Freddy Krueger once got his own TV show.
Even thoughFreddys Nightmareslasted two seasons, it was a pale syndicated imitation of the movies.
We spoke with McLean after his panel for the Television Critics Association over the summer.
The second one is really an action chase story.
It goes into fairly comic territory as well.
So it was a little bit between both I think.
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So different episodes could be in different styles?
Do you have to have Mick kill someone in each episode for it to beWolf Creek?
There was no real mantra about how Mick should behave in the series.
Its all story driven and character driven instead of saying its got to end with Mick killing someone.
Kind of, yeah.
In fact, the less hes seen, the scarier he is.
Really its about just having him arrive at very specific moments and do intense things.
You dont really get to be with him fully until the last episode.
Hes constantly there, youre teasing him out.
Its a way of keeping his legend a mystery by not showing him too much.
Horror on television has become really successful withThe Walking Dead, Bates Moteland shows like that.
What do you think happened in television that made it ready for horror?
I think that horror as a genre has just become mainstream.
Its not a select fringe thing anymore.
Its a mainstream thing in cinema and in TV.
Its also just another mode of storytelling.
Has television quite simply gotten more tolerant of violence and gore?
As a filmmaker, how did you find the experience of doing longform television?
Id never done TV before.
So all the things I didnt know or was nervous about they were helping with.
In terms of the storytelling, I thought it was great.
Essentially, it was like making six little versions of the first movie.
We were in the same locations.
We were making it as cinematic as we could.
We werent compromising on anything.
The directive from our commissioning connection was, Make it cinematic.
Dont tone it down.
Dont make it into some crappy TV thing.
Were like, Cool, we can do that.
The locations look very exotic to American audiences but are those common places you shot in Australia?
One of our mandates at the start was we have to go there.
You cant half do it.
Youve got to go there and youve got to be there.
The landscape is a big part of the show.
The environment itself is one of the scariest things.
Being in that space, in that isolated location is whats scary so weve got to have that.
Are we going to revisit Micks home that we know from the movies?
Does that set still exist or do you have to rebuild it every time?
We had to rebuild it but we actually have everything in storage in case theres a second season.
I actually have two of the trucks myself because I kept the truck from the second movie.
I have a lot of costume items and stuff like that so I have a shed full of everything.
Was this story ever going to beWolf Creek 3?
No, it wasnt.
We actually have the feature scripts written for the movies and this was not one of them.
After the first movie, we did a fair bit of work developing other kinds of ideas for stories.
So we kind of explored a pre-timeline and a following timeline.Wolf Creek 2takes place after the first film.
There is a chart on my wall at home.
Theyll coexist, those franchises.
So where willWolf Creek 3start?
They are very much straight horror films whereas the series is exploring much more complex themes and characters.
It may be a prequel or it may be a sequel to the second film.
Could there be further seasons ofWolf Creekthe series?
Wed all love to do it.
I think all of us who made it really love the show.
We love making it.
Weve talked about ideas of what it could be.
Hopefully it finds an audience here and people love it here.
It was a big hit in Australia.
I think when people first heard about it, they were thinking, How could that be?
What could it possibly be?
Itll just be some sort of slasher thing.
Then they watched it and realized its much more of a suspense/thriller show which makes it more intriguing.
Eve is proactive right from the start but isnt horror always about a kick-ass final girl?
The villain walked into the sunset.
Theyre not even the main characters.
This is the main character.
Did you ever imagine thatWolf Creekwould be so lucrative for you where youre managing multiple scripts and a series?
I was just happy to have made a movie.
I had no idea that it would ever be seen outside of Australia or even seen in Australia.
I made my first and second film, then I had a bit of a break producing stuff.
What else have you gotten to direct outside ofWolf Creek?
Im in post on that, based on a true story.
That is finished and I think were coming out this year.
Before that I did a film for Blumhouse calledThe Darknesswhich was shot two years ago.
So Ive done three movies in a row and the series.
Did James Gunn have time to write you a script betweenGuardians of the Galaxymovies?
This was an old James Gunn script he was trying to get up beforeGuardiansbecame a billion dollar franchise.
Obviously his position in the world changed significantly and he still wanted to get this movie made.
He said, Well, I dont have time to direct it so Ill produce it with Peter Safran.
They put it out to directors and I pitched on it.
I fell in love with the script.
Its an amazing script.
I got the job directing it and had a ball making it with those guys.
Was it ready to go?
Did it need another pass?
No, it was ready to go.
We basically took that script and I just shot the script and had an amazing cast.
Was Rooker Gunns idea?
Rooker was Gunns idea.
Im like, Awesome, can you get it to him?
WasRogueever released in the States?
Roguewas my second movie, my crocodile creature feature.
It wasnt distributed very widely here.
The Weinstein Company had the film.
The people who see the really like it.
Im very proud of that film because I love the movie.
Why did you choose the season finale ofWolf Creekto direct yourself?
I just couldnt be there.
So I said, Look, let me just direct the last one, the finale.
And it was a really good one to do because Tony [Tilse] is a great director.
Hes been working on theEvil Deadseries.
We wanted to ensure it felt aesthetically in tune with the movies.
Wolf Creekairs on Fridays at 10 pm on Pop.
