Visual artist and screenwriter Nick Lepard was living in California and spending a lot of time surfing. “I came up with the visual of somebody sneaking a person onto a boat in a surfboard bag and couldn’t let it go”, and so he started imagining reasons why that might happen.” His research inspired the serial killer in Dangerous Animals, “A character who becomes a twisted reflection of the public’s fascination with shark attacks, all while exploring a paradoxical stance “

Dangerous Animals is a sharp, exhilarating thriller that takes you on a ride through the terror of human obsession, deadly creatures and a twisted dance of survival. But beneath its visceral exterior lies a deeper story about facing your demons – and the price of running from them.

The film follows a vagabond surfer, Zephyr, who is abducted by a local fisherman and held captive on his boat, and must outsmart her killer before she’s fed to the sharks below.

Nick’s vision for Zephyr was a character who appeared to have total freedom: “At first glance, she’s living life to the fullest, travelling, surfing all day,” but in reality, she’s stuck in an internal prison. Her van is both a source of freedom and a cage, allowing her to pick up and leave whenever she feels threatened. When Tucker abducts her, however, it’s the end of the road. She must finally face what she has been running from to be truly free. Side by side, Tucker and Zephyr appear similar — ocean-lovers who are mistreated and solitary, like sharks— but they’re also opposites. Zephyr pushes people away while Tucker forces himself on them.

Nick’s script made its way to horror auteur and director Sean Byrne, who quickly read the script and immediately signed on because of the high concept: shark flick meets serial killer film. “After that, I worked with Nick to refine the project. I was excited to finally make a shark film that didn’t vilify the shark,” says Sean.

Dangerous Animals marks a major milestone in Nick Lepard’s career as a screenwriter. It is his first widely recognised screenplay and has garnered attention for its unique blend of survival horror and psychological thriller elements.

Originally, the script Dangerous Animals was much lighter, Nick recalls, “Sean wanted something darker. Something closer to Texas Chainsaw Massacre… with sharks.”

“It was the rare combination of serial killer and shark film. A high concept that would be highly marketable and could cut through. However, the more I thought about it, the more excited I got about the chance to make a shark film where the shark isn’t the obvious antagonist. I thought, if Jaws turned the shark into a monster, then this could be the long overdue film to correct the cruel misconception by pointing the finger at the real monster: man.”

Sean and Nick reworked the script together, Nick reflecting on the incredible amount he learned from Sean. “He’s a master of pacing and tension, knowing when to pull back and when to hit the audience.”

And as a result, the film is packed with some of the most chilling moments Lepard has ever written. “There are scares in Dangerous Animals that leave you breathless,” says Nick, “Tucker has this one kill, his first big kill, and it’s heart-stopping. I’ve never seen anything like it. Audiences are going to be reeling from it long after they leave the cinema.”

“Sean, the cast, the crew, everybody involved, made an absolutely terrifying movie that is also a lot of fun. We locked a ruthless villain and a determined hero on a boat with sharks circling below. It’s a powder keg at sea.”

Dangerous Animals is a shark film and a serial killer film rolled into one. Sean emphasises, “It’s a really fun ride, but character always has to come first. If you don’t care, then you don’t scare.”

The visual approach

The visual approach for Dangerous Animals was developed through extensive discussion between director Sean Byrne and cinematographer Shelley Farthing-Dawe. “I was fortunate that Sean had done storyboards for the whole film before we started official prep, so we were able to sit down and work through his ideas and thoughts early in the piece,” Shelley explains that the boards were a great start and Sean was very open to shifting things as locations and new ideas came in. They wanted to do as much as they could in camera on location in terms of the actors work, to add to the intensity of the film.

Sean praises Shelley, “He’s just an amazing DP not only in a technical sense, but also in a performance sense, [he is always considering] what is going to be the best thing to keep the actors in the moment.”
Shelley reflects on the process, “It was great because we had actors hanging on a crane off a boat on the water, which visually adds a lot of horror to the scenes, watching those performances in such compromising positions.” The film was shot over many weeks on water, which was logistically very tricky but brings so much to the overall look of the film. “We built a great deal of practical lighting into the boat itself, both inside and out so that the actors had a good range of movement within the scenes. We wanted a look that felt stylised but still felt true to the characters and the script.” To achieve this, the filmmakers used the Alexa Mini LF and Arri Signature primes with the use of FX rear diopters to help with some intense moments.

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