Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload.
Speaker 2: The podcast Past Deep Aline. Welcome back guys to TV Reload.
Speaker 2: As you may know, my name is Benjamin Norris and
Speaker 2: this is your podcast to get all the inside goss
Speaker 2: all the popular TV shows you may be watching from
Speaker 2: around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are still a
Speaker 2: major part of our home entertainment, and yet very little
Speaker 2: is note about how our favorite shows get made. So
Speaker 2: each week I've been finding guests the wanna dive just
Speaker 2: that little bit deeper into the shows they're currently making
Speaker 2: so that you can hear all their exclusive stories and
Speaker 2: gain access to the biggest names in Australian television. I
Speaker 2: want to thank you for downloading or subscribing to this
Speaker 2: podcast however you found it. I love hearing your feedback,
Speaker 2: so make sure you leave a review or a comment
Speaker 2: on your chosen podcast platform. This chat, I'm joined by
Speaker 2: Australian actor Lochlan Buchanan, who is currently in the smash
Speaker 2: hit series well Mania, which is now available on Netflix Australia.
Speaker 2: Lockie takes on the role of actress comedians Celeste Barber's
Speaker 2: brother and he is actually very funny in this series,
Speaker 2: which has actually been out for a few weeks now
Speaker 2: and has been ranking extremely high across Netflix around the world.
Speaker 2: Well Mania is an Australian comedy drama streaming television series
Speaker 2: co created by Bridget Delaney and Benjamin Law for Netflix.
Speaker 2: The series is based on Delaney's memoir Repertoire Hybrid Wellmania
Speaker 2: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness, and it follows live
Speaker 2: herely Celes Barber, a thirty nine year old woman who
Speaker 2: struggles with a major health crisis as she tries various
Speaker 2: methods to reclaim her wellbeing. I will talk to Locke
Speaker 2: about his life in Los Angeles and how he has
Speaker 2: survived for fourteen years trying to crack the biz. Lockie
Speaker 2: will also explain if the show was scripted or if
Speaker 2: they had to improvise a lot of the comedy. We
Speaker 2: will talk about gay culture in television and film, and
Speaker 2: why he thinks this show offers an alternative to some
Speaker 2: of the stereotypes that we've seen over the years. Plus,
Speaker 2: we will get plenty of exclusives from behind the scenes
Speaker 2: of Wellmania, which you can now binge the whole thing
Speaker 2: on Netflix. Anyway, let's bring Lockie into the podcast and
Speaker 2: I really hope you enjoy this chat.
Speaker 3: Hi Lockie, how are you?
Speaker 1: Hi? Good? Thanks man, how are you.
Speaker 2: The worst part of ever talking to anyone I've worked
Speaker 2: out in my real life is ever saying hello to
Speaker 2: someone or saying goodbye, Like I have no authentic way
Speaker 2: of doing it.
Speaker 3: This is like my two hundred.
Speaker 2: And fiftieth podcast, And I still when I say to
Speaker 2: say when I go to say hello, I'm like, hello,
Speaker 2: I'm right there with you.
Speaker 4: I'm as awkward as they come, like I And then goodbye.
Speaker 4: It's like that, and then the weird handshake thing happens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's story of my life. So I hear you
Speaker 1: know it's.
Speaker 2: Really weird as well as like when I leave parties,
Speaker 2: I don't say goodbye to anyone.
Speaker 3: I do a runner and it's so it's so rude,
Speaker 3: Like who does that to.
Speaker 2: People have invited you to their house, You're having a
Speaker 2: great time and all you're out with them socializing and
Speaker 2: then you don't even say goodbye to them, and you
Speaker 2: think in your mind at the time, that's better than
Speaker 2: actually going up and having to depart from them properly.
Speaker 1: Do you know what I'm so with you on that.
Speaker 4: I think It depends on the situation, because sometimes it
Speaker 4: can be there are too many people to say goodbye to,
Speaker 4: and it's like I'm going to spend the next thirty
Speaker 4: minutes saying goodbye to people, or I can just duck
Speaker 4: out now, and like are they really going to notice?
Speaker 4: I have this one friend, though, who and I think
Speaker 4: what I've discovered is that he tracks me on his phone,
Speaker 4: like my location and so because within five minutes of
Speaker 4: just disappearing out of a party, I'll get a message
Speaker 4: but you left, like what how does he? How does
Speaker 4: he notice this stuff? But it depends like there's sometimes
Speaker 4: where I'm like, oh that was that was probably a
Speaker 4: bit rude, like genius, a bit a bit rude, and
Speaker 4: then there's other times where I'm like, I'm fine with it.
Speaker 1: So I think it depends. So don't don't be too
Speaker 1: hard with yourself.
Speaker 2: People love to make you feel better and say no,
Speaker 2: stay stay. I don't think they want you to stay either.
Speaker 2: They just am like they're being polite, no you can't go,
Speaker 2: And I hate having to be like, well, you know now,
Speaker 2: I'm looking for some bad reason to leave when actual fact,
Speaker 2: it's as simple as this, I'm done. I'm done, You're
Speaker 2: just done?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, and then to flip it around though, are
Speaker 4: you then the person that when someone says they leave
Speaker 4: and you go okay.
Speaker 3: I say get out. I say get out. I don't
Speaker 3: want to see you anymore. I'm so weird.
Speaker 2: Even with these pasts, I get so excited about talking
Speaker 2: to people, but it's like food for me, and I
Speaker 2: get so excited about doing the podcast, but then as
Speaker 2: soon as it's done, I just push the plate away
Speaker 2: like I never want to see it again. And like
Speaker 2: with these people, they'll then try and stay friends with
Speaker 2: you afterwards. You know, they'll chat to you on Instagram
Speaker 2: forever or do.
Speaker 3: You want to catch up for coffee? And I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: I don't ever want to see you again.
Speaker 1: We already talk like.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's how I feel about most of my
Speaker 4: friends after I hang out with them, like okay, we're
Speaker 4: gone for a while, right.
Speaker 3: But it's also because I get so like I'm I'm not.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: When it comes to being in a podcast, I get
Speaker 2: the license to ask all the questions that you want
Speaker 2: to know, like from these people, and then to sort
Speaker 2: of move from that stage of being able to ask
Speaker 2: all those questions to being social where it's actually kind
Speaker 2: of really intrusive to say, you know, you just one
Speaker 2: Master Chef and you've won two hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
Speaker 2: how are you going to spend it? Like I can
Speaker 2: ask that in a podcast, right, but socially no.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a different thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with you, all I want to talk to you
Speaker 2: about is how do you look this good?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: You are one of the best looking men I've ever
Speaker 2: seen in my entire life. When I was going to
Speaker 2: do this podcast, I looked at your Instagram and I
Speaker 2: basically felt like shutting my Instagram down.
Speaker 3: I was like, I can't throw my face anyway.
Speaker 1: Oh so it must be early there. You must have
Speaker 1: sleeping your eyes still or something.
Speaker 3: No, this is the end of day. I know who
Speaker 3: you are.
Speaker 2: But when the interview came across my desk, I then
Speaker 2: went to the Instagram as the first point of call,
Speaker 2: and I just was like, wow, and I feel like
Speaker 2: this is on brand. It's not me being creepy because
Speaker 2: you know we're talking about the show.
Speaker 1: Wellness, Well, thank you, that's really kind.
Speaker 4: You've made my day. I'm in LA at the moment.
Speaker 4: So it's Monday, afternoon. I was the week's already. This
Speaker 4: is the high point in the week already, so it's
Speaker 4: downhill from here.
Speaker 2: How are you going in Los Angeles? Because I went
Speaker 2: there in two thousand and seven and I have had
Speaker 2: the best time while I was there, and people would
Speaker 2: come from Australia over to see me, and I worked
Speaker 2: out that not a lot of other Rossies loved Los Angeles,
Speaker 2: where I've had a great time, Like, I've really seem
Speaker 2: to find quite easy for me.
Speaker 3: What about yourself, Yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 4: It's you either love it or you hate it. I
Speaker 4: think there's kind of very few reasons to be in between.
Speaker 4: I'm used to it because I've been here for about
Speaker 4: fourteen years now and I just got back a week ago.
Speaker 1: I was in Australia for a while. It's like a
Speaker 1: home for me. But I love getting out of here.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of things about it that I love.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of things about it that I kind
Speaker 4: of hate. But it's weird because it's one of those
Speaker 4: cities where everything happens here in the world first, and
Speaker 4: so that can get a little bit addictive sometimes, and
Speaker 4: I think that's what some people can really love about it.
Speaker 1: But you've just got to remind yourself.
Speaker 4: And as time goes on, you realize more and more
Speaker 4: that's that's not the real world, and that it's not
Speaker 4: how all things go. So yeah, it's good to escape.
Speaker 4: But I'm very happy here. I'm very happy to leave
Speaker 4: here now.
Speaker 2: I had a great time, and I just recommended a
Speaker 2: fellow journalist to go and have ale. Well, he was
Speaker 2: already going there, and I said, look, these are the
Speaker 2: things you've got to do. Run run in canyon every day,
Speaker 2: go to the grove, to the farmers market, get the sushi,
Speaker 2: keep your head on, you know, don't get sort of
Speaker 2: lure it into traps, keep socializing, keep meeting new people,
Speaker 2: and you know, have like a whole schematic. And he's
Speaker 2: there at the moment. He just thinks it's the best
Speaker 2: thing in the world. He's like, Ben, you're so right.
Speaker 2: Los Angeles is the bomb.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because there is, because there's everything at your fingertips,
Speaker 4: and so that's just it's so easy. And it's funny
Speaker 4: when I go back to Australia and you know, even Sydney,
Speaker 4: and Sydney you know it's an international city, but you know,
Speaker 4: everything's fairly easy. But LA is just a different kind
Speaker 4: of easy where there's just everything's there and it's just
Speaker 4: so simple, and you kind of get used to that,
Speaker 4: and then you can kind of confront you when you
Speaker 4: go home or look up from the Sunshine Coast originally
Speaker 4: and it can spect Oh everything closes at five pm?
Speaker 1: Got it? Okay? So yeah, it's a bit of fun,
Speaker 1: but it's great.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like there's a lot of cool people, people from everywhere,
Speaker 4: and I have to say the last few years, like
Speaker 4: the food and drink scene is off the hook.
Speaker 1: It's really good.
Speaker 2: How do you stand out in a place though, where
Speaker 2: all of the gay men over there look like they've
Speaker 2: been carefully molded out of clay? I mean, you also
Speaker 2: have a body like that, but you know, how do
Speaker 2: you stand out like? Because that was the one thing
Speaker 2: I found while I was there was that I felt
Speaker 2: like I sort of just looked nothing like what the
Speaker 2: gay men look like on the scene.
Speaker 1: Well again, I thank you, but be loud and have
Speaker 1: an Australian accent. I guess I don't know.
Speaker 4: Here's the thing, though, so many of them are too
Speaker 4: worried about what they look like themselves that they're not
Speaker 4: really noticing anybody else.
Speaker 3: So there's also that they're just looking in the mirror.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much, pretty much.
Speaker 4: That's the funny thing is because you know so many
Speaker 4: people here, models, actors and influencers. Everybody's too worried about
Speaker 4: themselves that they don't care.
Speaker 1: What you're doing.
Speaker 2: What's the best advice that you have for actors wanting
Speaker 2: to move from Australia to America, Because you know, there
Speaker 2: was that blitz for a while, like there was the
Speaker 2: Heath Ledger time where you know, all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: it's just seemed so possible with you know, the Hamsworth's
Speaker 2: going over there as well. But like for you, what
Speaker 2: is your best advice for austraands wanting to go over there?
Speaker 4: Well, it's very different now than it was when I
Speaker 4: moved here. I think you've got technology and COVID and
Speaker 4: all these things to sort of blame for that. You
Speaker 4: don't have to be here anymore if you want to
Speaker 4: work in America. No, that sounds weird, but you can.
Speaker 4: You can audition from other places. So I don't think
Speaker 4: people need to have that feeling of like, oh I'm
Speaker 4: going to do it, I have to move to la
Speaker 4: That's not necessarily the case, which is great for a
Speaker 4: lot of people, and it's really handy sometimes, like I
Speaker 4: can be in different cities and still audition for things
Speaker 4: or do meetings. If it's something that you really really
Speaker 4: want to do and that's just your dream is to
Speaker 4: just be here, I mean, go for it. My biggest
Speaker 4: piece of advice they would be to work in Australia,
Speaker 4: your home country, as much as you can first, just
Speaker 4: so that you're kind of coming in at it'll only
Speaker 4: make life easier for you in so many different ways,
Speaker 4: whether that's getting other jobs or even a visa. You know,
Speaker 4: So just take him in it and make sure that
Speaker 4: you haven't exhausted kind of the options that are available
Speaker 4: to you there, because it's also a much bigger pond,
Speaker 4: and if you're in Australia, there's not as many people obviously,
Speaker 4: so chances are better, odds are better, and there's so
Speaker 4: much work heading down there now with the rise of
Speaker 4: all the streaming services and stuff, there's more work than ever.
Speaker 1: But there's so much that film's down.
Speaker 4: There, that there's a ton of great stuff going on
Speaker 4: down there. And one of the mistakes that I think
Speaker 4: some people make is that they'll go to La straight away,
Speaker 4: thinking that they're being clever and bypassing, you know, the homeland.
Speaker 4: But it's it's not going to do you any favors
Speaker 4: because that's what a lot of people do, and there's
Speaker 4: it's just it makes it so much tougher for you.
Speaker 4: But you know, like not to disparage anyone from their dreams.
Speaker 1: It's more just a tip. I guess it.
Speaker 2: Looks good in the first interview if they're you know,
Speaker 2: being nominated from an Academy award, They're like, you know,
Speaker 2: I wasn't on neighbors in home and away in Australia.
Speaker 2: I just came straight here. I guess that's their ego talking,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like they'd love to be
Speaker 2: able to say that. But the truth of the matter
Speaker 2: is we do have a lot of vehicles in Australia
Speaker 2: and also now that are great training and great stomping ground.
Speaker 3: And you know, I wonder whether or not.
Speaker 2: A lot of actors these days feel the allure of
Speaker 2: going over to America as you know, for the work,
Speaker 2: because the work is getting richer, you know, that is
Speaker 2: being here in Australia.
Speaker 1: Yeah, less and less.
Speaker 4: I think people are wanting to come over here or
Speaker 4: feel like they have to. A lot of friends in
Speaker 4: Australia who are actors used to want to be over here,
Speaker 4: or they'd sort of go back and forth, and now
Speaker 4: they're just like, no, I'm staying around and living my
Speaker 4: best life here because I can do all the same
Speaker 4: stuff from here. I mean right now, auditions are still
Speaker 4: all self tapes or by a zoom even if you're
Speaker 4: in LA. So unless you're working, there's not really much
Speaker 4: point to be here if that's what you're wanting to
Speaker 4: be here for.
Speaker 2: You know, one question I love asking people that you
Speaker 2: know expats living over there is what's your best LA story?
Speaker 2: I feel like everyone has a really unusual story where
Speaker 2: they're like, you know, going to pump some gas and
Speaker 2: Brad Pitt comes over and you know they've forgotten wallet
Speaker 2: and he pays for their petrol. I don't know, there's
Speaker 2: just always some really bizarre things that you know, really
Speaker 2: could only ever happen in that city.
Speaker 4: Yeah, daily, I mean, it's it is bizarre. It's where
Speaker 4: everybody is, and so you never know who you're going
Speaker 4: to run into or what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: It's it's really strange. I'm trying to think of some
Speaker 1: like g rated ones.
Speaker 3: But like I tell us the non ger rated ones.
Speaker 4: A few parties where you see some interesting things happen
Speaker 4: and it's like okay, and you have to remind yourtuff
Speaker 4: like what is my life?
Speaker 1: Like what is going on here? But no, there's you know,
Speaker 1: there's always the fun things.
Speaker 4: Like my older sister came and visited a few years ago,
Speaker 4: and you know, people always want to see famous people
Speaker 4: and I was like, well, the best way to do
Speaker 4: it is just live your daily life and go to
Speaker 4: the supermarket.
Speaker 1: Like you're not going to see them on the star
Speaker 1: tours or on Hollywood Bulevard or any that.
Speaker 4: So we were just going to the gym one day
Speaker 4: and we're taking the elevator up from the parking garage
Speaker 4: like you know, five floors or whatever it was up
Speaker 4: to the gym and we get in and then this
Speaker 4: couple gets in and we've just been talking about how
Speaker 4: it was the first time in LA and she's like,
Speaker 4: I want to see celebrities, and Emily Blunt and John
Speaker 4: Krasinski walk in the elevator and they're just standing there too.
Speaker 4: I'm kind of like, cool, Okay, she's going to love this,
Speaker 4: This is great, this is a good one. We go
Speaker 4: up a couple like, I just assume she'd see there's
Speaker 4: two other people in the elevator.
Speaker 1: You think she noticed.
Speaker 4: We go up two floors, it opens, they get out,
Speaker 4: doors closed, and went, well, there you go.
Speaker 1: You got a good one there. She's like, what are
Speaker 1: you talking about? And it's like the two people that
Speaker 1: just got in the elevator. She's like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I'm such an idiot. Ah so dumb. A couple of
Speaker 1: missed that. Blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: The doors opened back up and she's standing there shaking
Speaker 4: her head, going god, and they hop back in and
Speaker 4: they go sorry and hop back in.
Speaker 1: I'm like, no worries. We go up again, doors open,
Speaker 1: we all get out, haven't I stare? Are you too cool?
Speaker 1: You're going to go? We got your second chance. She's like,
Speaker 1: what do you mean. I'm like, oh my god, she's
Speaker 1: had no idea, just missed it twice. So I was.
Speaker 2: Probably looking for, like, you know, old school, big Hollywood actors.
Speaker 2: She wanted Julia Roberts, which you know, the funny thing
Speaker 2: is when you see a lot of these big A listers, though,
Speaker 2: I find friends of mine don't notice them because they.
Speaker 3: Don't really look like how they look on television. They
Speaker 3: usually look smaller. They usually look smaller, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: Like, so you can just be like, ah, the best
Speaker 2: one to do is Runyan Canyon. If people came with me,
Speaker 2: I would take them to runy In Canyon because you
Speaker 2: would always see people like I had a friend come
Speaker 2: over and we saw Ellen with Porsche. One day, my
Speaker 2: partner and I were back in Los Angeles not that
Speaker 2: long ago, and awkwardly, what's her name?
Speaker 3: Who's the woman who?
Speaker 2: She's like an activist for the me too movement and
Speaker 2: she was in like the first screen movie.
Speaker 1: Oh, nev Campbell? No, I mean or Corney Cox.
Speaker 2: No, she's kind of she was like one of the
Speaker 2: b part characters. She paid Tatum in the movie. But
Speaker 2: I can't think of it anyway. She had had some
Speaker 2: work done that made her look quite different. And so
Speaker 2: I said to my partner do you know who that is?
Speaker 2: And he was like no, And I was like, we
Speaker 2: sort of the roads on Runyan Canyon can split, but
Speaker 2: then they come back together. So as we split, I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, this is this actress and he was like, oh,
Speaker 2: did she have a car accident? Is that why her face.
Speaker 3: Looks like that? And the roads had come back together.
Speaker 2: This is probably good that I haven't mentioned her name
Speaker 2: and the roads came back together, and we were still
Speaker 2: talking about whether or not she'd had a car accident,
Speaker 2: and that's why her face looked like that while using
Speaker 2: her name, and she was less than a meter away
Speaker 2: from us.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's so awkward. Hopefully she just couldn't hear for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, she looked a few people. She looked at you. Okay,
Speaker 1: well there you go. You can't come back for a minute.
Speaker 3: Look at that anyway.
Speaker 2: People be like, shut the hell up, and you know,
Speaker 2: we want to hear more about well Mania. I want
Speaker 2: to ask you, how did this show come about for you?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's brilliant, it's so amazing, It is
Speaker 2: so funny, and everyone in it is firing on all cannons.
Speaker 4: First of all, it's been so exciting the response to it,
Speaker 4: Like people have just really fallen in love with it,
Speaker 4: and it's been pretty overwhelming. We weren't expecting it to
Speaker 4: be such a hit. Really, it's really cool. The pretty
Speaker 4: normal story for me, I was shooting another show over
Speaker 4: here and I just got set an audition from my
Speaker 4: Aussie agent to do a tape, threw that down. Two
Speaker 4: months get a call from then go hey, they want
Speaker 4: you to chemistry to Celeste Barber and I was like,
Speaker 4: oh that isn't did the motions and did that and
Speaker 4: it was wonderful and then I got the job. But
Speaker 4: like I first, when I read the script, I loved it.
Speaker 4: It was one of those jobs that, oh, this is
Speaker 4: so funny and has so much heart and it's such
Speaker 4: a beautiful story, like cool, would love to be a
Speaker 4: part of it, but you know, you just always wait
Speaker 4: and wait and see. And then when it actually came around,
Speaker 4: I was thrilled because it was a this job that
Speaker 4: sounded so cool and I was really wanting to do
Speaker 4: and then be working back in Australia again for the
Speaker 4: first time in like fifteen years.
Speaker 2: So I'll stoke tell me about that chemistry test with Celeste,
Speaker 2: because I think, you know, the chemistry between the two
Speaker 2: of you is palpable, Like it actually is so believable
Speaker 2: that the two of you are related, even though you
Speaker 2: don't really look that much alike. How did that chemistry
Speaker 2: test go down? Because you must have both nailed it
Speaker 2: or they must just there must be something in the
Speaker 2: minutia between the two of you.
Speaker 4: I mean, she's so she's awesome, Like she's just so easy.
Speaker 4: She's one of these people that you could just talk
Speaker 4: too straight away. And I think that, Well, I have
Speaker 4: a sister who's the exact same age as her, and
Speaker 4: we have a really similar relationship that's just sort of
Speaker 4: back and forth and joking around and so that kind
Speaker 4: of and you know, she's got hers that she's really
Speaker 4: close with and they kind of have that jokey sort
Speaker 4: of vibe. And I think we very quickly figured out
Speaker 4: that we both have that, and it just kind of
Speaker 4: works like it was via zoom. The chemistry read so
Speaker 4: that's always weird and awkward, but meeting for the first
Speaker 4: time in person, it was just a big love fest.
Speaker 4: And then the whole way through filming it was it
Speaker 4: was a blast and it was just easy. It just
Speaker 4: felt so real, like you don't have to force it,
Speaker 4: it's just there.
Speaker 2: Do you get to go to her comedy shows for
Speaker 2: free for the rest of your life? Like, are you
Speaker 2: is there some nepotism there through your character association?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 4: I went and saw her show in Chicago. Actually the
Speaker 4: fine thanks to her when she was over in the
Speaker 4: States and I had a few options of places to
Speaker 4: see it, but I sort of part lived in Chicago
Speaker 4: as well, and so I went and saw it there
Speaker 4: and she got us in and I was I wanted
Speaker 4: to support by the tickets, but.
Speaker 1: She was like, that'd be STRAPID just take it, okay.
Speaker 2: You know it was with this show the thing that
Speaker 2: I can thinking about was the bouncing back between the
Speaker 2: two of you was so realistic. Were you reading a
Speaker 2: word for word off the scripts or was there a
Speaker 2: lot of improvised moments that were happening between the two
Speaker 2: of you.
Speaker 1: It was both.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean you had the writing was fantastic on
Speaker 4: this show, so there was a lot of it that
Speaker 4: was there, and then it just made it really easy
Speaker 4: for us to build on. So some of the scenes
Speaker 4: definitely we've just kept going and they kept filming and
Speaker 4: added things, or we'd go, oh, let's make this a
Speaker 4: little stupid, or once to sort of figured out each
Speaker 4: other's kind of vibe and quirks. It was like, oh cool,
Speaker 4: I know what I can say to you and get
Speaker 4: away with and what I can do to you and
Speaker 4: get away with. And she's someone who's so quick on
Speaker 4: her feet as well that she'll just do things without
Speaker 4: even telling you, which is really fun. Then to play
Speaker 4: off like that's just candy for an actor to go
Speaker 4: like awesome, Like I can just feed off what you're doing,
Speaker 4: and we could just keep doing things back and forth.
Speaker 4: So we had a lot of fun, and with all
Speaker 4: of us really we'd just sort of add things whenever
Speaker 4: we could, with being as respectful as you could to
Speaker 4: the writers. But yeah, it's always fun to improve a bit.
Speaker 2: Did you spend a lot of time with the writers?
Speaker 2: I mean, how much do they know really your personalities?
Speaker 2: The writing book is amazing. Benjamin Law and Bridget Delaney
Speaker 2: just geniuses. But I wonder how wonderful if they spend
Speaker 2: a bit of time with you before writing the scripts
Speaker 2: or like how did that sort of come to?
Speaker 3: How did that all come together?
Speaker 4: No, by the time, well, look, Celeste was sitting with
Speaker 4: it for a lot longer than us, and she was
Speaker 4: developing it. So definitely her character, the relationships, she was
Speaker 4: definitely very privy to and spent a lot of time
Speaker 4: with the writers. For me, I came in like I
Speaker 4: had to finish shooting something, so I came into the
Speaker 4: show a week before we started filming and then kind
Speaker 4: of got to meet everybody in person and they just
Speaker 4: go from there. But the way the character was written,
Speaker 4: it wasn't too big of a leap for me because
Speaker 4: there was so much that was so true to me
Speaker 4: that I was like, oh my god, this is great.
Speaker 4: Now I just get to play with things and have fun.
Speaker 4: And then there'd be times where I'd say, hey, could
Speaker 4: maybe can we do this? Maybe like this will just
Speaker 4: work better I think for the character or me, and
Speaker 4: we'll just see what happens. And they were so great
Speaker 4: and open to allowing us to make those changes in additions,
Speaker 4: so I know some of the others spent a bit
Speaker 4: more time because they were there and were able to
Speaker 4: but thankfully it worked out pretty well. But I'm looking
Speaker 4: forward to, you know, fingers Cross the season two where
Speaker 4: we could get into that even more and learn more
Speaker 4: about each other.
Speaker 2: Do we not know if there's a season two? I mean,
Speaker 2: come on, I mean this show. For anyone that's not
Speaker 2: aware of this, the ranking for it on Netflix around
Speaker 2: the world is mind blowing because it's got Australian actors
Speaker 2: made here in Australia, but it is on the so
Speaker 2: high up on the rankings around the world on Netflix
Speaker 2: because here in Australia I think it was number two.
Speaker 2: It was sort of floated around that space. But even
Speaker 2: globally it was in the top ten charts the whole
Speaker 2: time that it was being released, which I mean, that's
Speaker 2: a money making TV show, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm not in the decision room, but I'm hoping
Speaker 4: so again, yeah, we were blown away with the response
Speaker 4: to it. We hoped that it would just at least
Speaker 4: do well in Australia and New Zealand, and then it
Speaker 4: just sort of picked up from there is everywhere and
Speaker 4: it's just constantly, just constantly getting people just falling in
Speaker 4: love with it and wanting more and more and more.
Speaker 4: I mean it's only been three weeks I think since
Speaker 4: it came out, so they have a bit of time
Speaker 4: that they'll just you know, cross alytes, not all the
Speaker 4: eyes and just see and yeah, hopefully hopefully we'll have
Speaker 4: some good news sometimes.
Speaker 2: So people are loving it as well. Like if I
Speaker 2: was reading the comments internationally, you know, it wasn't that
Speaker 2: people were like, oh wow, like Australia's a freak show
Speaker 2: and they were talking about it being Australian centric. They
Speaker 2: were talking about it on a relatable level, like this
Speaker 2: series could be said anywhere in the world, which I
Speaker 2: think is quite amazing because for so long in Australia
Speaker 2: we had to be like, well, this is an Australian
Speaker 2: movie where we're all Australian and this is what it's
Speaker 2: like here, and here's a kangaroo, and you know some
Speaker 2: of our tourist attractions, you know, it all had to
Speaker 2: sort of be built into it, where for me, this
Speaker 2: feels like a very colloquial story where yes, it is
Speaker 2: said in Australia and that I guess he is a
Speaker 2: little bit important, But these characters could be anywhere in
Speaker 2: the world. These are real people.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you noticed that and then you feel that.
Speaker 4: And that's one of the things that I was not
Speaker 4: concerned but curious about while we were doing it, because
Speaker 4: you know, most things that have ever done in Australia,
Speaker 4: they don't go further than in Australia because it's such
Speaker 4: a set thing. But yeah, I think just a lot
Speaker 4: of the issues in it and storylines, we're just so
Speaker 4: relatable to people everywhere. Everyone can relate to these kinds
Speaker 4: of things. And the fact that it's just that in
Speaker 4: Australia just gives it this kind of sweet, innocent kind
Speaker 4: of vibe. And it's a different view of Australia than
Speaker 4: what you normally do get, you know, like you don't
Speaker 4: have the Harbor Bridge in every shot and kangaroos bouncing
Speaker 4: around and spiders and snakes and all of that. Like
Speaker 4: it's very obviously Australian, but it's for everybody. That's one
Speaker 4: of the big struggles, you know, is accessibility, and I
Speaker 4: think it's a very accessible show. A lot of people
Speaker 4: don't even speak English watching it with subtitles and going,
Speaker 4: oh my god, I love this. I can relate to
Speaker 4: your character so much or you know your mum's character
Speaker 4: so much or whatever.
Speaker 1: So I'm so happy that it worked out that way,
Speaker 1: that we pulled it off well.
Speaker 2: Your storylines are so well written, and even most as
Speaker 2: a gay man, I found myself being seen in a
Speaker 2: really good way. Like I'm like, oh wow. And I think,
Speaker 2: you know, for years, there's been you know, like a
Speaker 2: slow progression of gay characters creeping on screen, you know,
Speaker 2: into sitcoms with like Will and Grace, like twenty years ago.
Speaker 2: But again that was kind of very stereotypical, and I
Speaker 2: have you know, I've stopped sort of saying, oh wow,
Speaker 2: there's a gay person on television to seeing this series
Speaker 2: and thinking to myself, I'm actually learning. What I'm trying
Speaker 2: to say is like, it was really interesting with your character.
Speaker 2: I felt like I not only saw a game person
Speaker 2: on screen, but I I felt seen and I and
Speaker 2: I and it helped me.
Speaker 4: No, I understand, I understand what you're saying. And that's
Speaker 4: one of the things that attracted me to the role
Speaker 4: was that it's not because you know, you watch a
Speaker 4: lot of these these shows, these movies, and it's great
Speaker 4: to have gay representation on screen, but it's kind of
Speaker 4: a lot of the time the same things, like there's
Speaker 4: have been coming out as a you know, dating scene thing,
Speaker 4: and that's all good and great, and we need to
Speaker 4: have that, of course, because everyone's at their own stage.
Speaker 1: Going through their own things, learning what they to learn.
Speaker 4: But I liked this because it just goes straight into
Speaker 4: a life that's already set up that's just normal. It's
Speaker 4: not even it's not a thing like, it's just this
Speaker 4: is just life, Like this is how it works. There's
Speaker 4: no big coming out story or the difficulties of being gay.
Speaker 4: It's a relationship and it's family, and it's the same
Speaker 4: issues that people have and real issues that any couples
Speaker 4: will have. It didn't fall into those kind of cliches
Speaker 4: that can happen a lot. It just felt sort of
Speaker 4: very real and it was already set up so for
Speaker 4: people who are living that sort of life, whether in
Speaker 4: long term relationships or whatever, it's like, Oh, that's that's me,
Speaker 4: Like finally, like wow, that's my story, Like where does
Speaker 4: it go from here? And I've been getting a lot
Speaker 4: of that from people going I want to know what
Speaker 4: happens next with your characters, like this is so interesting,
Speaker 4: like what do you do from this point?
Speaker 1: Without bling anything?
Speaker 2: But yeah, for so long I'd be like, you know,
Speaker 2: with my sister to the movies, to see an LGBTYE
Speaker 2: film and feel really uncomfortable because like, yes, sex is
Speaker 2: really important to the story, to the elgin, to anyone.
Speaker 2: Sex is important to everybody. But it just felt for
Speaker 2: a long time when you'd watch like a gay film,
Speaker 2: that it came with like gratuitous gay sex, or there
Speaker 2: was some sort of uncomfortableness to it, which you know
Speaker 2: doesn't really exist in a relationship between me and my
Speaker 2: sister and myself, or even my best friend and myself,
Speaker 2: we don't necessarily talk about that kind of stuff. Not
Speaker 2: to say that I'm approved, but sex doesn't need to
Speaker 2: be so in your face. So it was really nice
Speaker 2: to be able to see this story between you and
Speaker 2: your partner in this series and just and have it
Speaker 2: be like everyday people.
Speaker 3: Do you know what I mean, Like it doesn't need
Speaker 3: to be a focal point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 4: It's not just this one dimensional kind of thing anymore
Speaker 4: where it's like two people meet, they hook up, it's wonderful.
Speaker 1: Cue the slow music and the dim lighting.
Speaker 4: You know, it's it's actually just living and real relationships
Speaker 4: and how they react with other people and what goes
Speaker 4: on in their own lives, but real life problems.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, all of that.
Speaker 4: That's one of the things that I just really I liked,
Speaker 4: and I think that, you know, the stage in the
Speaker 4: world twenty twenty three that were kind of nudging towards
Speaker 4: more of that where it's like who care?
Speaker 2: Yeah, But I felt like, you know, the lack of
Speaker 2: success for that first big gay movie at the cinemas,
Speaker 2: the first big gay rom com you know, I was like, yeah, that.
Speaker 3: Could have worked a little bit better.
Speaker 2: I felt if the sex wasn't so much a part
Speaker 2: of that story. But then again, that was the comedy
Speaker 2: of it, you know, they were trying to do like that.
Speaker 3: I don't want to throw that.
Speaker 2: I mean I had those boys on both the leads
Speaker 2: on the podcast, so I don't want to say that
Speaker 2: it didn't work, but I just felt like maybe that's
Speaker 2: why that film wasn't as successful.
Speaker 4: Well yeah, and also it's like who are you targeting?
Speaker 4: I mean, if you just want a gay just a
Speaker 4: gay audience, then fine, like you know, you can all
Speaker 4: relate to that, but if you want to for everybody,
Speaker 4: it can't just be so much about gay sex because it.
Speaker 1: Like not everybody can relate to that. So I don't
Speaker 1: think it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that that was maybe a bit of
Speaker 4: the Roblin was a problem, but like the issue there
Speaker 4: that's it just was inaccessible to everybody. I mean, like,
Speaker 4: would you want to watch a movie that's still about
Speaker 4: a straight couple having sex every five minutes?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: No I don't, But I mean maybe that says more
Speaker 2: about me than anybody else. Maybe maybe that's just my
Speaker 2: vox pop of the situation. But I do think, I
Speaker 2: do think targeting a gay audience specifically is also quite
Speaker 2: dangerous because gay men themselves, there's just so many different
Speaker 2: stories and different ways of being gay that if you
Speaker 2: are specifically saying this is a gay movie and this
Speaker 2: is what gay people look like, that is the biggest
Speaker 2: way to turn off an LGBTI audience, where they go, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: you can't speak for me, you know, you can't summarize
Speaker 2: us into one person. So that can be dangerous in
Speaker 2: itself as well, where I think for me watching you
Speaker 2: on this show, it allowed your character to be more
Speaker 2: accessible to multiple different gay men. There was so many
Speaker 2: entry points, which I thought was really clever.
Speaker 4: Yeah, totally I agree with you on that, because everyone's
Speaker 4: of very protective of their own journey and their own story,
Speaker 4: aren't they, And so if you're sort of just told like,
Speaker 4: here's this movie that's meant to be a representation of
Speaker 4: all of us, and just you know, just this way,
Speaker 4: the smallest thing can throw somebody off.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like, why don't know clubbing that much?
Speaker 1: So that's not me. I don't want it. That's just stupid. Like, oh,
Speaker 1: here we go again. So yeah, that's that's kind of again.
Speaker 2: That was what are you working on at the moment? Like,
Speaker 2: what's coming up? You're allowed to tell me? I mean actors,
Speaker 2: you can never ask them because they are like, well,
Speaker 2: I'm you know, something really big and then six months
Speaker 2: later they're in a movie with Nicole Kidman.
Speaker 3: But what's going on? Is there is there something coming up?
Speaker 4: Well right now, I've just got back to La so
Speaker 4: kind of getting settled in here again. There is a
Speaker 4: looming writer's strike, so there is nothing set in stone
Speaker 4: at the moment, which is fine. So I'm just hanging
Speaker 4: out for the minute and hoping we get a season
Speaker 4: two pick up of Well Maine here and a couple
Speaker 4: of things that I'm waiting to see what happens with
Speaker 4: here about. But yeah, we're just there's there's all this
Speaker 4: craziness happening over here at the moment that kind of
Speaker 4: puts a pin in it all.
Speaker 1: So I'm just hanging out and hoping that it gets warm.
Speaker 2: I was living in Los Angeles in two thousand and
Speaker 2: seven through the last writers strike, the last really big
Speaker 2: one that really affected a lot of the scripted dramas
Speaker 2: over there. I remember, you know, Gray's Anatomy and Brothers
Speaker 2: and Sisters that all of these shows were extremely popular
Speaker 2: at the time in two thousand and seven, and they
Speaker 2: were supposed to be like a you know, a twenty
Speaker 2: four twenty four part series that was cut down to
Speaker 2: like sixteen episodes for that series during the writer strike. Yeah,
Speaker 2: how big is that is that? A? I didn't know
Speaker 2: anything about it. What's what's the deal?
Speaker 4: Well, it's looming and I think they just got approval
Speaker 4: to strike today and so we'll find out. I think
Speaker 4: May first is when the contracts or something are up,
Speaker 4: and so we'll find out if it's going to go
Speaker 4: ahead or not. I mean, look, you know, if they
Speaker 4: need to strike, they need to strike. But I just
Speaker 4: hope that it can get resolved in a manner that
Speaker 4: everyone is happy with so everyone can get back to work.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that, you know, once that's over, get
Speaker 2: that out of the way. I'm sure you'll get picked
Speaker 2: up for a lot of things. With so many eyeballs
Speaker 2: on Netflix, so I think, you know, this will be
Speaker 2: a great opportunity for people to see or work and
Speaker 2: see how clever you are. And interestingly enough, you know,
Speaker 2: mister Barton's just being cast in Neighbors, so maybe successful people,
Speaker 2: maybe they're Yes, did.
Speaker 3: You not know this?
Speaker 1: No? What yeh?
Speaker 3: Mischa Button has a main role.
Speaker 2: She's moving to Melbourne and Neighbors was rebooted and started
Speaker 2: filming again yesterday and mister Button's one of the main
Speaker 2: characters in it.
Speaker 3: So what do you think about.
Speaker 4: Shock? I have questions. I have questions then or her?
Speaker 4: I mean, she's she's not coming back as Misha Barton.
Speaker 4: She's not coming as Misha Barton right, like she's just
Speaker 4: going to be.
Speaker 2: She's Mischa Barton's in Neighbors as a character called Reese
Speaker 2: for her. But you know, with Freebie working with Fremantle
Speaker 2: in this series now needing to have more eyeballs around
Speaker 2: the world like Neighbors with a reboot means that it
Speaker 2: is going to be in America in some parts of America.
Speaker 2: So they were wanting to attract somebody, and mister Barton
Speaker 2: has said yes and she's The press release was out
Speaker 2: this morning and I just think it's amazing. You know,
Speaker 2: Hollywood actors are giving up. It's reversed. You know, back
Speaker 2: in the day in Australia, you'd be like Harley Minogo, Margo, Robbie.
Speaker 2: You know, I gotta go on neighbors to get there, and
Speaker 2: now people are like, well, you know they're working their
Speaker 2: whole lives to get onto neighbors.
Speaker 1: Hey people people, people just want to work. But I mean,
Speaker 1: that's cool. I didn't know any of that. Wow, that's
Speaker 1: that's blow my mind a little bit. Who knew?
Speaker 3: Who knew?
Speaker 2: Maybe I can come back to Australia and beyond neighbors
Speaker 2: my friend and be going out with mister Barton.
Speaker 1: I was, I was home.
Speaker 4: I was home and away back in the day. So
Speaker 4: I feel like I'm i to have to stay in
Speaker 4: the family there.
Speaker 3: You've gotta be loyal to that.
Speaker 2: Everyone who joins the podcast, I get to ask this question,
Speaker 2: and that is, you know, what is something from behind
Speaker 2: the scenes, something that we did not get to see
Speaker 2: watching well Mania that you can maybe share as like
Speaker 2: a bit of a tidbit, a bit of a behind
Speaker 2: the scene secret to what it was like to work
Speaker 2: on that you.
Speaker 1: Couldn't stop laughing at the time.
Speaker 4: So like there's a scene where celest Barber's character farts,
Speaker 4: we're not having a very serious, slightly angry discussion the
Speaker 4: take that made it to air. That's the only take
Speaker 4: that we weren't laughing because we're serious professionals. No, you look,
Speaker 4: it was a really quick, quick bick shoot because of COVID,
Speaker 4: because of Selest schedules to go on a world tour.
Speaker 4: So some of the scenes were filmed in one take. Wow,
Speaker 4: you know a few different angles, but like one take,
Speaker 4: Like there was one where we're walking around the store
Speaker 4: scanning registry gifts and stuff. We filmed that in one take,
Speaker 4: which is always scary to watch.
Speaker 1: It's like, we've done that differently. Maybe I would have
Speaker 1: kind of done things a little You.
Speaker 3: Only need one take that is it the best one?
Speaker 1: That's sure, Sure, we'll go with that.
Speaker 4: But that's where all that soap opera training comes and
Speaker 4: you're like, oh, what take. It was also during the
Speaker 4: La Nina rain, you know, all the rain stuff that
Speaker 4: was happening last year, and so we were pissed down
Speaker 4: raining the entire I think we had ten days where
Speaker 4: it didn't rain, so it was pouring rain. There are
Speaker 4: a lot of scenes we're inside and it is pouring
Speaker 4: rain outside and it's just really well lit to make
Speaker 4: it look.
Speaker 1: Like it's a nice sunny Sydney day. It's all smoky mirrors,
Speaker 1: all lies. This industry. I tell you, well, that is
Speaker 1: in you.
Speaker 2: No, I think that that's good behind the scenes. It's
Speaker 2: good behind the scenes. We're lying to everyone around the
Speaker 2: world to come to Australia because it's always sunny. It's
Speaker 2: raining outside in Melbourne right now, but it's always.
Speaker 3: Sunny, Wenny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: I wash away.
Speaker 4: But that's the same thing with La Like you know,
Speaker 4: everyone it's just seventy four degrees and sunny all year round.
Speaker 1: No, it's not.
Speaker 4: It's about twelve degrees here today and it's like cloudy,
Speaker 4: and it's been this way for weeks.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, you know. Advertising, it's out of control.
Speaker 2: It's just the way they package it up. Thank you
Speaker 2: so much for being so generous with your time and
Speaker 2: chatting with me today. I was so excited about this.
Speaker 2: I woke up an extra hour earlier, you know, like Christmas,
Speaker 2: getting so excited to talk to you.
Speaker 3: So in your audience.
Speaker 2: Well, mating a season, So I have my fingers crossed,
Speaker 2: but I also disguise the limit for you, my friend.
Speaker 3: I think that there's so much coming for you.
Speaker 4: I'm just so thrilled and humbled that it's that it's
Speaker 4: had the reaction that it's had, so thank you.