Roles - Prey - Articles - Australian Director Hunts New Prey

Australian Director Hunts New Prey
shocktillyoudrop, 25th June 2007

Safaris and nature excursions are nightmare fuel for a recent spate of films. Both the Bridget Moynahan-starring Prey (set on dry land, with lions) and Greg McLean's Rogue (set on a river, with a giant croc) concern trips that seemingly start out as innocent reflections on the beauty of Mother Nature, then descend into a hellish fight for survival when Mother Nature bites back.

A few more adventure-seekers are about to meet their doom in another picture called Prey being directed by George Miller. No, not that George Miller (of the "Mad Max" films), the other George Miller. The one who brought us The Never Ending Story II. Four friends go on a four-wheeling excursion into the Australian outback, but it's not John Jarrett or a giant razorback they come across, it's a supernatural force that takes advantage of the fact that these folks have gotten themselves lost, big time.

"The malevolent creature can harness the element of nature and possess the dead in order to get what it wants from its prey," writer John Soto explains to the Australian news site, The West. Shooting began this month in Victoria, Australian and will continue in Broome with actors Jesse Johnson, Ben Kermode, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Natalie Walker.

Soto, an accountant by day, drew his inspiration from a true account in the '80s when a couple disappeared near an Aboriginal sacred site - their jeeps were discovered in the dunes, supplies intact.