Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast part Deep Maline. Welcome back, guys
Speaker 1: to TV Reload. As you may know, my name is
Speaker 1: Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get all
Speaker 1: the inside goss on the popular TV shows you may
Speaker 1: be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets
Speaker 1: are a major part of our home entertainment, and yet
Speaker 1: very little is known about how our favorite shows get made.
Speaker 1: So each episode I find guests the wanna dive just
Speaker 1: that little bit deeper into the shows they're currently making,
Speaker 1: so that you can hear all their exclusive stories and
Speaker 1: gain access to the biggest names in Australian television. I
Speaker 1: want to thank you for downloading all subscribing to this
Speaker 1: podcast however you found it. I love hearing your feedback,
Speaker 1: so make sure you leave a review or a comment
Speaker 1: on your chosen podcast platform. On today's podcast, I have
Speaker 1: special guest Alex Williams, the actor tasked with the intimidating
Speaker 1: honor of playing Shane Warn in the mini series Warning.
Speaker 1: The two part series Warning will air over two nights
Speaker 1: on Sunday, the twenty fifth of June at seven pm
Speaker 1: and Monday, June twenty sixth that's seven thirty pm obviously
Speaker 1: on Channel nine. Nine to Now Warney looks back at
Speaker 1: the life and times of cricketing legend Shane Warn and
Speaker 1: I will say this is not just for cricket fans.
Speaker 1: Williams is no stranger to portraying real life personalities with
Speaker 1: his credits including the role of Julia Nassage in Underground
Speaker 1: and Perk Pennigilly in Never Tear Us Apart the Untold
Speaker 1: Story of Inexcess. I should probably address that there has
Speaker 1: been a lot of controversial opinions in the media this
Speaker 1: week and I did choose to not mention Simone or
Speaker 1: her children as I just didn't think it was fair
Speaker 1: on them or really Alex. I will talk to Alex
Speaker 1: though about his decision to take on this iconic role,
Speaker 1: and if this mini series is a little bit too soon,
Speaker 1: you will get a chance to hear how Alex created
Speaker 1: the essence of Shane Warn and how we would get
Speaker 1: into character. Alex will talk about his relationship with the
Speaker 1: sportsman and what he learned from playing this role. Plus
Speaker 1: we will get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes
Speaker 1: of Warning, including why audiences should give this series a go. Anyway,
Speaker 1: let's get Alex into the podcast and guys, I really
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed this. It's a very interesting episode of
Speaker 1: TV reload. Hey Alex, how are you, buddy? I'm good?
Speaker 2: Thanks, mate, how are you?
Speaker 1: I've watched the first two episodes, so I kind of
Speaker 1: feel like I'm talking to Warning a little bit.
Speaker 2: You've seen it all there, and you've seen it all.
Speaker 1: You know, the series has been so widely anticipated. Are
Speaker 1: you excited for audiences to finally see it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm really excited for people to see it. Sometimes
Speaker 3: the general fame of someone becomes sort of bigger than
Speaker 3: all the individual little things. But it's kind of cool
Speaker 3: to go back and see it and get a bit
Speaker 3: of nostalgia.
Speaker 1: Growing up. What was your relationship with Shane warn test?
Speaker 3: Cricket for me was sort of you know, the sound
Speaker 3: of summer really, you know, we would just sort of
Speaker 3: had the cricket on in the background, like a lot
Speaker 3: of Australian families, and you know, I sort of remember
Speaker 3: people kind of going one of my brothers or my
Speaker 3: dad sort of yelling out every now and again, you know,
Speaker 3: Warning's on, and then everyone had come in and watch
Speaker 3: those overs and then when he went off, everyone else
Speaker 3: went off and did whatever they.
Speaker 2: Were doing again.
Speaker 3: So that's kind of my first memory of Shane Warn
Speaker 3: as a cricketer primarily, well.
Speaker 1: For me, it was more. I went to Doncaster High
Speaker 1: in Melbourne and I remember there was three boys that
Speaker 1: had the haircut and that was not an accident.
Speaker 2: You know, they have the earring as well, or just the.
Speaker 1: Just the one in particular. And I'm hoping that he's
Speaker 1: listening to this podcast because he will know you think
Speaker 1: about him. But he literally it felt like he was
Speaker 1: coming to school in costume every day.
Speaker 2: That's interesting.
Speaker 1: I love that you what did you learn about him
Speaker 1: that you didn't know before shooting this series?
Speaker 2: You know, I learned a lot, to be honest. I
Speaker 2: knew him as a cricketer, and I know, you.
Speaker 3: Know, some of the indiscretions that had gone on throughout
Speaker 3: his career, but more of the sort of the intricacies
Speaker 3: of how it went down with Cricket Australia and you
Speaker 3: know more about.
Speaker 2: The pills he took as well, the diet pills, and.
Speaker 3: I kind of didn't know that much about those scandal
Speaker 3: you know, I kind of had seen because it sort
Speaker 3: of got splashed all over newspapers and such that the
Speaker 3: stuff about the women and the family and stuff like that,
Speaker 3: but not not as much about kind of you know,
Speaker 3: the year he took off. The funny thing is, as
Speaker 3: soon as I got down to Melbourne, and you know,
Speaker 3: people knew I was playing Shane. You know, I heard
Speaker 3: about it a hundred stories. You know, everyone in Melbourne
Speaker 3: seems to have a story, a Shane Warren story.
Speaker 2: So that was that was pretty fun.
Speaker 1: Did you ever meet him in the flesh? Did you
Speaker 1: see a game?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: What was the closest you ever got to an interaction?
Speaker 2: I didn't know. I never met him.
Speaker 3: It's funny, isn't that When you see someone all the
Speaker 3: time and he then on commentary, you know, such a
Speaker 3: fantastic broadcaster.
Speaker 2: That person's transported into your living room. You kind of
Speaker 2: feel like you know them in a way.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, you realize, Yeah, no, never met him,
Speaker 3: never even got close to meeting him.
Speaker 2: I don't think you.
Speaker 1: Mentioned something there because like wanting to get himself into
Speaker 1: a fair amount of trouble, you know, over the years,
Speaker 1: I mean, he's still had the world's admiration all the time.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that he was so popular even
Speaker 1: though he went through all of these scandals, the ups
Speaker 1: and downs. Do you think that maybe there's an underdog
Speaker 1: element that gave him mass appeal regardless.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say it's more like ownership.
Speaker 3: You know, he made mistakes, he made serially mistakes, but
Speaker 3: he owned them. He didn't shirk responsibility of his actions.
Speaker 2: He didn't try and hide away from it.
Speaker 3: He sort of came out and said, yep, I've done
Speaker 3: the wrong thing here, sorry, and then kind of, you know,
Speaker 3: you know, tried to move on from that, which you
Speaker 3: know is everyone in a way.
Speaker 2: You know, everyone makes mistakes and.
Speaker 3: You learn to apologize for them and try and become
Speaker 3: a better person.
Speaker 2: And I think that's, you know, that's what he spent
Speaker 2: his life doing.
Speaker 1: Did people ever say, you know, over your life, did
Speaker 1: you look like him?
Speaker 2: I think just because I had, you know, blonde hair,
Speaker 2: I had a mullet when I was a kid.
Speaker 3: I did get a bit of that, not not heaps,
Speaker 3: but like enough that it was kind of like when
Speaker 3: the audition came up, I definitely circled it.
Speaker 2: And when this is certainly achievable just on a look.
Speaker 1: I mean to take someone on as iconic as Warning,
Speaker 1: Did that feel like a lot of pressure? I mean,
Speaker 1: if someone said to me, can you play Warning, I'd
Speaker 1: say no. And it would be even if I look
Speaker 1: like him, I'd still say no because I'd be just
Speaker 1: so worried about the relationship that audiences already have with him.
Speaker 1: You know, what was your initial response to taking on
Speaker 1: someone as iconic as Shane Warn.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 3: I love challenges, and especially I didn't really get into
Speaker 3: acting to sort of shirt again, you know, sort of
Speaker 3: challenges you want to see how good you can be,
Speaker 3: and you want to see if you can make something work.
Speaker 2: And also so there was that, but also, you.
Speaker 3: Know, you kind of think given his competitive spirit, there's
Speaker 3: no way he would have.
Speaker 2: Turned it down, you know what I mean, Like it
Speaker 2: sort of had that.
Speaker 3: I had sort of that feeling about it, sort of
Speaker 3: a rise.
Speaker 2: To the challenge kind of feeling.
Speaker 3: And I also kind of, you know, I looked around
Speaker 3: and went, you know, if it's not me, it's you know,
Speaker 3: it'll be it'll be someone else. And I genuinely thought
Speaker 3: that I was the best person for the role. I
Speaker 3: thought I knew as much as anyone, if not more.
Speaker 3: Then my contemporaries, and I just kind of thought, Hey, look,
Speaker 3: if it's not me, it's going to be someone else,
Speaker 3: and I'd rather it was I'd rather it was me
Speaker 3: taking on the responsibility because I didn't take it lightly,
Speaker 3: you know, like he meant a lot to me growing up,
Speaker 3: and I wanted the show to be good and a
Speaker 3: celebration of him, so just kind of took it on.
Speaker 1: How closely did you want to take this characterization? There
Speaker 1: must have been conversations of, oh, you know, is this
Speaker 1: going to feel like an impersonation or you know what
Speaker 1: were those conversations, Like, you're not there.
Speaker 3: To do a character, sure, You're there to create a
Speaker 3: three dimensional person who has a moral compass and you know,
Speaker 3: makes mistakes and gets better.
Speaker 2: And or doesn't or keeps making mistakes, so.
Speaker 3: Whatever it is, you're there to sort of create, not
Speaker 3: just a few idiosyncrasies at a mullet. You're there to
Speaker 3: show a picture of, you know, a full human being.
Speaker 3: And look, I think there's some scenes in.
Speaker 2: The show that really highlight that.
Speaker 3: Working with someone like Marnie Kennedy was an absolute delight.
Speaker 3: She brought a lot to the show and was fantastic,
Speaker 3: So so you don't take it lightly, but it was
Speaker 3: a good experience.
Speaker 1: What about some of these techniques, because you hear about
Speaker 1: some very famous people like Nicole Kidman when she would
Speaker 1: put on the nose when she was Virginia Wolf that
Speaker 1: helped her get into character. Did you use any kind
Speaker 1: of techniques to all of a sudden become him when
Speaker 1: they said action?
Speaker 3: I mean, I use sort of phrases and lines to
Speaker 3: get into the voice and the energy of the character
Speaker 3: and physical kind of you know, resets to get more
Speaker 3: in his sort of gait than mine.
Speaker 2: But a lot of that work is your prep.
Speaker 3: You know, like I put on sort of seven or
Speaker 3: eight kilos just to sort of feel stronger and heavier throughout.
Speaker 2: The trunk and you know, just sort of look a
Speaker 2: bit more like him.
Speaker 3: And so I worked a lot with costume as well,
Speaker 3: sort of make sure that you know, in the periods
Speaker 3: that he was a bit bigger, and that.
Speaker 2: Was part of the plot.
Speaker 3: I looked a bit bigger, and we accentuated certain things
Speaker 3: and took things away. And then when he's skinnier and
Speaker 3: slimmer and tanned and all that kind of stuff, that
Speaker 3: we sort of did that, and then you've just got
Speaker 3: to let your performance and all the work you've done
Speaker 3: setting and just be in the moment.
Speaker 1: I just kept thinking the whole time through watching. I
Speaker 1: watched it all in one go, so I watched episode
Speaker 1: one and two. Very lucky to do it that way.
Speaker 1: But I was going to say, I just was like,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to talk to Alex about how good
Speaker 1: you were at cricket yourself. You know, how did you
Speaker 1: try and practice the spin? Did you get real cricketers
Speaker 1: to come in and try and get that authenticity?
Speaker 2: Yeah, how did you think it looked?
Speaker 1: I mean, you probably could pick this up for me,
Speaker 1: but I'm a Philly camp man and I don't watch
Speaker 1: a lot of sport. I'm just going to tell you
Speaker 1: right now that I don't know cricket that well. But
Speaker 1: for me, it seemed pretty good.
Speaker 2: That's good.
Speaker 3: Well, I think if you're if you're a cricketing savant,
Speaker 3: you'd pick up maybe a few things that I was
Speaker 3: doing wrong. But I worked really hard on that because
Speaker 3: you know, whenever I'm a big sports fan, and whenever
Speaker 3: I watch TV or films about a sport and you
Speaker 3: see someone that's just nowhere knew it, it can take
Speaker 3: you out of the world you kind of lose is
Speaker 3: that suspension of disbelief and it just bothers you, it
Speaker 3: nags you.
Speaker 2: And I knew I wasn't going to be able to do.
Speaker 3: It, you know, obviously exactly like Shane, because otherwise I'd
Speaker 3: be playing in the ashes coming up. But I worked
Speaker 3: really hard on that and it was really important to me,
Speaker 3: and I made that very clear to production that I wanted,
Speaker 3: you know, people to train me.
Speaker 2: I wanted professionals to train me.
Speaker 3: So I had Steve O'Keefe helped me up in Sydney,
Speaker 3: and then once it goes down to Melbourne, I had
Speaker 3: Bryce McGain who had trained with Shane and TJ for
Speaker 3: a long time and he was an invaluable resource. Like
Speaker 3: he just he was fantastic, not only with the cricket stuff.
Speaker 3: He really got me rowling well and on target, but
Speaker 3: the mentality that Shane would bring to the field, you know,
Speaker 3: which is quite aggressive, let's say.
Speaker 2: So it's just those little stories and that feeling.
Speaker 3: It's one thing to get that trigger action happening and
Speaker 3: coming out of the back of your hand in the
Speaker 3: right way, and you know, it's this disposition for this
Speaker 3: ball and this for this ball but then also have
Speaker 3: that thing of going at the top of his mark.
Speaker 3: He would just stare down the batsman. You know, these
Speaker 3: sort of little things that really pected the performance with
Speaker 3: what I thought was some authenticity.
Speaker 1: The one thing I feel like you're going to get
Speaker 1: asked a lot about making this particular show is do
Speaker 1: you think it's too soon? I think that's what most
Speaker 1: people seem to be talking about, because this went into
Speaker 1: productions that are six months after he passed away. How
Speaker 1: is all of that landing with you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, when I first read the script that Matt
Speaker 3: Ford had been writing for seven years, it's pretty clear
Speaker 3: to me that it's a celebration. It was clear to
Speaker 3: me at the time that it was a celebration of
Speaker 3: the man, and that's something that I wanted to celebrate.
Speaker 3: So I understand the sensitivities around it. But you know,
Speaker 3: different people process, you know, things at different rates and
Speaker 3: at different times. So I understand if people, you know,
Speaker 3: I don't want to watch for that for that reason.
Speaker 1: Well, it'll be interesting because I think it is going
Speaker 1: to rate. I think people will tune in to see
Speaker 1: it because he is a part of our history. You know,
Speaker 1: we started off this conversation about talking about how iconic
Speaker 1: he is, and you even mentioned learning along the way.
Speaker 1: What about audiences though, do you think audiences watching this
Speaker 1: is going to walk away learning new things about it
Speaker 1: worth them tuning to watch the show one?
Speaker 3: As much as you know people will think that they
Speaker 3: know everything about him, they don't, and they will learn something,
Speaker 3: you know, the longer they tune in for so you know,
Speaker 3: I'll look forward to that. They might bring up a
Speaker 3: few uncomfortable things, but that's that's that's life, that's drama.
Speaker 3: It would be it would be foolish to to change
Speaker 3: history as far as going, oh, well, no, he didn't
Speaker 3: do it, and just make it a really clean docco
Speaker 3: He was very open about what he you know, the
Speaker 3: mistakes he made, and he owned them.
Speaker 2: So I feel like it's a fair representation.
Speaker 1: Well, the success of this series for me was that
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed the highs. I really enjoyed those moments
Speaker 1: where he was picked to be on the team, And
Speaker 1: you know, it must have been kind of phenomenal in
Speaker 1: a weird way to vicariously live through this man and
Speaker 1: recreate those moments. How was that feeling where you are
Speaker 1: having to act and live through some of those really
Speaker 1: important highs that he had in his career.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a fun experience.
Speaker 3: I mean, like that first scene is one of my
Speaker 3: favorite scenes when he when when he gets picked for
Speaker 3: the squad in the first time and he sort of
Speaker 3: tells his family that you know, he's going, and then
Speaker 3: he just streams dad, you know, because obvious.
Speaker 2: Fantastic. Yeah, because I just had.
Speaker 3: That thing of going like someone's missing, you know, and
Speaker 3: just screaming dads sprinting out.
Speaker 2: Especially after the rejection of security.
Speaker 3: You know, he thought his dream was of being a
Speaker 3: professional sportsman was Oliver, you know, and his true love
Speaker 3: for AFL was over. And then you know that feeling
Speaker 3: of like getting off the team pass and everyone wanting
Speaker 3: your signature and yelling, you know, warning, warning him. I
Speaker 3: mean that's something that I will probably almost definitely never experience.
Speaker 1: So at the same time, though, recreating those moments, there
Speaker 1: must have been some satisfaction in that as well, just
Speaker 1: to even get as close to what it must have
Speaker 1: felt like to be hum in some of those moments.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: You know, it makes it easier as a performer when
Speaker 3: it is built like that and you're just responding quite,
Speaker 3: you know, naturally at the time. And the thing is,
Speaker 3: you know, there's a famous quote about him. I can't
Speaker 3: remember exactly. I'll probably butcher it. But Shane took to
Speaker 3: fame like a duckt toward it, you know, like some
Speaker 3: people find it very difficult.
Speaker 2: Being famous and notoriety.
Speaker 3: I don't think that that was his initial reaction to it.
Speaker 1: I want to know when you're watching this when it
Speaker 1: goes to air, will you be dressed as him? At
Speaker 1: home watching it with your friends and family. How are
Speaker 1: you planning on watching this show?
Speaker 3: I don't know yet, is the truth. My family will
Speaker 3: live in Hurts, so it won't it won't be with them. Look,
Speaker 3: I might have a couple of mates over and crack
Speaker 3: a few tins and watch it, and we'll we'll have
Speaker 3: to see it.
Speaker 1: I remember a friend of mine was playing someone. I
Speaker 1: don't want to say his name because you'll hate this,
Speaker 1: but I'm so nervous about recreating this person that he
Speaker 1: went for a very long run. So he was running
Speaker 1: the whole time it was playing on television, just because
Speaker 1: social media could be so brutal that he just didn't
Speaker 1: want to be on social media to see any kind
Speaker 1: of response. And the reason why I'm not mentioning him
Speaker 1: is because you know, the response to him was a
Speaker 1: little bit sort of up and down, and he shouldn't that.
Speaker 1: You know, he knew that going into it, that you can't,
Speaker 1: you know, win everyone over.
Speaker 2: It's an interesting thing.
Speaker 3: Like you know, when I did The Sun a long
Speaker 3: time ago, it's sort of it felt like that and I,
Speaker 3: you know, had some friends over and I was on
Speaker 3: Twitter and excited.
Speaker 2: And you know, you're right though, like this, this.
Speaker 3: Probably won't you know, it's a it's going to be
Speaker 3: a polarizing show potentially, so.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it probably won't be sitting on Twitter. I'll tell
Speaker 2: you that much.
Speaker 1: Free stay away from Also, I said this all the time.
Speaker 1: I think it's a good quote from Sandra Bullock. Never
Speaker 1: read the comments section ever. Right before you go. But
Speaker 1: the last question I want to ask is the same
Speaker 1: question I ask everyone who joins the pod, and that is,
Speaker 1: what is something from behind the scene, something that we
Speaker 1: won't see on the show, but kind of like a
Speaker 1: bit of a you know, behind the scene secret for
Speaker 1: you while you're making warning one.
Speaker 3: Weekend because we've shot for two weeks and you know
Speaker 3: you're doing these massive days and because basically in every
Speaker 3: scene and I just really don't have any time to
Speaker 3: practice cricket. And I knew that I had some massive,
Speaker 3: actual cricketing days coming up.
Speaker 2: So I asked Bryce if I could go, you know,
Speaker 2: do a.
Speaker 3: Net session with him, and he was like, yeah, I
Speaker 3: may just pop down to the MCG. I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: So I went and trained with him at the MCG.
Speaker 3: After he was commentating the Shield Cricket. I was sort
Speaker 3: of leaving afterwards, you know in the nets that he
Speaker 3: trained with with with Shane and TJ, which is prove
Speaker 3: really special moment.
Speaker 2: And then I was sort of leaving.
Speaker 3: And there was this Yeah, there was this lovely couple
Speaker 3: who are clearly on you know, on a holiday, and
Speaker 3: were you know, the mtgym and it's quiet, there's no
Speaker 3: one around.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a Sunday afternoon. There is no one around.
Speaker 3: Except this this couple, young couple, and they were in
Speaker 3: front of the statue of Shane warn and she was
Speaker 3: taking a photo of him and I sort of was
Speaker 3: walking past them and you know, wearing a hat and stuff.
Speaker 3: But you know, it was like, you guys want me
Speaker 3: to take a photo of the two of you, you know,
Speaker 3: in front of the statues.
Speaker 2: I just sit there and took a photo of this.
Speaker 3: Young couple you know, who clearly loved Shane Warn in
Speaker 3: front of his statue, and I just felt like it
Speaker 3: was a really nice moment.
Speaker 1: Did they know? Did they know that it was you?
Speaker 2: No? Absolutely, I had no idea. No, why would they? Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I hope that this plant past gets out to a
Speaker 1: wider audience so that those people work it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Maybe.
Speaker 1: Well. I just want to say thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your generosity with talking about this, and I hope
Speaker 1: people absorb it. And for those people that don't, you know,
Speaker 1: you can't win them all.
Speaker 3: Thanks mate, I appreciate I appreciate you watching the whole
Speaker 3: thing and and uh and and and saying such naze things.
Speaker 1: Enjoy chatting to the media about this, you know, and
Speaker 1: and enjoy this experience. I think it's a fan it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's a once in a life from opportunity
Speaker 1: to play a role. So you know, it's a bit
Speaker 1: in time for you.
Speaker 2: Thanks mate, I appreciate it.