Local Legend: Jack Thompson
September 18th, 2007
Iconic Australian actor Jack Thompson gives us a sneak peek into his involvement on Baz Luhrmann’s highly anticipated epic Australia.
By Jim Mitchell for Filmlink.
Baz Luhrmann’s Australia has undoubtedly sparked the most media coverage of any local production in recent memory, from blanket coverage as the production moves from location to location, to journalists trying to scam their way on set for a closer look at stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and a now infamous shot of the aforementioned Kidman having her posterior squeezed by none other than Aussie veteran actor Bill Hunter’s in character of course.
The cast list is a cavalcade of well known Australian actors, including David Wenham, David Gulpilil, Ben Mendelsohn, John Jarratt, Ray Barrett and Barry Otto. The film also sees local legends Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson in their first film together since Bruce Beresford’s 1980 classic Breaker Morant.
Jack Thompson is clearly enjoying the Australia experience. Complete with bushy moustache and more than a 5 o’clock shadow, Thompson is in a jolly mood after having spent the past few weeks shooting interior scenes at Fox Studios in Sydney. This represented an unscheduled stop in production after rain flooded the set of the lavishly recreated homestead featured in the film on a property in Kununurra, in Western Australia’s East Kimberly region. “I’ve been flat out,” says Thompson in his instantly recognisable voice as he does double duty promoting his next film December Boys. “It’s just a joy really. It’s a lot of fun to be a part of this living thing that’s emerging. It’s just such a huge picture, and there are such breaks between my involvement. My role is certainly a major support role, but it’s not the lead hero and heroine. It’s really their tale, so we turn up when appropriate, and you’re often sort of sitting around. This happens more as you do supporting roles as you’re waiting for the next location.”
In case you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know the plot, Australia sees Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) of the English aristocracy travel to a pre World War 2 Australia to rescue her outback cattle station from the grip of cattle barons with the help of a local drover (Hugh Jackman). They embark on a cattle drive which will lead them to Darwin, which is in the throes of a bombing by Japanese forces, and also, inevitably, to love.
While Thompson won’t elaborate too much on his character, he is prepared to give a brief outline. “It’s good fun; he’s a fun character. I couldn’t wait to get into it. He is the station book keeper and accountant, who has an occasional drinking problem,” says Thompson in the English-edged accent he’s presumably using for the film. “He’s certainly not a drunk.”
What follows is a mini master-class in accent and elocution. It’s slightly English but it’s not really English; it’s actually the accent of a well educated, privately educated Australian of the ’40’s. It was the “ABC radio” [accent] of that period,” explains Thompson of his character’s accent. “[My character] might have spent a bit of time in the bush, so there’s a bushy edge to him, but when he’s talking with Nicole’s character, it’s “Me Lady”. He recognises that she is titled, so you speak correctly; you don’t want to be taken for a colonial fool!”
Thompson, who has in recent times mixed work in local and Hollywood productions, seems to be in his element at the moment with a string of local projects to his name. Apart from Australia, he’ll next be seen alongside Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe in December Boys, which will be followed by Ten Empty from thesp-turned-director Anthony Hayes (Look Both Ways). He can also currently be heard narrating the documentary series South Side Story (about Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court’s buy-out of the South Sydney Rabbitohs) on the ABC. Of working overseas, Thompson simply says, “It’s hard to leave Australia when you’re an Australian.”
Australia is set for release next year.