David Wenham makes his much anticipated return to television. He tells Sue Yeap how important it is for him to continue to work in his homeland.
It's a weekday afternoon in Los Angeles and David Wenham is pressing the flesh and walking and talking. "I'm just here as they say in LA 'doing some meetings' I pop over every now and again fora few weeks," he explains over his mobile phone.
"In a minute I'm just about to get into an elevator. No, maybe I'll take the stairs and there will be less chance of dropping out. Maybe I'll wait till I get right down the bottom of the stairs. The lengths we go to.
"OK, now we can begin."
With someone else doing the driving, Wenham is free to chat about his return to television in the mini-series Answered by Fire, set in East Timor in 1999. He hasn't been seen on the small screen since starring in the Murray Whelan telemovies Stiff and The Brush Off in 2004. Wenham became a reluctant heart-throb in 1998 after starring as Diver Dan in the ABC's acclaimed SeaChange. He has gone on to international success in films such as Van Helsing and, of course, playing Faramir in the final two instalments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But Wenham's eclectic resume remains heavily weighted towards Australian projects, including last year's films Three Dollars and The Proposition.
He feels no need to base himself in the US permanently and is often accompanied on his travels by his partner, yoga teacher Kate Agnew, and their two-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane.
"It is still my home, I do at least half or more of my work there," says Wenham of Australia. "It is quite important that I am involved in the Australian industry and tell Australian stories ђbecause that's who I am and that'-what I know and that's what I want to see on our screens, very much.
"I don't wish for an homogenisation of our culture." When Answered by Fire director Jessica Hobbs approaches Wenham to read the script, he was interested in the project immediately. Inspired by true events, it dramatises the lead-up to, and aftermath of, East Timor 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia.
"I was incredibly touched by it, moved by it, it was a part of Australia's history that wasn't unfamiliar to me," he says. "Not just Australia's history but East Timor's history and Australia's involvement in it. "She asked if I'd like to play Mark and I instantly said yes." Wenham plays Mark Waldman, an Australian Federal Police officer who volunteers for the United Nations mission to East Timor to oversee the referendum.
The unarmed, impartial volunteers must ensure as many East Timorese are registered to vote as possible while also trying to keep the peace between the ruling Indonesians and locals. Amid escalating tension and threats from the militia, Waldman asked for peacekeepers to be sent in ahead of the vote. His pleas fall on deaf ears, leading to tragic consequences. Wenham had become aware of the plight of the East Timorese after seeing a documentary about Indonesia's occupation some years ago.
"I became a member of an organisation called the Australian East Timor Association and through that organisation I gained as much information as I possibly could; so I was aware of the events of the time covered in the series," he says.
There are several traits Wenham hopes he shares with Mark Waldman, whose experiences were inspired by those of real life former AFP officer David Savage. Savage's book Dancing with the Devil provided much of the source material for the mini-series and he acted as its story consultant. "Hopefully, a sense of justice, a determination," says Wenham. "Those two things are pretty strong characteristics and, hopefully, I possess them to a certain extent."
The mini-series was shot in Queensland but the painstaking attention to detail had many of the East Timorese cast believing they were in their homeland.
Wenham found it to be an emotional experience working with East Timorese actors such as Alex Tilman, who plays UN translator Ismenio Soares. Tilman's real life has many parallels to that of his character and he had worked with Savage.
"You can't help but have the most incredible amount of respect for these people, not only had all of them endured horrific histories themselves but they were willing to put on screen events that affected all their lives," says Wenham.
"They were incredibly courageous. It was inspiring in a word, I suppose, being around them. That's not to say there wasn't great humour on the set as well. That's something that really did interest me. These people, I suppose they had accepted with incredible humility everything that had happened to them.
"That's not to say there wasn't the most phenomenal inner strength within all of them because of what they had been through."
Wenham usually finds it easy to switch off after playing a role but Answered by Fire was slightly different.
"I'm good at leaving the character at work but in terms of leaving this particular job, obviously, I became quite close to a lot of the cast members," he says.
"And to hear their personal stories, that was what was difficult to shut off at the end of the day because some of those stories were very horrific and some of them extremely touching. You can't turn off from those things. They will always stay with you and I feel honoured I could hear those stories."
Wenham says he looks for quality scripts, the pedigree of the production and personal challenges when assessing whether to take on a role.
"I look for something that is extremely well written, I look for a character that intrigues me for whatever reason, I look for something that quite possibly is a challenge. I do look for things I have never done before. I don't like traipsing over the same terrain again."
Wenham has completed work on the big screen adaptation of Sin City creator Frank Miller's graphic novel 300, which won't be released until next year. But he can't say what he'll be doing next.
"My next move, I honestly don't know," he says.
"What I am really looking forward to doing is coming back and being in a screening of Answered by Fire with the East Timorese cast and community. That's something I am really looking forward to doing. It's a story I don't think you can watch and not be touched or affected or moved by it. And ultimately to feel quite happy at the conclusion. Ultimately, it's a celebration for people who did achieve their independence, self-determination against incredible odds."
Answered by Fire starts on the ABC tomorrow at 8.30pm, concluding the following Sunday. It will be repeated on May 27 and June 3 at, 10.20pm.
