What made you decide to film parts of the new series in the US?

I wasn’t going to be able to get away with playing some of the more well-known characters in the UK. It would have been very difficult; I can’t really walk around as Brian Badonde now without someone spotting me in the street and shrieking. In America we still had complete anonymity, which was great – we could operate pretty covertly and get some really ambitious hits under our belt.

What locations did you choose for it?

We went out there for two months, we went all over, we started in Los Angeles then went to San Fransisco, then Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, back to LA, back to San Francisco back to Pittsburgh, New York then home. I took 11 flights in total. I really wanted to film the second series in the States, the whole canvas of it is interacting with and winding up these American people. When choosing locations, ultimately it’s all about what the character is going to do – it would have been great to film a hit at the Statue of Liberty, but what are you going to do there? So instead we went to a baseball game, which is very American. Terry Tibbs does his own Jerry Springer style show.

Tell us about the new characters.

We filmed the original characters Brian, Terry Tibbs and Dufrais in America but all the new characters we filmed in the UK. There are a couple of new ones, there’s Augustus the African scammer – he now has a twin sister called Augustine who is quite highly sexed. There’s another character called Ray Fakadakis who is Greek. He’s an ex-con who now works as a career adviser to art history students, he’s a really friendly happy man.

Journeying to your past – tell us your first, and worst, acting jobs

I was still at drama school when I did my first job, playing opposite Ross Kemp in a two part drama as an assassin. Initially I tended to get roles like this, when you come out of drama school it’s like “right who’s he going to play”, oh yeah you can play a terrorist. I don’t categorise jobs as best or worst, I’m equally thankful for all of my roles.

Do you feel you often get typecast because of your Iranian nationality?

You would have to ask a casting director that. I loved playing those types of roles though, I felt sorry for all the white actors in my class who had slightly more competition. Ultimately, you are going to be typecast when you come out of drama school, which is something you should embrace because that’s what is going to pay the bills. I could still be doing the same roles now but I decided to grab my own career and make my own break.

Words: Anna Reynolds

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I was shown the script a year and a half before we filmed it. It’s something that stuck out to me immediately. And when I got the script and met Simon, I was just hoping that he was going to give me the green light.

How did you get into acting?

It’s what I grew up doing. My mother was telling me that when I was four or five years old, I’d dance and sing along to children’s TV shows. She remembers me saying that I wanted to be in there – that I wanted to get inside the screen. Then I got involved in plays and drama clubs at school, and started auditioning when I was 15 or 16. In 2006, I got offered this part in a show called Grand Star. So as an 18-year-old I was flown over to France to film, which was kind of an industry wake-up call – it wasn’t in my back yard anymore, I’d have to go out and get it. Some of the tough realities of the industry were learnt on that trip.

The film explores the nature of adolescence. How did you go about preparing for the role?

I actually had a friend of mine who had a gambling problem: he broke up with his girlfriend and got into drink and drugs and that sort of thing. It showed me that gambling can be a real problem, you know?

It was recently screened at the Toronto Film Festival, which is one of the biggest film festivals in the world. How was it received?

It was my first time at the festival, and to have a movie screening there that I was the lead in, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. On the first day, Bono was there – and I immediately knew what to expect from the event. But yeah, it was great – the theatre was packed. It was a very exciting couple of weeks. On the subway in Toronto, a lady spent the whole journey praising my performance, which was nice.

Cool! Did you get her number?

[Laughs hysterically] No, but I should have.

Maybe next time. If you were to describe The Odds in three words, what would they be?

Murder, mystery and madness.

Words: Jack Mills

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Film acting is a fresh challenge for you. Was it a nerve-wracking transition from stage performance?

I was pretty cautious about getting into film, because I don’t think I understand it as well as I do theatre. I was a bit shy about it, really. But when I met Andrew [Haigh, director] and read for Weekend, it seemed like an obvious place to start. To me, Andrew was obviously a really safe pair of hands, so I just felt really comfortable and confident to make the transition.

How did he go about introducing you to the world of screen acting, and easing you into how it differs from stage work?

Luckily, I’d already done a bit of TV work and had worked with some great directors for them. They made time to answer my stupid questions. With Andrew it was all about getting me relaxed enough to perform well. People tend to let their guard down around him.

He’s quite new to film as well isn’t he – Weekend is only his second screen project. Was he nervous about the film too, especially considering its risqué subject matter?

I think he approached it quite tentatively, yes, but he’d never admit it. He always claimed he wasn’t nervous about the project, but I think he must have been, because we all were. He wrote the script thoroughly, and put a lot of thought and energy into how it would be filmed to create the right atmosphere. He made a lot of important decisions, too, like hiring a very small crew so that there was a closeness to everyone on the set.

What was your offstage relationship with Tom [Cullen, co-star, Weekend] like? Did you attempt to build a friendship with him outside working hours?

When we first met each other in a meeting, we didn’t really have any time to speak, so we just started reading together. It was obvious from the start that we kind of matched; our acting styles gel. It was just a matter of relaxing with each other and with Andrew. We always felt like we were in safe hands, and thus able to commit more intimate feelings and thoughts to the camera. There was a theory at the beginning that we shouldn’t spend too much time together off-set, because the characters don’t know each other – but that didn’t really work. We were just stuck in a little flat in Nottingham, so we were forced to spend a lot of time with each other. We didn’t really talk about the film too much when we weren’t shooting – we just had as much fun as we could.

You’ve said in the past that you aim to bring as much of yourself into characters as possible, and that you always try and draw parallels between your own personality and theirs’. Is that how you went about developing the character for Weekend?

Yeah, I think so. It’s like you’ve all got all these dials in your head – say, for example, you’ve got to turn down your natural shyness and turn up your aggression. So you just learn to tweak the dials – but it all comes from your own complex personality I think, otherwise people can tell. People can sniff a lie a mile off.

WEEKEND trailer from Andrew Haigh on Vimeo.

So you went into playing Edward II at the Manchester Royal Exchange straight after Weekend, which was quite a hefty role to employ. How did you go about getting to grips with the character, especially so soon after filming?

I feel much more at home on stage, so if I get a huge role in a stage production I tend know I’ll be alright, whereas with film I do get a little nervous. The main thing I do with both film and theatre work though, is get to know the script very, very well. If the writing’s good, there’ll be hundreds of clues as to how to play the role best. And you kind of end up giving up ‘yourself’ and doing what the script says – which can be quite difficult, because there may be things in it which you don’t want to reveal about yourself. There might be elements of the character that you don’t find particularly attractive – but that’s just the hand you’re dealt as an actor.

Is it interesting, though, to force yourself to betray natural urges?

Yes, and to allow an audience to believe that you are a separate person. A lot of people now see me as an aggressive homosexual after seeing Weekend, which I’m not – it’s just that it was my job to let people see me that way.

What’s the plan for 2012?

I’ll be doing a lot more plays, for certain. Because I’ve had a solid stage career, I’ll always keep it as my home, I think. I’ve got a few projects lined up, but nothing confirmed as yet. In terms of film, I don’t really know – I’m going to be a bit more cautious about that. When I came out of drama school, the emphasis was on getting as much work as possible. But now I don’t necessarily have to do that, so I’m trying to appreciate the freedom as much as possible. When I left school, I fulfilled a few of my life’s ambitions quite early – like acting in a play in the West End and at the National – and quickly got into a position where I thought: “Well, I don’t know what I’m gonna do now.” And I’m still in that kind of place – I’m open to ideas. It’s a nice position to be in, because when someone like Andrew comes along with an amazing project that you couldn’t have predicted, you’re really ready to go for it.

http://www.weekend-film.com/
Words: Jack Mills

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19-year-old Lucas Pittaway enjoyed an unlikely introduction to screen acting. As a full time door-to-door leaflet postman, Pittaway, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the late Heath Ledger, was scouted at his local shopping mall near Adelaide, Australia. After playing the lead in Warp X’s Snowtown, where he stars as real-life murderer Jamie Vlasskias, Pittaway has pocketed an award, praise at this year’s Cannes and attention from a clutch of influential new filmmakers. Wonderland caught up with the humble, softly-spoken young talent ahead of the film’s UK release next week.

Considering its murderous subject matter, how was Snowtown received in Australia? Are you excited about its UK premiere?

We knew we were treading on risky ground and there was a lot of controversy about it at the time. People were asking: “Should this film have been made? What will the rest of the world make of it?” Audiences were reacting to its subject matter because the murders [which took place in Pittaway’s hometown in the 1990s] were just so horrific. It was all a bit too close-to-home for many, I think.

How did your family react?

Well, half of them haven’t even seen it yet! As it stands, I have four older brothers, a younger sister, a younger brother and a mum and a dad. My mum sarcastically called it a “fun Christmas film”. At heart, she’s proud of what I’ve done. My older brother Paul was incredibly enthusiastic, too. I took my two best friends to the premiere, but they didn’t like it all [laughs]. As mates, they’re allowed to be honest about these things.

Tell us the shopping mall scouting story…

Yeah, it was there I got asked to audition for the part. I go to the mall every couple of days or so – it’s pretty much the closest shopping centre to where the incident happened. My brother was approached by a woman who said she was interviewing people in the area about what it’s like to live there. I was then interviewed by her in front of a camera and introduced to the director, who asked me whether I wanted to audition for a film they were making. I wasn’t told the title of the movie beforehand, and wasn’t offered a script or told to read any lines: I just had to stand in front of a camera and talk. They wanted to see to see how natural I could be in front of it, I think.

What intrigued you about the role? What made you decide to accept it?

First off, when you’re offered a lead in a film at a young age, it’s hard to say no. It’s like nothing I’ve done in the past – a new challenge – so I immediately accepted. It was filmed in the area I grew up in – I thought that if anyone was going to represent it well, it really should be me. Before it, I didn’t have a career. It was a case of: this is an opportunity I want to take up. If I’m any good at it, then I’ll keep going.

I read you made a living delivering leaflets before being offered the part…

I was working for a charity – going from letterbox to letterbox leafleting and was scouted on one of my days off. Taking on a role so complex and challenging is a life-changing thing. Beforehand, I was planning on joining the army – but I soon lost my license, so that wasn’t going to happen. I was biding my time until I could apply for it again, basically.

You went on to win the Audience Award at the Adelaide Film Festival – how has this affected your career?

Well, at that point it hadn’t really started. I went to Tropfest, which is the first short film festival of the season in Australia. It was a week after the film’s release, and I had a lot of positive attention from people there. Then it premiered at the Adelaide Festival – at that point I didn’t have an agent and scripts weren’t being thrown my way. But by the time people had had a chance to watch it in Australia, I started attracting much more interest. Anthony LaPaglia, a famous Australian actor, approached me at Cannes with lots of praise. At the time, I had no idea who he was, though!

You’ve a big nuclear family – themes reflected in the film. Is this what partially attracted you to the role? Were you able to draw on your own experiences for it?

Yeah, exactly. It was a role I could slip so easily into. I could really understand and adopt that ‘local community’ type character. It’s already engrained into me.

What other projects have you been working since Snowtown? I know you worked with Vogue photographer Max Doyle for the short film ARC. What was that like?

It was great – it was beautifully shot. I got to wear Prada creepers, three-quarter length pants, vintage retro 80s jackets and things like that. I learnt how to shoot a bow and arrow as well, which was so much fun. Max was great – he’s a perfectionist and puts so much effort into every shot. Snowtown was captured in a much less rigid way; the makers were open to suggestion. A couple of months ago, I worked on another short film where I played a quadriplegic [Sophie Miller’s Talking to Strangers]. I had to get into the part quite heavily, and spent a couple of days in a wheelchair before shooting. My love interest in the film is played by my older brother’s ex-girlfriend [laughs]. We were already good friends, so it made everything easier.

Finally, and inevitably – the Heath Ledger comparison. Is it getting annoying?

No, not at all. It’s my nickname where I’m working now. It’s always a huge complement – to be compared to someone like Heath.

Snowtown opens on the 18th.

Snow Town Trailer from Adam Arkapaw on Vimeo.

Words: Jack Mills

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