Kerry Fox
Kerry Fox has enjoyed a career that has spanned twenty years and her latest project Cloudstreet has seen her move back into TV.
I caught up with the actress to talk about the new series, which is out on DVD today, and what other projects that she has in the pipeline this year.
- Cloudstreet is about to be released on DVD on Monday so for anyone who didn't catch it on TV can you tell me a little bit about it?
It’s based on Tim Winton’s novel of the same name that he wrote twenty years ago and it is Australia’s favourite novel. It’s about two families towards the end of the war and who end up living together in the same house, they each have a side.
One family are real strugglers because the father is a gambler and the mother is a drunk and the other family are god fearing and hardworking and are headed by the mother, the matriarch, Oriel Lamb, who is the character that I play.
They open a shop in their side of the house and work very hard and they form a sort of community in their household.
- You take on the role of Oriel Lamb in the movie so what was it about the character and the script that drew you to the project?
Well there are two things about it - one was the director as I have always wanted to work with him, we had tried to work together before but we had never been able to make it happen.
And I just felt that I wanted to do the role, they have been trying to make it in different forms for many years, and it just seemed like perfect timing for me.
It was a story that I felt very effected by and felt very passionately about because it is about a lot of essentials in human life; it’s about endurance, family, love and supporting others.
- Cloudstreet is a very popular novel in Australia who how familiar were you with the book? And how useful was the book whilst you were developing your character?
Obviously it was a great reference point and I was also able to talk to the writer. It’s a very magical piece of work and it what is the great thing about the drama as it had it has its own magic and uniqueness and it really is a sum of its parts.
It has weird things happening in it and quite magical moments, the pig speaks and there is a cockatoo that shits shillings, it’s the way that the character entwine that you can’t help but see the best and the worst of people.
- Oriel is the matriarch of the Lamb so how do we see her develop throughout the series?
She knows humility. She suffers because one of her children has brain damage after a water accident and he doesn’t recognise here - so love is withdrawn from her and that causes her a lot of pain. So we watch her deal with that and to care for her children.
She is someone who has nothing, absolutely nothing, and she creates a life or curatey from nothing, from hard work. So she is a very admirable character but she is flawed.
- You have mentioned her brain damaged son and I was watching the opening episode and it is a very hard hitting start to the series. It’s a very emotional and powerful start so what did you think when you saw it for the first time?
I think it’s shocking isn’t it? You don’t expect something so dramatic to happen in the first few seconds of the show. And the reaction from people who have seen it is they are completely taken with it immediately because it is so violent.
Suddenly you are with them and you are rooting for their survival and you are caring passionately about this family because of this horrific event that has taken place.
- You have already mentioned Matthew Saville so how did you find him as a director?
He is fun, it was a real joy. He is very humble and he is trusting of other people and he is enthusiastic. He gives you the opportunity to do your best and you can’t ask for more than that really.
- The relationships between the Lamb family are such a prominent part of the show so what was the feeling like on set between the actors?
Good, it was very real and everyone was very supportive. We had people coming from all different backgrounds and different levels of experience; some of the kids were very young and some of the actors were very old (laughs).
We were shooting in Western Australia, which is the most remote western city in the world and you can’t imagine from here what that means; it’s right on the opposite edge if Australia where most thing happen. So it was quite isolated.
- So did you feel isolated when you were filming?
Yeah, we were doing a lot of shooting on a single location; it was very beautiful and it was right on the edge of the Swan River. A lot of the actors were away from home, I was there with my two kids, so we relied on each socially as well as at work.
- The series is also set in Australia in the forties and fifties so did you do much research into this period?
It was the era of my parents and I just recalled of the stories that I had heard from them really. My father had worked in a shop and his grandfather had struggled during the Depression and his family had nothing, he had had to leave his family to go and find work somewhere else.
So I had that resonating with me and there were many parts of the story that struck a chord within me.
- You have enjoyed a career in both movies and TV so how have you found the two to compare of differ?
Budget is the main difference really. I was thinking after doing Cloudstreet that all of my, without exception really, comes from relationships and friendships, not just colleagues but people who are true friends.
I have made a lot of good friends on Cloudstreet and that is a great inspiration for me and gives me a great sense of satisfaction to know that that is how I work and that is how I have survived as an actor.
I am working with people that I really like and who are really close to and who I can be very much myself with and we can produce really fantastic work - I feel incredibly privileged.
- We are seeing more and more actors juggle TV with movies so what is it about TV work at the moment that is drawing everyone in?
I think that there just seems to be so much good writing in TV at the moment and movies seem to be much more at risk, higher risk I suppose, and there is much greater need for television.
I also think that formats are also changing, there are waves of change of the format that people want; I am enjoying watching box sets and coming back night after night so you have got a sense of a whole.
It is certainly a phase that we are enjoying at the moment of quantity of story, longevity of story and it seems that people have the time to appreciate that.
- We are also going to see you back on the big screen later this year in Trap for Cinderella so can you tell me a little bit about that?
I don’t know how to define it, I am not very good at genres, it’s a thriller that I suppose. I haven’t seen it yet so I am not sure how to describe it to an audience - it’s about two girls, one who has it all and the other who wishes she has it all. The main theme throughout the movie is jealousy.
- Your acting career has spanned twenty years so how has the way that you choose projects differ to when you were just starting out?
Actor’s careers always go in waves and I suppose I make decisions based on who I am working with and whether we want to make the same piece of work.
Also whether I am interested in the story or the ideas that are wanted to be told. I want to be inspired I suppose, inspired by the people that I work with.
- Finally what projects do you have in the pipeline this year?
I am working on a series of four films for Sky Atlantic based on the Robert Wilson series about a Spanish detective called Falcon.
I will also be going to Australia to do their tent piece for the year which is based on Ingmar Bergman script called Face To Face, that’s in the middle of the year.
I have got a new movie coming out called Mister Pip and also an Australian movie that P.J. Hogan directed called Mental.
Cloudstreet is out on DVD now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw