Dangerous Animals is a film that combines the scares of Jaws with the serial killer stylings of Longlegs, and the movie’s terrifying villain was influenced by Australian legends Shane Warne and Steve Irwin, as well as two celluloid icons.
Horror movie Dangerous Animals revolves around a seemingly affable bloke called Tucker, who takes tourists out on Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast to cage-dive with sharks. However, Tucker also sometimes feeds the same tourists to those very sharks.
Jai Courtney delivers a career-best performance as the serial killer in question, and in our Dangerous Animals review, we wrote that he “exudes charm, charisma, and friendly menace, cracking gags that are pretty funny, but leaving little doubt that those who don’t laugh will face the consequences.”
We spoke to Dangerous Animals director Sean Byrne about the character, discussing what makes him tick, and who Courtney might have based Tucker on. Meaning mild SPOILERS ahead…
Tucker was inspired by Wolf Creek, Crocodile Dundee, and two Australian legends
We asked Byrne if Wolf Creek villain Mick Taylor was any influence on Tucker, and the director said: “I always prepare documents in advance that hopefully capture each character as a starting point.
“Then the actors come in and flesh that out and bring it to life in ways that I hadn’t imagined. Mick Taylor was definitely a conversation point.”
But Courtney also took cues from a sporting legend, with Byrne revealing that: “The first conversation I had with Jai, he was talking about a blond tint that kind of reminded him of Shane Warne.
“We talked a bit about Chopper’s unhinged charisma but incredible likability; the guy you gravitate to in the pub because he’s this great raconteur, and in a way that’s how the spider catches the fly.
“There’s even Gene Hackman in Crimson Tide who gets more than he bargained for with Denzel Washington in this weird respect between the characters that were basically also opposing forces throughout the film.”
We also asked about the late, great Steve Irwin, who became famous through his work with Australian wildlife, and Byrne said: “We didn’t specifically talk about Steve Irwin, but it’s so baked into the national psyche that it would be impossible for that not to have entered his mind at some point. The same with Paul Hogan and Crocodile Dundee.”
The Dangerous Animals villain has a complicated back-story
As for what makes Tucker tick exactly, Byrne explained: “There’s a much deeper back story than what’s onscreen. As you know from seeing it there’s a hint there that he has some mommy issues, and this is a guy who had no proper socialisation, no real parental guidance, was attacked by a shark when no one was keeping an eye on him, and I think there’s some residual blame about that.
“Like many serial killers, they’re not actually killing the victim, they’re killing the person who sent their life on the wrong course as a child, over and over again. So he harbours a deep grudge, which kind of ties into a toxic masculinity, which he covers with a warm but wild charisma and a level of physical intimidation.
“Which Jai really brings to the table, because as [co-star] Hassie [Harrison] would call him, he’s a ‘massive unit.’ I felt like it was putting your arms around Mike Tyson. So as much as he’s fun and dangerous to watch, there’s a broken child inside.”
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