Back To The Outback star Isla Fisher chats about the friendships Maddie the deadly Taipan snake makes in Netflix’s new animated adventure.
Netflix prepares to delight kids and animal lovers alike with their new animated adventure, Back To The Outback, which releases December 10 after being available in select theaters this week. The story follows some of Australia’s most dangerous creatures as they seek to escape captivity and return to their families in the wild. Written by Harry Cripps (The Dry), and directed by both him and Clare Knight (who served as editor on The Lego Movie 2), the film is a love letter to the Australian Outback and all its wonders.
The cuddly yet creepy cast is voiced by top talent from the country as well: including Isla Fisher (Godmothered) as Maddie the Taipan snake, Guy Pearce (Mare of Easttown) as Frank the lovelorn spider, Keith Urban as Doug the cane toad, and more. Their nemesis in the breakout attempt is Chaz (Eric Bana, Dirty John) the animal events coordinator of their zoo, who will stop at nothing to prove he’s an adventurer by tracking them down, and Pretty Boy (Tim Minchin, Upright) the koala, who holds them back when he accidentally joins the fun.
Fisher spoke to Screen Rant about the surprising friendships Maddie makes and realizations she goes through on her journey Back To The Outback.
Screen Rant: There are so many fascinating dynamics that I would not have expected in the story, one of which is Maddie and Chaz, the animal events coordinator extraordinaire. Can you talk about how Maddie feels about her handler at the start?
Isla Fisher: I think Maddie has been raised in captivity since she was an egg by Chaz, and so she has no idea really how she’s going to be perceived by everyone. I think that she’s confident, she’s happy, she trusts her owner, and then she’s shamed for her looks and exploited into this stereotype of how people perceive deadly snakes.
From that moment on, she has an opportunity to become insecure and to crumble, but instead, she takes that chance to escape back to the Outback and to accept herself for her differences and celebrate the fact they make us special and unique. And in her journey to go home and find her family, she learns that her family is who she journeys with rather than where she gets to – which is very sweet.
I’m sure you learned many things from the film, but what was the most surprising or strange thing you learned about any of the creatures in Back to the Outback?
Isla Fisher: I found it fascinating that for my character Maddie the Taipan, one drop of venom could kill 10 men. And yet I don’t think there have been any fatalities with a Taipan snake – or maybe one, which speaks to how shy they are as a creature and how they have this fierce reputation. But ultimately, it’s never really eventuated to anything, so I thought that was pretty interesting.
That is very interesting. I guess they’re all as nice as Maddie is.
Isla Fisher: Well, let’s not say that to the kids. If you see a snake, you don’t need to pick it up.
Another dynamic that is very fun is Maddie and Pretty Boy. It starts off one way and ends up another. What was it like crafting that relationship and following that journey over the course of the film?
Isla Fisher: That was actually one of the relationships that got deeper and deeper as we shot the film – or at least made the voices.
He starts out as this spoiled celebrity who puts her down, but a lot of Maddie’s journey is learning to accept Pretty Boy for who he is. Which I think is important because to be seen, you really have to see others for who they are. And that’s Maddie’s lesson, I suppose, because Pretty Boy’s as marginalized as she is, but on the other end of the spectrum.
Their relationship and friendship that blossoms through acceptance of each other is a great example for kids to see, let’s just put it that way – particularly right now.
Other than the taipan, which species from the film would you least want to meet in the wild?
Isla Fisher: I’m going to go with Frank the lovelorn spider. I was recently in Australia and [there was] a mummy spider. There were just baby spiders – I don’t know what happened, it was just one spider one day, and the next day the entire roof was covered in baby spiders. I’m not exaggerating.
Just the image of it. Honestly, it gives me the heebie jeebies even talking about it. Let’s just say that I don’t have a problem with a little scorpion or a thorny devil or a snake. But I’m not a spider girl.
Back To The Outback is available to stream on Netflix starting December 10.
Tatiana Hullender is a writer at Screen Rant, focusing on film and television, as well as a co-host of several podcasts. In the interviews she conducts for Screen Rant, she seeks to learn what drives each creative mind and how different experiences influence the same narrative. As a graduate of Columbia University in New York City, Tatiana studied theater and comparative literature. She has been passionate about all manner of storytelling since being exposed to Jane Austen and BBC adaptations of her work all at once. But Regency satire of manners isn’t the only genre she loves, as a love of comic books naturally developed into a love of cinematic universes and their superheroes. So long as a story has heart and humor, there’s a chance of finding something to enjoy in the telling of it. Visit @myrcellasear on Twitter to follow Tatiana’s articles, interviews and podcasts including: The Flash Podcast, Pop A La Carte and Ladies With Gumption. Subscribe to them on the Podcast app, or contact her directly at painted(dot)out(at)gmail.com.
