NT’s most famous croc Smaug to star in new film

The Northern Territory’s most famous actor will be back on the big screen next month as the star of an international box office cult thriller.

Smaug, a 5m crocodile, is arguably the Territory’s biggest film star, having starred in more than 100 documentaries and a swag of films.

This year, Smaug sunk his teeth into his biggest role yet in the sequel to Black Water — a thriller based on several true crocodile attacks that have happened in the NT.

The sequel Black Water: Abyss, directed by Andrew Traucki, is a survival thriller about four friends on a caving trip who get trapped on the banks of an underground lake during a storm.

But the rising waters are the least of their worries once they realise they’re not alone and faced with a hungry, vicious croc played by Smaug.

The film, featuring Jessica McNamee from The Meg and Luke Mitchell from Agents of S.H. I. E. L. D, will be officially released on September 23.

Smaug’s owner Adam Britton, who is a zoologist and croc specialist, said the role was a big step up for the 60-year-old croc after having a brief cameo in the original film in 2007.

“He’s becoming quite the star now, I should probably start putting a few extra dollars on his appearance fee or at least ask for a couple of chooks on his celebrity rider,” Mr Britton said.

“He’s so used to film crews now, and we’ve trained him to respond in certain ways to certain signals to reproduce certain behaviours which are natural.”

Smaug got his first big break on David Attenborough’s Life in Cold Blood series more than a decade ago.