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Film Ink (Australia)
April 2007
Sneak Preview: Heart of Darkness
Director Greg McLean follows up his smash hit Wolf Creek with the killer-crocodile-on-the-loose horror adventure flick Rogue.
By David Michael Brown
Scan thanks to mitchum, Vartan Ho #3883!
If there's one thing you can say about the makers of Rogue, it's that they haven't taken the easy route. Hot on the heals of their runaway horror sensation Wolf Creek, director Greg McLean and producers Matt Hearn and David Lightfoot have travelled to the darkest depths of the Australian landscape to bring us a terrifying tale of a group of tourists trapped on a small island with only a killer crocodile for company. Starring Radha Mitchel, American import Michael Vartan (Alias), Sam Worthington and John Jarratt, the film promises to do for reptiles what Wolf Creek did for backpacking.
The film was shot initially in the Northern Territory in 50 degree heat, with a small crew of ten stuck on the back of a boat catching atmosphere shots while being chased by eight crocodiles. Not wanting to rely on real crocodiles for safety reasons, we join McLean as he discusses how his reptilian star will be created. "I love FX films, and I've always been fascinated by the way different shots are achieved in various movies. It was good fun and a good experience to do a film that had a completely digital character, which truly is the main character in the movie. It's got to have personality, a character and history. It's got to be real; otherwise it's just a crocodile movie. It's been amazing and a great learning experience."
Despite the unwanted attentions of real life crocodiles, the director enjoyed shooting in the Northern Territory. "It was full on!" he exclaims. "Working in the Northern Territory was unbelievable because we were visiting a place where not many people get the chance to visit. It was an incredible privilege to be there in the first place and we were there shooting a film. We just had fun; it really is a cliche but the Territory is such an atmospheric place. There's an aura to it that brought us together in a really cool way. There were real crocodiles everywhere; it was like an adventure."
"It's either going to be really fucking amazing or a piece of shit."
The majority of the shoot, however, took place in Melbourne and in Lake Muratore in Gilderoy near the Yarra Junction. "Melbourne was the nuts and bolts," explains the director. Up in the Northern Territory, we got amazing helicopter shots, going through the canyons and stuff. But down here in Victoria was hard. We had five weeks of night shoots, which is enough for anyone!"
Those night shoots pushed his actors to the limit, though Michael Vartan somehow found the time to learn how to play cricket with the crew. "We had a ball and he really felt relaxed in Australia," says McLean. It's obviously a very different environment from living in Los Angeles, which is so full-on and industry based. The people here are quite down to earth, so he was very relaxed in a way that he possibly wouldn't have been in Los Angeles."
With his last two films seemingly covering every inch of the Australian outback, it's not surprising that McLean has his eyes set further afield for his next project. "I'm curious to work overseas," he says. "I've never lived overseas so I want to check out the world a bit, but it was a good thing to make another film in Australia. Wolf Creek was such a great experience and I wanted to try and do that again. It's great being here making a horror movie because you're away from the studios and you just sit around with your friends and make a film! It's a great way to be creative and have an enormous amount of fun."
Wolf Creek had extremely violent moments that shocked the audience and drew in -- or alternatively, pushed away -- the crowds. Rogue, despite the potential of being extremely violent, will hopefully draw in the crowds for different reasons. "It's a really great cast," he says. "l hope it's the appeal of a horror adventure film in the outback that audiences are curious about. There has to be a fair bit of curiosity in who would try and pull off a crocodile movie!" McLean laughs. "It's either going to be really fucking amazing or a piece of shit. I'm sure people are curious about which it's going to be!"
Rogue is slated for release in August.
© 2007 www.filmink.com.au
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