Brains vs. guts: Dangerous Animals cast relied on their instincts in new shark thriller

Digital Trends

a day ago

'People don't understand the hierarchy of animals in this world,' Tucker, a serial killer played by Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad), says in the new shark thriller Dangerous Animals. The eccentric Tucker explains how people think with their guts instead of their brains when the '300 razor-sharp teeth' from a shark are tearing at someone's flesh. Courtney had to trust his instincts to play a sadistic sociopath like Tucker.
'I'm a very gut instinct-driven person,' Courtney tells Digital Trends about his character choices in Dangerous Animals. 'Some people operate really cerebrally, and it's all about logic. I'm much more impulsive, and that all stems from here [pointing to gut].'
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Directed by Sean Byrne, Dangerous Animals is a mash-up between a survival horror and a psychological thriller. Yellowstone's Hassie Harrison plays Zephyr, a free-spirited surfer looking to run away from her past. One night, Zephyr is kidnapped by Tucker, the rambunctious owner of a shark cage diving business. Tucker uses the business as a front for his nefarious passion: feeding his guests to sharks. Trapped on a boat with a serial killer, Zephyr must survive long enough to figure out a way back to shore before she becomes chum in the water. Zephyr's only hope lies with a kind stranger she previously bonded with, Moses (Dune: Prophecy's Josh Heuston).
Below, the cast of Dangerous Animals discusses their time at the Cannes Film Festival, the physicality required for each role, and whether they rely on their brains or guts when acting.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: How was Cannes?
Jai Courtney: It was such an unexpected gift to us to be able to go and showcase this. What an honor. I've never been to Cannes. Never experienced that. I think we were all surprised. It's not the most typical choice to have a shark serial killer survival thriller mashup there, but it's a testament to the wonderful film that Sean directed.
Josh Heuston: Incredible, really.
Hassie Harrison: We're still processing it all.
Was it your first time?
Harrison: Yes, that was our first time. I think it was just so surreal to go to Cannes and have a movie premiere there. Also, for it to be so well received was just the loveliest thing.
So it's your first time with a standing ovation. Does it move from gratitude to awkwardness?
Courtney: It started with awkwardness. We were so proud of the movie, and the audience was so on board the whole time. To have that reception, I was totally embarrassed. I was literally telling people to cut it [motioning to his throat]. I've got producers down the wing being like, 'Let it happen.' And I'm like, 'All right. Are we good, everyone? That's enough. Should we all get to the bar?'
Heuston: So fast for me. [Laughs]
Harrison: I just want to say Australians don't really love attention and compliments. I get it. Sometimes, it can feel like people are singing Happy Birthday to you on repeat, and you're like, 'Ohh.'
Heuston: I just didn't know where to put my hands.
Harrison: [Laughs] That is our job as actors.
Heuston: Yeah, but then I hugged everyone like four times, and I didn't know what to do. [Laughs]
I was fascinated by one of Tucker's speeches. This idea of how humans think with their brains and guts. Outside of a shark situation, as actors, when you're developing characters and on screen, do you find yourself relying on your brains or your guts? Have you found a happy marriage between the two?
Courtney: I'm a very gut instinct-driven person, like a lot of sacral energy. I have to feel like something is a 'hell yes' or a 'hell no.' I think the brain gets in the way of that sometimes. Some people operate really cerebrally, and it's all about logic. I'm much more impulsive, and that all stems from here [pointing to gut]. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm always making the right move, but I've learned to trust that. It's how I have to approach life.
Harrison: I think you gotta listen to your instincts. That's how you keep your nose to the joy trail. We need our brains to function in the world as well. I think what you're saying is ultimately about listening to your heart.
Heuston: As an actor, I guess you use your brain to do all your prep work and your research. You figure out and learn as much as possible about the character and the given circumstance. At the end of the day, you've got to wing it and go with your instincts and your gut. Yeah, I feel that's kind of the way.
Did you trust your gut for that dancing scene?
Courtney: Yeah. I mean, that thing was two takes, totally improvised. I might have had a couple of little whiskies just to loosen myself up.
Sean said it was on a Friday, so it was the last thing you did.
Courtney: It was the last thing we did that week. We didn't know what it was going to be. We had an idea like, OK, it's about this celebration for Tucker. Sean wanted me to let loose. We pumped that track up that he [Tucker] danced to, which is an Aussie classic, Evie. I didn't know it was going to happen either, but I had to get myself into a mindset of stepping outside my comfort zone. Don't be afraid to look ridiculous.
Zephyr, the character, is a free spirit. She looks to be having the time of her life. Obviously, she's damaged on the inside. She lives in that van; it's her cage. To get into that cage, what was your way of finding that character?
Harrison: Zephyr's pretty close to home for me. I've always been attracted to playing strong, resilient women. I loved that she's a fighter. Her strength … I think I had a fast track in. She lives so close to home for me.
What stuck with me is the physicality of this movie. All of the strenuous activity — going out on the line over the water, the night shoots, etc. How did you find a way into this character through the physicality and the strenuous activity?
Heuston: I was in that harness for like two or three days. By the end of it, you're truly in there. As I was saying before, you feel much more grounded in that experience. You are getting taken across with the crane and then dunked in the water and then taken back out. You're doing it on repeat, and that is physically draining, just like Moses would be in that moment. I loved it though, to be fair, in like a really sadistic way. [Laughs] It hurt, but it was like really fun.
What about you, Hassie?
Harrison: Yeah, this was a very physically demanding role, to say the least. All the water stuff — filming out on the ocean, not in a tank — it gives you so much as an actor to just dig into that discomfort. Being in the ocean at night when you're genuinely scared makes my job easier.
There's a fearlessness required to play Tucker. How did you go to that place, to really let yourself go and find the courage to do what's required to play this character?
Courtney: I came from theater, and one of the earliest things you learn to adopt when you're playing on stage is you have to shed this fear of being ridiculous or looking like the clown. It's almost like you have to embrace that. Be unafraid to fall. You're not going to make every right choice. You have to look like an idiot. But what that injects into young performers is you can be nimble. There's nothing at stake here other than an opportunity to find something new.
I knew with this role that it had to be big. It's all there on the page for me to sink my teeth into. If it was reduced down to playing some wash of an evil guy, it becomes uninteresting, and we believe it less. It had to stem from the truth. He had to be this wounded child within.
I wanted to flood him with this performer that we see on the boat because he's the captain of Tucker's experience. This is all real stuff. It's not all geared toward his killings. He runs a successful business, which is why he's able to hide in plain sight. I wanted that to feel real to me like him taking the stage on the back deck and the way he sheds his wisdom, even if he does love the sound of his own voice too much. He needed to be somewhat of an affable presence as well as a threat.
That's interesting. Now, I think of him [Tucker] as a theater performer. The boat is his stage.
Courtney: I mean, we've all met this guy before in some way or another. He's the cab driver that won't shut up. He's the uncle at the wedding that like…
Please stay away.
Courtney: Exactly! We know this guy, and that's what sprung off the page for me. I've spent time in the pub with this dude. I don't necessarily want to be around him anymore, but I can lock into who he is.
I love the power dynamics between Jai's character and Hassie's character. You're [Jai] pretty much in control in the beginning. Then, she starts to get under your skin, and it flips, where she's the one in power. Take me through those conversations about the power shifting throughout the movie.
Courtney: I think it's just understanding how to shift the status. She plays such a strong character within herself. I think that's the thing. She really gets under his skin because she doesn't necessarily relent to his kind of threats and certainly not his charms. That's a tough thing for a guy like Tucker because he feels akin to her in some way. He's under the belief that spiritually, they see the world in the same way and operate in unison somehow, and she doesn't believe that at all. I think she has her own wounds, but ultimately, she's got a much stronger mind than him.
Harrison: I think it's really just one of those classic tales of cat and mouse. That's what makes it so fun when you get those little wins and then get the setbacks. Jai is just a powerful person, indeed. [Laughs] It's cool to go toe-to-toe with him and do that dance.
Even walking into the room, he's [Jai] such a big figure. So loud.
Heuston: Big dude, and he's such a generous actor, though, so it makes it so easy to do those scenes.
Dangerous Animals is exclusively in theaters on Friday, June 6.