Always the Bad Guy

by Shane Briant

  The major league again.

  CHINA AND BOLLYWOOD! SPOTTISWOODE AND JOFFE.

  It's always the same, just when you think to yourself, 'Hey, I haven't made a serious film for a while,' one tends to pop up out of the blue.

  So it was with what was originally titled 'The Children of Huang Shi,' and became 'Children of the Silk Road.'

  It was directed by Roger Spottiswoode, the highly respected award-winning director of films such as 'Air America,' 'Turner and Hooch,' 'And the Band Played On,' as well as 'Tomorrow Never Dies.'

  It was filmed entirely on location in China and starred Yun-Fat Chow, Radha Mitchell and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, as well as the actor who played Strang to my Dysart in 'Equus' all those years ago – David Wenham. My role was little more than a cameo, but as we all know by now it's not the length of the role that matters. A few weeks after being cast, I was flying to Shanghai. Out of interest I'd asked my wonderful agent, Monica Keightley, which hotel I'd be staying at in Shanghai and she'd informed me I was booked into the Hyatt. Naturally, as an actor, I immediately Googled the joint.

  'Situated in the heart of Pudong, overlooking the world famous Bund, the Hyatt Shanghai is all about five-star luxury.' That's what I read. Very nice indeed.

  There was a car at Pudong airport on my arrival. Forty minutes later we seemed to be heading into an industrial wasteland. We'd passed the Bund thirty-five minutes earlier, and since my driver couldn't speak English I had to wait and see where I'd end up. We halted outside a very nice hotel. I looked up at the name. It was 'The Hyaart Hotel.' It turned out to be the very comfy hotel where the bulk of the cast and crew were staying. Jonathan, Yun-Fat Chow, Rhadha and David had insisted on being one star better – and on the Bund. But to give him his due, Roger was happy enough at the Hyaart, as was I.

  I was only in Shanghai for one week. My scenes were set in a 1930's nightclub around the time of the fall of Nanking.

  With David Wenham and Jonathon Rhys Meyers in 'Children of the Silm Road.'

  Amongst all the Russian 'ladies.'(Shanghai)

  The shoot took place in an amazing ballroom with a spectacular '30's band and a Eurasian singer.

  'I never met Radha nor Yun-Fat. My scenes were with Jonathan, David and a young Aussie by the name of Matt Walker.

  When they came to cast the extras for the ballroom scene, there simply weren't sufficient white-skinned ladies to be had in Shanghai – the script called for a hundred or more young lovelies. There was only one recourse – several assistant directors were sent out to scour the best houses of ill repute in Shanghai to ask if any of the 'girls' would care to come and film with us. Most were delighted to have a more relaxing day at work, sitting down rather than prone. And most were stunning Russian beauties.

  Xiaoding Zhao was the director of photography. He spoke no English. In order to work with Roger, Zhao had an interpreter – a sweet bilingual Chinese girl aged eighteen.

  From what Roger told me, the way the Chinese shoot is very different from that in America, Australia or Europe. To begin with the camera department doesn't keep camera sheets, so neither the director nor the DoP has any way of looking back and seeing what lens he used in a close-up the day before; he has to rely on his memory. Nor is there any continuity person, so if you are reading a newspaper in a wide shot, it's up to you to remember to have it open at the same page for your single.

  It was fun working with David Wenham again. By then he'd become a star in Australia, and had played 'Faramir' in the 'Lord of the Rings – The two Towers,' and 'The Return of the King.' Roger was a lovely man to work with – will must see how I can inveigle myself into one of his forthcoming productions.

  Sometime in September 2010 my agent at Mollison Keightley, Tracy LeMin called with some very exciting news. As ever, the best news comes out of left field when you're least expecting it.

  Roland Joffe was casting in Australia for his forthcoming film, 'Singularity,' to be shot in Queensland and India. It would star Josh Hartnett and Bollywood superstar Bopasha Basu.

  It's an epic story set across two time periods and continents. The plot involves a British officer in colonial India, Hartnett, the Indian woman he falls in love with, Bopasha Basu, an American marine biologist, Hartnett again, and his lover, a researcher played by Olga Kurylenko who is trapped in a wrecked British merchant ship.

  I met with Roland, a man I'd admired since I'd seen the

  miraculous 'The Mission,' and we chatted for ten minutes or so about all manner of things. He didn't ask me to read or put anything on tape. This took me back to my London days when directors took it for granted you were a good actor if the casting director said so.

  Ann Fay, a wonderful casting director and even more wonderful friend, cast the film in Australia. She'd thought of me for the role of 'The Governor of Bombay.' It was a lovely cameo and just the kind of rich character I love to play. I couldn't have been happier when I heard that Roland had cast me.

  I flew up to Queensland on the 11 of November and we shot the following week in a magnificent building that once was home to the Governor General of Queensland.

  With directorial legend Roland Joffe on the set of 'Singularity.'

  I'm not sure if Roland would like me to reveal his very individual rehearsal techniques, so I won't. Suffice it to say, they were a revelation to me and they worked wonderfully well. By the time we finished that day, we all had an intimate knowledge of our characters from their upbringing in England, to their moral and ethical beliefs. This paid huge dividends when we came to shoot the scenes.

  My scenes involved a great deal of dining – there was a magnificent stilton right in front of me, so I worked it into the scene and ended up eating far too much.

  As it was set in 1887, it was the custom to relieve oneself when necessary into chamber pots that were concealed behind screens. Roland thought it'd be a nice touch to begin one scene with the Governor pissing behind a screen while he chatted to his colleagues about the Maratha tribe. As ever, his direction was superb. "We can only see your head, but I want you to demonstrate three things. Finishing peeing, putting it away, and then buttoning up. One, two three. Okay?"

  Say no more, I whispered to myself.

  I've worked with great directors over the years, but that week with Roland was especially enjoyable. As was meeting Josh, who all the production runners referred to as 'Josh Heartthrob.'

  I also had the pleasure of working with some wonderful Aussie actors, including the very funny and bombastic Bille Brown.

  OLD FARTS AND PEDOPHILES.

  In 2009 I radically changed my eating habits. I'd seen the production called 'Rogue Nation' on Australian television and felt I looked far too fat.

  I'd played Lord Camden, Colonial Secretary, and was again directed by Peter Andikidis. But I was so shocked by my look I resolved that no calories would pass my lips until I had reached 82 kilos – I was 88 at the time.

  It wasn't so hard.

  I was cast that year in a U.K./Australian television movie called 'False Witness' in Oz and 'The Diplomat' elsewhere. Dougray Scott, Rachel Blake and Richard Roxburgh lead the cast. As I was,

  MI6. Peter Androkidis directed impeccably and it ended up a very good show, I think. Richard Roxburgh was an inspiration to work with. It was all about terrorosts. Dougray played a British diplomat arrested and charged with working for the Russian Mafia. Don Hany was a newcomer then – not so now. He was the nasty Ruskie. Claire Forlani played the love interest. I've always warmed to movies about nuclear disasters – I've no idea why, they simply terrify me – so I liked this plot because bad things DO happen.

  Richard Roxburgh in 'False Witness.'

  I also appeared in an episode of the hugely popular television series, 'City Homicide,' created by John Banas. The real lure of this job was firstly that I'd be directed again by Pino Amento, and secondly because my character, an aggressive gay pedophile, was so disgustingly interesting.

  I wanted to give the audience a real insight in
to this kind of person, based on proper research – to give him colour and dimensions, a little light and shade. I'm more and more certain that sexual deviants are not, as most people might think, born bad, nor are they one hundred per cent evil. They acquire their sexually different tastes because of their childhood experiences. It would have been easy to simply play an evil person.

  The episode was called 'Stolen Sweets,' and there were two things that occurred that I remember well.

  The first was rehearsing an interrogation scene.

  One of the detectives, superbly played by Aaron Pedersen, was grilling me really hard throughout the scene, leaning in closer and closer to my face as he did so.

  So I had an idea. What if my character, a Pastor by the name of

  Nieman, responds by teasing the detective sexually – indicating that he finds him sexually inviting. It was an easy device to introduce, since my only responses to his tirade were a succession of the word, 'Yes!' So I gave it the element of 'When Harry Met Sally,' and each time he asked me a hard question I would reply, 'Yes,' raising the orgasmic intensity of the word each time as I stared into the young detective's eyes. When we finished the take, there was a curious silence in the room. I looked around and I saw a lot of faces, staring at me in disgust.

  "It's not me – it's the character!" I found myself saying aloud. The editor chose to edit around my sexual innuendo. Probably right.

  American BOOK tour!

  BREAKING INTO THE AMERICAN MARKET.

  In 1995 I did my best to secure a literary agent in America. I knew that if I were to make any serious money from my books I'd need to be published there. Australia was all very fine, but the population is small.

  And though I'd been published by Harper Collins Australia in Oz, that didn't necessarily mean Harper Collins U.K. would publish it in England. You'd think Harper Collins U.K. would want to take advantage of a Harper Collins Australia writer. But no. Quite the contrary. The attitude in England despite the common Harper Collins name, is 'We've got plenty of our own writers, thanks.'

  An averagely successful trade format print run might be twenty thousand books in Australia, but half a million in the U.S.A. This was, of course, before the GFC – the Global Financial Crisis.

  I couldn't have picked a worse year to debut in America!

  Back then in 1995, I feared it'd be practically impossible to interest an American literary agent in my work, but I was going to give it a try – after all, I did have a film and television profile going

  trifle easier.

  So I looked up names of literary agents in the Writers Handbook, and compiled dossiers. Forty of them. They contained my film and television biography, a letter written by my then commissioning editor at Harper Collins, Louise Thurtell, in which she referred to me as 'a highly prized author,' various photos of me in movies, a sample chapter of 'The Webber Agenda,' and some great reviews.

  A month passed. Then the replies began to trickle in. There were seven replies and thirty-three no-shows.

  Seven was enough for me – I booked a ticket to New York and was off within the week.

  When I arrived in the Big Apple, I called each agent and organized interviews. Some agents were lovely but said it'd be too hard to introduce 'an Australian' to the American market because publishers would think of me as a foreigner. Some agents had a single room on the sixth floor of a 'walk-up' on the lower east side. Others simply couldn't be bothered.

  I'm sure it'll sound as though I'm making it up, but it eventually came down to the last literary agency, Curtis Brown Ltd, probably the most prestigious agency in the world. I had a heavy heart going in, as I knew I stood no chance.

  Yet again it was a case of 'just when you think it's all over, your ship comes in.'

  A receptionist directed me to a room at the end of a narrow corridor. I knocked.

  "Come in," I heard from within.

  I opened the door.

  Sitting behind a desk was a lovely young woman. Fair haired, probably no more than thirty, dressed in a smart suit, smiling at me.

  "Please, sit down," she said.

  Twenty minutes later I was Laura Blake Petersen's client! I couldn't believe it.

  starter. One has to write a book she can sell – that's the thing.

  I couldn't ask her to try to sell 'The Webber Agenda' because it wasn't new. So I sent her the sequel, 'The Chasen Catalyst,' and although she did her best to find a publisher, it somehow didn't have that 'wow' factor. Mainly, I believe, because it was set in England.

  Eighteen months later I sent her 'Hitkids.' Yet again she went in to bat for me. Two years later I sent 'Bite of the Lotus.' This time she told me she'd come close to a deal but the publisher she'd had in mind (Heinemann, I believe) told her that though he liked the book a lot, they only had room for 'one financial thriller' that year, and they'd had to choose between me and Frederick Forsyth. Hmmm. Some choice.

  Another two years and I sent her 'Graphic,' knowing in my heart of hearts it would be an impossible sell since it was so essentially 'Sydney Underworld.'

  Through all these years, Laura never lost faith in me or told me to get lost. Stunning. Never had she said, 'Hey, Shane, it's a lost cause. I'm afraid I can't do this any more.'

  In 2004 I sent her the manuscript of my sixth novel, 'Worst Nightmares.' It was thirteen years after our first meeting, yet she still agreed to do her best.

  I recall her sending me emails. One said that there were seven publishers on her list. Then there were six. Then five. Finally there was one publisher left. 'But the seventh has shown interest, Shane,' she said. "The Vanguard Press. It's a division of Perseus Books."

  I immediately Googled Vanguard. Their watchword was 'A Unique Collaboration Between Author and Publisher.'

  This sounded promising. At last a publisher who would work really closely with the author and they would have belief in each another. Vanguard didn't believe in advances. In return for no upfront money, the author received a bigger slice of the action. That suited me because I felt more confident about 'Worst Nightmares' in the American market than any of my previous books.

  'Worst Nightmares' was originally my screenplay. Usually screenplays come after the novel. Not this time.

  'A serial killer professes to cure the nightmares of his cyber patients, but rather than offering a cure, he tracks down his favourites and visits their worst nightmares on them.' That was the gist of it.

  Laura initially told me she had never read such a 'brutal' novel, but had enjoyed the read enormously and felt it had a great chance of being published. She knew her stuff, and she was right.

  Two weeks later she emailed to the effect that Vanguard Press would make an offer if I agreed to come to America at my own expense to promote the book at Book Expo America.

  With Amanda Ferber at Book Expo America.

  Wendy and I attended Book Expo America and stayed with our friends Scott and Jennifer Citron in their apartment on West 100 Street.

  I was so happy. I remember constantly singing the song 'New York, New York.' 'If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere.' Ever the big kid.

  Wendy and I met with Roger Cooper, my new publisher, at a wonderful steak house. Also present were his two right hand people, Georgina Levitt and Amanda Ferber. They were wonderfully upbeat and optimistic, despite the oncoming GFC.

  Roger made me feel much more secure when he told me he'd personally loved the book. 'We're in this for the long haul. If the first books start slow, we move on to the second. We believe in you.'

  Two days later Wendy and I attended Book Expo America, and I signed copies of 'Worst Nightmares.' I wasn't at all sure that anyone would show up because my signing was on a Sunday. I could see that Roger wasn't so sure either. We needn't have worried since Book Expo America is primarily a trade event, all publishers make a habit of giving books away to people who might later help either promote or stock the book. It was heady stuff to be in New York with a queue of people asking for me to sign my book. M
y book signing lasted close to two hours. I was relieved, as were Roger, Georgina and Amanda.