Chaz Hunt (voiced by Eric Bana) is the event coordinator at the Australian Wildlife Park in the 2021 animated feature film 'Back to the Outback'. He and his son Chazzie Hunt run the show at the Danger House.
Biography[]
Background[]
Chaz Hunt was born in Tampa, Florida where he grew up above his Aunt's lingerie store. He was picked on a lot in life until he found a role model in an Australian guy wrestling a crocodile on TV. "Danger, Danger, Danger." he started talking like him and wanting to be like him and once he was older and had the education for it he moved to Australia to start work at the Australian Wildlife Park. His wife at the time eventually left him for an Architect named Bret. Chaz Hunt got custody over their young son Chazzie and not wanting his son to think less of him, and feeling a little emasculated by his wife leaving him, he made up a story about Chazzie's mother being swallowed up by a Python. He let the boy believe that for years while thinking of his mother as someone as wild as the person Chaz wanted to be. One day while driving down the outback Chaz Hunt found a lone egg on the side of the road. He stopped and picked it up and it hatched in his hands- a tiny snake he named Medusa.
Back to the Outback[]
Chaz and his son Chazzie feature in the Danger House show though as the Event Coordinator he also works with a few other attractions. Introducing Medusa, the Island Taipan to the crowd in her first show goes rather well for him. He's set her up as the main attraction, the final animal exhibited to the crowd. In the show Jackie the Crocodile is the first to always be exhibited. A very large specimen whose been getting a bit snippy over the years. The scorpion Nigel is next followed by the Funnel Spider Frank. Zoe the Horny Devil is revealed to be under his hat for the act and serves as the attraction prior to Medusa the Taipan who is presented in a large Ark like box as the most terrifying and deadly of the creatures. In her four acts Chaz would have noticed that she's a bit shy around the crowd but is confident that in time she'll get use to them.
During the fourth act with Medusa as the star, Chaz's son Chazzie fell into the crocodile pool while Chaz was answering questions about the Taipan Medusa. Setting the box down upon realizing his son was with the increasingly snippy Jackie he rushed over to his son's rescue. Having Chazzie come into that situation was enough for Chaz to sign off on Jackie being removed from the Park. Chazzie expected his father to be mad at him, as Chazzie blamed himself for getting in the situation as he was trying to be like his father- putting on a little show for those folks who'd come to the crocodile pool. Chaz though, wasn't mad at his son. He was happy to still have him and told him how he handled facing the crocodile rather well. He then picked back up on the story he'd been telling his son from the Savage Life book, of adventures in the outback. As usual he would sometimes pretend the stories where about his own fictitious adventures so his son would continue to see him as a hero of the outback.
That night their time is interrupted by a call from the park. Frank, Medusa, Nigel, and Zoe had all escaped and from a photo taken by security cameras have likely harmed if not killed Pretty Boy the Koala. Chaz's first idea for action is to call Pest Control but his son, expecting him to go after the creatures himself, ends up convincing him to do so. Chaz sees it as an opportunity for some bonding and not having made any plans on how to carry the show on without Jackie sets out to bring the escapees back to the park. Locating them on the streets of Sydney Chaz and his son attempt capture but fail. Chaz tells his son they tried their best but their isn't anything else they can do. When Chazzie 'hacks into the mainframe and tracks the license plate of the catering truck the animals escaped on' Chaz tries to tell his son they can't do that but his boy is so excited that Chaz continues the pursuit. Tracking the truck to a local school Chaz learns that the animals got onto a bus and the chase continues.
Chaz Hunt prepares to administer a tranquilizer to Medusa, the escaped Tiapan.
After finding the animals on the bus and then off the bus Chaz manages to capture all the escapees but has no interest in the koala who may be rabid. Preparing to tranquilize Medusa Chaz is beset by Tazmanian devils in what would never be believed by anyone given how they are not from the region. Chazzie is slow to help his father as he believes Chaz can handle it but eventually Chazzie does. Having come so close to death Chaz finally tells his son the truth and when his son starts to wonder if the animals themselves at the Danger House where as dangerous as Chaz said they where he has to assure his son that yes they are- he didn't make that up. He decides it's time for him to really be the man Chazzie has thought him to be and thus he gathers a group of bikers to help him catch the escapees.
They seem successful but Medusa managed to escape when her tank crashed out of the truck- having not been secured properly. In the second most bewildering event on this pursuit of the escaped animals the Koala drives a Firetruck in a chase after them with Medusa in the passenger seat. He tells his son to drive as he gets out a tranquilizer gun and starts to fire upon Medusa whose slithering across an extended fire truck ladder towards the jeep. The bikers try to help shake off this bizarre pursuit with little success. Eventually as animals swarm in from all around the jeep is destroyed and he and Chazzie find themselves on the truck as it heads towards a cliff. Rushing into the cabin of the truck he puts on the breaks and seems to stop the drive off the edge until a boulder sends it off. By chance alone Chaz, Chazzie, and the escaped animals find themselves on a ladder tittering on the edge. Chaz tries to get closer to his son whose hanging off the clif but sees the latter will fall over if he does. He sees Medusa going towards his son and tells her to stay away from him. The snake, then slithers with hostility towards him and hisses angerly before biting the leather around his arm. Chazzie takes hold of the snake and is pulled to safety. Chaz embraces his son and the snake, having let go of his arm manages to show him some affection reminding Chaz that she's still the little thing he raised too. Feeling Medusa was truly trying to help his son, and seeing that she was not hostile now, he- let her go back into the wild. Besides, Chazzie had come to empathize with her, in the moment it just felt right.
Trivial Notes[]
- The 'Australian Hero' Chaz adopted as a role model in his life is not named in the script but his words and image are those of Steve Irwin. However Chaz forgot something rather important taught by Steve, every animal is a beauty. In Chaz's attempts to become more manly so he wasn't picked on in his younger days he focused so much on the danger of the animals that he tended to forget that.