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My problem is I'm an addictive personality. I can't have one coffee. I can't eat one piece of chocolate. I can't have a little bit of drugs.
I'm never there enough to really keep up with what's going on in the Australian film industry. I just try and be part of it as much as I can.
I want to bring something different to every film. I get a bit tired of actors who kind of are the same character in every film that they do.
There's many more films being made in America than there are in Australia. You make four hundred and fifty films a year, we make twenty-five.
You meet these people who are confident all the time. They annoy me. And I wonder if it's because I'm envious or if it's because they're shallow.
Working on a studio picture, I can't help but be aware of all the political stuff that's going on. I have to work to be able to survive, in a sense.
It's hard to pinpoint why all of a sudden a group of Australian films will be doing well and why they perhaps are better made than some from the past.
I wish I had the ability to crack wise, generally. You know, without getting punched. There's no way I could do it while getting beaten up. Definitely.
The thing I've come to learn is that what's great about small independent films is the intimacy and the communication that occurs when you're making them.
English is no problem for me because I am actually English. My whole family are English; I was brought up listening to various forms of the English accent.
Even though I've done a lot it also feels like I haven't done a lot. I've sort of popped in for supporting roles in things, and that's been really delightful.
You would think that with ten super-famous people in one movie, it's gonna be ten times more popular or viewed, but on some level, they can cancel each other out.
Just because there are things I don't remember, doesn't mean my actions are meaningless. The whole world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, does it?
When I go to a movie, I'm always thrilled if I've seen an actor do something and I didn't realize until the end of the movie that that was that person. I love that.
The movie industry is very competitive, and if you're like me and you suffer from your own insecurities about whether or not you're any good, that can be troubling.
It's funny, though, with films, because you can incorporate a variety of elements, and sometimes that can work for you and sometimes I think it can work against you.
You can have a great time on a film and the chemistry can seem great but then you look at the finished film and it just doesn't quite gel, something doesn't quite work.
Because in Australia we're so inundated with American culture, television, this that and the other, everyone in Australia can do an American accent. It's just second nature.
I didn't know what the path was that I wanted to be as an actor, to be honest. I've been doing a lot of theater since I was a kid, so I was just sort of taking opportunities.
I think as an actor, or any artist, you move with your moods and you express what's going on for you, and you answer to that voice within that's calling for particular things.
I have a real love of sound and the shape of the sound. I'm a musician, and I'm fascinated with the effects of sound, and tone, and pitch and melody and all that sort of stuff.
I find it really difficult to even articulate things that I've done in the past. I express myself through the characters that I play, not through the articulation of them later.
I do have aspirations when it comes to directing, I suppose, but in a sort of a vague way. It would probably come about if I found a project that I really felt passionate about.
It's really interesting making films and actually seeing the life that they have in the subsequent years and seeing which ones stand up over time and which ones sort of fade away.
I'm definitely not non-chalant. I have to leave nonchalant at home when I'm working on something, otherwise I just don't feel like I'm committed, and I've gotta be fully committed.
A lot of people are going to hate me for saying this, but one of my least favorite kinds of music, or the kind of music that I feel I've so got out of my system, is musicals music.
Doing that hunt scene was really quite demanding. I actually broke a rib during that scene. And then all the scenes after that became quite challenging, just breathing and laughing.
I can be fairly optimistic, but I'm probably more a realist, I think. I mean, optimism's an interesting quality, isn't it, because I'm always slightly dubious as to what's behind it?
When I read something, I want to be surprised. So I read something and go, "Wow, I never, ever would have thought of playing this kind of role. This is exciting me, let's go do this."
I grew up doing musicals. I've done so many musicals in my life, I kind of got them out of my system. But, I certainly would be open to them. Rocky Horror Show is a big favorite of mine.
I've not often been a man of many words. I've never considered myself to be overly articulate. I do feel more comfortable acting something out than I do explaining something or whatever.
I don't want to make a habit of just playing small roles, because I really enjoy the process of being part of a film and staying on it for the length of time that everybody else is as well.
There's something about the American sensibility that kind of hails people in the public eye. You have a star system. You have that kind of thing where you say, "Good on you for doing that."
The majority of people who join law enforcement are doing it for good, moral reasons, but then there are the few who get through, where you go, 'Whoa, hold on a second. What's this guy doing here?'
When you've had a relationship with anybody in your life and you both know what that relationship is, you don't have to do anything to prove to anybody that you've had that relationship. It just exists.
I had to put the word out to people that I didn't cost a fortune, and I was prepared to work at home. Because that's the assumption: "Well, he lives in America now, we can't afford him, we won't bother."
I don't really relate to certain blokey men who just want to talk about blokey things. I never really know what to say and I always feel I have to act blokey in order to have them not say, 'You're a weirdo.'
Every time you say yes to a film there's a certain percentage of your yes that has to do with the director, a certain percentage to do with the story, a certain percentage with the character, the location, etc.
If something doesn't come out of your mouth right, you've got to acknowledge the fact that you're trying to deliver an honest performance. If it doesn't' come out of your mouth correctly, then it's not going to work.
I used to work out in the gym a lot when I was younger. I was a competition body builder when I was 16 or something crazy like that for a short period of time. So, the gym is quite familiar and I know what I'm doing there.
I always think the really unfortunate thing about the Australian film industry is its lack of momentum. And I don't mean this in a derogatory way. I'm always wanting it to pick up momentum, and I'm wondering if that's even possible.
I can be completely indulgent and spend as many hours and days or weeks as I like on one thing. Writing music and sitting in my studio, just pottering with ideas, it's a lot more personal and creative for me, I don't feel restricted.
Choosing work is an interesting thing. It's a balance between what's available and what you've always got in the back of your mind - that awful, strange thing that seems to have to exist in this industry, of what will give you "exposure."
The reality is that we have all these awards and all these festivals that give out awards, so you sort of go, 'okay, well, people liked the film, and I think it's a good film, and it's up for an award - well, I guess it should win the award then.'
I don't understand the actor who plays the same role from movie to movie. Maybe it's because I worked on long-running television when I was in my teens, and so the idea of playing the same role just bores me intensely. I'd rather not do it at all.
I'm happy in a silent world - well, not a silent world but one that relies on - I'm in a pretty physical actor I suppose anyway, and I just don't - I don't struggle that idea of emotional expression just because there aren't words to explain yourself.
You never really know what the director has got in his mind as far as the scene visually and art direction wise, etc. Even if you do, sometimes there's a side of things that don't necessarily gel the way people intend. So there a bit of a mystical entity, film.
I feel I do my best work when it's all there on the page, and I feel that the character is very vivid as I read the script and I'm not having to create stuff and trying to cobble together something. If I have to do that, then I don't entirely trust what I'm doing.
A lot of action characters are a little bit too serious as well. They take themselves a bit too seriously, which I don't find particularly interesting, whereas I like the fact that there was at least some humor in this because really it's a piece of entertainment.
I always look at films as real stories with real people in real situations. That's why I struggle with the whole notion of calling someone the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy,' because I think we all have potential to do good things and all have the potential to do bad things.