Lord of the schwing
Author: SACHA MOLITORISZ
Date: 27/10/2000
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald

David Wenham bares all in a new film. But it's not just about S.E.X, writes SACHA MOLITORISZ.

You know David Wenham's face. Quixotic and compelling, it has been spotted everywhere over the past few years. It has popped up on TV in SeaChange, on stage in Art, and on the big screen in everything from Cosi to The Boys.

Now, then, for the rest of his body. Meet Better Than Sex, a low-budget comedy about two young singles - Wenham and co-star Susie Porter - who meet at a party and fall into bed, which is where they stay for much of the ensuing 96 minutes. Unless they're in the bath. Let's just say the costume designer shouldn't expect to be nominated for an Oscar.

"I've watched it once, at the Melbourne Film Festival," Wenham says. Gee, even a self-confident rhinoceros would have been embarrassed seeing itself, you know, starkers and going for it. How did Wenham feel? "I didn't really think about it till the Q & A session afterwards, when someone asked, 'So, what was it like being in an audience watching yourself and knowing all of us were watching you too?' That's when I became Mr Tomato Face.

"But it's not graphic. The sex scenes are tastefully and interestingly done. It's not so much a film about sex, it's a film about the before and after."

Wenham's right. Though the sex scenes are intense and integral, Better Than Sex - as its title suggests - is about translating an initial spark of attraction into something more substantial, about moving from infatuation to love. It's a low-budget debut from Jonathan Teplitzky, and it satisfied the fickle first-night crowd at this year's Sydney Film Festival.

"The script was the first thing that attracted me - I just found it refreshing," says Wenham. "Then, on meeting Jonathan, he excited me with his vision. And with Susie [Porter] the energy was just infectious.

"Then when we started filming it was a true collaboration. None of us were doing it for the money, it was just such an enjoyable film, which we shot in a warehouse in Surry Hills in the middle of summer."

But while Australians are about to see a new, more intimate side of Wenham, the rest of the world still wouldn't know his head from John Howard's. One Web site even refers to him as the "largely unknown Australian actor David Wenham". That, however, is about to change, because the Web site in question is www.tolkienonline.com, which reports that Wenham has a "key supporting role" in episodes two and three of Peter Jackson's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, currently filming in New Zealand.

"I was on a horse the other day and I had to pinch myself. I'm a pretty lucky boy. I've been working with Miranda Otto, which was great, and last week with Elijah Wood."

The first instalment (minus Wenham) of Lord of the Rings is due for release Christmas 2001, with part two due a year later. But even before international audiences see Wenham as the heroic, honourable Faramir, they might catch him in one of the other six features he's worked on over the past year. They include:

* Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. "That was a great deal of fun. Mine isn't a huge contribution, but I love working with Baz, I think he's an incredibly creative and imaginative person. I feel it will be a visual and aural feast."

* Russian Doll, the new film from the director of True Love and Chaos, Stavros Kazantzidis, and co-starring Hugo Weaving. "It's a romantic comedy where I play a philanderer."

* Dust, shot in Macedonia and co-starring Joseph Fiennes. "I guess you'd call it a Balkan Western - I think this will be the first," he laughs. "And I got to play a cowboy. It's from the director of Before the Rain, and it'll be very hard to pull off, but if he does, it'll be very interesting."

* The Bank, a thriller from the team behind The Boys. "I did it in Melbourne a few months ago, and Robert Connolly wrote and directed it." (When he gets the time and the right idea, Wenham is planning to hook up with the same team for his own directorial debut. "I've got a few things in mind. It's not something I want to rush into.")

* And, of course, Better Than Sex and The Lord of the Rings. "Look, it's not ideal. Ideally I would like a bit of a break, and I will have one at the end of the year after Lord of the Rings. But all the projects I've been working on I wanted to work on.

"But it could all stop tomorrow. The film I'm working on now could be my last, and I always try to remember that. You just try to ride the wave, and if it gets to the shore, you just hop back on your board and paddle back out as hard as you can to try and catch another wave."