News: Unfinished Sky - Thanks to New Holland Pictures

New information from New Holland Pictures on William's upcoming film, Unfinished Sky.

Unfinished Sky has been selected for the Sydney Film Festival, and the debut screening at 7pm on Friday 15th of June in Sydney. For information on this session, and more on the Sydney Film Festival, click here.

Below are some publicity stills from Unfinished Sky.

Article By William: Brisbane Times, April 20th, 2007

The Stories of Our Past Belong to Us All
William McInnes


The immaculately groomed and eerily unblinking federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop, wants us all to know more about history - especially the "us" who are that floating group known as young Australians.

"Young Australians should study the past to understand the present, so that they can make informed decisions for the future," she is reported to have said.

Fair enough, but history comes in all shapes and sizes. There's the history that gets people all hot and bothered; from the supposed fibs of Manning Clark, to Geoffrey Blainey, to the roads to Damascus of Robert Manne, and even the revisionist tea cup-rattling of Keith Windschuttle. These are people who are historians. Their business is history.

But there are others. While I was dressed up as John Curtin, pretending to be a man who gave his life in service to this country, I walked around an old RAAF base complaining loudly into a mobile phone in my best disgruntled customer's voice about a holiday I was trying to book over lunch.

My bleatings got the better of some of the film crew who pelted me with a few hard-boiled eggs and the advice "Shut up and get over it, Mr Prime Minister".

The unblinking Bishop should appreciate this: first a Labor PM, even a pretend one, being pelted by eggs, and our history being told in the form of an entertainment broadcast out across the nation and beyond. The unblinking one is, after all, the federal member for the seat of Curtin. John Curtin's story belongs to us all. But is it a prescribed history that we should be taught? Remember, history is many things.

While driving through south-western NSW on a family holiday recently I was extraordinarily moved by the sense of time and achievement since European settlement. I felt proud of the achievements of our shared history, of things such as the Flying Doctor Service and the work of Flynn of the inland.

At the bottom of a 400-metre mine shaft in Broken Hill I listened with my children to the history of three old miners. Where once the economy of this nation was ripped from the earth, now a group of tourists listened to the histories of these battered and noble Australians.

"You need mates down here, you know," said Bob Murphy. "And a mate is basically someone you trust. You may not understand them, they might not look like you, you may not even know them that well, they may talk different to you - but if you trust them and they can trust you, then they're mates."

Never has that concept been better described to me.

And then on the rolling dunes of Lake Mungo I smiled while my children and a few other kids roared with laughter as they rolled down the silk soft sand hills.

Perhaps other Australian children, indigenous children, had done these same childish things here thousands of years ago. Is that not our history, too?

Should we not also share the stories of these Australians? Or does history have a simple and efficient start date that fits in with a curriculum?

We stopped in a small country town for lunch in a park and it seemed no different to all the other country towns we had stopped in. Just like all our histories. No different. The same cenotaphs with the names of those who'd given their life in service to their country. Just names, but they were all the lives of sons, brothers, friends and husbands and they all had stories. Some of those names may have belonged to good people and bad people, their deaths may have been good or ill. And why the lives were lost, will that ever really be known? Their stories will never be told. History is many things. Sometimes it is silent.

There was a bird cage in this particular park. A great white cockatoo clung to the wire and croaked hello to anyone who came near it. My daughter stood staring at the bird. She didn't touch her lunch. It was time to go. I called and she looked torn. The bird called to her again. She turned and waved softly to the cocky in the cage.

She cried for a while in the car. The bird was alone. She didn't want to leave it.

"It just does that because it's been taught to," I said.

"It talked to me," she said.

History is many things. For every listener it can be a different tale, just told with the same characters. But it mustn't be bent and shaped to serve the purpose of those who decide that history must be taught.

It can be like a caged bird. Taught to mimic words as a trick. But my daughter is right. History, like that bird, will always try to talk to you. The least we can do is listen.

William McInnes appears as John Curtin on the ABC tomorrow at 8.30pm. His latest book is Cricket Kings (Hachette Livre).

Radio Interview: ABC Radio Melbourne, April 20th, 2007

Click here for interview.

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).

William to Appear at Williamstown Literary Festival

Details of the 2007 Williamstown Literary Festival have now been released: "Children's book illustrator Leigh Hobbs, actor and author William McInnes, and other notables from the world of journalism, publishing and writing including Garry Disher, Adrian Hyland, Gideon Haigh, Alice Pung, Alan Atwood, Jeremy Koren and Andy Griffiths are all on the bill for this year's event."
The festival runs from Friday 4 May, to Sunday 6 May.

Source: www.middlemiss.org

Article: ABC News Online - April 20th, 2007

'Curtin' up for top TV gong
By Sean Rubinsztein-Dunlop.

ABC telemovie Curtin, starring William McInnes as Australia's wartime PM, has been nominated for one of the world's top TV awards.

The program, which airs here on Sunday night, is up for a Banff World TV Award in the made-for-TV movie category.

It's competing against telemovies from Britain, South Africa and Canada, including the controversial Death of a President, which imagines the assassination of another wartime leader, George W Bush.

McInnes and co will find out if they've won the prize in June.

In the meantime, read Articulate's chat with McInnes about the series here.

Article: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), April 18th 2007

Drawing the Curtin
Sarah Le Marquand

Despite his glowing description of the ensemble cast with whom he co-stars in his latest venture, William McInnes is acutely aware the project rests squarely upon his shoulders.

While some of the country's most acclaimed actors - including Noni Hazlehurst, Asher Keddie, Geoff Morrell and Dan Wyllie - also grace the screen, the telemovie Curtin is ultimately about one person: Prime Minister John Curtin. And that creates a daunting task for the man who portrays him.

"If it stinks it's going to be my head on the chopping block," McInnes candidly admits. "You can't be in every scene and think, 'Well it wasn't my fault'. If people think I'm a bit of a plank and I'm hopeless, then there's nowhere to run really."

Set in 1941, Curtin recalls a defining chapter in Australian history in which World War II dominated the national agenda as the country faced the threat of a Japanese attack. Only newly installed as prime minister, Curtin played a pivotal role in navigating Australia's changing relationship with Britain and the US - all the while battling personal demons, including a history of alcoholism and poor health.

"He was a man of contradictions - he could be quite cutting and very brutal, but also sentimental and melancholic about things," McInnes observes.

"You could call it (the telemovie) How I Won The War By Worrying. But there's a lot more to it than that. It's also a story of a guy who was constantly thinking he wasn't up to it and people around him were thinking he might not be up to it. It's an underdog story, I guess."

While he's considered by many as one of the greatest Australian prime ministers in history, Curtin's shortcomings could well have stopped him from attaining political office today.

"I don't think he'd stand a chance," McInnes says. "In many respects it was a real age of substance over style. Maybe if there was less cynicism and less opportunism we'd see those leaders today. It just seems to me if you don't make an impression straight away and can't make sense in a 30-second grab, you're gone.

"He spoke to the press as equals and they appreciated that. I think there was a great deal of respect for him. He was a very brittle man and it's interesting to see a leader who didn't just switch off after a decision was made.

"There was a cause and effect - many politicians understand that but they don't live the effect. He did, I think. It was his ultimate misfortune to be a man who wanted to be a peace-time prime minister but was a war-time leader."

McInnes, best known for his roles in SeaChange, Blue Heelers and the feature film Look Both Ways, particularly appreciates that Curtin has opted for realism, rather than falling into the trap of glorifying or simplifying the past.

"If you're going to make a historical miniseries you don't need to be running about with ball and chains and bad Irish accents," he laughs.

As a veteran of series television, he also enjoyed the experience of working on a telemovie. "The benefits of a series are fantastic - you learn a lot - but there's a real pie factory feel about a lot of it," he says.

"You've got to get this done and that done and character development sometimes takes second place to storytelling, that's just the way it is. But you can't really be choosy, because there's not that many being made."

Regardless of format, McInnes believes any film, miniseries or serial will ultimately be judged on its entertainment value.

"People won't watch crap," he says.

"They'll sniff it out and they won't go there because they've got better things to do. The whole idea of television's changing anyway. It seems more actors are presenting shows rather than acting in them - which is a bit sad because most actors are as adept at presenting as a cane toad is at riding a horse."

So we're not likely to see McInnes follow in the footsteps of co-star Hazlehurst and his former SeaChange co-star Sigrid Thornton in presenting a program along the lines of Better Homes And Gardens or What's Good For You? "Well you never say never, but I don't think you'll find me on a lifestyle show," he says.

"It's not my cup of tea. Most of those guys just know what they have to do to get by, they're realists. You'd be a pretty rogue sort of a dog to chip them for it."

* Curtin, Sunday, ABC, 8.30pm

Article: Herald Sun (Melbourne), April 18th, 2007

Behind the Iron Curtin
Kylie Miller

FOR actor William McInnes, playing great Australian wartime Prime Minister John Curtin was a dream role.

The 90-minute ABC telemovie Curtin, which again pairs McInnes with Noni Hazlehurst (Stepfather of the Bride) as his on-screen wife, picks up Curtin's story from his rise to Prime Minister in the middle of World War II and follows the toughest six months of his life. It exposes viewers to the backroom dealings between politicians, advisers and the media, and his testy relationship with Australia's powerful allies. It looks at Curtin's unlikely friendships with Japanese diplomat Tatsuo Kawai as well as Bob Menzies, the Liberal Prime Minister he replaced.

McInnes has an interest in history and politics. His father was a staunch Labor man. Curtin's story was familiar and one he relishes telling. "It's good that the ABC can make something like this and for it not be partisan,'' he says. "It's not a flag-waver for the Labor Party. It's just a really good story. You don't have to take sides to celebrate history.'' Writer Alison Nisselle took care to be as historically accurate as possible. Scattered throughout are snippets of Curtin's rallying speeches: "Australian policy will be made by Australians for Australians!''

But mostly, McInnes says, Curtin tells a ripping yarn about a great Australian, his love for his family and his inner turmoil. Stress, depression, alcoholism and exhaustion contributed to his early death a few weeks before peace was declared. "It was a good script because he wasn't just being painted as a Dudley Do-right,'' he says. "He was flawed, as well as his more heroic aspects. He could be envious and weak and vacillating and conniving. "He was an alcoholic who suffered from depression. He had a really difficult time talking to people and offloading his worries.''

McInnes, as a volunteer for the support organisation Mensline, says he is acutely aware that these are problems many men face.

But John Curtin was also a hero who defied the wishes of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin Roosevelt to bring home the 16th Brigade of 64,000 Australians. He saved them from certain death.

Though Curtin was a great Labor leader, he belongs to all Australians, McInnes says. "Curtin actually showed that the Labor Party could govern effectively in its own right in a time of crisis and that was a major factor in the health of Australian democracy,'' he says. "Any time the Labor Party had been in power for any length of time in the past, it would split and collapse.''

Directed by Jessica Hobbs and produced by Andrew Wiseman and Richard Keddie, Curtin was filmed at the ABC's Ripponlea studios and recreates 1940s Australia in scenes shot at Point Cook air force base.

To prepare for the role, McInnes listened to Curtin's speeches to catch the cadence in his voice. "You don't want to do an impersonation. You're trying to get an essence of the guy.''

Article: The Sydney Morning Herald, April 16th, 2007

Curtin Raiser

Sacha Molitorisz

In a new ABC period drama heavy with pipes, spectacles and fob chains, William McInnes plays Prime Minister John Curtin. "Someone asked how it's going," McInnes says during filming. "I said, 'Oh, all right.' To which they said, 'He's the one that drowned, isn't he?' I said, 'Yeah, he's the one that drowned. He got hit by a submarine crossing the street."'

In fact, Curtin was the one who saw Australia through World War II. The family man from Perth, the rousing orator who battled alcoholism, ill health and self-doubt to face up to both Winston Churchill and the threat of a Japanese invasion.

"I can't think of a more profound story about a more complex character in a more complex time in our history," producer Richard Keddie says. "There's nothing so big, not even Whitlam. And this is pivotal to who we are."

It's winter 2006 and McInnes is halfway through the telemovie's 22-day shoot. It's a big job, given the author and actor is in just about every scene, but right now he's taking a break. Later he's scheduled to shoot scenes set in the corridors and offices of Old Parliament House, alongside Geoff Morrell, (who plays Ben Chifley), Dan Wyllie (Curtin's press secretary), Asher Keddie (his daughter) and Noni Hazlehurst (his wife).

Wearing a three-piece suit and a prosthetic lazy eye, McInnes cuts an imposing figure, even as he slouches into a couch, kicks off his elegant shoes and puts his feet on the coffee table. "No, Curtin wasn't the guy who got hit by a submarine," he continues. "He was the guy who took Australia away from England and looked to America.

"Of course, today a young person would say, 'Is that a good thing?' But it was a seismic shift in the way Australians related to themselves and what they were. Here you see a guy riddled with all sorts of weaknesses who forced Australia to make decisions, to control whatever amount of their destiny they could. And I think that's very important. Not many people have done that."
And not many people have made dramas about this crucial time in Australian history. It seems a lot of Aussies know very little about their country's past. As Hazlehurst says, most of us probably know more about English history. Similarly, Aussie television is more likely to feature a BBC costume drama than a historical drama set at home. That's one factor that inspired Keddie and Andrew Wiseman, whose credits include After the Deluge and My Brother Jack, to produce Curtin.

"I think there's a general reticence with Australian storytellers, especially in film and television, to grapple with stories about Australian leaders, whether military or political," Wiseman says. "And this is a largely untold story about an extraordinarily dramatic period in Australia's history."

Written by former news reporter Alison Nisselle, who has turned in scripts for The Sullivans, Prisoner and Blue Heelers, Curtin begins in October 1941 with the lanky West Australian as leader of the federal Labor Opposition and Robert Menzies the PM. After Menzies fluffs the top job, Curtin gets his chance, despite his own suspicions that he isn't up to it. "I was never meant to be a warlord," Curtin sighs in one scene. "Fate has just pushed war on me. And all the hard things war is become part of a man who has war to deal with."

What follows, as Wiseman says, is a baptism of fire over six months until early 1942. Pearl Harbor. The fall of Singapore. The bombing of Darwin. A battle of wills with British PM Winston Churchill over the deployment of Australian troops.

"This is a nice piece," Morrell says. "The writing doesn't get in the way of the story. And there's an interesting parallel to present-day politics. At that time we really were just the providers of fodder for the protection of the Empire. To have a prime minister who stood up to these foreign leaders and who genuinely had the interests of the people at heart, that really does bring into perspective some of the stuff going on today."

Morell is a student of history. In fact, he has a history degree. Even so, he says he doesn't know nearly as much as he should about Australia's past, which is why he's been reading up on his character, Chifley, who became PM after Curtin's death in 1945.

"We assume those on the left of politics are all fairly radical," Morrell says. "But Chifley was really quite conservative. He was a really boring speaker - like an accountant. He would present all this stuff in a dull monotone. And he didn't enjoy the trappings of being a famous politician. He would never wear a dinner suit, he would always drive his own car and he still lived at Bathurst in a modest home."

McInnes is a history fan, too. "I especially like Australian history, and that's a particularly attractive era. With Menzies, Chifley, Curtin, Downer, Spender, Fadden - you had about 10 guys with terrific leadership stock. These guys didn't change their minds according to which way the wind was blowing. These guys led, whereas it's litmus government these days."

Curtin was filmed in the ABC's Melbourne studios. It's where MDA was filmed before the plug was pulled, and since then not much has been filmed here. I'd like to call this studio the hotbed of ABC drama but lately it has been as cold as a corpse. At the ABC and elsewhere, these are not boom times for Aussie drama. Austerity measures are in place.

"We have to be careful saying that this is the worst downturn ever," Wiseman says. "I've heard that comment a number of times over the past 20 years. I don't think it's ever easy and sometimes there is more drama being made than now. It's always fairly tough but things get made. It's a question of persistence and a chunk of luck."

If the budget for Curtin is tight (as I'm told it is), the set doesn't show it. Curtin's office from Old Parliament House has been painstakingly recreated. There are old fans, bookshelves lined with law books, large clocks. "You feel as though you could run the country out of here," Wiseman says.

The fantastic set is the perfect complement to a solid script and talented actors. Still, it's a shame to stop Curtin's story in 1942, when there was so much still to come. Moreover, the constraints of a 90-minute script mean that important details are ignored. The White Australia Policy, for instance, which McInnes describes as one of the great contradictions of the Labor Party. It's a shame Curtin isn't a series.

"We don't claim to be telling everything about this man's life," Wiseman says. "And our goal from the outset has been to be as authentic as possible. If we diverted from the literal truth at any point, we hope it's at points where it in no way upsets the history. But hopefully we will awaken in people an interest in that period of history."

Article: The Herald Sun (Melbourne), April 16th, 2007

McInnes Plays His Dad's Hero

A SUCCESSFUL career in politics was the highest calling in the childhood home of actor William McInnes.

Although the politicl achievements of McInnes' late father only ever amounted to being a perennial candidate for the Labor Party in an unwinnable Country Party-held seat. A figure such as World War II Prime Minister John Curtin, who McInnes plays in an ABC telemovie, was an icon not to be joked about despite his obvious failings.

In his first six months as Prime Minister after being elected in late 1941, Curtin contended with the backlash from the bombing of Pearl Harbour, then dramas closer to home with the fall of Singapore, the bombing of Darwin and the imminent threat of invasion from Japan.

If his father, who never quite understood why his son would want to be an actor, was around to watch him portray Curtin, McInnes says "firstly, he'd probably think it was a load of shit". "He'd watch it though. I think he'd like that a bloke like Curtin is getting remembered," McInnes says. "My old man's time was one when service and putting yourself on the line was a real mark of a man and Curtin was a bloke who got on with it against some pretty decent obstacles. "For my dad, politics was the highest calling, worthy of real respect and he respected Curtin because he stuck his neck out."

McInnes is the spitting image of file photographs of Curtin in the biopic which will air at 8.30pm on Sunday. What was first set to be a four-hour mini-series was reduced to a tight 90-minutes that charts the tumultuous early period of this unlikely character's reign as prime minister. McInnes shows Curtin to be an alcoholic and a workaholic.

He also gives viewers the chance to marvel at how, despite his obstacles, Curtin managed to stand up to a heavyweight of the British Empire, Winston Churchill, and forge a strong tie with the United States though General Douglas MacArthur. He was a wartime hero who defied sceptics and his own health, which deteriorated, it is said, largely due to the stresses of his job.

McInnes, with a childhood behind him where political debate around the dinner table was the norm, says it's a shame Curtin isn't better remembered. "You'd be stretched to get 10 people in a row who knew who John Curtin was, but everyone knows who Abraham Lincoln was," he says. "It's actually quite scary how many people don't actually realise that Australia was engaged in war with Japan and that (that) technologically advanced, friendly and clean country above us was once a militarist fascist regime hell bent on creating an empire, and we were on its list."

McInnes says his own knowledge, despite being a staunch Labor voter and studying history at university, is limited. "I knew about him, but not a lot," he says. "I remember the kids show Seven Days and he was on that one day acting like a pork chop. "I remember my father talking about him as well, but it's amazing how thin our knowledge of ourselves is."

McInnes says the highest respect should be given to people who "just get on with it". And despite his character's personal demons, McInnes says Curtin was one of these people. "He was this slightly fragile bloke with questionable mental health, an alcoholic, and he was pretty much thrown in the deep end and told: 'See how you go', during one of the most significant points in Australian history."

AAP

Article: The Courier Mail (Brisbane), April 15th, 2007

Noni's History Lesson
Helen Tsitouris

ACTOR Noni Hazlehurst is embarrassed Australians know so little about their nation's history.

The former Play School favourite who plays the wife of Australia's World War II Prime Minister John Curtin in the ABC drama Curtin, says she was no exception when she took on her role beside William McInnes.

Hazlehurst, 53, who lives in the Gold Coast hinterland, said working on the movie changed the way she looked at politics and history.

She has called on schools to focus on Australian history so children "learned more than just a cursory understanding of Anzac Day".

Curtin, which will be screened next Sunday at 8.30pm, is an inspirational story about the former journalist who led Australia during Japan's Asia-Pacific invasion.

"I wanted to do justice to this role. Australians know so little of our own history. The onus is on anybody who is exploring a bit of that history to get it right and to give an accurate portrayal," Hazlehurst said.

"It's pointless doing stuff that's not accurate."

Labor leader Curtin came to power with Australians fearing an invasion.

"The Japanese started to head south and (British leader Sir Winston) Churchill and (US President Franklin) Roosevelt were not listening to Australia when he wanted his troops to come back and defend Australia," Hazlehurst said.

"He had to try very hard to get them to turn that around, which he did. He did not sleep until he knew they were safely back in Australian waters.

"It's important to engender in kids a sense of the importance of our story and have an understanding of where we have come from rather than a cursory celebration of the Anzac spirit."

Curtin to be Released on DVD

Telemovie Curtin will be released on DVD on the 26th of April.

Article: Australian Women's Weekly - April 2007

Q&A with William McInnes

The handsome Blue Heelers and SeaChange star's latest role is playing former Australian Prime Minister John Curtin in ABC TV's Curtin.

Why this role? It's a great part of Australian political history, at the crossroads in World War II, when we were at risk of being invaded by Japan and when we realised we were alone - a tiny mob in a vast land surrounded by people who weren't particularly friendly.

What makes Curtin so special? It makes me sad that people know more about American presidents and British prime ministers than our own history. We tell his story, which is also our story.

What do you think of him? Coming from a Labor household, I grew up with Curtin, but we didn't portray him as a great white knight. He was warts and all, self-afflicted with alcoholism and riven with self-doubt. He was very brave, but a real worrier.

Are you a worrier? I worry about all sorts of things: whether I'll fit into my costume after lunch, about my parents and kids [Clem, 13, and Stella, eight], about our country and whether I've stood up for my beliefs. My parents did. They fought World War II for a way of life they believed in.

Do you worry about your career? I've had a great run. I've been able to be part of telling some great stories, which is what acting is about.

When are you happiest? When I've done a good job, am having a nice meal, spending time with my family, or winning a double.

What's your most embarrassing moment? I made a speech the other day with my fly undone. There were 900 people watching, so I couldn't do it up.

Do you embarrass your children? Yes, especially if I put in a dud performance and get a bad review. But I've come back sometimes from work and I've upset the kids. When I came back, bald, for The Shark Net, they didn't want to know me. In My Brother Jack, where I was 67, my daughter couldn't even say hello. With Curtin, I was playing 57 with a severe haircut and a lazy eye. I think they both looked at me and thought, "Yeugh!"

As told to Sue Williams

Curtin airs on ABC TV on Sunday, April 22 at 8.30pm.

Article: The Adelaide Advertiser - February 7th, 2007

Order of the day is sticking to the code

WILLIAM McInnes laughs about his failed journey as a lawyer, back in his university days, when he missed his first-year law exam. "I was late to my first-year Constitutional Law exam. When I got there, the doors were locked,'' he scoffs. "I wasn't allowed in . . . I was so worried about playing footballand chasing women that it got in the way of law.''

But fast-forward a few decades and now McInnes, who is one of Australian television's most talented actors, with starring roles in Blue Heelers and SeaChange, is venturing back to the legal world, narrating Channel 9's observational-reality series The Code: Crimeand Justice.

The new series has gained unprecedented access for television cameras to go inside Victoria's Magistrates Courts - and also insidethe police system. "The Chief Magistrate of Victoria allowed the team into the courts with an amazing amount of access,'' McInnes says. "It looks at people who are caught up in incidents, including the victims and perpetrators, and follows their journey through the court system.''

McInnes ensures viewers that the 30-minute episodes are never short of amusing. "It's entertaining. You can't believe what some people get up toand how they behave,'' he says. "We go into the Magistrates Court where there's the whole kit and kaboodle. "But it's not sensational or razzle and dazzle.''

From chasing police to Magistrates Court hearings, The Code investigates how the law enforcers go about apprehending and prosecuting criminals. And, to spice up the show, coverage includes action-packed scenes of suburban sieges, drug raids and homicide investigations, presented as they unfold. Nine Network head of programming Michael Healysays the series is an Australian first that "won't disappoint''.

"When the crime happens, we're there,'' he says. "When it goes to court, we're also there. "We get to see the whole picture of crime and justice as it unfolds in real time. ''The series is produced by Craig Graham, who is the brains behind Nine medical series RPA, which was based on the goings-on at Sydney'sRoyal Prince Alfred Hospital. "The show uses the same template that Craig Graham used with RPA,'' McInnes says, referring to the "access all areas'' style ofreportage. "The Code is similar to RPA in that it demystified doctors and officials in several hospitals, but this time it's with police and the courts.''

Major Crime - New Series for SBS

CRIME BONUS

WILLIAM McInnes and Susie Porter are combining to produce a new police drama for SBS called Major Crime, which is being filmed in Sydney.

The six-part drama comes from the people who produced Wildside, which aired on the ABC in the 1990s, and it's been described as "very gritty'' and "a high-action police drama''.

We hear that the lead character, who is played by former Blue Heelers star McInnes, was based on a real cop who used to work for the major crime squad and is now part of an anti-terrorism unit.

Major Crime will be dropped into the SBS schedule later this year.

Source: The Courier Mail (Brisbane)