We were joined on the Popternative show by Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad, Divergent) who stars in the new shark-themed horror thriller, Dangerous Animals, which released today in theaters.
Directed by Sean Byrne (The Devil’s Candy, The Loved Ones), the film also stars Hassie Harrison (Yellowstone, Tacoma FD), and Josh Heuston (Dune: Prophecy, Heartbreak High).
Harrison plays Zephyr, a rebellious surfer who is abducted by a shark-obsessed serial killer (Courtney) and held captive on his boat. She must figure out how to escape before he carries out a ritualistic feeding to the sharks below.
On what drew Courtney to the film, he says, “It’s really a survivor thriller as much as it is a shark movie or a serial killer slasher film or whatever. I think it mashes up genres a lot and that creates something that I know can appeal to a lot of people. That’s what interested me about it. I’m not necessarily a horror guy, per se. I love a good horror film that kind of breaks the boundaries and offers something more.”
A lot went into many of the scenes, both physically and emotionally, as he adds, “[Filming] some of those scenes on the deck of the boat where, you know, certain characters are strung up on a hook in a harness, [those] felt like they would never end. And for me, playing a [character like this], I had a moment probably for the first time in my career where I kind of hit limits as far as how much I could stomach.”
Watch the full conversation with Jai Courtney below.
Dangerous Animals is now playing in theaters.
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