Article - Sandringham Brighton Advertiser
Cover story: Well heeled -END-; Sandringham Brighton Advertiser (VIC Leader Publications, Australia) 08-15-2005
William McInnes has won two silver Logies, but he's not sure where they are. ``With the kids, I think,'' says the laidback star of the seminal ABC series SeaChange. A few years back, his daughter Stella buried one of the Logies in the sandpit at their West Footscray home. ``She wanted to water it and make it grow,'' he says, admiringly.
It's easy to see how you could lose a Logie or two in the McInnes household: clutter, kids and canines reign supreme. It's well loved and well lived-in, a recreation of his Queensland childhood home he calls a ``living, breathing thing''. Family, clearly, is the centre of McInnes's world. His upbringing in Redcliffe, 40km north of Brisbane, was full of love and hilarity and his own family wife Sarah Watt, 46, and children Stella, 8, and Clem, 11 are his greatest pleasure. Scriptwriter Andrew Knight, co-creator of SeaChange, said in a recent Australian Story profile on the actor: ``I never feel Will's comfortable unless he's within touching distance of his family.
You can't say that about too many men. ''The McInnes-Watt household is even more chaotic these days with the release of his first book A man's got to have a hobby: long summers with my dad and the movie Look Both Ways. The film, in which he co-stars, is his wife's directorial debut. Watt, an award-winning animator, also wrote the script about seven people trying to deal with unexpected events over one hot weekend.
Incredibly, while making the film in which McInnes' character is told he has cancer, Watt herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery and chemotherapy, but continued post-production of the film and faces a further five years of treatment. ``She's living with it,'' McInnes said. ``Just getting on with things.
''While Watt attends film festivals in Europe and North America, McInnes will be on ``domestic duties'' and promoting his book. He will be in Bayside on August 22 at the Beaumaris Pavilion.
Though writing comes naturally, McInnes is ``astounded'' he's actually completed a book. It took about four months. His office is a backyard shed where he revels in the organised chaos; even his brother calls him a ``well-adjusted slob''.
McInnes, 41, may be one of Australia's most talented actors, but he's refreshingly down to earth, rejecting the trappings of celebrity. He attributes that to his family: fair-dinkum, salt-of-the-earth characters without a whiff of pretension. He brings these characters vividly to life in his book, a hilarious frolic through his Queensland childhood of the '60s and '70s. At the heart of these treasured memories is his father, an Irish-born, larger-than-life, Labor-voting would-be politician, who possessed a remarkable collection of sayings that had his children doubled over with laughter. McInnes has drawn a remarkable, loving portrait of a man who stays with you long after the book is finished. No wonder his son felt compelled to write about him. Colin McInnes died in 1992, aged 70, from various ailments including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The youngest of five children, William McInnes was born to act and admits to being a natural mimic who has always loved taking the mickey out of people.
Copyright 2005 News Limited. All rights reserved.
William McInnes has won two silver Logies, but he's not sure where they are. ``With the kids, I think,'' says the laidback star of the seminal ABC series SeaChange. A few years back, his daughter Stella buried one of the Logies in the sandpit at their West Footscray home. ``She wanted to water it and make it grow,'' he says, admiringly.
It's easy to see how you could lose a Logie or two in the McInnes household: clutter, kids and canines reign supreme. It's well loved and well lived-in, a recreation of his Queensland childhood home he calls a ``living, breathing thing''. Family, clearly, is the centre of McInnes's world. His upbringing in Redcliffe, 40km north of Brisbane, was full of love and hilarity and his own family wife Sarah Watt, 46, and children Stella, 8, and Clem, 11 are his greatest pleasure. Scriptwriter Andrew Knight, co-creator of SeaChange, said in a recent Australian Story profile on the actor: ``I never feel Will's comfortable unless he's within touching distance of his family.
You can't say that about too many men. ''The McInnes-Watt household is even more chaotic these days with the release of his first book A man's got to have a hobby: long summers with my dad and the movie Look Both Ways. The film, in which he co-stars, is his wife's directorial debut. Watt, an award-winning animator, also wrote the script about seven people trying to deal with unexpected events over one hot weekend.
Incredibly, while making the film in which McInnes' character is told he has cancer, Watt herself was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery and chemotherapy, but continued post-production of the film and faces a further five years of treatment. ``She's living with it,'' McInnes said. ``Just getting on with things.
''While Watt attends film festivals in Europe and North America, McInnes will be on ``domestic duties'' and promoting his book. He will be in Bayside on August 22 at the Beaumaris Pavilion.
Though writing comes naturally, McInnes is ``astounded'' he's actually completed a book. It took about four months. His office is a backyard shed where he revels in the organised chaos; even his brother calls him a ``well-adjusted slob''.
McInnes, 41, may be one of Australia's most talented actors, but he's refreshingly down to earth, rejecting the trappings of celebrity. He attributes that to his family: fair-dinkum, salt-of-the-earth characters without a whiff of pretension. He brings these characters vividly to life in his book, a hilarious frolic through his Queensland childhood of the '60s and '70s. At the heart of these treasured memories is his father, an Irish-born, larger-than-life, Labor-voting would-be politician, who possessed a remarkable collection of sayings that had his children doubled over with laughter. McInnes has drawn a remarkable, loving portrait of a man who stays with you long after the book is finished. No wonder his son felt compelled to write about him. Colin McInnes died in 1992, aged 70, from various ailments including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The youngest of five children, William McInnes was born to act and admits to being a natural mimic who has always loved taking the mickey out of people.
Copyright 2005 News Limited. All rights reserved.
posted by WilliamWatch at 7:39 PM
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