Dr John A. Martino
Under the eagle eye of writer-producer-director, Greg Mclean, the latest iteration of Australia’s most iconic horror movie franchise has taken shape in South Australia.
With fresh director, Sean Lahiff, at the helm of Greg’s work, I was fortunate enough to visit the set of this flick and stand near-paralysed as lead actor, John Jarratt (aka ‘Mick Taylor’), reprised his role as our country’s most malevolent serial killer.
As I was lucky enough to be a house guest of the Greek Consul General to SA, Dr Alexandra Theodoropoulou that week, we all decided to take a little road trip onto the set of Wolf Creek: Legacy. Another friend from Melbourne, Denise Zapantis, was staying with us – helping to translate some of Alexandra’s poetry – and she also took the fateful journey alongside us.
Now it just so happens that Greg is my brother-in-law and my sister, Bianca Martino, is not just also of Greco-Italian heritage, but is an accomplished film producer who works alongside her equally talented husband and runs their production company – ‘Emu Creek Pictures’, the force behind the franchise. And what a set visit that turned out to be!
Alexandra and Andreas immediately dubbed the movie ‘Wolf Greek’ and, as patrons of the Arts, were intrigued at the complexities of film-shooting. They were especially struck at how charismatic and chillingly ‘psychopathic’ Mick Taylor was on set, as a team of highly professional filmmakers buzzed around him.
So, in the radiant South Australian heat of that day, the set of ‘Wolf Greek’ was peppered with Hellenes, slick film auteurs and an evil star who sported his emblematic outback attire and weaponry, while stomping on the odd bull ant and sharpening his very, very long knife.
As Bianca informed us set visitors, the film would take not just five weeks to shoot, “…but was the culmination of five years of planning, writing, funding negotiations, casting, location scouting and a dozen other factors before the first camera was even pointed at Mick Taylor.”
With actual film production having just wrapped up, there is still the post-production phase to go and the often nail-biting phase of editing. In fact, director Sean Lahiff, a native South Australian, edited a Wolf Creek movie and the series, and Greg found him so gifted that it wasn’t at all a hard stretch to have Sean replace him in the director’s chair.
Always keen to uncover, assist and promote new talent, Greg quipped to me that, “My brief to Sean was to make the scariest WolfCreek flick yet – and from what I’ve seen, it’s definitely mission accomplished.”
The scriptwriting by Duncan Samarasinghe – an art form that I, too, try to practice – is not just first rate, but world class (not that I can give anything away here).
Another thing that really caught our eye during this unique experience was the remarkable attention to detail. Mick Taylor now looms so large over the global horror film market, that every aspect of his screen persona commands close scrutiny.
Bianca informed us that there are at least three replica versions of his battered Ford 100 pick-up in existence, with the version selected for Wolf Creek: Legacy being carefully monitored on set by one of its creators. Even Mick’s infamous flannelette shirt had to be reproduced from specially designed fabric, so it carried all the associations (and aromas?) of the original.
As a glowering John Jarratt (aka ‘Mick Taylor’) told Alexandra, Andreas, Denise and I before he stalked off into the bush to terrify his latest prey, “You Greeks have got a bit of style. So have I!” None of us sought to question that assertion.
*Dr John A. Martino is a retired (disabled) ADF veteran, a novelist and aspiring filmmaker. His ‘Olympia: The Birth of the Games’ is soon to hit the film markets of Europe.
