Article: The Courier Mail, Sunday 25th of May, 2008
William McInnes a Bit Like Gordon Ramsay
Marie-Christine Sourris
BLAME it on the oversupply of Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen on our TV screens lately, but there might be a little bit of Gordon Ramsay in Australia's favourite son, William McInnes.
Maybe it's the gruff exterior that McInnes often portrays on screen.
This is, after all, the man who sticks in the mind as Southgate, that "nasty piece of work" (his words) who played opposite Claudia Karvan in 1993's The Heartbreak Kid.
And a few years ago he was channelling the obnoxious Mr Darcy in a Melbourne Theatre Company production of Pride and Prejudice.
But it's McInnes' latest film Unfinished Sky – in which he turns in a brilliant performance as the shaggy, craggy, cranky John Waldren – where the parallels with Ramsay will be noticed.
On the phone, McInnes's swearing isn't half as bad as Britain's most notorious chef.
When he's not doing hilariously random voice impersonations of a stuttering mentor from his early career as a shopping centre Santa, McInnes' sentences are peppered with the odd "bloody" or two.
Regardless, both Ramsay and McInnes share one thing for certain – both have become unlikely sex symbols.
Playing Sigrid Thornton's love interest in TV's SeaChange back in 1999 catapulted the self-deprecating McInnes to heart-throb status.
"I don't know about that," he shoots back.
"That was very brief. It was just the make-up and the hair. I almost gave myself bloody haemorrhoids from sucking my gut in so much on that show."
But what about before that, in the early 1990s, when he carved out a place in millions of hearts on A Country Practice?
"Huh," he snorts dismissively. "I played the worst paleontologist you've ever seen. I looked a bit like Barry Crocker on monkey hormones; my hair looked like it was a toupee. But then," he acknowledges, "half of that is my gene pool make-up."
In truth, the former Brisbane boy was thrilled to land the Country Practice gig. It was the big break that led him to a longstanding role on Blue Heelers – his ticket out of a full-time gig playing Santa Claus in shopping centres down south. Those North Pole days still resonate with the 47-year-old – who gained a degree in law and economics before studying acting in Perth – 20-something films later.
"I made Billy Bob Thornton look like the real thing," he says, referring to Thornton's Bad Santa.
Anecdotes of being busted for smoking in Santa's Cave, hiding until shifts were over and being hauled off by security for harassing a woman (now his wife) ensue; parts of them make their way into the part-time writer's third book, That'd Be Right, a semi-autobiographical tome that hits shelves in August.
"There were some Santy stories I couldn't put in," he adds wistfully.
McInnes isn't the only one who can write in the family. Older sister Laurie McInnes is a writer and film-maker, and his wife Sarah Watt wrote (and directed her husband) in the highly acclaimed 2005 film Look Both Ways, which he describes as "a great experience" while conceding it might never happen again.
"It's really disruptive and the kids suffer," admits the multiple silver Logie winner. "(But) it was amazing to actually work that close professionally with someone that's your life partner."
In Unfinished Sky, McInnes stars opposite Dutch icon Monic Hendrickx, who reprised her original role from De Poolse Bruid (the Australian film is a remake of the 1998 Dutch film The Polish Bride).
The twist? This time around, the highly emotive tale takes place in rural Queensland and Hendrickx's character is not from Poland, but Afghanistan.
The cinematography defies the Aussie red dust stereotype (think lush rolling landscapes instead).
A festival favourite at last year's Brisbane International Film Festival, Unfinished Sky has a superb cast (Bille Brown co-stars) and an intriguing soundtrack. It's a slick dramatic roller-coaster that's been produced in our own back yard.
"When people think of Queensland films, they think of Movie World and that's it," he says. "It's great that you can have a solid, entertaining film with a good story that almost anyone in the world can get into, without all the million-dollar special effects. Hopefully, lots of Queenslanders will be seeing it."
While most of the six-week shoot happened in Beaudesert, south of Brisbane, look out for scenes from the city's Story Bridge and QUT's Kelvin Grove campus.
Incredibly, McInnes' Netherlands-born co-star learnt the local dialect of Dari for the film.
"(Monic) was so dedicated, learning the language, and she's really lovely," says McInnes, before recounting his intense discussions with her about the dim sims available in Queensland.
"She couldn't believe it," he says. "I mean, have you seen them? They're fried and they look like that blistered metal. They can sink a ship!"
Tangents are a specialty for the man who doesn't like to take himself too seriously.
"It just seems so many people get ahead because they bang on obsessively about themselves," he reflects.
Perhaps it was his "eminently normal" and much-loved childhood in Redcliffe, with regular visits to the old drive-in on weekends, that left McInnes more down-to-earth than most.
"I lived there for 18 years. It was a place where you could just muck around and really enjoy yourself," says the actor, who is now based in Melbourne and returns to the Sunshine State about five times a year to visit family.
"Brisbane's a really changing city all right. I can see myself moving back up there."
For now, though, it's full steam ahead in Dubbo, where he has since started shooting a new movie opposite fellow Queenslander Gyton Grantley, of Underbelly fame.
"It's called Dim Sim Man," he jokes, before ringing off to go sort out the mate who has rocked up to his house mid-interview to help with renovations.
Truth be told, by the end of our chat I've started to find William McInnes' quirkiness unnervingly charming.
Gordon Ramsay, eat your heart out.
Unfinished Sky opens in cinemas on June 26.
Marie-Christine Sourris
BLAME it on the oversupply of Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen on our TV screens lately, but there might be a little bit of Gordon Ramsay in Australia's favourite son, William McInnes.
Maybe it's the gruff exterior that McInnes often portrays on screen.
This is, after all, the man who sticks in the mind as Southgate, that "nasty piece of work" (his words) who played opposite Claudia Karvan in 1993's The Heartbreak Kid.
And a few years ago he was channelling the obnoxious Mr Darcy in a Melbourne Theatre Company production of Pride and Prejudice.
But it's McInnes' latest film Unfinished Sky – in which he turns in a brilliant performance as the shaggy, craggy, cranky John Waldren – where the parallels with Ramsay will be noticed.
On the phone, McInnes's swearing isn't half as bad as Britain's most notorious chef.
When he's not doing hilariously random voice impersonations of a stuttering mentor from his early career as a shopping centre Santa, McInnes' sentences are peppered with the odd "bloody" or two.
Regardless, both Ramsay and McInnes share one thing for certain – both have become unlikely sex symbols.
Playing Sigrid Thornton's love interest in TV's SeaChange back in 1999 catapulted the self-deprecating McInnes to heart-throb status.
"I don't know about that," he shoots back.
"That was very brief. It was just the make-up and the hair. I almost gave myself bloody haemorrhoids from sucking my gut in so much on that show."
But what about before that, in the early 1990s, when he carved out a place in millions of hearts on A Country Practice?
"Huh," he snorts dismissively. "I played the worst paleontologist you've ever seen. I looked a bit like Barry Crocker on monkey hormones; my hair looked like it was a toupee. But then," he acknowledges, "half of that is my gene pool make-up."
In truth, the former Brisbane boy was thrilled to land the Country Practice gig. It was the big break that led him to a longstanding role on Blue Heelers – his ticket out of a full-time gig playing Santa Claus in shopping centres down south. Those North Pole days still resonate with the 47-year-old – who gained a degree in law and economics before studying acting in Perth – 20-something films later.
"I made Billy Bob Thornton look like the real thing," he says, referring to Thornton's Bad Santa.
Anecdotes of being busted for smoking in Santa's Cave, hiding until shifts were over and being hauled off by security for harassing a woman (now his wife) ensue; parts of them make their way into the part-time writer's third book, That'd Be Right, a semi-autobiographical tome that hits shelves in August.
"There were some Santy stories I couldn't put in," he adds wistfully.
McInnes isn't the only one who can write in the family. Older sister Laurie McInnes is a writer and film-maker, and his wife Sarah Watt wrote (and directed her husband) in the highly acclaimed 2005 film Look Both Ways, which he describes as "a great experience" while conceding it might never happen again.
"It's really disruptive and the kids suffer," admits the multiple silver Logie winner. "(But) it was amazing to actually work that close professionally with someone that's your life partner."
In Unfinished Sky, McInnes stars opposite Dutch icon Monic Hendrickx, who reprised her original role from De Poolse Bruid (the Australian film is a remake of the 1998 Dutch film The Polish Bride).
The twist? This time around, the highly emotive tale takes place in rural Queensland and Hendrickx's character is not from Poland, but Afghanistan.
The cinematography defies the Aussie red dust stereotype (think lush rolling landscapes instead).
A festival favourite at last year's Brisbane International Film Festival, Unfinished Sky has a superb cast (Bille Brown co-stars) and an intriguing soundtrack. It's a slick dramatic roller-coaster that's been produced in our own back yard.
"When people think of Queensland films, they think of Movie World and that's it," he says. "It's great that you can have a solid, entertaining film with a good story that almost anyone in the world can get into, without all the million-dollar special effects. Hopefully, lots of Queenslanders will be seeing it."
While most of the six-week shoot happened in Beaudesert, south of Brisbane, look out for scenes from the city's Story Bridge and QUT's Kelvin Grove campus.
Incredibly, McInnes' Netherlands-born co-star learnt the local dialect of Dari for the film.
"(Monic) was so dedicated, learning the language, and she's really lovely," says McInnes, before recounting his intense discussions with her about the dim sims available in Queensland.
"She couldn't believe it," he says. "I mean, have you seen them? They're fried and they look like that blistered metal. They can sink a ship!"
Tangents are a specialty for the man who doesn't like to take himself too seriously.
"It just seems so many people get ahead because they bang on obsessively about themselves," he reflects.
Perhaps it was his "eminently normal" and much-loved childhood in Redcliffe, with regular visits to the old drive-in on weekends, that left McInnes more down-to-earth than most.
"I lived there for 18 years. It was a place where you could just muck around and really enjoy yourself," says the actor, who is now based in Melbourne and returns to the Sunshine State about five times a year to visit family.
"Brisbane's a really changing city all right. I can see myself moving back up there."
For now, though, it's full steam ahead in Dubbo, where he has since started shooting a new movie opposite fellow Queenslander Gyton Grantley, of Underbelly fame.
"It's called Dim Sim Man," he jokes, before ringing off to go sort out the mate who has rocked up to his house mid-interview to help with renovations.
Truth be told, by the end of our chat I've started to find William McInnes' quirkiness unnervingly charming.
Gordon Ramsay, eat your heart out.
Unfinished Sky opens in cinemas on June 26.
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