We were frightened of him after 'The Boys', we laughed at him in 'Gettin' Square', we admired the cut of his jib in 'Lord of the Rings' and we just wanted to be him in 'Seachange'. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr David Wenham.
ANDREW DENTON: Welcome. Breathe in, breathe out. People will be surprised to know that this is not a natural thing for you to come on interview shows, that you're nervous.
DAVID WENHAM: I am. I'm extremely nervous. It's not something I'm comfortable with. I'd rather have a mask on.
ANDREW DENTON: What we're going to do, just to relax you, is strip that mask away tonight.
DAVID WENHAM: So I'm nude.
ANDREW DENTON: We're going to go down into your soul so no part of you is unrevealed in public. Do you feel better now?
DAVID WENHAM: Yes, much more comfortable.
ANDREW DENTON: Good, excellent. Look, let's start with you at school, Lewisham Christian Brothers, where the teachers would give you the chance to do a little gig in front of the class because you were a performer. What sort of stuff did you do?
DAVID WENHAM: Oh goodness. I used to like impersonating people, except please don't go there. But I used to impersonate people like Harry Butler, before that Gough Whitlam, when I was a seven year old at school.
ANDREW DENTON: A seven year old, impersonating Gough Whitlam?
DAVID WENHAM: Gough Whitlam, yes, a very odd impersonation.
ANDREW DENTON: Can you do an impersonation of you impersonating Gough Whitlam at age seven?
DAVID WENHAM: Oh my goodness, that would be a bit difficult.
ANDREW DENTON: "Well, may we say...
DAVID WENHAM: Yes.
ANDREW DENTON: ...God save the Queen."
DAVID WENHAM: "Because nothing, because nothing will save the Governor General." But that was - yes, I must have had a very deep voice at the age of seven.
ANDREW DENTON: You also had ventriloquism skills. Is that right?
DAVID WENHAM: I wouldn't say skills. I had a ventriloquist doll that I got given as a Christmas present when I was very, very young, and I bought a book on how to do ventriloquism.
ANDREW DENTON: Yes.
DAVID WENHAM: And as I say, I wasn't very good. I was also given the opportunity at school to take my doll, along with the school band, on gigs around the place, but I also used to take a friend of mine, Tynan Dwyer, who used to stand off stage with a microphone and actually give the doll's voice.
ANDREW DENTON: Oh really?
DAVID WENHAM: So, you know, I let this secret out of the bag.
ANDREW DENTON: Yes, the world's worst ventriloquist.
DAVID WENHAM: But, truly, have you ever seen a good ventriloquist? I was thinking about it before, and you're always aware of the fact that that person's mouth is actually, you know...
ANDREW DENTON: That is true.
DAVID WENHAM: Doing it.
ANDREW DENTON: You were the seventh of seven kids, with five sisters amongst that lot. What kind of an influence did that have you, having to fight for space in that scrum?
DAVID WENHAM: My parents had always informed visitors who came round to our place for lunch or dinner that it was going to always be a very noisy experience because there'd be cross conversations going all the time. My bed, for quite a few years, was at the base of our dining room table, which I loved and I thought it was really cool that I didn't have a bedroom. My bedroom was actually the dining room and I used to roll out of bed in the morning to set the table ready for breakfast.
ANDREW DENTON: And you got all the good food obviously, you were first there.
DAVID WENHAM: I was first there.
ANDREW DENTON: You didn't really have anyone in your family with a theatrical background. Did your parents, when you decided that acting was the thing for you, did they support this? Did they nourish that?
DAVID WENHAM: Very much so, yes, very much so. Both my parents were extremely supportive. My father did extraordinary things, looking back on it now. Once he knew that it was something that I did have an incredible passion for, he would do things like, the University of New South Wales would have a book sale every two years and my father would take public transport out there and buy cardboard boxes worth of books and bring them back on drama and plays and film and it was a terrific thing. My presents for Christmas and birthday were subscriptions to the theatre, so I grew up watching plays on stage and it was a magical world and I knew it was something I wanted to be involved in.
ANDREW DENTON: And as your parents themselves got introduced to the world of theatre, I mean your early productions at Theatre Nepean where you studied, what was their reaction to seeing you do it?
DAVID WENHAM: Sometimes surprise. There was one particular play I was involved in. It was a Berkoff play called East, and it was about, you know, I shaved my head and had my ear pierced and this was 20 years ago. I was coming home from rehearsal and I'd just arrived in Central Station. I was on a bus going back to Marrickville, where I was staying with my parents at the time, and my parents got on the same bus going back towards the house at Marrickville and they didn't recognise me and were horrified when they actually saw what I'd done to myself, all in the name of art.
ANDREW DENTON: It's amazing to me, you came from a happy family, not dysfunctional, you didn't actually go to NIDA. What on earth made you think you could make it as an actor?
DAVID WENHAM: Well, the thing is, I didn't.
ANDREW DENTON: Before you started to make it in acting, after leaving Theatre Nepean, that's not easy, that in-between phase where you're trying to make a living. One of the things you did was try to hustle lawn bowls?
DAVID WENHAM: Yes, I did. I was...
ANDREW DENTON: Pretty fast stuff there.
DAVID WENHAM: Yes, that's right. Yes, I did that in conjunction with calling bingo. I thought this was a way to really make money, I did. A friend of mine, Bill Mather, who was a colleague of mine at Theatre Nepean, we did become quite proficient at lawn bowls and I must say...
ANDREW DENTON: Yes.
DAVID WENHAM: I did bowl in the State Championships here in New South Wales and did quite well.
ANDREW DENTON: Is that right?
DAVID WENHAM: But we didn't earn much money but I did win many chooks and meat trays throughout New South Wales.
ANDREW DENTON: Man cannot live by chops alone, and there we are. You have something in common with Russell Crowe. He, too, was a bingo caller.
DAVID WENHAM: Was he really?
ANDREW DENTON: Yes. I mean, you've never heard a sexier all the twos, 22, than Russell Crowe's.
DAVID WENHAM: Oh yes.
ANDREW DENTON: Can you give us a burst? I just want to compare.
DAVID WENHAM: Well the thing about the bingo that I called, we weren't allowed to do the rhyming slang that accompanied most bingo because...
ANDREW DENTON: Why not?
DAVID WENHAM: We were very professional where I called bingo, and they took it very, very seriously.
ANDREW DENTON: Oh I see.
DAVID WENHAM: Yes, so it was more along the lines of seven, seven only. 13, one, three, you know?
ANDREW DENTON: But, see, I get the...
DAVID WENHAM: Thrilling.
ANDREW DENTON: Chills just hearing you say that. There's an intensity to it, which you bring to everything you do.
DAVID WENHAM: Thank you.
ANDREW DENTON: And, quite seriously, I want to talk about that intensity because where you first came to public prominence after 'The Boys', first of all on stage and then the feature film, and I can honestly say it is, in my opinion, one of the great performances in Australian cinema and the most violent performance I've ever seen from someone who wasn't actually being violent. For those that didn't see it, or for those who would like to be chilled by remembering, here's a sample.
(FOOTAGE SHOWN)
ANDREW DENTON: The other actors and the director said that on the set they actually found you, in character, to be quite frightening. Were you aware of that?
DAVID WENHAM: There was one particular instance where I couldn't help but be aware of it. Toni Colette asked to - well, she didn't ask, she just left the set. She couldn't bear to look at me anymore.
ANDREW DENTON: How do you generate that bad energy because it's manifest?
DAVID WENHAM: It's a process, when characters are quite far removed from yourself. I'd take myself through an inner monologue, if you like, I talk to myself as the character, and I keep doing so, so much that I can actually feel that I can respond as that character in any particular circumstances that I'm thrown into. So even if you took that character out of the situation that we were filming at the time and threw him somewhere totally different, I'd be able to respond accordingly. So I suppose it's just - in a way it's a meditation to get yourself into the mind-set.
ANDREW DENTON: That's a very dark meditation for Brett Sprague. Do you take any of that home? Or can you just wash it away?
DAVID WENHAM: I try not to. I try, whether it be filming or doing theatre, to, as I hang the costume up in the dressing room, to leave the character there. Sometimes, and particularly with this particular character, it's stuck to you for periods of time.
ANDREW DENTON: That's interesting when you say bits stuck to you. Can you explain that?
DAVID WENHAM: It's not something that I'd be conscious of, but it would be something that people who'd be with me in social situations would be conscious of, whether it be an overuse of language, slightly violent, aggressive behaviour that was not relevant in the circumstances.
ANDREW DENTON: Stubbing cigarettes out in people's faces, things like that?
DAVID WENHAM: For example - not.
ANDREW DENTON: Yes. Of course, the polar opposite to that role, I'm sure a lot of people in this audience, particularly women, know you for is Diver Dan in Seachange. Oh, I've already heard the oohs. Let's see a little bit of Diver Dan.
(FOOTAGE SHOWN)
ANDREW DENTON: It's still great to watch. When Seachange went through the roof, you were actually overseas shooting a movie so you came...
DAVID WENHAM: Yes.
ANDREW DENTON: Back to discover that women all over Australia were going, "Ahhh." What was that like?
DAVID WENHAM: Very odd. Yes, very, very odd. Yes, had no idea. None of us, I don't think, had any idea as to the extent of the popularity of that show.
ANDREW DENTON: Were you aware of a certain, to use the word 'energy', coming at you from women as you met them?
DAVID WENHAM: Slightly. A little bit of energy. A little bit of energy.
ANDREW DENTON: Oh, come on, if I were...
DAVID WENHAM: Yes.
ANDREW DENTON: If I suddenly became a sex symbol I'd be like...
DAVID WENHAM: No. No, I think my fan base, I think, is like, well, at the moment it's like ten-year-old boys, from Lord of the Rings, and older women.
ANDREW DENTON: The thing about you is that with Seachange, there you were suddenly this sex symbol, this charming leading man and you could have stayed doing that, you... I'm sure you got plenty of offers, am I right, to do roles of that ilk?
DAVID WENHAM: A few, yes.
ANDREW DENTON: A few. But in some ways you went completely the other way. It was a few years later, but your role as Spit in 'Gettin' Square' was memorable for many reasons and very, very different to Diver Dan. Here's a piece.
(FOOTAGE SHOWN)
ANDREW DENTON: It's very funny.
DAVID WENHAM: Yes. Sex symbol?
ANDREW DENTON: Sex symbol. You're not afraid to play ugly, are you?
DAVID WENHAM: I feel far more comfortable in that guise than I do as the leading man, far more.
ANDREW DENTON: How do you create him? Where do you piece that together from?
DAVID WENHAM: For me, there, wardrobe was my key. Once again I was blessed with a terrific script and the first time I read the script I could see the character and I could hear the character. The rhythms of the character were very apparent on the page to me.
ANDREW DENTON: Those jeans, that could have taken you two or three days at a time to get into and out of them.
DAVID WENHAM: I stayed in them the whole shoot. It was like once they were on, they weren't coming off.
ANDREW DENTON: You also, as part of the character, you studied junkies up at Kings Cross. Is that right?
DAVID WENHAM: I live near the Cross so it's not too far to walk up there and I did spend quite a bit of time just sitting there and watching and observing such wonderful behaviour. It's something I enjoy doing. It's not a task. I like watching people, not just for jobs, it's something I enjoy.
ANDREW DENTON: I'm interested in that, well what it's like to sit there and, in a way, in a very benign way, to pickpocket bits of people's lives?
DAVID WENHAM: Funny you should say that because a little while ago I was walking along Darlinghurst Road and a guy came up to me and accused me of stealing his identity for this particular film, which I thought was an extraordinary thing to say.
ANDREW DENTON: The reason you've come back to Australia only for a brief visit, and it's to talk about a production which will feature on the ABC shortly, which is a co-production, ABC and Canadian Broadcasting, called 'Answered by Fire', and I know this project means a great deal to you. You play the role of an Australian police officer who goes to East Timor as part of the referendum before they vote for independence. It's a very powerful drama. I'm going to show two bits. This, first of all is - this doesn't feature David, but it gives you some sense of the tension that lies within it.
(FOOTAGE SHOWN)
ANDREW DENTON: It was an unusual cast and a lot of the cast were East Timorese and they had no acting experience at all, but they had, many of them, lived through this very situation that you're re-enacting. What kind of atmosphere did that create on the set?
DAVID WENHAM: A very delicate atmosphere. Everybody involved in the production, the rest of the cast, and, as you say, the majority of the cast were East Timorese who had no acting experience, but the rest of the cast and all the crew were very much aware of the history of the cast members, who were, essentially, recreating their history. I don't think that there was any of the East Timorese cast who, if they hadn't lost somebody within their family, they certainly knew of people who had and so we were dealing with very sensitive, delicate and raw emotions with the other cast members.
ANDREW DENTON: We have one of them here tonight, the young man that you just saw with the gun held to his head, Alex Tilman. Alex, welcome.
ALEX TILMAN: Thank you.
ANDREW DENTON: That scene, for you, reflected some things that happened to your family. Your father was a Fretlin fighter. Is that correct?
ALEX TILMAN: Yes, he was. He was up in the mountains, running away from the military, when Indonesia invaded, and then after a few years in the mountains he came back to town and a few months later he was arrested and disappeared without a trace until today, so we don't know where he is.
ANDREW DENTON: I want to show one more clip from 'Answered by Fire' now, which features David.
(FOOTAGE SHOWN)
ANDREW DENTON: You were working with people who came from this experience, and even though you'd followed this story from a distance, what did you learn from them?
DAVID WENHAM: You can't help but come away in that situation with incredible respect and admiration for their resilience, their courage, their strength and their great - the wonderful human spirit that comes out against horrendous adversity. I also must say as well, and from another point of view, from an acting point of view, I actually learnt quite a bit.
ANDREW DENTON: Yes?
DAVID WENHAM: Some of the performances, as you know, because I know you've seen it, are truly magnificent and these are from people who have never acted before. I think what I learnt is something that I always try to do as an actor myself, but often forget, and it's something that's so simple but so difficult to achieve. That is to listen to the other actor, but to really listen and to really think about what they're saying before you respond. It seems such a simple thing to do, but very few actors actually really do it. Most of the East Timorese cast put into practice that very simple philosophy and, from it, really beautiful and complex performances came out.
ANDREW DENTON: You're great at make believe, that's your job as an actor. You've got a little girl, Eliza Jane, are you good at make believe with her?
DAVID WENHAM: I am, yes. Yes, we have a ritual every night, as I think most people do, we read stories, but we also have, after we read stories, we have make up stories every night. She'll ask for two, maybe three make up stories every night.
ANDREW DENTON: That can be surprisingly challenging for a parent.
DAVID WENHAM: It can, because she'll give the subjects of the...
ANDREW DENTON: Oh really?
DAVID WENHAM: And they can be so left of field and she obviously wants the story instantly so...
ANDREW DENTON: Yes.
DAVID WENHAM: I have to cobble together stories that can include broken butterfly wings and sandcastles and fairies but...
ANDREW DENTON: Yes.
DAVID WENHAM: Then a very bizarre thing will be thrown in as well, like a tractor, and so I think, "Okay, off we go."
ANDREW DENTON: Do you fall back on old techniques? Do you do it in the guise of Brett Sprague from 'The Boys' for instance?
DAVID WENHAM: Not yet. Not yet.
ANDREW DENTON: "Now sleep well, darling."
DAVID WENHAM: Yes.
ANDREW DENTON: David, I really appreciate you coming in. Please thank David Wenham and Alex Tilman.
From here.
