Quotes

When you say no a lot as an actor, you are going to go broke.

One of the greatest responsibilities as an artist is to create some kind of healing within your work.

[about his co-star Anthony LaPaglia in Below (2019)] I remember watching him as a kid in a TV movie called Frank Nitti: The Enforcer back in 1988 and you couldn't take your eyes off him - such a formidable screen persona.

There is a real market for stories with a diverse tapestry of color, race, gender, class. We need more of them, both here and abroad.

My hope is that Safe Harbour will enjoy the success that Ali's Wedding has received and I have no doubt it will. There was such a great vibe on both sets, a lot of love went into making both productions and my feeling is that will translate to an audience.

Covid-19 has really battered our industry and many industries all over the world. I'm looking forward to working on Trail Blazers in late October, dusting off the acting cobwebs once the restrictions of this pandemic have been eased.

I realised that we need to be more than just a part of this diversity discussion, we need to be actively involved, and literally creating change. And certainly not to meet some predetermined quota.

I wanted to challenge all that mythologising about who can carry a show or who can lead a film or who can play which role and why.

I sent Director Michael Rymer the screenplay and within weeks he was on board. There are not enough superlatives to describe, Michael. He is a smart guy, fun, and he really wanted to do this project. Equally, Producer Chris Brown and I worked together on a film many years ago and he immediately responded to the script when I sent it to him.

Director Dru Brown sent me the script and I immediately recognized this character. I have a friend who is very much like this guy on the page I was reading and I had to say yes. That and the fact that I'm a fan of Dru, particularly his feature film The Suicide Theory. His voice is distinctly Australian and his narratives are unique and original.

To come back after all these years feels nostalgic and satisfying.

We are less than halfway through shooting and what I have enjoyed most about the experience thus far is observing how the creative team and key players have navigated the challenges of filming a show during a pandemic. It's such a Herculean task and what they have been able to achieve is truly commendable.

I'm very excited about this feature film as it will be my second time working with David Frigerio and the team at Broken Open Pictures. We recently wrapped on the film Land of Bad in Queensland (also starring Russell Crowe with Liam Hemsworth, Luke Hemsworth, Milo Ventimiglia and Ricky Whittle) and the experience was spectacular. David is a visionary and knows how to make epic films for an international audience.

I am equally excited to be working with Director Tyler Atkins. We recently chatted on the phone about my character and the tone of the narrative, and he had me at Raging Bull parallels.

Holding top position of my bucket list is a wish to collaborate with Oscar nominated Director, Nadine Labaki. Who can forget her film, Capernaum? Powerful!

It always takes courage to stand up to tyranny, especially when your personal safety is on the line.

I was very aware of the fact that we didn't have the backing of a big production company and the substantial budget that they bring to the table or an industry government body and the financial investment that they also provide. This was a passion project that was made with a one-person crew and a very small budget. Going with the grain and embracing that methodology and the way it was presented was the best option for the narrative.

Currently doing the film festival circuit, we have already been fortunate enough to make the finals of the Cannes World Film Festival and am also humbled to be considered for nomination at The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) for Best Feature Documentary.

What I really wanted to achieve was to draw attention away from the presence of the camera and so I adopted a little bit of a cinema verite style of documentary film-making for these particular segments. I am very pleased with the result, especially the fly-on-the-wall elements,

More importantly, what these platforms give us is an opportunity to shine an even brighter light on the issues and specific faces of people who may feel invisible at times. And if that creates some change and a little discussion.... well, I think that's the best you can hope for in cinema.

Fight The Power is an incendiary political and social-commentary on the current climate facing Lebanon, which serves as a beacon to rebel against racial discrimination, economic inequality and systemic corruption. This is an international collaboration that I'm proud to be a part of. The music video will drop in early 2025 and I expect some robust feedback.

I remember thinking in the middle of the scene with Eric Bana that audiences are going to dig this, but no one could have predicted that 25 years later it is still loved by so many fans all over the world.

I'm proud of my place within the narrative, it was my first studio film, and I'm chuffed for Eric Bana and the way he lit up Hollywood not long after.

It's become a bit of a cult-classic or else it wouldn't be receiving a re-release. My most generous take is that the audience connects with the dark humor, the Ned Kelly anti-hero, and of course Eric Bana's tour DE force performance.

From all the films and television shows I have been involved in, Chopper is the one I am asked about the most. It appears to be a cultural touchstone of sorts.

Eric Bana would tell me off-camera how shitty he felt carrying all those extra pounds he put on for the role and it took a toll on him from what I could see. I would always try to liven him up with some conversation about football and his beloved St Kilda. That always put a smile on his face.

The Australian industry is resilient. It always has been. I don't believe the appetite for intelligent, character-driven storytelling has disappeared. But sustaining it requires infrastructure - companies willing to take creative risks before international buyers come knocking.

From the first day I stepped onto a Matchbox Pictures set, I sensed a difference. There was rigor - scripts were interrogated, rehearsals were purposeful - but there was also trust. Actors were invited into the process. Conversations weren't shut down because they were inconvenient.

Matchbox Pictures wasn't just producing content; it was shaping the tone of contemporary Australian drama.

We knew the subject matter was close to lived experience for some Australians. The production treated that responsibility with gravity. Consultants were present. Community voices were heard. That tone comes from the top - from a company culture that values authenticity over expedience.

On Safe Harbour, we were dealing with themes of asylum, survival and the moral compromises people make under pressure. It would have been easy to sensationalize that material. Instead, the creative team insisted on nuance. They wanted the audience to sit in discomfort. That's rare.

Films like Ali's Wedding showed that we could tell uncomfortable domestic stories without diluting them for international markets, and in a humorous way. Safe Harbour proved a thriller could also be a moral inquiry that could also reach an international audience, and in a dramatic way. Either way, storytelling could still be quintessentially Australian, deeply human, and reach a global market. What a gift.

Personally, I'm grateful for the work we did together. Those projects challenged me as an actor and as an individual. They reminded me why I chose this profession in the first place: to inhabit complex human stories that reflect the world we're living in.

The closure of Matchbox Pictures feels like the end of an era. But I hope it also sparks a renewed conversation about how we protect bold Australian storytelling - and the people who bring it to life. Because stories like the ones Matchbox championed don't just entertain. They matter.

Actors rely on strong development cultures. When scripts are properly nurtured, performances have somewhere to land.

When a company like that closes - particularly under the umbrella of a global player like Universal International Studios- it sends a message about where the industry is heading. Fewer permanent local structures. More project-by-project calculations. Less long-term development. From an actor's perspective, that shift is worrying.

From the first day I stepped onto a Matchbox set, I sensed a difference. There was rigor - scripts were interrogated, rehearsals were purposeful - but there was also trust. Actors were invited into the process. Conversations weren't shut down because they were inconvenient. On Safe Harbour, we were dealing with themes of asylum, survival and the moral compromises people make under pressure. It would have been easy to sensationalize that material. Instead, the creative team insisted on nuance. They wanted the audience to sit in discomfort. That's rare.

Personally, I'm grateful for the work we did together. Those projects challenged me as an actor and as an individual. They reminded me why I chose this profession in the first place: to inhabit complex human stories that reflect the world we're living in. The closure of Matchbox Pictures feels like the end of an era. But I hope it also sparks a renewed conversation about how we protect bold Australian storytelling - and the people who bring it to life. Because stories like the ones Matchbox championed don't just entertain. They matter.

I was fortunate to work with Matchbox across several projects over the years, including the International Emmy Award-Winning series Safe Harbour, the smash-hit film Ali's Wedding (Australia's first Muslim rom-com), the sensational Netflix series Irreverent, political thriller Secret City (Foxtel, then launched worldwide on Netflix), and the Sam Worthington led mini-series Deadline Gallipoli. They weren't just jobs, they were experiences that demanded something deeper - emotionally, politically, personally. Matchbox had a way of backing stories that asked difficult questions, especially about identity, displacement and moral responsibility. As an actor, that mattered to me.

Matchbox wasn't just producing content; it was shaping the tone of contemporary Australian drama. Films like Ali's Wedding showed that we could tell uncomfortable domestic stories without diluting them for international markets, and in a humorous way. Safe Harbour proved a thriller could also be a moral inquiry that could also reach an international audience, and in a dramatic way. Either way, storytelling could still be quintessentially Australian, deeply human, and reach a global market. What a gift.