* 12 Apr 2011
* The Dominion Post
AUSTRALIAN actor Richard Cawthorne has flown all the way to Auckland to see the controversial mini-series he stars in because it cannot be shown in his home country. The 10-part Killing Time will have its world premiere in New Zealand tonight on Prime after the series was prevented from airing in Australia due to legal proceedings.
It tells the story of disgraced Melbourne lawyer Andrew Fraser, who defended some of the country’s most notorious criminals, before developing a crippling cocaine habit and being jailed for five years for drug importation.
Disbarred and bankrupt, Fraser later wrote two books about his life, which provide the basis for Killing Time. Critically acclaimed Australian actor David Wenham ( The Lord of the Rings, 300, Van Helsing) plays Fraser.
Originally scheduled to screen in Australia last year, the mini-series was delayed because Fraser was appearing as a witness at a highprofile criminal trial.
A similar legal curtain was drawn over the original Underbelly, for Victorian viewers, to prevent any influence on court proceedings, suggesting Australia’s penchant for true crime dramas hit close to home.
Cawthorne, who plays drug dealer Dennis "Mr Death" Allen – the eldest son of one of Melbourne’s infamous crime families, the Pettingills, who died in prison awaiting trial for murder – believes there is still an appetite for the genre, despite the risk of underworld TV fatigue (there are three more Underbelly telemovies to air here and a New Zealand version is also in the works).
"Ultimately what’s going to make any show stand out, whether it’s a true crime thing or not, is the writing and the characters in it," Cawthorne says.
"This show is incredibly watchable. It’s a little gruesome at times, but it’s a great yarn.
"The voice of Killing Time and the voice of Andrew Fraser is a really relevant voice because we cannot had a massive amphetamine addiction and he had a very violent temper. He could switch on and switch off at the drop of a hat."
Cawthorne, whose past credits include Neighbours, Blue Heelers and East West 101, admits he was apprehensive about stepping into Allen’s highly volatile mind.
"I was really nervous about playing someone like Dennis. Even though Dennis has passed away, you do feel there is a responsibility – it seems weird – to honour the character.
"It’s not really my job to judge him . . . but it was nerve-racking to play because he was a killer and he was a drug dealer and he wasn’t a particularly nice man."
Assuming the role was made easier with extensive set decoration, including the cars, clothes and hairstyles of the era.
"Dennis also had a lot of tattoos. So when it comes to getting into the character, sitting in that make up chair and getting inked up and getting suitably ‘messed up’ for the character – you kind of look in the mirror and you go, ‘I’m definitely not Richard, I’m someone else here’."
However, filming where some of the real-life events took place lent some frightening authenticity.
"One of the locations we shot at was Dennis’ house in [the Melbourne suburb of] Richmond," Cawthorne says.
"The exterior is exactly the same as it was back then and I think there was even a place where you could see bullet holes in the wall, not at the house itself, but just in the back alleys. One of the art department people pointed it out and they said, ‘Oh yeah, that was Dennis on one of his lunatic rampages’.
"I think it’s even alleged some of the murders actually took place in that house. Knowing this and you’re playing the character and you’re sort of stepping through the front door, and looking around, you get a bit of a chill up the spine and then somehow [as an actor] you’ve got to enjoy that chill."