Becoming a dad is “hugely exciting,” says David Wenham (in Sydney). “It’s going into the unknown.”
David Wenham may have hit the Hollywood big time, but it’s the small roles that keep the actor coming home
“Characters who are larger than life are the ones that I’m drawn towards,” says Wenham (right, in Gettin’ Square).
David Wenham is talking about clothes and shopping – for professional reasons, of course. To prepare for his role as a hilariously hopeless small-time criminal in the Surfers Paradise-filmed comedy
Gettin’ Square, “I went on very strange hunting expeditions to various op shops in bizarre Gold Coast suburbs,” says the smirking actor, relaxing on a Friday afternoon in an inner-city Sydney club. “Sure, the jeans I wear in the movie
may be women’s, but as soon as I painted them on me, I knew that they were totally perfect.”
Committing sartorial sins – let’s not even mention the mullet – for the sake of his art is part of the fun, even if it does render the scruffy sex symbol virtually unrecognisable to swooning fans of
SeaChange sweetie Diver Dan. “I feel strangely more comfortable playing characters that are most removed from myself,” says the fiercely private Wenham, 38. “I think it’s because the mask is thicker.”
Behind the mask, Wenham is preparing for a new role as first-time dad with his partner, Kate Agnew, a yoga instructor, who is due to give birth next week. “I’m looking forward to reading more children’s books. I just love them,” says the youngest of seven, who has had plenty of playtime practice with his “dozen or so” nieces and nephews. Professionally, “I think fatherhood will make him an even better actor,” says director and friend Jonathan Teplitzky, 44, reteaming with Wenham for
Gettin’ Square after
Better Than Sex (2000). “The sort of compassion and humanity that comes with being a parent will add another layer of depth to his work.”
One’s thing for sure, his growing family will heighten his homesickness. “I’ve been away more often than not over the past three years – being home now is great,” says Sydney-based Wenham. Time spent in New Zealand for his role as Faramir in
The Lord of the Rings trilogy “was truly like working in a family-type atmosphere,” he says. More recently, Wenham has worked in Prague and Los Angeles, playing Hugh Jackman’s comic sidekick for the 2004 Dracula blockbuster
Van Helsing. “I haven’t minded the travel up until now,” he says. “But being away from Kate has been hard.”
It’s a sacrifice he makes to fulfil a dream he’s had since he was a class clown growing up in Marrickville in Sydney’s inner-west. “I discovered at an early age that I loved pretending to be other people,” says the actor who first came to audience attention in
The Boys (1998). On leaving school, the mad Sydney Swans fan got a “real job” selling insurance for the NRMA. Six weeks later, he was accepted to study drama at the University of Western Sydney’s Nepean campus. “My mother thought I was a little bit foolish to leave my steady job,” says Wenham, son of retired school secretary Kath and clerical worker Bill.
“But I thought, ‘God, if I ever got to be part of the Nimrod [now Sydney’s Belvoir Street] Theatre company, that would be the ant’s pants ... I ticked that box and everything else has been a bloody good bonus.”
“Unlike a lot of performers, David’s not an extrovert,” says Teplitzky. “His sense of humour is much more a droll enjoyment of what’s going on around him.” Just don’t turn your back. “He’s a famous practical joker,” reckons his mate and
Van Helsing co-star Richard Roxburgh. “Once he changed my outgoing mobile-phone message to a mincing, ‘Hi-ho, this is Richard’s massage service and dating agency,’ and then changed my PIN so I couldn’t change it back. I’m still thinking of ways to get him back.”
While he does, Wenham keeps himself happy by “going to restaurants, going to the football and playing characters I love,” he says. “I’ve never had the hankering to become a huge star. Besides, the leading man isn’t always the best part.” And not nearly as much fun to shop for.
Gettin’ Square script writer Chris Nyst has a good nose for shady characters. He should, given his day job. The Gold Coast criminal lawyer (he’s defending Pauline Hanson) wrote his client Pauline Hanson. Square after his debut novel,
Cop This! He began by “jotting down little bits and pieces” of dialogue. “I’m sort of immersed in that world... and that [dialogue] pretty much comes from the sort of characters I meet during my work,” says the father of four. And Wenham’s delivery? “I’d seen Diver Dan and he didn’t leap out at me,” Nyst, 49, admits. “I was sceptical until the first day I heard him read for the part and he was just fantastic.”
From here.
