WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: THE ANDREW TRAUCKI INTERVIEW

Andrew Traucki has waded knee-deep through swamps to convey the terror of a crocodile attack in Black Water and plunged into the open ocean to capture the horror of being stalked by a Great White Shark in The Reef. His latest on-location horror shoot is The Jungle, a supernatural thriller that pits two Australian men (lead actor Rupert Reid and Traucki himself) against an unseen force in the Indonesian rainforest. Ahead of his films screening at Monster Fest, SCREEN-SPACE delves into the filmmaker’s love for wilderness stories, shooting on location in Indonesia and the skills needed to pull off his first found-footage film…

How does The Jungle fit thematically with Black Water and The Reef? Is there a common thread that binds your man-vs-nature trilogy?

The film sort of has a man-vs-nature theme, but the creature in The Jungle is more of a supernatural human predator. This film plays more like a man-vs-man film. Honestly, The Jungle is a very different film to Black Water and The Reef. They were both based on true stories and have more to do with survival and luck. The Jungle examines pride and hubris, albeit in a dangerous, wilderness setting.

How specifically do the local Indonesian customs play into the narrative? Were you conscious of integrating the folk-lore of the region?

I did considerable research into the supernatural and contemporary shape-shifter myths. There are specific influences that stem from cultural beliefs inherent to Indonesian lore (pictured, right: actor Rupert Reid, right, with local cast members).

There was a hand-held component to your past films, but a straight-out found-footage film is a new aesthetic for you. What had to be done right and what were the pitfalls that had to be avoided?

I found it a huge challenge. The form really subverts conventional filmmaking in many ways. For example, trying to keep the story as ‘real’ as possible meant it was very hard to come up with a story that had all the beats and structure in a conventional sense. Also, there is no music, which thrillers rely on heavily. In many ways, you are throwing out all that you know about filmmaking and starting again.

Mastering the found-footage coverage was one of only a handful of challenges you faced. You step in front of your own camera for the first time; you direct in dense Indonesian forest; your film was independently financed. In hindsight, what was the toughest element of the film’s production (pictured, left; Traucki)?

There were many physical challenges, especially given that at one point, it rained for a week during filming. There was so much mud! Ultimately, I think the toughest challenge was trying to make a film that was engaging and compelling using the found footage format. When you are trying to make a film that feels brutally honest and real, it can be very hard to stay true to your story and get genre tropes into the film that don’t feel fake. There are times when you have to make the decision ‘Do I go for story tropes?’ or ‘Do I keep the film feeling real?’