Article: ABC News Online, April 18th, 2007
Capturing Curtin
By Rebekah van Druten.
William McInnes is one of Australia's most accomplished and popular actors.
He shone on Seachange, won hearts playing Mr Darcy in Sydney and Melbourne stage productions of Pride and Prejudice and is a best-selling author.
More recently this high accomplished performer had a prosthetic lazy eye fitted to play the title role in Curtin, an ABC TV telemovie about the great wartime prime minister.
And, as Rebekah van Druten discovered, for McInnes - an Australian history and politics buff - it was a dream role:
Q. Why don't you tell us about who John Curtin was?
A. Curtin was an albino, who was a midget, who could juggle eggs with his buttocks.
Q. Really?
A. The other John Curtin that I'm involved in helping to bring to the screen was a wartime prime minister, Labor leader, reformed alcoholic - although it's a bit doubtful whether he gave up the grog entirely - a very sensitive fellow, a pacifist in the Second and First World War, forced conscription onto the nation in the Second World War. Basically did himself in serving the country. And although he's a Labor Party icon, he's one of those Australians that belongs to us all.
Q. Do you think it is a shame so many Australians know so little about Curtin?
A. Well I've just given them the update on the albino one. Look, that's a bit of a cliche to say we know nothing about him ... but then again, I suppose, does anyone know anything about their political history? It's always easy to say we are the world's worst at this, but I'm sure every other nation has this doubt about knowing their past. But, you know, I guess there's not an industry in Australia for the telling of our history. Politicians can bang on about the need to teach history at schools all they want, but you can't force feed people things, you've got to actually create a need or a want and desire for it.
Q. Is it your hope this telemovie will get the younger generation more interested in Australian political history?
A. Well you'd like to think so. But what is the 'younger generation'? There are people my age - and I'm 43 - who don't know who Curtin was. So does that make me young? (Laughs) There are people 10 years older than me who don't know who John Curtin was, there are people in Federal Parliament that don't know who John Curtin was ... So it would be great if they ALL were interested.
Q. Do you have a keen interest in politics?
A. I take an interest, yeah. I'm not at the point where I'm going to put a bad suit over my shoulder and hand out how-to-vote cards, but I think it's reasonable to take an interest in politics. The thing is politics is such a sport now. It's hard to actually get to the nuts and bolts of issues because people aren't willing to go into great depth cause they're frightened of it ... This is one of the great things about the Curtin show, I think. It shows people from different political persuasions worked together and had time and respect for each other, even though they may not have politically agreed. They never played the man, they always played the ball. I think it's something that present politicians that are involved in the political bunfights could learn. I mean the name calling and muckracking and grandstanding really wouldn't have passed back then. This is a show about people pulling together and getting things done.
Q. Curtin was the man responsible for the strong Australian-US alliance, right?
A. It's an interesting thing to tell the 'younger generation', whatever they are. If you went and said to them that this is a show about somebody who said, 'look we can't depend on Britain, we've got to look to America' and they would say, 'well is that a good thing' knowing today's fascination with the White House, and you've got the morass of Iraq and all the moral contradictions they've got to face over there. Well you've got to remember that if you actually watch this show and you want to know more and you understand it, you'll understand that America was a different America then. Just like Australia was a different Australia, and England was a different England, and Japan was a different Japan. It was when America was beautiful in many respects. It was the bastion of the democracies of the world, it was the engine and the armoury that saved democracy as we know it. That's why people looked to America ... It's interesting to actually immerse yourself in another period and you can actually understand why Curtin needed to do that. Australia has always been a small country and although we may sometimes act full of ourselves and love patting ourselves on the back, we've always been a small nation in a big world, we've always looked to great and powerful friends. The great thing about Curtin was he controlled this nation's destiny as much as he could. He wasn't one to ride on the coat tails or sit in the breast pocket of powerful nations and that's a great thing I think.
Q. Should the other networks be investing in projects like this one?
A. Look it's cyclical and as long as they think there is demand for it they [will] ... Networks aren't overloaded with imagination and risk taking. That's not their business. It's easy to just put on a game show or a sports show or something like that. That's their business and that's how they run it and that's how it's always been run. You can bemoan the fact that there is not much drama being made, but it's cyclical. You know, there's a fair whack coming out this year. Channel Nine's got some stuff, Seven's got some stuff, the ABC haven't got anything good coming out at all (laughs).
Q. And what's next for you?
A. I'm doing some busking, I'm doing some egg juggling. No, I might have to write another book. It's a great second string, sort of rest your weary, aching bones on being a writer. There's not a lot of certainty there, but I certainly do all right at it. I can't complain about anything really. Except there's four ABC dramas in production and I haven't got a role in any of them (laughs).
By Rebekah van Druten.
William McInnes is one of Australia's most accomplished and popular actors.
He shone on Seachange, won hearts playing Mr Darcy in Sydney and Melbourne stage productions of Pride and Prejudice and is a best-selling author.
More recently this high accomplished performer had a prosthetic lazy eye fitted to play the title role in Curtin, an ABC TV telemovie about the great wartime prime minister.
And, as Rebekah van Druten discovered, for McInnes - an Australian history and politics buff - it was a dream role:
Q. Why don't you tell us about who John Curtin was?
A. Curtin was an albino, who was a midget, who could juggle eggs with his buttocks.
Q. Really?
A. The other John Curtin that I'm involved in helping to bring to the screen was a wartime prime minister, Labor leader, reformed alcoholic - although it's a bit doubtful whether he gave up the grog entirely - a very sensitive fellow, a pacifist in the Second and First World War, forced conscription onto the nation in the Second World War. Basically did himself in serving the country. And although he's a Labor Party icon, he's one of those Australians that belongs to us all.
Q. Do you think it is a shame so many Australians know so little about Curtin?
A. Well I've just given them the update on the albino one. Look, that's a bit of a cliche to say we know nothing about him ... but then again, I suppose, does anyone know anything about their political history? It's always easy to say we are the world's worst at this, but I'm sure every other nation has this doubt about knowing their past. But, you know, I guess there's not an industry in Australia for the telling of our history. Politicians can bang on about the need to teach history at schools all they want, but you can't force feed people things, you've got to actually create a need or a want and desire for it.
Q. Is it your hope this telemovie will get the younger generation more interested in Australian political history?
A. Well you'd like to think so. But what is the 'younger generation'? There are people my age - and I'm 43 - who don't know who Curtin was. So does that make me young? (Laughs) There are people 10 years older than me who don't know who John Curtin was, there are people in Federal Parliament that don't know who John Curtin was ... So it would be great if they ALL were interested.
Q. Do you have a keen interest in politics?
A. I take an interest, yeah. I'm not at the point where I'm going to put a bad suit over my shoulder and hand out how-to-vote cards, but I think it's reasonable to take an interest in politics. The thing is politics is such a sport now. It's hard to actually get to the nuts and bolts of issues because people aren't willing to go into great depth cause they're frightened of it ... This is one of the great things about the Curtin show, I think. It shows people from different political persuasions worked together and had time and respect for each other, even though they may not have politically agreed. They never played the man, they always played the ball. I think it's something that present politicians that are involved in the political bunfights could learn. I mean the name calling and muckracking and grandstanding really wouldn't have passed back then. This is a show about people pulling together and getting things done.
Q. Curtin was the man responsible for the strong Australian-US alliance, right?
A. It's an interesting thing to tell the 'younger generation', whatever they are. If you went and said to them that this is a show about somebody who said, 'look we can't depend on Britain, we've got to look to America' and they would say, 'well is that a good thing' knowing today's fascination with the White House, and you've got the morass of Iraq and all the moral contradictions they've got to face over there. Well you've got to remember that if you actually watch this show and you want to know more and you understand it, you'll understand that America was a different America then. Just like Australia was a different Australia, and England was a different England, and Japan was a different Japan. It was when America was beautiful in many respects. It was the bastion of the democracies of the world, it was the engine and the armoury that saved democracy as we know it. That's why people looked to America ... It's interesting to actually immerse yourself in another period and you can actually understand why Curtin needed to do that. Australia has always been a small country and although we may sometimes act full of ourselves and love patting ourselves on the back, we've always been a small nation in a big world, we've always looked to great and powerful friends. The great thing about Curtin was he controlled this nation's destiny as much as he could. He wasn't one to ride on the coat tails or sit in the breast pocket of powerful nations and that's a great thing I think.
Q. Should the other networks be investing in projects like this one?
A. Look it's cyclical and as long as they think there is demand for it they [will] ... Networks aren't overloaded with imagination and risk taking. That's not their business. It's easy to just put on a game show or a sports show or something like that. That's their business and that's how they run it and that's how it's always been run. You can bemoan the fact that there is not much drama being made, but it's cyclical. You know, there's a fair whack coming out this year. Channel Nine's got some stuff, Seven's got some stuff, the ABC haven't got anything good coming out at all (laughs).
Q. And what's next for you?
A. I'm doing some busking, I'm doing some egg juggling. No, I might have to write another book. It's a great second string, sort of rest your weary, aching bones on being a writer. There's not a lot of certainty there, but I certainly do all right at it. I can't complain about anything really. Except there's four ABC dramas in production and I haven't got a role in any of them (laughs).
posted by WilliamWatch at 9:44 PM
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