Netflix Announces “Back To The Outback” for Fall 2021

Netflix Announces “Back To The Outback” for Fall 2021

November 30th, 2020

Jerry Beck

Netflix announced today that the new animated film Back To The Outback, will make its global debut in Fall 2021. The comedy adventure marks the directorial debuts of filmmakers Clare Knight and Harry Cripps, and stars the voice of Isla Fisher, Tim Minchin, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce, Wayne Knight, and Academy Award Nominee Jacki Weaver. Daniela Mazzucato produces, and Weed Road Pictures’ Akiva Goldsman and Greg Lessans, who developed the story with Cripps, executive produce. Animation and Imagery will be produced by ReelFX.

Synopsis: Tired of being locked in a reptile house where humans gawk at them like they’re monsters, a ragtag group of Australia’s deadliest creatures plot a daring escape from their zoo to the Outback, a place where they’ll fit in without being judged for their scales and fangs. Leading the group is Maddie (Isla Fisher), a poisonous snake with a heart of gold, who bands together with a self-assured Thorny Devil lizard Zoe (Miranda Tapsell), a lovelorn hairy spider Frank (Guy Pearce), and a sensitive scorpion Nigel (Angus Imrie). But when their nemesis — Pretty Boy (Tim Minchin), a cute but obnoxious koala — unexpectedly joins their escape, Maddie and the gang have no choice but to take him with them. So begins a hair-raising and hilarious road trip across Australia, as they are pursued by a zookeeper Chaz (Eric Bana) and his adventure-seeking mini-me (Diesel Cash La Torraca). Directed by Clare Knight and Harry Cripps, and also featuring the voices of Rachel House, Keith Urban, Celeste Barber, Wayne Knight, Lachlan Ross Power, and Jacki Weaver, BACK TO THE OUTBACK is an animated adventure that proves just because something’s different, doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful.

“I have always been touched by stories of hidden beauty,” says director Clare Knight. “Maddie is both uniquely beauty and beast, and to get to present that message in comedy is the icing on the cake.

Adds writer/director Harry Cripps: “Growing up in Australia, I spent a lot of time in the Blue Mountains which has many different types of snakes and spiders, and I always preferred them to the cute cuddly animals, so it’s such a treat to make a film where the heroes are these poisonous but beautiful little creatures. This film is a love letter to Australia’s incredibly diverse and unique wildlife.”

Cast: Isla Fisher (Rango) as Maddie the snake, Tim Minchin as Pretty Boy the koala, Eric Bana (Munich) as Chaz the zookeeper, Guy Pearce (Memento) as Frank the spider, Miranda Tapsell (Top End Wedding) as Zoe the thorny devil lizard, Angus Imrie (The Kid Who Would Be King) as Nigel the scorpion, Rachel House (Moana) as Jacinta the great white shark, Grammy winner Keith Urban as Doug the cane toad, Celeste Barber (The Letdown) as Skylar the koala, Wayne Knight (Jurassic Park) as Phil the platypus, Aislinn Derbez (La Casa de las Flores) as Legs the redback spider, Diesel Cash La Torraca (Little Monsters) as Chazzie, YouTuber Lachlan Ross Power as Tasmanian Dave, and Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) as Jackie the crocodile.

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Jerry Beck

Writer, cartoon producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. A former studio exec with Nickelodeon and Disney; currently on the faculty at both CalArts in Valencia and Woodbury University in Burbank, California.