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SPOILER ALERT: The following article already gave away one of the craziest scenes in Talk To Me with its title, but it goes even deeper into detail. So, if you have not yet seen the horror film, which is available with a Netflix subscription, I recommend you proceed with caution and don’t hold onto the hand for too long.
I hate to admit that it took me a while to see what I believe is one of the best A24 horror movies, 2023’s Australian import, Talk to Me. Many of the unique spiritual possession movie’s most terrifying scenes, such as the haunting ending, have stuck with me ever since, but I still think the most shocking scene is when a possessed Daniel (Otis Dhanji) shares a long, slobbery kiss with his girlfriend’s dog.
I am sure there are many fans of the acclaimed horror movie who wondered the exact same thing I did after watching the scene: Did that kid really just make out with that pooch? This stunt was actually achieved not by putting its actor in an embarrassing and disgusting situation, but with good, old-fashioned movie magic. Read on to learn the secret behind the bewildering moment.
The Gross Moment Was Achieved With A Mix Of CGI And Puppetry
In Talk to Me – the feature debut of Danny and Michael Philippou, whose follow-up, Bring Her Back, is due in May on the 2025 movie schedule – Mia (Sophie Wilde) and her friends become addicted to using a haunted embalmed hand that gives people the ability to conjure possessive entities before things spiral out of control. The teens are still in high spirits when Daniel tries it and becomes host to one sexually adventurous ghost that uses his body to lay a wet one on Cookie.
During an interview with Salon, Michael described how the crew made the shot possible without any real interspecies interaction in the following quote:
It was a plate shot. We had Otis (who plays Daniel) kissing a puppet head that we made up of a dog, and then we had a dog licking a Schmacko (Australian brand dog treat) from its owner and then merged the two with VFX. No real dog kissing!
The Endearing Way The Crew Made Otis Dhanji More Comfortable With The Scene
When Daniel is brought out of his possessed state, he realizes what has transpired and is visibly humiliated, and who could blame him? In fact, the Philippou Brothers wanted to save Dhanji from the same embarrassment.
Here, Danny explains how they made sure the actor was prepared to shoot what will likely be dubbed the most unflattering scene of his professional career by making sure he was not the only one:
So the actor was more comfortable, everyone acted out that possession. So all the different actors did that possession. We did that possession. Our producer did it. Our camera person did it. We all acted it out so there was nothing embarrassing for him, because everyone had done it.
Despite the revered A24 movie’s earnest and disturbing subject matter, the filmmakers (also known for their largely comedic short films from their YouTube channel, RackaRacka) had a bit of fun referencing the somewhat comical moment between Daniel and Cookie with a line in the credits that reads, “No animals were hurt and no dogs were kissed.” If you had spotted that and wondered how that was possible, now you know.