This month Rake returns to TV, along with its handsome actor Matt Day. He tells Matt Myers about the show’s popularity as well as taking on Hitchcock, working with Woody Allen, and being part of that Aussie classic Muriel’s Wedding!
On Rake, your character David Potter has gone from tax lawyer to MP, to leader of the NSW Labor Party. What’s in store for series four?
Complications ensue! All the characters have evolved in their various ways, or devolved in the case of a few. But mine has gone further. You’ll see a lot more of David’s personal life and there’s more conflict as he tries to lead the ‘moral life’, while also getting his own way – which is kind of the basis of Rake!
The ongoing cast of Rake is a who’s who of Australian actors. Did you have any idea the show would be so successful?
I had a pretty good inkling, given that Peter Duncan, who’s an old friend of mine, was writing it, and also that Richard Roxburgh was involved. It was never going to be anything less than interesting. The reason it attracts the cast that it does, with many coming on just to do one or two scenes, is all down to the quality of writing. It’s the great scripts that makes the show, and of course the acting too! But if you don’t have the words to work with, it’s a pointless exercise. As they say, you can’t polish a turd! Although I’ve been informed that you can roll it in glitter!
With productions like Jack Irish, Wentworth, Janet King, Molly and A Place To Call Home, do you think this is a golden age for Australian television production?
I think there is certainly more focus on television now than previously, and some of the prestige has shifted away from cinema. But I don’t think it’s a golden age to the extent of what we see in the US. There still isn’t the money or market-size to support that. But certainly working in television these days is so much more advanced. For instance, on Rake our directors all have feature film experience and there is no down side. Australian TV isn’t slumming it anymore and it’s no longer the poorer cousin.
What did you think of the US adaptation of Rake with Greg Kinnear?
I haven’t actually watched it! I haven’t been game to watch it, but they did only do one series.
Speaking of classics, tell us about working on Muriel’s Wedding.
Well, I’d known P.J. Hogan from my very first job on a kids’ show called The Bartons, which he and his wife Jocelyn Moorhouse wrote. Then years later I auditioned for the part of Brice Nobes in Muriel’s Wedding. I remember reading it and thinking “Wow! Who’s going to want to see a film about an overweight girl who loves ABBA and wants to get married?” As it turned out, everyone loved it, but at the time it seemed kind of strange and quirky. It was before that kind of genre had really broken, but it was kind of in the ether, with Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla. For me it was like a total week’s work, based around that beanbag scene, and PJ was very aware that it was going to be the central comedic spin in the film. I think, in many ways, Muriel’s Wedding is actually a dark film. To re-watch it, you see how dark it actually is.
Did you have any inclination that it would grow into something big?
None at all. I remember the day I got the job and I had to workshop a couple of scenes with Toni Collette. We did the beanbag scene and on the day PJ said the part was mine, and that’s the only time that’s ever happened to me! I was thrilled to get my first film, having only ever done TV. Be we had no idea it would become what it did, and I think there would be very few people who could foresee that a film would take off. There we no stars in it, and no indication that it would become so successful.
You also worked under the direction of Woody Allen on Scoop. That must have been pretty special.
He’s always been a hero of mine and I grew up watching his films. In fact the first audition I ever did, at St Martins Youth Theatre in Melbourne, needed a monologue and I memorized an album of his stand-up routine. So while all the other kids were doing Hamlet, I was talking about how “I ran into my ex-wife!” (laughing). So with Scoop, I had to read one line to camera in a London casting agency, and three weeks later I got told I had the part and was mailed my scenes! And it was such a thrill to be on set meeting Woody Allen himself.
From all the productions you’ve worked on, has one been particularly special?
I’d probably say two, with the first being Love and Other Catastrophes. We made that film in seventeen days on a budget of around $25, 000. It was around that time in the Nineties where indie theatre was really taking off, particularly in the States. You had films like Clerks and Sex, Lies and Videotape really turning heads. Love and Other Catastrophes was a part of all that and we got into the Venice Film Festival and then Sundance. We travelled the world with it and it just exploded. And I love the film too! The other one would be Shackleton with Kenneth Branagh, which was my first job in the UK. That was a two part series that we shot in Greenland and Iceland and was a real thrill.
The recent Melbourne Theatre Company production of North by Northwest, where you played the lead, Roger O. Thornhill, has been a huge success. Why do you think that is?
It’s a combination of things. It’s a great film and the challenge was to make it a great stage play. The thing was, how to reinterpret the film’s key iconic scenes onto the stage, and they gave it to the right director in Simon Phillips and Carolyn Burns who did the adaptation. It had the right combination of people working on it, and it turned out to be extremely entertaining.
Who are your best gay mates?
Mitchell Butel, who is a wonderful actor and director, is a good friend of mine and I have plenty of gay friends in the industry. But I should also mention that my uncle Crusader Hillis and his partner Roland Thomson opened the first gay bookstore in Melbourne, Hares & Hyenas!
If you were gay, who would you go for?
Daniel Craig is such a great Bond, it’s hard to go past him. And also a young Sean Connery!
Who is your diva?
I guess I’d say Patti Smith or Deborah Harry.
Our last Straight Mate Damian Walshe-Howling said the same!
Oh he’s a mate of mine, and obviously with good taste! I’ll add in PJ Harvey then.
This is our fashion issue. What’s your favourite ‘look’ to go out in?
My wife is really big on fashion and taught me to keep it simple and neat, but to also make an effort when walking out the door. Fashion should also hurt!
Has there been a particular role that’s involved a really great wardrobe?
Yes, North by Northwest and also My Brother Jack had some fantastic suits and there are some beautifully detailed suits in Rake. Sometimes I get to buy the wardrobe at a discounted price.
Are you a fitted-boxers, jocks or commando kinda guy?
I’ve just switched from loose boxers to fitted-boxers. For some reason I didn’t have any undies at work one day, and they lent me a pair of fitted-boxers and I decided they were the go.
What advice would you give to people wanting to enter the acting industry?
For younger actors I would say take it very seriously because when you’re young it’s easy to think that it’s just the way things roll. But maybe go to the UK, push yourself and get out of your comfort zone. Apply yourself to the craft and try to master it. That will make the difference from being a flash-in-the-pan to having a long and sustained career
Rake screens 8.30pm Thursdays on ABC1
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