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Wolf Creek - Q&A with Greg McLean
Chris Tilly catches up with the writer-director to discuss his terrifying debut feature.
Sep 16 2005
Greg McLean is a writer-director whose debut effort is without doubt the most terrifying film experience of the year. Telling the tale of three backpackers who experience a terrible ordeal at the hands of a malevolent psychopath, 'Wolf Creek' has already received rapturous acclaim at both the Cannes and Sundance festivals, and with the film hitting UK cinemas today, Time Out decided to catch up with McLean to discuss the making of a horror classic.
You recently attended London's FrightFest, so how did that go?
It was great. I'm in pre-production on another movie so I wasn't initially going to be able to make it, then I decided I've got to get over there to support the film, and I'm so glad I did. It just went off. The audience was so into the film, and they were getting all the gags, it was just amazing – one of the best screenings I've been to. And it sounded really loud too, so you could here every bone crunch, which was great.
Where did the idea for 'Wolf Creek' come from?
About 10 years ago, I had the idea to set a thriller in the outback. I'm a big Alfred Hitchcock fan and there's this great quote where he said: 'The only thing you need to make a suspenseful film is to create some likeable characters and then isolate them.' And one of the most isolated places in the world is the Australian outback. I came up with the idea of a very evil bushman character, sort of like a bad 'Crocodile Dundee', and then just set about writing treatment after treatment and draft after draft of the script. Then similar true stories happened along the way. So I did lots of research into different cases and tiny elements of those found their way in, but primarily the story was around before those things happened.
So it's not based on a true story?
The story in the film is an amalgamation of several other stories, and I made the bad guy an amalgamation of several other characters, including the guy that 'Crocodile Dundee' was originally based on. He ended up getting killed in a police shoot-out, so elements of him and a few others are in there. There are very similar characteristics in those people, so I put them into my one character.
Was it important to capture that fear of isolation as well as the fear of the killer?
Well I think there's a general fear of isolation, but there's nothing quite like the isolation of the outback – because its so vast that if you get stuck there – it's so hot out there you can die in four or five hours. Just this year there was a British woman who was on tour at Ayers Rock, and walked home from a BBQ, went the wrong way, the sun came out and later that day she was dead. The landscape is so brutal, and it is a very, very different world out there. Parts of it can be pretty scary, but at the same time it's also very beautiful – you've just got to be aware of the dangers, just like if you're travelling anywhere.
How did you get the cast together?
We did a really broad casting around Australia for the three lead characters, and I pretty much said to my casting agent 'I don't care what they've done – they can have done twenty movies or no movies – as long as they can be incredibly naturalistic and believable as people.' I was definitely trying to cast actresses who looked like real people, and as soon as I saw the tests of these three, they shone through. They were also very confident onscreen. As for John Jarrat [psycho Mick Taylor in the film] he was actually the only guy I met for the role. As soon as I met him I knew – within 20 seconds. He started talking about shit and let it be known very quickly that he knew the character better than anyone I'd ever meet, because he grew up in a very rural, very outback environment. He was telling me stories about the very brutal nature of growing up in that place, in terms of drinking and shooting – it was just a very brutal place to grow up. And him telling me that was his way of saying 'I know where this guy is coming from, I know his world, and I can do this.' He convinced me and he's very convincing in the movie.
Did he take the character in directions you weren't expecting?
From when he was cast and during the whole process of pre-production, he was constantly coming up with ideas and lines. There are about five or six lines in the movie that he came up with, so he contributed an enormous amount. And he took an incredible amount of ownership of the character – he gave it everything he had and I think it's a really remarkable performance.
Did you enjoy the shoot or was it tougher than you expected?
I'd say that so far, it's the best experience of my life. Primarily because I've been trying to get films made for so many years. It was incredibly hard work and we had some pretty amazing odds stacked against us to pull the film off. We had 25 days to shoot the movie, very little money and we couldn't go over time, so we had to be very well prepared. But that was great because we storyboarded everything and planned it all to the nth degree. Things still went wrong, but I decided that I was never going to have this experience again, and so I enjoyed it like it was the only film I was ever going to make in my life. I approached every single shot like that – I put every little bit of my soul into the movie.
And what's it been like travelling the world publicising it?
Incredible – it's hard to describe. You dream of making a film, and then you've done it and people are responding to it. It's really odd. You become slightly accustomed to it pretty quickly, but you still don't get over the idea that it's you doing it; it's like an out-of-body experience. When I was at Cannes, I went to a lunch and suddenly Harvey Weinstein is introducing us and Robert Rodriguez and the 'Sin City' cast in the same breath. You're suddenly in a photo shoot with Benicio Del Toro and thinking 'What the fuck is going on – this is insane!' It's really amazing and it's a privilege because I've got lots of friends who have been working as hard as I have on film and just haven't had the opportunity yet, so I'm deeply aware of the wonderful situation I'm in.
And what have reactions to the film been like so far?
There have been people who hate it, but for a film that's as disgusting and nasty and generally unpleasant as 'Wolf Creek' is, it's had alarmingly good notices. I’m shocked and concerned that people are liking it so much because it's fucking fucked up. It's wrong. It shouldn't be seen – why would you want to watch that stuff?
The online community seems to have embraced it as well – is that a nice bonus?
It's been great – it's just such an amazing new media and I can't believe how great the internet has been for this film. Very early on we cut a little teaser trailer to put it out there, and suddenly there were 350,000 downloads of it. How could that ever have happened before? Then we sent out a few stills and suddenly it had a presence in the world that it never would have had without the net. And it's made it possible for a filmmaker or writer to directly access the fans and talk to them and for the fans to directly contact you. There's a relationship there that you never would have had previously.
What's going to be next for you?
I want to work in all kinds of genres. My background is kind of odd for someone who has just made a horror film because I studied at art school and wanted to become a painter, then I directed theatre after that and after that opera. It was like 'Hamlet' then 'The Magic Flute' and then 'Wolf Creek', so I guess something went wrong! My aesthetic take is broad and I've written a comedy and a drama and all sorts of things. I'm a fan of horror directors who work in all different types of storytelling and dip into the genre. And often I think they make more interesting horror films because they're not just making a horror film. They make it more truthful and I think the acting is often of a higher calibre. I'm talking about things like Stanley Kubrick doing 'The Shining' or Spielberg doing 'Jaws' or Hitchcock doing 'Psycho' or Ridley Scott doing 'Alien'. These are great visual storytellers who decide to tell a story in the key of horror, if you like. Who bring to it a thematic resonance that wouldn’t normally be there if it was just someone trying to throw some blood at the screen.
So do you know what your next film will be?
Actually, it’s a horror film! Its early days and we're just setting it up so I can't say too much, but it's going to be horror and it's a passion project that I've been working on for many years.
Will it be shot in Australia?
Yes, definitely – I'm going to keep it real.
'Wolf Creek' hits screens today and is reviewed here.
User comments on this story
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- davie said...
- Is it realy a true story? If it is,then should we not be feeling about the victims and not whether the scenery was really nice? Posted on Sep 07 2008 01:23
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- jane m said...
- i thought this film was absolutly fantastic , and very realistic , the acting in this film was great , the best horror film ive seen in a long time . i also think this film is educational especialy for those young adventoures people who are planning on going back packing . Posted on Aug 14 2008 00:36
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- highlander said...
- Just a film. Puts you off backing packing round Australia! Never trust strangers Posted on Feb 10 2008 01:02
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- Sarah Hanlon said...
- The movie was fantastic. It was very realistic and scary like any good horor film should be. I am in a relationship with one of Greg McLean's nephews and doubt very highly that the movie was a reflection of "his very disturbing fantasies" Josie. There was alot of research and study involved in the making of this movie. Trust me, Greg comes from a very normal background and i'm sure he would take offense to these type of comments. He is a film director who's job and passion is to create these very gripping and intelligent films. You are however, entitled to form your own opinion of the film. Yet i find the comment regarding Greg's "fantasies" very insignificant and rude. As you do not have any authority to make those remarks. I agree with jen, the film was fantastic. I congratulate Greg on an excellent film that has done very, very well in australia and look forward to seeing his future work. Posted on Jun 12 2007 14:06
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- ren said...
- my mom and brother just brought over the movie...it was very very very gut wrinching...the thing is...people really exist in this world and the ones that have not came out of the closet yet...well i think movies like these adds to feed their sick twisted fetish and who really knows a person? i mean our next door neighbor could be one of the same...or someone in our family...we all should be careful for nothing in this life, little things that we do not even think of can spark a person and open that dark entry way into a full blown hell. Posted on Jan 17 2007 04:53
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- Gangsta 6145 said...
- Wen i first watched dis with my dad i was so scared i slept next to my bro. And i couldn't sleep without thinkin bout it. I couldn't sleep for like a week and it was school days. Posted on Jan 03 2007 18:54
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- jen said...
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-in response to josie
when did this need to get personal? Or do you call all arguments you don't understand as being "naive", and if we shouldn't turn our backs on the terrible events in the world, then why have we?
You hated the film because it didn't make you giggle. That's fine, you can go watch your teenage slasher flicks and laugh at people getting their heads chopped off if that's more your thing. There is nothing wrong with that, i am partial to films like that on the occasion. Wolf Creek is a different kettle of fish. It is there to disturb, not make you laugh. And you were obviously disturbed, so it did its job.
Personally i think those teenage slasher flicks are more dangerous as they take the brutality out of murder with making it seem cool. Wolf Creek gave us that disturbing edge and i think brought out something of the truth of murder that are forgotten in those slasher flicks.
So it isn't for everyone. It wasn't intended to be for everyone. If it was mainstream it would have been dumbed down, and less brazen.
I thought it was fantastic, it was fiercely directed, beautifully acted, and had an edge of realism incredibly rare in any genre, let alone horror. Posted on Sep 26 2006 07:56 - Report as inappropriate
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- ryan thompson said...
- All you can say is gritty or not, invisible line or no, it was a damn good film with damn good actors, damn good locations, damn good dialouge and damn good suspense. To the woman who found it a glorification of the exploitation of women, I would point out to her that only 2 people actually die in the film and when we compare the level of blood and gore to a movie like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (which you praised) we find that when compared with most horror movies out there (past or present) that Wolf Creek is much more a thriller of the mind and is far less grittier than most horror films out there. Posted on Aug 24 2006 02:19
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- josie said...
- In response to Jen; please don't be silly. Of course we should not turn away from terrible events and situations, and we should be repulsed and disgusted by real life events, for example, as you say, Guantanamo Bay. This is how change comes about. However, getting back to Wolf Creek, I find your argument naive and immature. There was no point to be made about this film, as far as I could see, apart from the fact that there are some very scary people out there. Nothing new there. There was nothing of any educational value about any of the scenes in the film, so how you can compare a graphic scene of fictional sexual abuse to something like Guantanamo Bay is just beyond me. Squirming with revulsion at scenes in a horror film can hardly make us any more sensitive to real life, and death events. There is always some sort of darkly comic element to any horror film, or at least the watching of any horror film, otherwise, if we were to be actually terrified out of our minds with fear, without a laugh being involved somewhere along the line, then no-one would ever watch anything of this nature. As far as horror films go, one of the very best in my opinion was Texas Chainsaw Massacre, an absolute classic where the horror and humour were superbly mixed. I stand by my opinion that Wolf Creek, whilst beautifully shot, is a pointless, gratuitous, nasty piece of work which crosses that invisible line, and all the while poses as an intelligent piece of so called realism. I would be very interested to hear how the families of the victims feel, in the real life cases that this film is supposedly based on. Yes you are right, we should never close our eyes to the horrors of war and the evils of the world, but neither should we be taken in by cheap, unintelligent claptrap like this that only pretends to care.By the way, in response to brian o blivion; great comment, very witty, wish I'd thought of it myself!!! Posted on Aug 15 2006 20:49
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- brian_o_blivion said...
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Now my thoughts on the Movie.......
Well if I told you I'd have to kill yeah. Posted on Aug 12 2006 16:49 - Report as inappropriate
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- jen said...
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--in response to Josie; I find it interesting the take you had on this film. Yes, it is gratuitous, it is brazen, and it is women who are the main target for the violence. But your reasons for not having it there are simply based on a "oh no, what would the neighbours think" mentality. If we cater to every single chance that there might be a psycho out there who would get kicks out of watching this, we would never again see an exploration of any genre in total blind panic that a tiny percentage of the world population would find this a turn on. There are some really strange fetishes out there, do you wish for us to stop showing feet just in case a serial killer out there gets his kicks from look at them? There was one I read about who used to keep feet as trophies, or slit off parts of their thigh muscle. Heaven forbid we should encourage more of them by showing feet.
In this day and age, we're at risk of becoming disillusioned and distanced from real problems, from real issues. The dumbing down of the horror genre I believe, has helped people distance themselves from these events. Things like war and stories of soldiers abusing innocents we do not have the same reaction of revulsion we should. Guantanamo bay for an example, we should look at with horror, not with mild disinterest. Such movies like this bring home what such truths, tells us the reality of these situations, and better yet, gives us something to relate to. If you squirmed and felt ill, good, you should. I certainly was. I have yet to be able to sit all the way through it.
I think it’s a brilliantly done film, the weaving music, the realistic portrayal of the characters, it all fed into realism in a way rarely done effectively. Hopefully this will be kick the Australian Film Industry needs, but not just that. It’s a good break from the normal horror film, that might just help push new life into a genre that’s been stale for a while. And not just horror, film in general has been suffering, especially the narration. I’m even more thrilled by the fact that Greg McLean knows what he has created, and knows even more how it should be treated.
In this day and age, we're at risk of becoming disillusioned and distanced from real problems, from real issues. The dumbing down of the horror genre I believe, has helped people distance themselves from these events. Things like war and stories of soldiers abusing innocents we do not have the same reaction of revolsion we should. Guantanamo bay for an example, we should look at with horror, not with mild disinterest. Such movies like this bring home what such truths, tells us the reality of these situations, and better yet, gives us something to relate to. If you squirmed and felt ill, good, you should. Posted on Aug 09 2006 06:10 - Report as inappropriate
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- josie said...
- I did not find this movie scary.It is undeniably full of tension, but my over-riding emotion was one of anger and sadness that sexual violence towards women can be seen as entertainment.Shame on the director that he would apply his talents to such degrading images of women.What the hell would motivate him to put what are, after all, his very disturbing fantasies onto film, perpetuating the disgusting myth held by so many men that women exist to be abused. I am sure the director would not deny that many sick minded men would in fact find scenes in this film a turn on. We know that such men exist and thrive on violent pornography and snuff movies. Why would you want to bring this kind of thing to the masses. The only scary thing about this movie is what it shows us of mens imaginations, and how acceptable violence towards women really is in society. We all, as women, know how terrifying it would feel to be so abused, we do not need to have it so graphically portrayed in the name of entertainment. Shame on you Greg McClean. Whatever your good intentions for the film, however 'artistic', for me and many many other women you have failed, and that saddens and scares me more than any so called horror film ever could. Posted on Aug 06 2006 16:53
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- Sarah said...
- WOW, that was so scary. That looked so real, i couldn't sleep for the next 3 weeks. I wish it wasn't a true story becuase now i am really parranoied Posted on Jun 01 2006 09:00
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- 106978 said...
- I dont know how that is not real it look so so so real it is not evin funny Posted on May 20 2006 00:15
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- Melisa said...
- i thought that it would all be real beacuse it look so real.evin if its not real it just show never go with a stranger or some thing like that will happen to you. Posted on May 20 2006 00:10
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