Even though his last film, The A-Team, came out less than a year ago, Joe Carnahan is right in the middle of shooting his indie thriller The Grey with the same star he had before: Liam Neeson. And while it was originally going to be led by the other A-Team Bradley Cooper, negotiations fell through, and Neeson is now in the lead. The film also stars Dallas Roberts, James Badge Dale, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Nonso Anozie and Joe Anderson. It’s been described as the “story of a group of Alaskan pipeline workers who crash land while flying back into civilization after being remote for a few months. The survivors begin to be hunted by a pack of rogue wolves.”

Entertainment Weekly (via DreadCentral) has the first look at the film, and along with the photo above, one of the things they managed to get was a quote from Carnahan about the dangers the characters face (tying into the synopsis), along with the movie’s influences. You can read that quote below:

“I’m a big dog guy. I know that if you look at a wolf for too long, it’s just a [cuddly] malamute. So we’re doing the ‘Jaws’ approach. They’re like the slasher in a slasher movie.

The wolves have a territorial range of 300 miles, and they will run you out if you cross that. If you’re within 30 miles of their den as is the case here, they will try to kill you. It’s simple arithmetic, but it creates an opportunity for one of those man vs. nature movies I love like Deliverance and Touching the Void.”

The film is produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, and is still a little far away, with a release date of January 27, 2012.

What do you think of this photo and the quote from Carnahan? Are you excited for The Grey?