Article - ABC News Online - September 4, 2006

William McInnes: writer who acts or actor who writes?

Australian actor William McInnes first rose to public attention on our TV screens in shows such as Blue Heelers and Sea Change, and has now carved out a niche as a successful writer.

He has climbed into the top 10 in both fiction and non-fiction lists with A Man's Got to Have a Hobby and now Cricket Kings but, despite his success, has told Maxine McKew on Sunday Profile he's not yet ready to give up acting.

"Oh I don't know, maybe not. I don't know, I have no idea, it's a bit of fun, it's nice, there's no accounting for tastes," he said.

He says it is nice to have struck a chord with readers.

"Like an actor would like to have his work or her work watched and appreciated, so it's nice to write a book and have people go and read it, that's the good thing," he said.

"In the end, that's the best thing you can say about it, because in the end, I know I'm not the world's greatest writer."

He says in an ideal world he would like to be able to do a bit of acting and a bit of writing.

"Because I do like being apart of a group and working together," he said.

"Lots of actors that I knock around with, lots of them don't have much time for sport, which is interesting the interesting thing, because acting to me, is the ultimate team sport.

"You have your own little individual space to shine, but I like being part of a group because you can shine in your own little spotlight if you like, but you're all pulling together in a certain direction, so I like that about acting.

"Especially film work, any acting actually: TV, theatre, you've got that team that sits together, works together to achieve an end, and I find that very satisfying."

Cricket tragic

McInnes recently demonstrated his love of cricket while in Byron Bay for the writer's festival, donning his pads for a net session with cricketing author and journalist Gideon Haigh.
And McInnes's latest novel, Cricket Kings, charts the lives of the men who play for Yarraville West on a Saturday afternoon.

"I wanted to use cricket as a backdrop because when you're driving through the suburbs, you're waiting at an intersection, waiting for the lights to change, and out of the corner of your eye you see these people standing in an oval, dressed in white," he said.

"Nothing much is happening, but they're playing cricket, usually scratching themselves in various parts of the anatomy, but they are not just fondling themselves in public under the suburban sun, they are playing cricket, but they are also living their lives.

"And I thought that was the interesting thing: a pastime that seems so static, and what are they doing? They're living their lives, thinking about what was gone on this morning, the week before, what's going to happen, what happened 20 years ago perhaps."

William McInnes: R.I.P.

McInnes has drawn on his upbringing in Redcliffe, a sleepy Queensland seaside town, in his writing. He says he had a ball growing up.

"I mean, I was bored and restless like other teenagers, but I did have a ball growing up, and you only realise that when you look back and you think, 'Gee I was nestled in a very comfortable nest', and like so many Australians, you don't realise how comfortable it is until you open your eyes and look at the world," he said.

He says there seemed to be an "endless horizon of mischief, mayhem, and things to get up to", such as placing his death notice in the local paper.

It read: "In memoriam: William Matthews mourns the loss of Darryl William Matthew McInnes. Requiem mass to be held. Lost in an accidental collusion with a Zurich Zoo truck, while serving with the Swiss Navy."

"I don't know why, I thought it would be funny," he said.

"And there was a pretty, simple girl on and she sort of took the message and it was stuck it in the Redcliffe Herald.

"I was walking back from school, and the only way I knew that it had been published was by my mother's booming voice from across the avenue saying: 'Oh, you idiot, you stupid boy, you are not coming to eat in my house, you're dead, you're a dead man, you fool, you're stupid. Nineteen hours it took for me to have you, for what? A dead man?'"

Political views

His books are also flavoured by his upbringing - his Dad was a perennial Labor Party candidate in a seat that the Country Party always won.

"So he usually had his opinions, and it was a fierce debate," he said.

"We had a big table that we grew up around and it was on for young and old some nights, and it was fascinating to watch.

"Because I was the youngest, I sat up the end of the table and watched it all, and there were huge debates about land rights, the right for women to choose whether or not to have an abortion, the right to sort of, march in the streets."

McInnes says he has a lot of respect for his parents' generation, because they maintained a "generosity of spirit".

"I mean, they may have gone, 'Oh it was much better when I was a kid, what you need is good war to set everything out, that would be alright', but they were a good generation because they kept on going, and they kept supporting that hope, that optimism that by living a good life, and a fair struggle, that some good would come of it," he said.

"They weren't pessimistic that often, and I think they were optimistic because I don't think they had much choice. I think that that was a generation that made a lot of sacrifices."

McInnes has recently immersed himself in the past, playing war-time prime minister John Curtin.

"That was a fantastic gig, a really, really interesting thing to do, an it was great that the ABC whacked it on," he said.

"It's a telemovie about Curtin's first year on the job, when everything seemed to be going completely wrong for Australia.

"And it's interesting because it doesn't really paint anyone as really whiter than white, the great white knight of hope and salvation for Australia.

"Everyone has got their good points, and their bad points, it's very even handed."