had the microphone, and I just put it in there, started to turn and move it around. I wanted it to be so that audiences can look away and still feel it; they don't have to look at it. It's just as painful and effective." When it comes to influences, the filmmakers drew on several inspirations across multiple genres, from Bong Joon Ho's Memories of Murder to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and even the 1997 slapstick comedy Mouse Hunt. "There were a couple of weekends that were intense periods focusing on the extreme side of Sally's character, so as not to live there, I said to her, 'Do you want to come over?'" Danny laughs. "I love Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and it did inspire this film. We'd watch it, and Sally would like to do the voices of the characters and act it out, and she's so funny. It's one of my favorite experiences from the whole film." "There were certain movie nights that were just watching films that feel like they were in the same genre, and not even exact inspiration points. Those conversations with Sally were never fully about films. It was always about lived experiences." Michael adds, "I don't know quite how this Mouse Hunt influence became a thing, but one day Danny was talking about the inspirations. I think it was in an interview, and they said, 'What about you, Michael?' Danny had said all the main ones, and I was like, 'Mouse Hunt.' It's an amazing movie. It has amazing practical effects, and it's also about manipulation. There's a scene where they are trying to manipulate the mouse so they can kill it., It's a nostalgic movie, and it's also really great." Both of the brothers would work with Hawkins again in a heartbeat. They still can't quite believe she said yes to Bring Her Back. With their shared love of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? would they reunite for a remake? "The idea of working with powerful character actors and the idea of Sally Hawkins taking on that role and then trying to find someone to match her against is insane," Danny says. 'I love Bette Davis and her career, so the idea of working with actors like that and putting them in a room together is so exciting to me. My fear with a remake is that I won't be able to live up to the original. I know that I will falter, it'll be worse, and I'll let everyone down. That is one of my biggest fears. I'd hate for people to be like, 'Hey, it's the guy that fucking ruined that movie.' There were so many franchises that we got offered after Talk to Me, and I was like, 'Trust me, I feel like I'm going to screw this franchise up if you let me do it.'" Michael concludes, "The thing is that these classic movies came out of someone's vision and an authentic way of expressing themselves. Bring Her Back is our vision. To go, 'Alright, we're going do our version of it,' feels like it's a disservice to the original. Some people pull it off, but I would like to take that idea and have a different take on it. Maybe it's not those exact characters, so it's not a direct remake, but something like that could be cool. Who knows."
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Foster mom fosters nightmares in ‘Bring Her Back'
What's the opposite of a Venn diagram overlap? Whatever it is, 'Bring Her Back' is the film equivalent, with two potential audiences that might cancel each other out. Fans of horror movies that work your every last nerve may not appreciate the casting of the great British actress Sally Hawkins as a foster parent with a devilish agenda. By contrast, fans of Hawkins's work in art-house crowd-pleasers like 'Maudie' and 'Happy-Go-Lucky' — or even mainstream fare like 'The Shape of Water' and the first two 'Paddington' movies — may run screaming from the theater.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Bring Her Back' Review: A Foster Mother Like No Other
We ask a lot from our horror movies, which is perhaps the main reason they can be so divisive, and so difficult to get right. We want them to shock, but not traumatize; to disgust, but not sicken; to creep us out, but not bequeath a month's worth of nightmares. On top of all that, can we please have some jokes? Instead of stressing over these pressures, some genre filmmakers, a number of them women, are determinedly carving their own idiosyncratic paths. Among these are the Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, who have followed their wonderfully disquieting debut feature, 'Talk to Me' (2023), with another three-word imperative, 'Bring Her Back.' The two movies have more in common than their titular grammar: Both draw sustenance and momentum from familial grief, and both exhibit an extraordinary sensitivity toward their emotionally flayed central characters. When we meet Andy (Billy Barratt) and his younger stepsister, Piper (Sora Wong), Andy's father has just died and the siblings must be fostered for three months until Andy can assume guardianship of Piper, who is legally blind. At first, their temporary foster mother, Laura (a delicious Sally Hawkins), seems welcoming, if a little dippy, her somewhat rundown property boasting a taxidermied pup, a mysterious chalk circle and a strange little boy who is mute and near-feral. His name is Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips, incredible) and I could write several paragraphs just on what he puts in his mouth. Suffice to say that, during one horrifying episode, I didn't exhale until it was over. Even so, the movie's forceful visual shocks (executed mostly with practical effects) are easier to bear than its restlessly mounting anguish. Though more logically muddled than its predecessor, 'Bring Her Back' operates from a core of tragedy whose weight offsets the nebulousness of the plot. Why is Laura, who recently lost her own daughter, so determined to drive a wedge between Piper and her fondly protective stepbrother? Why is she mesmerized by grainy camcorder footage of what appears to be a bloody satanic ritual? Why must Ollie be kept locked in his room and apparently starved? Answers will arrive, after a fashion, but they don't matter as much as they should in a movie with such sublime lead performances. Hawkins knows exactly how to play Laura's cheery psychopathy and cunning cruelties, and Wong, in her first film role, gives Piper a spirited independence. But it's Barratt, with his angelic features and soulful authenticity, who makes Andy the film's gently gaping wound. Barratt was barely a teenager when he appeared in the smashing Apple TV+ show 'Invasion' (2021-25), but his talent was undeniable, and the Philippous, working once again with the brilliant cinematographer Aaron McLisky, understand perfectly how to film him for maximum hurt. Supernatural fidgeting aside, 'Bring Her Back' doubles down on its predecessor's willingness to punish the innocent. I'm beginning to think that the Philippous don't just want to shatter our nerves: They want to break our hearts.
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Movie Review: A deeply disturbing portrait of grief in gory horror ‘Bring Her Back'
Beware the quirky foster mother who introduces herself as a bit of a weirdo. That's how Laura (Sally Hawkins) cheerily greets the newly orphaned teenage siblings Andy and Piper in the new horror 'Bring Her Back,' which opens in theaters Friday . The comment, more telling than the kids realize at the time, comes after Laura excitedly introduces Piper, who is non-sighted, to her dog. She thinks it's a good joke to not explain first that the animal is not alive. The taxidermy is in fact the least weird thing about Laura. Australian filmmakers Michael and Danny Philippou, also behind the teen chiller debut 'Talk to Me,' have dreamed up a new nightmare of trauma, grief, resurrection and the deep failures of Australia's child protective services. That last part is not actually a prominent throughline in the film, but after witnessing what these kids endure in the brisk 99-minute runtime, you too might have some questions about that department's standard practices. Many horror movies and stories have utilized non-seeing characters to enhance the suspense. 'Bring Her Back' strives to make Piper (newcomer Sora Wong) more than a gimmick but a young woman trying to assert her independence — she refuses to use her cane, which she thinks makes everyone baby her. Piper's main protector is her sweet and attentive older brother Andy (Billy Barratt). The film gives the audience a morsel of normality with these two before plunging us into the horror, first with the sudden death of their father, and then with the strange goings on at Laura's secluded home. They're surprised when they arrive to find there's another child there as well: Olly (Jonah Wren Phillips), who is mute, deeply strange and, when not locked in his room, getting into bloody messes of his own making. If you're squeamish about gaping wounds and the full surround sound experience of their squishing and oozing, this might not be the movie for you. For those who delight in the crafts behind it all, the makeup and sound work here is truly top notch. Like many of 'Bring Her Back's' genre peers, the occult, nude older men and grainy VHS tapes also co-star in the proceedings. Laura, whose non-seeing daughter drowned recently, is particularly fixated on Piper and equally as dismissive of poor Andy. While you can probably guess her endgame, the way it comes together is more of the point, and the Philippou twins certainly infuse the film with a fair amount of foreboding before anything truly deranged starts happening. It's a fun mystery to watch Laura's strange behavior, which one eventful day includes encouraging Andy to kiss his dead father on the lips ('it's custom'), getting the kids drunk and peeing in a measuring cup. Andy, three months shy of 18, was not originally supposed to accompany his sister to the foster home. But he convinces the social worker to give him a chance until he can apply for legal guardianship. Unfortunately, Laura seems intent on driving him away. He already has lingering trauma from finding his dead father (and other things that will be revealed in time), and now there's this chipper, tiny woman ready to gaslight him into insanity. Barratt, who won acclaim for his portrayal of a 12-year-old accused of killing his mother's boyfriend in the British television film 'Responsible Child,' is excellent in a difficult role. Hawkins, meanwhile, gets to be bigger and wilder with Laura, shedding the nurturing mothers of 'Paddington' and 'Wonka' for something defiantly disturbed. She's also got a few delightfully chilling lines that I won't spoil. And yet somehow Hawkins is also able to stay clear of campiness and make Laura, unhinged though she may be, the teeniest bit empathetic. The film doesn't quite earn the emotional catharsis it seems to be striving for. It's a little too insane and also underdeveloped, especially Piper's character, to let the audience in on that level. But if you've come for unexpected scares and creativity, 'Bring Her Back' will not disappoint. 'Bring Her Back,' an A24 release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 'some grisly images, language, graphic nudity, strong violent content, underage drinking). Running time: 99 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
