In IFC and Shudder's latest horror movie Dangerous Animals, star Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad) brings to life a terrifying serial killer named Tucker who believes he has a spiritual connection to sharks. Tucker is a murderer masquerading as a shark cage diving instructor who has a habit of feeding the local sharks in the worst way imaginable: with kidnapped tourists.
At the Los Angeles red carpet premiere of Shudder and IFC Film's latest horror film, Dangerous Animals, star Jai Courtney confirmed the unique spiritual connection his character feels to sharks, and how Tucker relates his own deadly actions with how "predators are necessary for everything" in any given ecosystem.
He went on to say that Tucker "feels like he's connected to the shark on a spiritual level," further explaining how "he has developed this philosophy... as someone who's one with the shark" to "sort out the natural balance in the ecosystem."
Tucker's main foil in the film is Hassie Harrison, who plays Zephyr, a local surfer who quickly becomes one of Tucker's kidnapped victims awaiting her terrible fate. Josh Heuston plays Moses, a love interest who notices Zephyr has gone missing and works to find her throughout the film.
On the red carpet, The Direct's Russ Milheim was also able to speak with stars Hassie Harrison and Josh Heuston about their roles, alongside director Sean Byrne and composer Michael Yezerski.
Dangerous Animals releases in theaters on June 6, 2025.
Jai Courtney on His Serial Killer's Shark Connection
"He Feels Like He's Connected to the Shark on a Spiritual Level."
In Dangerous Animals, Jai Courtney's star serial killer, Tucker, is not a good person. He is a dangerous man (or animal, if you will), one who feels a deep connection to the sharks he manipulates into killing his victims.
- The Direct: "You really dial it up to 11 in this film, playing such a unique serial killer. Can you explain why Tucker has chosen sharks as his murderous tool, and how that plays into just the thematic core in this movie?"
Jai Courtney: Well, that's the thing. I mean, he feels like he's connected to the shark on a spiritual level. So, somewhere in his kind of undoing, he has developed this philosophy that, as someone who's one with the shark, it's really, it's upon him to sort out the natural balance in the ecosystem. Predators are necessary for everything...
If apex predators didn't exist, the balance would be thrown out, and lesser creatures would kind of run the mark, and things would kind of fall apart. And so, you know, he really counts himself in that bracket. As deranged as that is, that's really where it comes from.
There's an inner fear, though, I think, within that, that we really only touch on, but I hope is kind of clear in like, what's at the core of this character. But I think he really believes in his crusade. It's an interesting place to stem this from.
Hassie Harrison on Preparing Her Whole Life With Shark Week
"I Have Been Watching Shark Week Since I Was a Teenager..."
- The Direct: "You spent a lot of time around sharks now and thinking about sharks. So what is the most interesting or surprising fact you learned about them on your time with this production?"
Hassie Harrison: Oh, gosh, I'm not sure. I don't know that I had, like—I have been watching Shark Week since I was a teenager, so it wasn't like I was learning fun facts about them when I got there. But, you know, I think that there's just a continued respect and love of sharks... They're such an important part of the ecosystem.
- The Direct: "You play Zephyr, and you're thrown into kind of an intensely interesting death trap on the water in this film. Can you talk about how awesome it was to be able to navigate such an interesting horror scenario? After all, it's not your usual slasher setting. You were given just this really unique playground."
Harrison: I think what's so cool about this movie is it's such a fun, original, fresh take on this shark genre that's so beloved. And I think it's just a fun adventure that everyone's gonna like, love the ride.
Josh Heuston, who stars in the film as Moses, briefly commented on how it feels to play a character who is always running towards danger, with audiences yelling at the screen for him to turn back:
JosH Heuston: It's fun. Like, I guess a lot of it you're following Moses on his imminent destruction. But, it's a fun card to play.
Director of Dangerous Animals on Tackling the Big Misconception About Sharks
"There's Less Than 10 Shark Deaths Per Year..."
- The Direct: "You've now spent a lot of time around sharks prepping for this movie and learning about them. What's the most interesting or surprising fact that you've learned?"
Sean Byrne: The fact that they're not really a threat to us at all, which is kind of a myth that, as amazing as 'Jaws' was, it did a great disservice to the sharks... There are less than 10 shark deaths per year, and they're always a case of mistaken identity... And that's what excited me the most about the film, it was a chance to correct that long-held cruel misconception that sharks are the baddies. We cause more harm to them than they do to us.
- The Direct: "In this film, you've really done an interesting thing with how you're leveraging everyone's fear of sharks and employing that in a very unexpected narrative, with a serial killer who utilizes that. Can you just talk about how you wanted to utilize that fear within this surprising vehicle?"
Byrne: It's like a serial killer film first and foremost, and the sharks are really a weapon... Like they only turn up when Tucker chums the waters, and it's at the manipulation of man. So I just wanted to be true to the fact that it's a serial killer film. There's plenty of shark carnage, but that's only because they're manipulated.
- The Direct: "How do you think this is going to affect people's view of sharks? I hope it's better than what people do with Jaws and The Shallows?"
Byrne: I hope so. I mean, I think that's one of the key takeaways that I hope people step away from this going, Wow, these are really majestic... There's absolute fear—there are scenes in this where you get in a shark cage. And, of course, there's going to be fear the same way as when you step on a roller coaster, but beyond fear, when you step back and just look at them, they are beautiful creatures, and they're not a threat.
Dangerous Animals Composer on Avoiding Similarities to Jaws
"We Started Building the World From Scratch..."
- The Direct: There is that really iconic score with Jaws and sharks, and so, obviously, you do a shark movie, you go, Okay, let's do everything that's not that. So, how did you work around making sure you didn't quite invoke that? Or if you did it purposely and [tried] to reverse it?
Michael Yezerski: Yeah, no, we definitely did not do it purposely. I mean, John Williams is my hero. He's the reason I'm a film composer. He really is. I've told people that for years, like he's the reason I do what I do. And that is one of my all-time favorite scores...
But in the case of this one, rather than running towards or running away from 'Jaws,' what we did is we just, we put it aside, and we started building the world from scratch, as in what, how can we create sounds particular, like individual sounds, individual notes, to extract the maximum amount of terror from each scene.
And we had a string orchestra, we had like pieces of bent metal, we had drums, we had pieces of wood. We had analog synths fed through the worst distortion you've ever heard... We [were] just basically twisting the knife at every point so that you really—hopefully an audience will come away with it just absolutely breathless.
- The Direct: "Obviously, sharks are such a big focus, but like we've talked about, man, is [the real] threat. How did you weave that into the score itself? And, you know, making that more apparent than when the sharks are on screen?"
Michael Yezerski: Well, it is actually a humanistic score, that's the thing, and it's [that] more than anything else. Like each character has their own theme, and you feel the themes they're stated in the beginning of the film, and then you feel them kind of shift and change as each character goes through their own journey. One of them becomes more triumphant, another one becomes a lot less triumphant. I don't want to give anything away, but it's definitely a human story at heart also.
The full video interviews can be seen below:
Dangerous Animals hits theaters on June 6, 2025.
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