MX
FRI 31 MAY 2002
Emotions run high
By HOLLY LLOYD-McDONALD

Actor David Wenham showed his sensitive side when quizzed about his new film Molokai by audience members at Cinema Nova.

Wenham plays the role of Father Damien, a Belgian missionary sent to a leprosy colony on a
Hawaiian Island in the early 1900s.

Wenham became emotional as he remembered a friend in the film, who has since died of the disease.

With tears in his eyes, he stopped, composed himself and tried to press on several times before the subject was finally changed.

The actor thrilled the sell-out audience on Tuesday night after rushing from tapping the boards in the MTC play True West.

The mood switched to laughter when Wenham, who has a part in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, described J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece as "a road trip with a ring".

Another Aussie, singer Kate Ceberano made a surprising cameo in
Molokai as Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani singing Aloha-Oe.