Matt Passmore.
Andrew Murfett, The Age, reports
THE Australian star of the US crime drama The Glades was in Sydney last week en route to a family holiday in Queensland. He spoke to Andrew Murfett.
You started your working life driving trucks for the army. Were you dreaming of a TV career?
Not really. It wasn't even an option. I grew up in suburban Brisbane so to say you wanted to be an actor was a ridiculous concept. In the army itself, I would take the mickey. I didn't really push any waves but when I could get a little bit of a stage, I might stick my head up. That would surprise some blokes. I would be pretty average most of the time, but then at the boozers I would come out with some stuff that shocked them, and myself.
How did you move into television?
I'd started in theatre in Brisbane, and then I got into NIDA and did a few Shakespeare tours. I landed a Channel Seven show, playing the love professor. What the character lacked in depth I gained in learning a new medium. I was used to the immediacy of theatre and knowing whether you had the audience or not. I was then thrown into the world of ratings and only finding out months later whether anyone actually likes it.
It must have been an adjustment moving from Shakespeare to Always Greener?
Quite often I would do a role that was shallow and superfluous and audiences would love the show, so that was a very different learning curve. You have to just enjoy yourself sometimes, and the audience will, too. Not every role has to be The Taming of the Shrew. I got rid of the earnestness that I came out of NIDA with - the need to ''create art'' - and started to do the job more.
You were on Play School for eight years before moving to the US. How did that come about?
It was one of the first auditions I did out of NIDA. It was the kind of job where I could whack out quite a few episodes and jump into another series. It made sure that I didn't have to go back to driving trucks. I was pretty much there until I did my first pilot in the US.
What stage was The Glades at when you auditioned?
It was called Sugar Loaf and it was a lot darker. The backdrop was more of a Floridian Twin Peaks. It was a lot darker and murkier. The writer originally had the show as a play. It was hick people out in the swamps.
How did it become what we see today?
We did the pilot and I saw it with my reps and we thought it didn't quite get there. So they had to put in more of Florida to make it more interesting to all kinds of people, and they had to bring in the procedural element so that the show had a definite through-line.
Your character has fallen for a married woman whose husband is in jail. It can only end in tears, right?
Our audience in America is incredibly loyal and incredibly opinionated. They want to see them together. But as Bruce and Cybill taught us, if you truly give the audience what they want, the show dies. So the obstacles have had to keep coming. But I will say that they do progress through the series. Season two is not left in a cliffhanger. There is closure.
Were you surprised to get a third season?
There is a 90 per cent failure rate for most shows. It's difficult for any show to write for the next season. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a bit of a reboot [in season three]. The voice of the show will always be finding the bizarre and astounding parts of Florida. I don't think they've scraped the bottom of the barrel as yet.
How has your family reacted to the show's success?
My parents would never put too much hype into anything. They're very proud of me but they're Queensland people. They're just glad that I have a job.
The Glades
W, Sundays, 8.30pm (season two). Ten, Mondays, 8.30pm (season one).
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