Always the Bad Guy

by Shane Briant

  into the small twin-engine plane because it was bursting with blood supplies and plasma. It would have made a grizzly find as a crash site. Blood for half a mile!

  With Ralph Cotterill in 'The Lighthorsemen.'

  The last night of the shoot the producers threw a wonderful party out in the open; barbecues everywhere, and a copious supply of beer and wine.

  The following morning tragedy struck. Not because anyone was inebriated – it was simply the most horrendous accident.

  Jon Blake, one of the leads, had just become engaged to his girlfriend and rose early that morning so he could drive to Adelaide and see her. He'd just bought a beautiful property where they both intended to settle down. That fateful morning, as dawn broke, Jon headed home. But someone had parked their vehicle with the headlights on the wrong side of the road just outside of town, so that it was facing the oncoming traffic. Thinking he was on the wrong side of the road, John swerved to avoid it and he hit a tree. He was well below the alcohol limit.

  He was airlifted to hospital within hours, but sustained severe brain damage. All of us visited him in his nursing home from time to time from then on hoping to see some reaction from him. But there was none.

  A great many people had picked Jon as the new Mel Gibson. And then some more. I believe he would have been just that – a star.

  On a lighter note, everyone knew that 'Blakey' could charm any

  girl – even nuns weren't safe when he smiled and started in on his 'chat.'

  One evening during the 'Anzacs' shoot, he and I were out on the town in Melbourne and he saw two gorgeous young girls on their own at the bar.

  "Follow me, Kaiser," he said with a wink.

  Jon Blake. Everyone loved him.

  He then introduced himself, and offered the girls a drink, then started chatting. I watched in awe – it was the best 'up-chat' I'd ever witnessed, and I was making mental notes.

  Within a few short minutes the prettier of the two girls confided to John that she was on her hen's night with her friend – she was getting married in the morning! Oops! Too bad, I thought, expecting Blakey to move on. Not at all, he simply upped the charm level to 'extreme.' As we ordered some more drinks at the bar, he winked at me and said; "Now that IS a challenge, Kaiser. Let's see what I can do."

  Three hours later the four of us left in a taxi to take the girls home. When we reached the pretty girl's flat she got out. So did Blakey. They stood on the steps by her doorway for about ten minutes. Then Blakey took her in his arms and kissed her very passionately for another good ten minutes. Her girlfriend and I just watched goggle-eyed. I couldn't believe my eyes – the girl was hugging Blakey as if he was her soldier husband leaving for the front. It was the most intense 'pashing' I had ever witnessed. When we had dropped of the other girl John smiled at me and winked. "I was sooooooo freaking close, Kaiser," he said, gesturing just how close with his thumb and forefinger.

  My next major project was a mini series in 1986 titled 'Nancy Wake' in Australia and the United Kingdom, and 'True Colors' in America.

  The Daily Telegraph. Sydney.

  It was the heroic story of an Australian woman by the name of Nancy Wake who traveled to France to join the resistance during World War Two. Nicknamed 'The White Mouse,' she caused an incredible amount of disruption to the German forces, and was

  never captured. The tag line to the telemovie was 'One Woman's Battle—An Entire World's War.'

  Nancy was a hero if ever there was one, and she was tough as Teflon when she had to be.

  One of Australia's best actresses played Nancy – Noni Hazelhurst. Englishman Patrick Ryecart, the 'English import', flew out to take part (you may have seen him recently in 'The King's Speech' as Lord Wigram) John Walton played Nancy's husband and, guess what, I played the bad guy – a Gestapo officer who Nancy did not wish to name. There were any number of harrowing scenes in the telemovie. Nancy was usually on site so that she could let us know exactly how it happened.

  Anton Differing made a career playing Nazis, and I've followed in his footsteps playing cruel Germans. But just because you're playing a 'Nazi swine' doesn't mean you have to give the character narrow eyes, a nasty attitude, and clipped accentuated speech. Experience has surely taught us that more often than not murderers look and behave as ordinary people do. If they didn't we'd all be able to spot them in a crowd, wouldn't we? So, each time I approach a character, I think long and hard about what might have made this person behave the way he does. Could he have been born bad? Science suggests this is unlikely. Did social conditioning make him a bad person? More likely. Is the character all bad? Nah. Very unlikely. He probably loves his mother and sister, respects his father, and, in the case of my character in Nancy Wake, believes he must do everything in his power to win the war. And if that means resorting to butchery of the worst kind – so be it.

  Often the scariest moments in my life have been the quietest. For instance, I've always felt I'll die at night, so am relieved when the dawn breaks. Walking the three miles from Stuben to Lech in Austria through a forest with just a dash of moonlight to keep me on the road was scary – simply because it was dark and there were no cars or humans around. It was absolutely silent, with just a light breeze whistling around me. After growing up in Richmond on a busy main road, I found living in the country at Quendon almost spookily quiet. When I went to Haileybury, the boy who scared me most was the five foot two inch boy who was the quietest, yet always had that 'look' in his eye – mess with me and I'll poke out both eyeballs.' And it wasn't just me; even the toughest boys gave him a wide berth. So when it came to 'The German Officer,' I played him as quietly efficient as I possibly could. He was always immaculately dressed, never a hair out of place. He moved slowly, almost languidly, and when he threatened his captives he would almost whisper, while performing some very mundane task, such as sipping tea.

  My friend Pino Amenta again directed, and as ever we had fun.

  At the end of the mini series, my character is finally captured trying to make it home. He notices Nancy Wake celebrating with her comrades just as he is led to the firing squad. I was so deep into my character that day that I felt genuine fear as I was led to the wall, to be shot. Strange but interesting how easy it is to invoke fear in oneself. When the guns fired, all the other characters against the wall instantly fell. To set my character apart, I let him hang there in limbo for a split second, with eyes staring in disbelief. Then I slipped very gently down the wall. It was just an idea at the time, but it must have worked since several people have commented on that microsecond when he is shot, and he looks totally bewildered in death. I always try to do the unusual.

  The first time I met the real Nancy I was surprised by what a

  jolly woman she was. Why I expected her to be a dour and tough woman I don't know. Maybe because of what I had read in her autobiography – she was never shy to pull the trigger when she had to, as well as being very capable of ending lives with a knife or garrote.

  "So you are the Nazi, eh?" she asked with a grin. "I like what I see." She chuckled, and then added, "If I had captured you, I think I would have kept you for a few days, then killed you." She was a real character.

  "ONE MAY SMILE AND SMILE, AND BE A VILLAIN."

  'OUTBACK!'

  'Outback' a film that was released in America as 'The Fighting Creeds,' and in Australia had its name changed to 'Minnimurra.' It was directed by one of my favourite people, Ian Barry. I have worked with him many times now and he's always affable, supremely efficient, and an actor's director – if such a thing exists.

  I was now represented by Barbara Leane, a very robust lady who reminded me somewhat of Adza – she didn't take 'nonsense' from anyone, and went in to bat for her clients with an outsize Gunn and Moore wearing no pads – she didn't need them.

  I have no idea why the title was changed. 'Outback,' has strength and says it's set in Australia. 'The Fighting Creeds,' sounds like a B movie. 'Minimurra'? Well, one day over lunch I happened to as
k my friend, John Sexton, the man who produced the film, why he'd called the film 'Minnimurra and he pointed to a street down the road called 'Minnimurra.' I rest my case.

  The American star of 'Silverado', Jeff Fahey, was cast as our hero; Aussie actress Tushka Bergin was the ingénue.

  It was a well scripted, yet somewhat formulaic tale of a cattle station on the rocks about to be taken over by 'The Bad Guy.' To the rescue comes the best looking American that ever lived and somehow manages to get five hundred horses to the docks despite the evil shenanigans of 'The Bad Guy.' One might have called it a formula movie, but I was delighted to work with Ian again.

  While I have it in mind, here's something actors must be careful about. When I was initially approached by the casting agent, via my agent Barbara, I was told that my role happened to be the last to be cast and the production had spent almost all of their budget.

  "We really want Shane, but the thing is we have so little money."

  Hummmm. Maybe. We've all heard that one in some shape or form, but this didn't really make much sense. Why cast the bad guy last – he was a pivotal character? Ultimately it was proving to be a standoff, so the production company asked what my weekly fee was. This circumvented the fact that I would be present as the bad guy throughout the final cut of the film.

  "We can shoot all Shane's scenes in one week," the production supervisor maintained.

  So my agent quoted a weekly fee. I made the film and, for all intents and purposes, I was featured through the film as a lead role. So they managed to hire me as a lead for the price of a week's salary. Don't let this happen to you.

  As ever, during the weeks before principal photography I read and re-read the script thinking of ways I could make this very bad dude original, while imbuing him with some features cinema audiences hadn't come across before – not easy!

  I ended up thinking of Allenby – that was my character's name – as a man who always achieved everything he'd ever wanted with effortless ease, was extremely confident in himself, and supremely arrogant, as well as selfish and cruel to everyone around him, including the flora and fauna.

  Ian is always enjoyable to work with because he allows you to introduce new ideas into both your character and dialogue.

  On one occasion, when Allenby attempts to buy a horse that is very dear to our female lead, Alice May Richards, he is asked in the script to pay cash for the horse. In the earlier version one of his minions delivers the money in a huge bag. However, I thought it would be much more amusing – and might demonstrate the arrogant mindset of the man – for him to look casually at the auctioneer and say, "Gentlemen don't carry cash." Ian liked it and it was included. I was delighted.

  It's always amusing to introduce quirky aspects of any

  character – if they are good enough, who knows, they may stand the test of time.

  As the cruel Allenby in 'Minnimurra' aka 'The Fighting Creeds.'

  In one scene I am supposed to be shooting clay pigeons, while at the same time verbally threatening our beautiful young heroine. Clay pigeons, I thought? Nah! Why not a live white dove? A horrific idea, but that was the nature of my character. So I asked Ian if he liked the concept. Within an hour the art department had obtained a live snow-white dove. In the final cut we see Allenby about to shoot what we think are clays. After his final threat he nods to a henchman who reaches into a cage, pulls out the dove and casually throws it into the air. We watch the dove flapping it's way upwards, and then we cut on the shotgun blast. Adza would have hated it but many people recall that scene.

  One last point of interest. Jeff Fahey introduced me to a novel sure-fire way of making your eyes shine in a close-up. It's worth giving it a try if you want your eyes to look remotely half as good as Paul Newman's. What you do is wait until the last second before a take, then strain every muscle in your entire body as if you wanted your eyeballs to burst from their sockets. That's when your pupils will dilate very suddenly and your eyes will look fabulous. I expect if you do this all the time, it will result in your eyeballs actually popping from their sockets, so my advice is to use this device sparingly. I never use it as I think it probably lead to a stroke!

  No doves lost their lives in the making of this motion picture!

  'Barracuda' was a telemovie directed again by Pino. I believe it was shot as the pilot for an ongoing series featuring the Sydney Water Police.

  With pilots it's essential that your character doesn't die because that's the end of you. Sadly I was asked to play a powerful Sydney crime boss called Zoli Scone who ends up dead in the final scene.

  In this pilot, Andrew McFarlane, an Aussie heartthrob for countless years, having become famous with a show called 'The Sullivans', headed the water police. Robert Taylor was another regular cop, and boxing legend Joe Bugner was cast as 'Crusher Harris.' Zoli Scone's girlfriend (all crims have much younger girlfriends!) was played by Cassandra Delaney, an actress who'd made a name for herself in a film called 'Fair Game.' Lots of gratuitous violence in that one.

  It was around this time that she met John Denver, while singing at the famous Sebel Town House. It wasn't to be a happy marriage, but back then she looked happy as Larry.

  Once again I was asked to dive elegantly into a swimming pool and again I looked very foolish – another tip, practice and get better at simple things like this so you can do them well on camera.

  When 'Barracuda' was aired, none of the major networks saw it as a continuing series, despite Andrew heading the cast. I was dead, of course. Drowned in Sydney Harbour. So I was never coming back anyway! Interestingly enough, many years later in 1991 Tony Morphett tested out the same idea, starring a host of Aussie regulars. This one translated into one of the most popular cop shows in Australian history, starring Colin Friels, Catherine McClements, Peter Bensley, Bill Young and Scott Burgess. Only goes to prove that one never can tell what's going to become a huge hit.

  With John O'Brien, Cassandra Delaney in 'Barracuda.

  There are television shows and there are soap operas. Then there are shows that overlap a bit. 'The Flying Doctors' was one of those, a quintessential Australian drama series based on stories about the famous Australian Royal Flying Doctor Service. It ran from 1985 – 1991. Australia adored this series.

  Just about every Australian Equity member had a role in this series over the years, and all the best directors had a go too – with Colin Budds directing twenty-seven episodes. Other directors were Pino, (he shot the first episode) Ian Barry, Dan Burstall, Peter Andikidis, and Steven Wallace.

  The stories were always interesting and enjoyable to watch. The outback scenery was a huge plus.

  Andrew McFarlane, Lenore Smith, Liz Burch, Maurie Fields, Rebecca Gibney and Robert Grubb were the regulars. I played a French rally driver in one episode, with my usual Clouseau accent, and a cruel wine baron in another. I was beginning to warm to this work in the outback − I could have been taking the Underground to work at the BBC in Acton. But here in the bush, I was spending my days under the blue, blue, Aussie sky in the perfect climate, making films that were not exactly Oscar material. However, I wouldn't have traded countries for quids.

  The one thing that might have made things in Oz even more complete was if actors had been allowed to enjoy a 'tinnie' or two at lunchtime; but unlike most of Europe, including the U.K. this was frowned upon. In the good old days, every Friday evening when we finished shooting, there'd be a slab of beer on the back of a truck somewhere. Now, thanks to new laws concerning 'safety' this is no longer allowed. Presumably because, though the drink-driving limit in Australia is three standard beers (and all we wanted was one or two) we film people could not be trusted. Progress? Nah!

  Australian Theatre work

  KENNETH BRANAGH AND DAVID WENHAM.

  I'd been in Australia for five years before anyone thought of me for a stage role. I think people in Australia have a proclivity to compartmentalize actors. Because I was busy making films, and appearing in television series, I was not thoug
ht of as possible theatre material – even as a 'theatre bad guy.' This is still the case, I feel.

  I remember many years ago a good friend of mine bid for and won 'tea and a chat with Kenneth Branagh' at a charity auction. It was organized through John Bell, the director of the Bell Shakespeare Company.