WOLF CREEK’S LASTING LEGACY: SEQUEL, SERIES & PROMISING CAREERS
Wolf Creek is finding new life on television screens a decade after its release, but what are its stars up to these days?
It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since Wolf Creek first hit cinema screens, earning fans like Quentin Tarantino and leaving audiences (and many tourists) quaking in their seats.
Here’s a look at what those three stranded backpackers, director Greg McLean and Mick Taylor himself have been up to in the years since.
John Jarratt
The cult status of Wolf Creek is so enormous, that actor John Jarratt is almost daily recognised as the man who played serial killer Mick Taylor. Even more so at the moment, with Jarratt sporting the muttonchops and tattoos again for filming on a new Wolf Creek TV series, commissioned by SVOD service Stan and funded by Screen Australia. In the six-part series, Mick Taylor targets an American tourist family, but the tables are turned when 19-year-old Eve (Lucy Fry) survives the massacre and embarks on a mission of revenge.
It’s not the first time Jarratt’s revisited the iconic character – the sequel Wolf Creek 2 was released back in 2013.
Jarratt has been keeping busy in the past decade, appearing in everything from croc-horror flick Rogue, to gory comedy 100 Bloody Acres (sending up his Mick Taylor stereotype), to Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and his mate Tarantino’s Django Unchained.
Jarratt also turned his hand to directing this year with the comedy thriller StalkHer, in which he also starred in.
Greg McLean
Writer/director Greg McLean followed up the success of Wolf Creek, with another nail-biter, the killer croc flick Rogue, before getting back into the fray with Wolf Creek 2. Tonally different, the sequel he claimed was more of a chase flick than the all-out horror of the first film.
Fans also got more of a glimpse into Mick Taylor’s backstory when McLean co-wrote two novels Wolf Creek: Origin and Wolf Creek: Desolation Game.
As well as work on the upcoming Wolf Creek series for Stan, McLean has directed a supernatural horror thriller in the US called 6 Miranda Drive.
Cassandra Magrath
Since playing the doomed backpacker Liz, Cassandra Magrath has appeared in guest roles on a wealth of Australian television series, including Neighbours, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, House Husbands, Winners & Losers and Utopia.
Most recently, audiences would have seen Magrath as Hayley on TV series Wentworth Prison and as Jackie on Footballer Wants a Wife. Next up is a role in upcoming horror movie Scare Campaign, by the filmmakers of 100 Bloody Acres, Colin and Cameron Cairns.
Kestie Morassi
The face on the chilling and iconic poster of Wolf Creek, Kestie Morassi followed up her performance in the horror flick with a role in the first series of Underbelly. She played Zarah Garde-Wilson, an Australian solicitor who represented some of Victoria’s most prominent underworld figures including Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel.
Morassi also starred in TV series Satisfaction, film The Wedding Party with Josh Lucas and Isabel Lucas, and has had guest roles in Offspring season one as well as popular ABC series The Doctor Blake Mysteries.
Nathan Phillips
A self-confessed scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies, Nathan Phillips has mainly appeared in movie roles since playing backpacker Ben Mitchell. Most recently, he appeared in Australian flick These Final Hours, which screened at Cannes Film Festival as well as US series The Bridge.
His credits also include Chernobyl Diaries, Aussie films Summer Coda and Balibo as well as Snakes on a Plane.
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