Daniel Henshall
Daniel Henshall is making quite a name for himself with movie Snowtown - hard to believe that this is his first feature film.
He graduated from Actors Centre Australia’s full time acting course in 2006 with an Advanced Diploma of Performing Arts.
Since then Daniel has worked steadily in Film, TV and Theatre performing in such productions as All Saints (SNO), Rescue (Ch 9) and Out of the Blue (Southern Star/BBC) for TV, and for such theatre companies as Belvior St Theatre (Downstairs), Parramatta Riverside and the Seymour Centre.
Daniel has just finished shooting his second feature. From the team that brought you The Castle, a new production from Working Dog Productions directed by Rob Sitch.
Daniel Henshall explains the Warp Films Australia production is about a family in a hard and terrible situation and John Bunting, a manipulative man, who enters their lives and offers them hope.
"They get sucked into his promise, or the idea of his promise and he leads them astray. In doing so he ruins and corrupts the lives of this family and the community that surrounds them"
"I was given the absolute blessing of having time in the area to immerse myself. Justin was always talking of the osmosis, allowing that to affect your physicality and the way you talk to people and the way you relate to people.
"Being in that area gave me the opportunity to really be a part of it.’’ Henshall says. After he was cast Henshall says his rehearsal was getting to know everyone - Lucas, Louise and the rest of the cast.
"I went out with Lucas and dropped bags of clothes off for charity - that’s what Lucas did for a job. I spent time with Louise and her beautiful kid, cooked dinner for them, ate with them, took them out and it was the same with Aaron, a lot of time getting to know them all and they responded with open arms, telling me about their lives and what they experienced.
"That was my rehearsal period. Knowing how to relate to these people and having that familiar contact is what you see in the film."
Another challenge for Henshall was the isolation of being in a new place. "I was away from my loved ones. It was hard, but that isolation - and Justin kept talking about it - constantly informed of the vulnerability that we wanted to play in Bunting and we used it.
"There was never any abuse to the methods we used and if anyone felt out of control, including myself, Justin would take it on board, but then challenge you."
Henshall hopes filmgoers will walk away asking the question "This is our society and we should take some responsibility for it - how does something as horrible as this happen?"
Snowtown is out now.