Crocodile Hunter takes wildlife pitch to Hollywood
Date: 12-Jul-02
Country: USA
Author: Bob Tourtellote
"Going back to the mid-1990s, we've really wanted to take our message of conservation further than we ever had before," Irwin told Reuters in a recent interview.
His series like "The Crocodile Hunter" and "Croc Files" are seen worldwide and Irwin is well known in his home country, but in the United States - the world's largest media market - the shows are on cable TV and his notoriety is less than at home.
Of course, the Hollywood sharks, (movie producers, that is) have seen a croc hunter from Down Under before. In the 1980s, it was Paul Hogan, a.k.a. "Crocodile Dundee," who thrilled audiences with his unique Aussie blend of comedy and action.
But Hogan was just an actor.
Irwin is the real thing, mate, a kid from Beerwah in Queensland, Australia who caught his first croc at age 9 (under supervision of his dad, mind you.)
Parents Bob and Lyn Irwin founded Australia Zoo, near Beerwah. It boasts over 550 animals, and 100 of them are crocs caught by Steve and Bob jumping into water and wrestling the jagged-toothed creatures until they tire - or worse.
But the tireless promoter of wildlife and his sidekick wife, Terri, aren't really about the thrill of capturing animals or becoming stars of TV adventure series, he said.
The Irwins teach respect for wildlife and conservation, a message that rings loud and clear in "Collision Course."
"We're conservationists through and through, That's our mission. I'm fanatical about that. That's what makes us tick."
For those who haven't seen the TV shows, the stout 40-year-old - always in safari shirt, shorts and boots, and in good humor - is maniacal as he hunts down the world's most dangerous species of animals to teach viewers about them.
He dives to the ground, scrambles around on hands and knees, while telling viewers not to cause the animal stress.
Stress? Irwin seems to be the one stressed out.
"See that, me hands are shakin'," he'll say, holding a cobra in one hand and showing his trembling fingers of the other.
But then he'll add, "Oh, she's a beautiful one, this little Sheila is," and begin stroking the poisonous snake to calm it.
And it works!
FROM TV TO MOVIE
The movie, "Collision Course," is not far removed from the TV shows, and that is how Irwin and long-time producing partner John Stainton wanted it. Irwin is wild enough and engaging on his own. There was no need for him to try to "act."
"I wasn't allowed to fully understand the story, and I've never seen a script, because the genius of (it) is keeping us completely natural," Irwin said about himself and Terri.
"Collision Course" is, really, a series of scenes with the pair hunting Australian wildlife exactly as they do on TV.
They chase a carnivorous Perentie lizard, which can grow to over 6-1/2 feet (1.83 metres) long. They catch a bird-eating spider, also called a barking spider, and a venomous king brown snake. They find a motherless kangaroo and nurse it back to health.
There is a crocodile, too, and a wild chase for a U.S. satellite beacon that fell to Earth and was eaten by a croc.
The United States wants the beacon, so they send two agents to the Australian Outback to get it. Once there, they mistake Steve and Terri for enemy agents.
Also, a farmer aims to kill the croc because it is eating her cows which, audiences learn, is not really the crocodile's fault because the cows are, after all, food for the predator.
Steve and Terri think the farmer and the CIA agents are poachers, and their goal is to get the croc out of harm's way.
Of course, all that croc catching isn't without peril.
"I got hit in the head by a croc. She split me open. My legs, from my ankles to my knees, got busted up ... My knee blew up on my right leg. There's real blood, guts and glory. I said the 's' word twice," Irwin said.
But most all that was edited out of the final film because, after all, the PG-rated movie is meant for kids.
With all his exploits in the Outback, one