Synopsis

A television news team travels to war-torn Burundi to capture Gustave, a gigantic Nile crocodile blamed for hundreds of deaths. Their expedition becomes even more dangerous when they encounter a brutal militia leader known as Little Gustave. As the team struggles through violence, political unrest, and the crocodile's territory, the assignment turns into a fight for survival.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film was inspired in part by Gustave, a legendary Nile crocodile reported to inhabit Burundi's Rusizi River. Reports about the animal's size and alleged attacks helped spark the project.

• Although the story takes place in Burundi, filming was carried out in South Africa, including locations around Cape Town and Durban.

• The production originally planned to use a large animatronic crocodile. After the prop was tested in African waters and judged unconvincing, the filmmakers changed course and created Gustave entirely with CGI.

• The filmmakers cited Jaws as an influence, particularly in the attempt to build suspense around an unseen aquatic predator. Early experiments with crocodile point-of-view shots, informally called "Gustave-vision," were ultimately removed.

• Orlando Jones improvised some of his character's dialogue during filming.

• Despite sharing its title with the British science-fiction television series that also premiered in 2007, the film has no connection to that program.