2014 - Part 1
Having spent most of the 2nd half of 2013 working on “Broken Bones”, I ventured back to LA in January to do a guest spot on Sean Hayes’ show “Sean Saves The World” - which unfortunately was cancelled right after I was on… Hopefully not as a result of my comedy skills – or lack thereof. Sean was an absolute delight to work with. I’ve been a fan for so long so it was a real treat to get to know him a little. Who knew he was such an accomplished pianist…. Just Amazing!!! Sad for him though, the show was cancelled. He really is so talented. I know more good things will come his way.
I stayed on in LA for another week to try and rustle up some other work. There was also some press to start doing for The Rover.
The next few months was about trying to finish off the record. I had the Silo Quartet come in to record on 4 tracks which was just divine, plus got to do a bunch of other random things – Watched Sam Johnson arrive back in Melbourne after a year of riding around Australia on his unicycle, got to see Neil Finn play, got to have lunch with John Waters when he was in town. Spent 3 days workshopping the idea of a 6 part Jack Irish series – looking good! Flew to London to audition for Sacha Baron Cohen. Didn’t get the job though. That’s the 3rd time I’ve flown to London testing for different roles on different jobs and not getting any of them…. Might be the last time I reckon – maybe jetlag and auditioning don’t mix??
We then started our publicity tour for The Rover – did a big interview with GQ (more on that later). First, we took the film to Cannes. Kate came with me, which we were both very pleased about. The other pleasing thing was that Kylie and I got to catch up after 17 years of not seeing each other. We were both on the same talk show and just couldn’t believe we were seeing each other after all that time. Had a lovely brekky the next day together with Kate and got to laugh about the old days. Can’t believe Neighbours is coming up for the 30 year anniversary!!!
The reaction to the film seemed to be really positive. I know it’s a confronting film to watch but most people we spoke to were incredibly moved by it.
Now, back to that GQ article. I want to take this opportunity to say how bitterly disappointed I am that so much of that interview was either exaggerated or fabricated. It’s so upsetting to be as honest as you can with a journalist but they seemingly decide what you’ve said isn’t interesting enough so put their own spin on things - particularly to this degree. I don’t want to go on about it but some examples I will give - Yes I used to smoke a lot of pot, I’ve talked about that many times before (boring story now, I’m sure) but it was never nearly a career ending addiction, that’s just not true, and it certainly didn’t take Nick Cave calling me to get me out of it. There was also a reference when Nick called that I was “giggling under the couch,” - not my words. Makes me sound like an imbecile. All the overly dramatic talk of my supposedly pained childhood also makes me sound like I spent my time being devastated - wrong. Clearly this journalist is a frustrated non-fiction writer.
I never fenced in the movie Flynn, I also never said when Steph cast me in Priscilla - "Thank God - First time I felt I had some chops - skills that I could take anywhere”, I’ve also never owned 95 guitars or anywhere near that amount - etc, etc, etc…. Want me to go on??? But the most despicable and hurtful part of this whole interview, is the completely made up story that I as a young boy was supposedly scared because I’d read that - "in the 50’s test pilots died at the rate of one a week", then according to this so called journalist my Dad tells me "not to worry because in the 70’s there’s fly by wire technology to help - and anyway, one of the most important parts of being a test pilot is problem-solving. If something goes wrong, a test pilot has to be able to think fast, particularly if lots of things go wrong at once. Dad can do that really well. That’s why he always comes home. It’s a risky business, Dad supposedly always tells me. But in life a risk is worth a thousand dreams."
Taking the liberty to completely make up a conversation like that is disgusting as far as I’m concerned (not to mention embarrassing - at how corny this writing is). Dad also didn’t die in a fiery jet crash. It was a Nomad - a twin engine turbo prop aircraft. Well done on the homework… I realise I’m not a world leader or anything like that and so the way I’m presented probably doesn’t matter to most people but I still think it’s disrespectful. This entire article is filled with overly dramatised and false statements - including that my Mother apparently called Grundy’s back in the Neighbours days to get me an audition - something she never did. Very disappointing that such a cool magazine like GQ would use someone who stoops so low. Anyway, I’m sorry for that rant. It just made me angry, as you can tell. At least I now have the forum to clear the air. Phew !