WEBVTT - RACHEL GRIFFTHS - MADAM - CHANNEL NINE 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:01.680 It's in the news today, but it was actually on 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:05.240 TV Reload the podcast last week Their Life. Welcome back 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:07.360 to TV Reload. I want to thank you for clicking 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.959 and downloading on today's episode with Rachel Griffiths. I know 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:14.680 one of Australia's finest actors who is about to feature 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.799 in the scripted drama series Madam on Channel nine as 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:22.080 the protagonist but also as the producer. Rachel Griffiths, I'm 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.680 going to say, is one of my all time favorite actors, 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.160 not only in Australia but all around the world. And 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:29.639 I can tell you that I have loved her so 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.080 much that back in the day I used to mimic 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.879 the way that she spoke and would watch interviews of 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.440 her on YouTube over and over again. So you can 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.360 imagine how much fun I had today chatting with her 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:44.280 about this new series Madam. The story of Madam follows 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:47.560 an American character, Mackenzie otherwise known as Mack, who lives 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.440 a regular life in a small town of New Zealand 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.159 with her husband, Rob and their two sons. When mack 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:56.280 discovers that Rob has been seeing a sex worker, it 0:00:56.360 --> 0:01:00.720 comes as a confronting surprise, and rather than feel angry, 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:05.360 which is quite surprising. Mack feels unexpectedly inspired, so with 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.080 a wish and a prayer, she sets up her own 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.160 ethical brothel. I know, it's kind of wild. It's like 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.920 nothing that you've seen on TV before. Rachel Griffiths will 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.560 unpack the reasons why she chose this project and the 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.160 interesting learnings that came from telling a story about sex work. 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.240 We will chat about her relationship with the other actors, 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.479 including Danniel McCormack, who you will know as b Smith 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:31.039 from Wentworth. I find out about Rachel's experience on set 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.720 and how getting COVID nearly shut down production. You will 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:39.240 get everything from some amazing insights into the character Ronda 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.480 from Muriel's wedding, what she thinks about six feet under 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:45.240 his finale all of these years later, and what Rachel 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.040 thinks about the potential of a series two of Madam. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.560 There's actually a lot to unpack, and I'm telling you 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:55.040 we will get some fabulous inside revelations. So guys, sit 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.040 back and relax as we unpack the wonderful world of Madam, 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.440 which launches February fourth at nine pm on Channel nine 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:06.320 and nine. Now Hi, then Hi, Rachel, I was just 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.959 talking to our friend at Channel nine about my mild 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.919 obsession with you. So if I sound like I need 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:15.240 a Valium halfway through this chat because I'm a little 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:20.160 bit excited, I'll do it. Sorry the borders, Yeah, that's okay, 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:22.000 this is a podcast. We're all coming with you. 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.320 Oh no, I'm glad I didn't go in and put 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:27.359 you on mute and a p. 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.160 Well, it kind of might have been iconic. I end 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:32.400 up in the Daily Mail. 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.320 Had a pea. All right, I'm just sitting down there. 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.440 I go really going around the block. 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:42.200 This is kind of what I was infecting, though, do 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:43.480 you know what I mean? Like, this is the real 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:48.280 Rachel Griffith. I'm here to do the LORRYHD. I've just 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.040 been diagnosed with it. So look, I can tell you 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.240 all about ADHD. It's like the price. 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:56.240 No, I do have ADHD and I always have had. 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:02.120 And hey, welcome to the neuros fivety club. Perpetual chaots. 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:04.919 But don't you think that creatives It sort of works 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:06.840 so well. Like I think about all the work that 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.080 you have been able to achieve creatively, and I wonder 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:11.800 whether or not you would have been able to do 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:13.760 that if you didn't have the ADHD. It's kind of 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:15.640 who you should think, you know, when you win your 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:16.760 Oscar ADHD. 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:21.080 Definitely, I did find a place where you don't really 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:26.239 have to multitask. You go full focus and immersion and 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:30.000 then go down any rabbit hole like I'm sudden an 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:35.240 expert in skin rejuvenation for burn victims and you go 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:37.560 down that rabbit hole and it's like suddenly, I'll be 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:42.200 an expert in being a madam. So it is very 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:47.240 very suitable for those ADHD rabbit holes that find themselves, 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.760 you know, getting locked down those rabbit holes, and you 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.120 can say I'm working done, and I'm not going I'm 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:53.000 actually working. 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:55.320 I'm hyper focusing. You know. It's funny. I was on 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:57.800 Chapel Street once and you were You had someone pitching 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.200 a TV show on the table next to me, like 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.360 while I was having my lunch and I shouldn't have 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:04.800 been listening, but it was very fascinating because they were 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.560 approaching you about doing a story doing Telly Television back 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.880 in Australigy. I think you'd been wrapping Brothers and Sisters 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.080 around that time, and it was fascinating because I heard 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.040 you say to the man you're not quite ready to 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.039 go yet, but you've got a great idea. And I 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:20.719 remember thinking you were so honest with this person about 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:23.400 what he was approaching you for. And I realized today 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:26.360 talking to you signing up for something like Madam, what 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.360 was it about this project that made you go, Oh, 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:31.240 that's what I wanted. I want to hope a focus 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:32.480 on that interesting. 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:36.560 So yeah, no, I definitely met where I was at 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.159 in my life on kind of you know, for a 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.960 lot of reasons, I've been offered a lot of Madams 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:47.000 in my life, and the shows are usually creepy or pervy, 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:53.600 or about the dark exploitation of women's bodies while smultaneously 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:55.880 being pervy and creepy, if you know what I'm saying, 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:57.960 Like it's even worse because you're making it dark and 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.760 pretty and dirty, but you're also kind getting off on it. 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.960 And one of my favorite roles I've played was a 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:07.520 sex worker in A Honey's QURESHI adaptation of one of 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.599 his novellas, I'm called my Son a Fanatic, and it 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:15.440 was just such a beautiful human, not pervy, really really 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.960 about something trying of movie and every single matter m 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.680 I've been offered since it's just been pervy's and always 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:28.680 men showrunners and really circumspect, you know, And I guess 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:30.600 I grew up in a time when it was kind 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.560 of okay to have a twelve year old Jodie Foster 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:38.120 or a twelve year old Bookshield play child fastagues in 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:43.200 movies that were actually just fucking pervy as far and 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:47.520 would never be made now with particularly an underage actor 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.120 in a role. And even then, why would you so 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.120 when a movie and that, you know, when this came 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:55.400 along and I heard the background of a true story 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.840 like you know, kind of middle aged woman living in 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:02.400 rural New Zealand with a with the pound difical disabilities 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.960 buye with this new side hospital after realizing that sex 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.040 wort's the criminalize that she can open a brothl and 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:12.000 do it better than the skanky brothels that she's on 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:15.080 to visit. It just kind of really run through on 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.880 this kind of seminomics, effent i dot. This show actually 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:24.440 gets into the really smart part and dried seminomic of 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:28.000 when a woman, particularly a mother or any woman who's 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:32.799 both independent and trying to sustain herself and or family, 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.480 makes that decision like op at a job, how long, 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.120 you know, how long does it take to get there? 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:41.919 How long do I have to work for? And how 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.120 much money does it pay. She's you know, in a 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:46.920 place where it's an hour and a half to get 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.800 to a nursing home, where she's on minimum wage and 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.440 she can never do drop off and pick up or 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.440 do use design a life for this? And that's you know, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.600 every job I get is how long, how far? How much? 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.040 How long does it go for, how far from home 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.159 is it because you just have to leave home to 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:08.120 you know, to provide, and how much money? And that's 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.520 equation and then it's kind of how good is it? 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.640 So I really kind of loved the grounded nature of 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:18.240 that decision making process and found it really universal to 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:22.960 all women, especially with you know, cozy lives and everyone's 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.520 on a hustle and how much it's for childcare, and 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.120 it just kind of gave me a lot more respects 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.640 for a decision making process. It's actually a really practical, 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.040 kind of no brainer for a lot of women to 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.040 do this. They've been mas sisters or they've been working 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.040 in agekre and they're like, if I'm in agekre, I'm 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.480 wiping answers. I'm wiping shit, I'm wiping kiss, I'm cleaning 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.680 old people and dealing with crazy clients and this is 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:48.680 how much money I make or I'm kind of doing 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.119 and I'm being caring and you know, making them feel 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:53.760 good and they go, well, I could just see that 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.120 six hours a week and actually have a much less 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.880 stressful life and just just rewarding. Like many of the 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.480 that I spoke to, you know, one girl said, we 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.240 don't solve sex, we treat loneliness. And I thought that 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:07.280 was so interesting. 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.600 It's kind of poetic here. I mean, I think that 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.840 this show really works when it's because of the dynamics 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:16.640 amongst these women. And they are unusual women, they're different 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.440 in character. So when you see them come together to 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.360 solve something maybe as ridiculous as putting a boombox up your. 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.080 Bum bar, up the up the. 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:29.240 Bar, that's when the story really sings, because watching these 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:33.280 women come together and solve problems together is really powerful 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:38.720 and really funny and interesting and not slutty whatever that 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:40.280 word is, you know, not schmalming. 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:44.280 No, we've really taken this lot out of the sex worker. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.480 I mean, there's women are working hard, providing a really 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.280 satisfying service. And I think we do get a good 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:53.000 cross section of the type of people that the women 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.840 I spoke to. You know, there's one girl I spoke 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:58.520 to them like her top three clients are widow is 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:03.520 in their late sixties seventies, and they just actually really 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:08.360 really missed being kind of touched and hold and you know, 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.840 and looked at and told they're awesome and hot. And 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:14.880 I think when you go into the date your dating 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.439 market in the seventies, you know, it's really hard and 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:20.559 hard to get to that point where you just kind 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.400 of want your hair strokes or the three hairs left 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.280 on your head stroke and just have a young girl say, 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:29.640 how are you done? It's so good to see you, 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.520 and it just makes them feel good. And I spoke 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:36.360 to women, you know, some of their clients had physical disabilities, 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.880 some were you know, men in much larger bodies that also, 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.320 you know, found this threshold of finding intimacy, you know, 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:49.319 the normal way a bit more challenging, and just found 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:51.880 the kind of generosity of going to the sex worker 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:54.720 to see you know, just a lot a lot less 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.800 other mind field than negotiating that in other ways. So 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:00.880 that was like a really really interesting. 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.200 I loved my Life as Murder and I thought that 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:07.520 Shashana had done such an amazing job with that story. 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.560 Was working alongside the creative team behind that sort of 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.719 giving you the confidence to dive into this world, that 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.120 you could dive into this world in a way that 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.720 may be sort of similar to My life as Murder. 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:24.800 Parry McNaughty and Shoshana definitely, you know, they really wanted 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:29.720 this to be seen by women in the industry and 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.600 not go oh my god, like how many times And 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.920 they all said the same thing. Whenever we see it 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:39.080 represented as a joke. You know, it's disrespectful. It's not 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:42.360 like it is. They just don't get it. And I think, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.760 having you know, a queer and a female showrunner too, 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.040 it's that thing that you know when when we talk 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:53.120 about sex, we're always laughing, like it's really funny. And 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.280 when we have sex, you know that when we see 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.240 two dogs at the past, you know, we're like, oh 0:10:57.280 --> 0:10:59.679 my god, you know you're well, you're right, Well, I 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:01.800 think two dogs were at the puck ands or two 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.079 humans fucking in the park that did the same thing, 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:07.040 like oh god, put it away, Oh my god, and 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:11.200 the dogs start fucking laughing at the two people, you know, 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.160 dogging it in the park. They're probably like, oh please, 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.760 please come on, oh my god, and be laughing. But 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.960 so often when we see sex portrade, I think because 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.240 we're trying to get the audience's rocks off a little bit. 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:28.680 So there's that erotic and it's always hot, traditionally hot people, 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.800 not with a kind of inclusive body positive you know, 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.000 lens over it all. So I think that they were 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:40.480 both really rarely committed to the representation stuff. And then 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.720 I think what I brought was just the menopause of it. 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.960 I'm like, this chick is in perimenopause. She's fucking had 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:48.240 a gut pull. She's up to here, she's third yum 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.199 a testop thrown and it does two things. That makes 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:52.640 her cranky, gives her a rage and gives her the 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:57.839 energy to maybe have one more push of changing her 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:00.439 life to make it look like what she dream to 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.120 de beate. And she's a really educated woman. If you 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.360 have told that girl had just graduated from Berkeley, that 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.960 she'd be stuck in New Zealand with her husband, the 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.720 not necessarily pulling its ways, and she's got the mental 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.320 load and she's tired of it, and she's not a 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:20.120 famous author, probably doesn't even have a publisher, and life 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.240 just has not been full of the promise that this bright, young, 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:28.400 probably ADHD girl you know, was promised or told she 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.920 could have because she was smart and she's beautiful and 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:34.959 adventurous and spirited, but life had kind of other plans 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.320 to her. And you know, I don't know a family 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.280 with a child with special needs who isn't driving a 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:44.240 twenty five year old car and really really struggling to 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:49.000 have enough leftover after the you know, all the things 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.199 that are required to kind of have the joint sparkling 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:56.720 life joined sparkle as the last family holidays, because so 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.800 that can be very difficult. And it's just she's lost 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.880 in drudgery. So she's got this idea of this business 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.360 that might you know, be good for her family and 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:12.120 give her something make her days a bit more unpredictable 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.600 and fun and surprising, and you know, also give her 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:20.360 a workplace of really quirky, passionate women instead of being 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:21.680 alone and half bound. 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.280 You really want her to succeed, mac like as in 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.559 you just she's very relatable in lots of ways. I mean, 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:29.760 my favorite scene of the whole thing was when one 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:31.760 of the clients turns up and none of the other 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:33.440 women are there, and he says, come on, can you 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:35.920 just give me a hand job? And she goes no, 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.120 And you kind of did that Rachel Griffith thing where 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.520 you did that look into the sky as if to think, 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:43.520 why the fuck did that man just ask me that 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:45.280 and just kept walking. 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.200 Five second season, she'd probably go, all right, come on, 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.760 but I'm on Madam, so it's double I think by then, 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.760 I think those boundaries might break down a little bit. 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.920 Well, I'm up to episode five and I'm Daniel McCormack, 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.360 who is just so brilliant. I was obsessed with her. 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:04.280 Isn't she great in this as well? Like there's some 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.720 you know, she's very different from be that we saw 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:08.320 and went worth texis. 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:12.280 Fuck. Her body is like rock and so the thing 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.920 you want and I know this because I'm normally in 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.000 the supporting actor role, I know what you need to 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:23.200 bring to your lead actor is really you need an 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:27.760 a game person to grow bombs in the path to 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.360 your happiness, and the bomb have to land and they've 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:34.200 got to hurt, and you know that's kind of what 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:38.000 I think for deb on total control, and the better 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:41.560 the actor is in that supporting role, the more kind 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.360 of grateful the lead us, because thank you giving me 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:49.800 some like real shit to deal with. And Mac is 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.160 not really an alpha girl. She's a kind of girl 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:54.640 with some ideas and she's probably really out of a 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.880 debt even running a business. So when an actual apex 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:03.680 predator alpha girl comes in, like terrified. Fuck. These are 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:06.360 the girls that I didn't manage at school. These are 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.840 the kind of women in the mothers club that fucking 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.560 judge me, that terrify me, that I've never said the 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:13.680 right thing, to have never got the upper hand on. 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.040 And then I'm dealing with Daniel McCormack just growing shit 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:19.720 in my bed. 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.040 I just think she's so fantastic and the contrast of 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:26.040 your two characters is just delicious. I'm up to episode five, 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:27.720 so I can't wait to see I feel like she's 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.120 coming into the series a little bit more so I'm 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:32.400 looking for to that. I want anyone listening to this 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.480 podcast right now to really go into this show with 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.280 an open mind, because it is something we haven't really 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.320 seen before, and it is really delicious, and I think 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:43.720 you've got to sit down with your partners and watch it, 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.800 because it makes you want to have a conversation about 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.000 sex in a different way, and it makes you want 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:50.840 to talk about I don't know your body in a 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.800 different way. Something quite amazing about what this show does 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:54.400 to the viewer. 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.760 I think that's right. Look, I think we have folks 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.800 and women will go coosely bred ignite it, and I 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.240 think the straight men will be on the touch, going, well, 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.200 you actually just couldn't think about sex that way when 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:10.160 we're not around. Is that what it's like when we're 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.520 not there? Yeah, you know the girl on the couch 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:16.120 be like, oh no, darling, No, no, this is very no, 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.600 this must be this. Me and the girls would never 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:24.960 talk about our partners lie. But it is that just honey, Like, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.360 I think we see the funny and the absurd inness 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.760 that I think men might you know, straight men I 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:33.360 think might find a little wee bit shocking. 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.880 It's a peek into a world that they don't necessarily understand. 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.400 Like I was watching even the detail of you sitting 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.920 around a table full of cheesels and all this food, 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.200 and I was thinking about how straight men would even 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:46.560 not even think that women would be eating that kind 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:48.360 of food. Like, I know that that sounds like a 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.920 strange thing to say, but yeah, they don't see if. 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.680 They go to the bathroom and eat cheesel yes, they're 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.400 like what, no on the fantasy for them? 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.560 Right, Yeah, that's exactly right. And I think that that's 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:01.760 why I'm saying that partners should sit down and watch it, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.680 because I think men sitting there with their wives are 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.000 going to look at it very differently. And it's and 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.640 that's what TV, that's what contents should do, is make 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:11.520 us think and make us have conversation. 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.639 You know, well, I think the long term can the 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:20.040 long form televisions and really, you know, it's just got 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.600 the time to go off his and often it's when 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.439 you're not just hitting the story, be hit in the 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:30.840 slot beats where I think those really funny moments are 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:33.639 in the unexpected moments where the plot can just go 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.760 into a little rabbit hole of whatever. And I think 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:39.760 they're the kind of the least or eggs, the joy 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:40.840 bombs of the show. 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.440 I love that the way in which you approach characters 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:48.399 and the way that you explore your themes feel so real, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:50.719 and we're seeing more of that. I think in this 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.960 day and age, but you've been doing that for so long. 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.520 Like Ronda and Muriel's Wedding, you gave that person so 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:01.920 much reality that most of Australia thinks of Ronda as 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.320 a real person. You know, what is she doing now? 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:06.560 You know what I mean? Like that's the magic of 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.600 you and your commitment to the art. I guess look, 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:11.160 I think. 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:15.200 I just got really lucky that I came into the industry. 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.000 And even that was late. I think I was twenty 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.800 four twenty five maybe when I made Mereel's Wedding, and 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:26.000 literally up until that time, every single script, you know, 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.000 every audition I didn't get and it was still the 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:32.639 you know, she's beautiful but accessible, but you know it 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:36.800 was luminous and there was not a whole lot of 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.360 rooms for quirky girls. There was a bit of room 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:43.239 for the quirky men, I think in Australian cinema, but 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:45.760 not so much the girls. You know, like I remember 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.600 loving this side character Snowing Gallipoly, you know those kind 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:54.400 of there's always these quirky, funny men and even Ben Mendelssohn, 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.040 you know, you could you had your kind of leading men, 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.879 but you had these more character women, but we just 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.720 kind of didn't really have a history of our female characters, 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:07.239 you know, and very white and very same same and 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:11.320 very kind of, you know, middle class, and I just 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.840 didn't really think that role. I would find roles on 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.520 television particilarly, which was still very much network and there 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:23.080 was a networked type of beauty and a network like essibility. 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.600 And the girls that did well had that audience love them, 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.080 you know, and they were beautiful, but they were also 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:31.920 not intimidating kind of beauty, and I'm like, well, I'm 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.600 not that, So that was fine. I thought, I'll do Shakespeare, 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.080 I'll do I'll do the Cannon, I'll do modern Australian 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.800 plays and international plays. And then Muriels came along, and 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:46.600 that was the first time I thought I ever recognized 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.080 a character I knew, you know, in a urban, smart, 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:55.200 not neurotic, kind of can do fun girl who's also 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:59.280 you know, total wing wing man girl, you know, pick 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.560 you up when you down, take you out, and give 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.640 you a good time when you're brooding, laugh about shit 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:08.239 that happened instead of stewing on it. And they're you know, 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:10.640 I had girls like that in my circle. In fact, 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.760 one of the mine very much based under on who's Italian. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:18.080 And some people do occasionally ask me if Ronda was 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:22.119 Greek or Italian because there is this kind of like, really, 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.800 you know, there's just this like oldie vibe that is 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:29.639 a that kind of migrant, take no prisoners, work hard, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:31.080 play hard kind of girl. 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:33.479 Well, I went to donas Hi, and I think all 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:35.439 the girls that I went to school with were Ronda 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:36.760 lake Is in Donnie. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.080 High, the laugh of autpectation, right, and I kind of 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.560 show up sturdy, fucking reliable girl that's got your back 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:46.639 and isn't a bit Yeah, and growing up to me, 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:50.240 they were also the Italian freak. But yeah, occasionally they're like, 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.800 can I just ask you a weird question? Is Ronda 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:56.159 freak or with Ronder Italian? And I'm like, actually, it 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:58.719 was bad and they're like, oh, makes sense. I always 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:01.439 I always thought that. And then to kind of be 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:05.120 in such a juggernaut film in that kind of iconic 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:09.439