Step in the height direction

Sam Worthington plays an ex-con on a Manhattan rooftop in Man on a Ledge.

Jim Schembri, The Age, reports

Sam Worthington faces a tall order in his new thriller, writes Jim Schembri.

AS AN actor who craves challenges, Sam Worthington put himself through the ringer on two counts for his new thriller, Man on a Ledge. In the film, Worthington plays Nick Cassidy, a disgraced ex-cop who creates a media circus by climbing out on to the ledge of a New York apartment building as part of an elaborate scheme to clear his name. Although safety measures were taken with wires, much of the shoot involved Worthington standing on a ledge more than 80 metres above street level.

Worthington doesn't like heights. ''[It's] more a fear of falling and landing!'' he says. ''That was the biggest fear. When I read the script I forgot I had to do it, so on the first day, you're standing there going 'What?' My mate said, 'The movie's called Man on a Ledge, idiot. What do you think you had to do?'''

He certainly looks scared enough. ''That's because half the time I was, to be honest!'' he says. ''You can't get complacent; it's always in the back of your mind how high you are.''

A set was built but was used chiefly for close-ups. ''Nobody knew how much we'd be able to do on the actual ledge itself because they thought I might burst into tears or something, then the more confident I got the more confident the camera crew got and before we knew it we'd filmed like 80 per cent of [those scenes] out there. The truth is that the first time I step on the ledge in the movie is the first time I stepped on that ledge! And there was no safety net because when you're up that high terminal velocity kicks in, so a net wouldn't hold you.''

Yet there was a bigger fear Worthington faced. While much is going on around him involving the police and his accomplices, Cassidy essentially remains immobile as he delivers reams of exposition. And if there's one thing Worthington hates more than heights, it's exposition.

''Exposition's terrible. It's motion pictures, not motion words. Show it, don't speak it!'' he says, laughing. ''It's almost an action movie where the action guy is rooted to the spot … There's many tongue-twisting backstories and I'm the man who has to deliver them. Normally I give [that task] away!''

Since starring in James Cameron's Avatar, one of the biggest films in history, Worthington's stock has risen considerably. Man on a Ledge was directed by first-time feature director Asger Leth from a script by television movie writer Pablo F. Fenjves. It was only when Worthington showed interest in the project that the film was fast-tracked.

The clout to green-light a film is a measure of Worthington's post-Avatar power. ''You're aware of it in certain aspects,'' he says. ''[Studios] start trusting you and the more movies you do … the more they understand that not only do you have a commodity that can help them get movies made but you have an awareness of yourself. I have an awareness I like making movies for a certain audience, so you work in tandem with them to get movies made.

"It's always nice to go to a guy, 'look, this is your first ever motion picture, it's a massive budget for you' and see if he is going to step up and deliver. Lorenzo likes taking risks as well, so you put Asger (whose documentary Ghosts of Cité Soleil Worthington loved) with a good cast and see how he flies. We were looking for something that was just entertaining, sheer, unadulterated popcorn, and if we put a good director who could keep the pace on it, it could deliver that. Asger and the boys did a good job because it is a tough one.''

Worthington holds a unique distinction in the world of 21st century cinema. As well as being the star of Avatar, one of the best 3D films ever made, he was also star of Clash of the Titans, an epic that came in for a lot of criticism because of the poor quality of its "back conversion" to 3D. He stands up for the film, and says the new film, Wrath of the Titans will be better.

"Clash was the first movie after Avatar to actually try a conversion. Over the course of the years they've refined the process a bit more and they know what they're doing," he says. "Especially with Wrath, we had a stereographer the whole time. The studio was aware of the criticism that we hit with the first one so it's really about tweaking it and and keeping it in the forefront."

At 35 Worthington is concentrating on his work. He once sported an aggressive attitude to the media and had a combative on-set reputation, but while he is still very sensitive to misreporting - especially online - he says he has dialled down his alleged aggro.

"If you look at it personally, you read stuff about yourself or stuff about other people you know ... I know what you're getting at. You know me, mate, I stand up for myself no matter what. If you're painted in a wrong light or accused of something you've definitely got to stand up and say something.

"I think I've got a lot calmer as I've grown up a bit; my priorities obviously change a lot and when it comes down to celebrity I've always been one to shy away from parties. The older you get the more you try to keep that delicate balance between your job, the crazy part of the industry and the normalcy of your life.''

Man On a Ledge opens next week.