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The Age
September 11, 2006
Man v beast tale is croc-full of terror
By Penelope Debelle
Greg McLean's first film, Wolf Creek, was so terrifying some seasoned cinema-goers left before it ended; there was only so much old-fashioned, head-on-a-stick terror they could stand.
McLean, delightfully sunny for a merchant of horror, has turned his attention next to a creature that terrifies him.
It's a prehistoric man-eating predator that, unlike the brutish but simple white pointer shark, can think, plot, stalk, outwit and hunt down its prey on water or land. It is, of course, the crocodile.
In the days following the international outpourings of grief over the death of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, McLean pays tribute to the man who ignited a morbid interest in crocodiles in the United States.
"In terms of America's fascination with crocodiles, he has laid the groundwork for the last 10 years," says McLean. "I don't know if it will affect this film or not but we'll see."
Rogue, in post-production in Adelaide after being filmed early this year in the Northern Territory with studio shots in Melbourne, was McLean's first script. He wrote it when he was 24, well before Wolf Creek opened the doors of Hollywood studios to him.
It's a pared-down suspense thriller about an American travel writer who visits outback Australia and attracts the wrong kind of attention. McLean tried once before to have it made: not knowing then what he does now, he sacrificed creative control for financing and was sacked as director because he lacked experience.
"It was a complete disaster for me personally," McLean said. "It just floundered and I was kicked off the project, unceremoniously fired."
Determined not to let the experience define his career, he made a short film about the pitfalls of internet dating that brought him in contact with collaborator and director David Lightfoot, founder of the SHORTS national film festival. The 20-minute thriller cost $50,000 and failed to make it into the SHORTS competition, but it put McLean in touch with the creative team who made Wolf Creek and then Rogue.
Re-energised, McLean wrote Wolf Creek as a last-ditch attempt by an unknown filmmaker who was beginning to think he had cast himself in the wrong role.
"I was starting to think, is it me? Am I actually doing something completely wrong and my friends are too kind to say, 'You actually have no ability whatsoever but we can't tell you'?" he says. "I had never really had any doubt but there is a point where you do think ... maybe this isn't going to be my life."
Wolf Creek which cost $1.38 million, was a dark entry into the horror film genre, inspired by the kind of terror made real in the murder of Peter Falconio, or the backpacker murders by Ivan Milat.
"Those characters (the killers) are such tragic figures and they are the most uninteresting people in the world," says McLean. "Ultimately they are such mundane people. I find it extremely sad."
McLean has better lawyers now, who protect him from any conflict between the financiers and the creative process.
Six months after Wolf Creek was finished, the rights to Rogue lapsed and he wrestled them back. The film, which has a budget of $25 million, has American actor Michael Vartan (from the television series Alias) as the journalist, with Radha Mitchell as the outback tour guide. The rogue star is a combination of digital and mechanical effects designed in New Zealand and Sydney.
Ultimately, it boils down to a simple tale of man versus (intelligent) beast, delivered on a level of terror that McLean seems to understand.
"Good story tellers are those who are able to pull away all the crap and tell a story to an audience today," he says.
"How many new ideas are there about dramatic structure and story telling? This was always going to be kind of an old-fashioned movie with a straightly played narrative."
© The Age 2006
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