Forget every shark film you’ve seen before. Writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner and producer Blake Northfield are set to make bloody waves with Beast of War, their bold new take on the much-adored horror sub genre.

By Matthew Eeles

On the day Cinema Australia spoke with Kiah Roache-Turner, the filmmaker was deep into editing the last two minutes of his new shark horror, Beast of War.

“I won’t tell you who, but I’m currently looking at an actor screaming with his arm bitten off,” Roache-Turner tells Cinema Australia with a passionate, childlike enthusiasm.

Roache-Turner is editing Beast of War alongside Western Australian-based editor Regg Skwarko, in a tag-team-style system.

“Regg is a very good mate of mine. He’s a very talented guy. Regg will do the first pass as we’re shooting, then I’ll do what’s loosely termed as the ‘director’s assembly.’ So I have my pass, and then I give it back to Regg while I transition back to a normal director and sit behind him while he completes the final cut,” says Roache-Turner.

It may be uncommon for a director to be so deeply involved in the editing process, but it’s nothing new for Roache-Turner, who’s often involved in many aspects of his films, from the sound design to temporary special effects.

“Because I spent so long making my own short films, I’ve had to learn how to do everything from sound design to VFX and all that kind of stuff. I’m very happy with how Beast of War is turning out,” he explains.

Roache-Turner tells Cinema Australia that the biggest thing on his mind right now is not to embarrass himself in front of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. As Roache-Turner says, “There have been some good shark films, but there’s only been one great shark film. And all cinema lovers know that.”

For decades, filmmakers from all over the world have turned to sharks to captivate and terrify audiences with films like Open Water, The Shallows, Under Paris, The Reef, Great White, Cage Dive (AKA Open Water 3), Bait, and many, many more. Sharks have also been the subject of more compassionate documentaries like Sally Atkins’ brilliant portrait of underwater photographer Valerie Taylor in Playing With Sharks, and Eli Roth’s FIN, which exposes the horror and environmental devastation of the shark fin trade. And of course, there’s the downright ridiculous Sharknado series.

But in all this time, nothing has come close to having the same impact as Spielberg’s Jaws.

“I’ve thought about it for two straight years. Why is it so hard to make a great shark film? Because the answer is Steven Spielberg. There’s only one of him,” Roache-Turner says adoringly.

Regardless of Roache-Turner’s intrusive thoughts about making a shark film that comes close to the quality of Jaws, the filmmaker is confident that what he’s cooking up is going to be a cracking shark film.

Beast of War and Australian history

Beast of War is very loosely based on the true Australian story of the HMAS Armadale, which sank halfway between Darwin and Timor in 1942 during the Second World War following relentless attacks by the Japanese.

Roache-Turner admits that while he’s sensitive to that original story, Beast of War is a riff on that premise, and while he educated himself thoroughly on that moment in Australia’s history, he wanted to incorporate that playful, wild, and outrageous storytelling style that he’s become famous for.

In his interpretation, Roache-Turner has transformed the ocean into a hellscape of steel, fire, oil, and blood, where a handful of soldiers construct a makeshift raft from floating debris, clinging to their lives amidst rising tensions. However, their greatest battle comes in the form of a great white shark, drawn to the scent of their blood.

“In Beast of War, I’ve taken a lot from that true story, but at the end of the day, if I was to make a film based on those actual events, it would be too brutal and depressing,” says Roache-Turner.

“I’m making my version of this story. This is a piece of entertainment that features a lot of heroism, which I’ve incorporated into this film as much as I can.”

Casting, culture and heroism

That heroism is brought to life in Beast of War by the film’s impressive and dedicated cast, which is what sets Roache-Turner’s film apart from any other shark film, according to the film’s producer, Blake Northfield.

“Beast of War is unlike anything you will have seen before,” Northfield tells Cinema Australia.

“We follow Leo, a First Nations leading man played by Mark Coles Smith, whose character is battling his own internal demons heading into World War II, facing adversity and the struggles of being an Indigenous soldier in a time when they were not paid or treated the same as their white counterparts.”

According to Northfield, Beast of War is a strong, character-driven story in which the shark is just an addition to the film, rather than the focus.

“You take the shark out of this film and there’s a strong story of survival, mateship, and camaraderie that holds its own,” says Northfield.

Roache-Turner shares Northfield’s sentiments about the film’s hero and emphasises the importance of Mark Coles Smith’s role in Beast of War, both on and off screen.

“I love that this film’s hero is an Indigenous man played by Mark. He’s honestly one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. He’s a force of nature himself, who does all his own stunts. He’s a wonderful writer, a cracking actor, and quite a good musician too. He’s really gifted,” says Roache-Turner.

With Mark Coles Smith hailing from Broome, traditionally known as Rubibi by the Yawuru people, in the Kimberley region of WA, Roache-Turner wanted to incorporate Coles Smith’s Indigenous heritage into Beast of War, as well as Indigenous people’s connection to sharks in general.

“I spent a lot of time researching the Western Australian Indigenous connection to sharks. Indigenous people consider sharks, especially great white sharks, to be one of the creator gods. So there’s a connection that goes beyond a shark just eating people, and I really wanted to explore that,” Roache-Turner says.

To ensure cultural accuracy, Northfield and Roache-Turner brought in highly regarded actor, writer, and director Wayne Blair to read the script and offer notes, alongside Coles Smith, who put the filmmakers in contact with local elders.

“Wayne was so great at making sure that we were getting it right. He’s also a great writer too, so he came in and helped me rewrite some dialogue and helped me to understand the language implications. It was such a fantastic collaboration that I’m forever grateful for,” says Roache-Turner.

While Mark Coles Smith plays a pivotal role in Beast of War, he’s joined in the film by an incredible ensemble cast of established actors and rising stars, including Lee Tiger Halley (Netflix’s Boy Swallows Universe), Sam Delich (Territory), Sam Parsonson (Take My Hand), Maximillian Johnson (High Ground), Tristan McKinnon (Wyrmwood: Apocalypse), Masa Yamaguchi (Life After Fighting), scream queen Lauren Grimson (The Possessed), and legendary Australian acting veteran Steve Le Marquand, who has appeared on the big and small screen since the early ’90s in films and television shows like Rake, Small Time Gangster, Wentworth, Red Dog: True Blue, and most recently, Heath Davis’ Christmess.

“Steve Le Marquand can act in his sleep. I’ve wanted to work with him for years, and that opportunity came in this grizzled drill instructor who I knew had to be played by Steve. He came in and just growled his way through this part, and it was just fantastic. He’s always brilliant, and it was great to work with him.”

Melbourne-based actor Joel Nankervis also stars in the film as Will, a role Roache-Turner says was difficult to cast.

“Trying to find somebody who looks seventeen and can act is really, really hard. We cast the net far and wide because we also needed somebody who’s handsome, somebody who can swim, somebody who’s athletic, and somebody who also has a leading man voice,” says Roche-Turner. 

Nankervis was cast in the film from a final audition tape where he performed a scene from Animal Kingdom as Ben Mendelsohn’s Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody.

“In this audition tape, Joel had an intelligence and an edge about him which I loved. That’s why I cast him. He came in to do a live audition, and he brought six of his mates with him to play different parts. He had people splashing him with water, he’s ripping his shirt off and running around. He attacked the audition like a filmmaker,” Roache-Turner laughs.

A technical challenge

To ensure the setting was as practical as possible, Beast of War was originally going to be filmed in Malta, which is home to the biggest outdoor film tank in the world. But very quickly, Roache-Turner and Northfield realised that that endeavour wasn’t as feasible as they hoped, which brought the production back to Australia.

Considering that Beast of War is set during World War II and features scenes of soldiers floating on rafts with Japanese bombers flying above while a giant monster lurks beneath the film’s protagonists, the filmmakers had to switch to a more practical approach.

“This was not something you can just go out into the ocean and shoot. You do that, and you’re going to run out of money in eight days, and people are going to drown,” says Roache-Turner.

With caution in mind, the filmmakers quickly realised they’d have to shoot the film in a studio, ensuring they could achieve a convincing authenticity that would make audiences feel part of the action.

“Basically, the whole film is set in a fog bank, so these characters can’t really see more than seven or eight meters in front of them. It’s like this gloomy, German expressionist feel with a colour palette inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula. When you’re shooting dawn light through a fog bank on water, you get these amazing reflections and beautiful colours,” says Roache-Turner.

To achieve this vision, the filmmakers had to build their own 40-meter tank—the largest film tank in Australia—at Screen Queensland Studios in Brisbane.

“This was completely new territory for us and something that brings such value to the Australian film space,” says Northfield.

Using LED volume screens—a technology famously used on Matt Reeves’ The Batman and Disney+ series The Mandalorian—was another first for the filmmakers.

“They are a challenge to work with, but the team at Model Farm was fantastic to deal with. They created a whole world on screen that brings such a beautiful style to the film and really brings Kiah’s visual style to life.”

Technically, Northfield was able to draw on his experience from his previous shark film, Fear Below, and build on it: a bigger shark, a bigger set, and a clearer idea from the start of what they needed for the visual effects in that underwater space.

“We spent more than five weeks shooting in this giant fog-filled bathtub. And it was only two meters deep at the deep end. Man, it’s amazing what you can do with two meters of water,” says Roache-Turner.

With so much water involved, Cinema Australia asked Roache-Turner and Northfield how the cast and crew handled working in such a challenging environment.

“I was scared shitless about it because of all the horror stories I’ve heard from other filmmakers about how difficult it is. But the gods of shark films must have been smiling on us, because after a difficult pre-production where nothing worked, the tank was leaking, and the shark wasn’t working, suddenly, when the cameras arrived and day one started, it all just clicked into place. It was one of the best shoots I’ve ever been a part of. All the actors clicked. There was not a single nervous breakdown or meltdown—except from me,” Roache-Turner jokes.

For Northfield, Beast of War is the second film he has made with Roache-Turner, following Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, and the producer saw no cracks in Roache-Turner’s composure on set.

“Kiah is such an incredible director, and he’s an absolute pleasure to work with. His ability to bounce straight into Plan B or Plan C when hit with adversity is his biggest strength. Kiah is a beast within the genre space. His ability to take a wild idea such as Wyrmwood or Beast of War and just run with it, creating this incredible world around it, makes him a brilliant collaborator. He’s also like a child on set in terms of his excitement, which is infectious. It could be day 30, and he’s still turning up like it’s day one on his first movie,” says Northfield.

Practical vs. digital effects

Anyone who has watched Roache-Turner’s previous films like Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, its sequel Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, Nekrotronic, and the recent giant spider nightmare Sting will know how much he loves incorporating practical effects into his films. He assures me that Beast of War will be no exception.

“I have a theory on creature integration with practical and digital effects. My general rule is that anytime you’re on a medium shot where a creature is attacking an actor, that shot has to be a practical effect. You want that interaction between the actor and the monster,” says Roache-Turner.

“I found that one of the important factors when you’re shooting a shark is that when it’s attacking, you’ve got to have giant canisters of CO2 exploding underneath it to create the effect of a thrashing tail. When you see a shark attacking something, the tail is thrashing so intensely that there’s this explosion of white. And that hides any of the practical elements, really helping to hide the fact that you effectively have an actor wrestling with a puppet. It was easier to make this shark look real than it was to make the spider look real in Sting because it was harder to hide that spider’s mechanical parts.”

For a filmmaker who grew up watching classic horror films like The Thing, The Exorcist, and Jaws, Roache-Turner understands the importance of practical effects. This sentiment is echoed by special effects maestro and Beast of War creative director, Steven Boyle.

“I’m a shark freak. I love shark movies. I was obsessed with shark documentaries and shark books when I was a kid. I still am. I’ve worked on a few shark movies. I did Bait all those years ago, but I was really excited about this one,” Boyle told Cinema Australia in a recent interview during the press junket for his feature directorial debut, Demon Disorder.

Boyle was originally brought onto the film to work on body prosthetics and makeup effects, but after assisting on Fear Below, Northfield offered him the chance to complete the Beast of War makeup effects, VFX, the practical animatronic shark, and more. It was an offer Boyle couldn’t refuse.

“I think this shark is one of the best-designed sharks I’ve ever seen. Throughout the whole design process, we just got it right. Kiah had the right direction, he knew exactly what he wanted, and he pushed us to dial it up. He kept telling us that this really needed to be a monster, and not just your standard shark,” says Boyle.

“Sharks are so hard because you’re puppeteering underwater. Everything can and does go wrong. I also really wanted to make a shark movie where I felt it was the best kind of shark movie, and I know that Beast of War is. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

A new tidal wave of Australian genre films

Beast of War arrives at an exciting time for Australian cinema, with local genre films like Danny and Michael Philippou’s (AKA RackaRacka) Talk to Me and Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ Late Night with the Devil being celebrated by audiences at home and overseas. 

For Roache-Turner, he’s as thrilled by that recognition as audiences are.

“This recognition is so good for our industry. Seeing the RackaRacka boys succeed at such a high level with Talk to Me gave me a lot of satisfaction. I was raging with happiness and jealousy at the same time. But to see these guys who are super smart, can write, and have an incredible sensitivity to genre cinema is fantastic. It fires up our entire industry. I looked at Talk to Me and realised that I had to up my game. If these young blokes from Adelaide can work at this level, I have to do better. This shark film needs to rock because all eyes are on Australia right now for the next great genre film,” he says.

From a producer’s perspective, Northfield understands the importance of the stronghold Australian films have had on genre cinema for decades.

“It’s something that we, as an industry, are experts at delivering, and Beast of War is going to be no exception. Everyone knows that the rest of the world is so intrigued by Australia. The concept that anything can kill you here is famous around the world, making it the perfect time to deliver something like Beast of War to thrill and excite moviegoers,” says Northfield.

Shazza

Before wrapping up, Cinema Australia couldn’t resist asking Roache-Turner if he’d given his shark a nickname, like Spielberg’s Jaws shark, famously called Bruce by the film’s cast and crew.

“Well, Steven Boyle’s team has nicknamed the shark Shazza. Our shark is rough and tough, so they’ve called it Shazza—the world’s first bogan shark,” Roache-Turner laughs.

Beast of War is currently in post-production, with an anticipated release in 2025.

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