‘Jungle’ Director Reveals the Scariest Experience of His Life

Director Greg McLean‘s latest film, Jungle, stars Daniel Radcliffe as a man trying to survive a harrowing experience through the jungle. Additionally, McLean made a name for himself in the horror genre with the Wolf Creek films, which feature a serial killer stalking backpackers in the Australian outback. Harsh terrains are a common theme in his films, but the director revealed that it’s life in the city that truly scares him.

“Most of my more scarier experiences have been in cities, actually,” McLean told Comicbook.com. “I got mugged once by three guys, which wasn’t fun, so I kind of find the … the outdoors are more comforting for me than cities.”

To some, the concept of nature and all of the potential horrors it possesses can be terrifying, but McLean feels far more at home in that isolated setting than in a city with higher chances of violence.

“I kind of grew up in the country,” McLean revealed. “I grew up in a small town, and my first part of my life was outdoors, camping and fishing, so I had lots of little adventures. I don’t think I had anything that was truly gut-wrenchingly terrifying in nature. I’ve been fairly lucky with that stuff, but I’ve had lots of encounters with snakes and creepy crawlies.”

“Because it’s Australia, everywhere you look is something trying to kill you, so I had a lot of encounters growing up camping and stuff like that,” McLean admitted. “You know, being lost in the bush a couple times, and that’s pretty scary to be lost. You very quickly get terrified if you’re really in a very big wilderness and you get lost you’re in deep trouble pretty quickly.”

One of the scarier elements of nature is the sense of unpredictability and how quickly things can go bad unexpectedly, a theme regularly explored in Jungle.

“There’s a big opportunity to get in trouble with nature if you’re not prepared, and even if you are prepared you can also get in trouble,” the director pointed out. “It’s interesting to look at that, but I think ultimately in my life I have been fairly lucky in terms of I haven’t been in too many near-death experiences.”

You can see how Daniel Radcliffe’s character survives his experience when Jungle comes to select theaters and VOD on October 20.