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Director Greg McLean is stepping into the Jungle. The man that introduced us to Wolf Creek and the recent The Belko Experiment delivers possibly his most ambitious and intense film with Jungle, starring Daniel Radcliffe. I had a chance to speak to Greg about the film and the challenges he had to endure during the making of it.
What made you wanna tell this story:
GM: It was a script sent to me by a producer friend of mine. I read it and fell in love with the idea. The reason I fell in love with it was because I was very interested in the fact it was a true story. I thought it was a very inspiring tale of what people are really capable of. The real reason was that I thought it was an amazing parable of how people use their imagination to escape from uneasy situations of horror in their life.
Since this film is based on a real person and their story, how much freedom did you have to incorporate things on your own, or did you just try to honor all of the facts and reality that was available to you:
GM: Well because it was based on a book and because I had the writer of the book, the real person there with me when I was prepping and shooting, you know my job really was to try to use my filmmaking craft and skills to tell the story. I was trying to get out of the way and trying capture the essence of the real people, the real texture and atmosphere of what really happened. To me the most interesting part about was trying to authentically recreate the scenario and these relationships. As a filmmaker I tried to get out of the way of the story and tried to tell it very simply and honestly.
MY TAKE:
I really enjoyed Greg describe the process of making Jungle. I feel he elaborated well and really makes you understand what they went through and the conditions that were presented while filming. I can only imagine how the rain threw them a curveball attempting to film the river scene. I could sense in the way he spoke about the river scene that there was genuine fear for the talent attempting that. Looking back on it, even in the movie it looks daring.
The casting of Daniel Radcliffe simply works for this role. This is the most physically demanding and intense role I’ve ever seen Radcliffe in. His range and diversity of roles he’s taken in recent years is noticeable. He’s really good and to think he plays a real guy who actually endured all these hardships is quite incredible.
I thought it was awesome that Greg plays video games, collects Marvel comics and Star Wars memorabilia. That’s the fun part of talking to these talented filmmakers and actors, you get to know a side of them and their interests away from the business. They are the same like every one of us, but just happen to be doing a really cool job they are passionate about, but also have their own passions and interests on the side.
Jungle is out now in select theaters (check local listings), Digital HD and On Demand
