Article - Sunday Herald Sun, June 15th, 2008

Will power

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD on a bouncy castle wouldn't bounce off the walls as
much as William McInnes does. It's 3.30pm and the Aussie actor
is so full of energy and excitement it's hard to keep up with him
as he goes from talking about his new movie, Unfinished Sky, to
cracking jokes about dogs.

McInnes, who plays John, a farmer who lives on an isolated property
by himself after his wife dies in suspicious circumstances, would
have quite happily traded his lead role for that of the dog.

``He was an amazing hound. He could do things . . . that if I could
do I would be a rich man. I wouldn't be in the nicest roles or
showing in your nicest cinemas, but I would be a rich man,'' McInnes
says, laughing.

It didn't take McInnes much convincing to accept the role of John,
though.

``It was in Queensland so it was nice to be going back home, it's
a good story and it was a chance to do something a bit different,''
he says.

McInnes says his prerequisites for starring in movies are the simple
things in life.

``If I get the chance to kick a football over a house that's a good
start,'' McInnes says.

``The catering is also a major deal maker. A good story and good characters
also helps.''

While many actors go to extremes to prepare for roles, according to
McInnes you just need to have a go.

``You just have to have a crack. You need to think about your role
and share yourself with other people on screen and turn up on time,''
the actor says.

While McInnes admits acting can be hard, he wouldn't have it any other
way.

``Most jobs are hard, but in a good way -- not as in they're hard
and you agonise about it. I'm not one of those wanky people who will
tell you that I suffer for my art,'' he says.

Famous for his roles in Blue Heelers (as Sgt Nick Schultz) and SeaChange
(as Max), McInnes is more focused on film roles these days,
which he got a taste for while acting in Look Both Ways, a film
written and directed by his wife, Sarah Watt.

``I just ate dim sims . . . and then got yelled at by John Wood,''
says McInnes of his 10-year stint on Blue Heelers.

``TV is a bit of a grind after a while because it just goes on and
on and on. With feature films, though, it's finite. It finishes
and then you can go on to something else. In that case it's a plus,
but I'm certainly not bagging TV roles -- certainly not if you
like doing it,'' McInnes says.

He has a suggestion to help boost the Australian film industry, too.
``It's in crisis and I'm the man to solve it. If they put me in every
film there would be no crisis,'' McInnes says, laughing.

``Seriously though, they just need to make movies with more realistic
budgets. There are lots of stories to tell and there's no point
in blowing, say, a $96 million budget on just one film. I think
the budget for this one (Unfinished Sky) was $4 million, which
I think was a healthy budget.''