Source:  Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), May 6, 2004 pI13.
                                                                              
    Title:  daisy's fun days.(Hit)
                                                                              
Byline: PHILLIP COOREY

HUGH Jackman calls him one of the funniest men on the planet. Albury boy
Richard Roxburgh counts him as a good mate. Kate Beckinsale says he's just
like one of her brothers. And everyone calls him Daisy.

David Wenham is the third Aussie with a prominent role in the movie Van
Helsing.

And judging by what his three co-stars say, Wenham was a constant source of
mirth and trouble on the set, including the old plastic wrapper on the toilet
prank.

The film is a milestone for the current Australian conquest of Hollywood.

Jackman plays hero Gabriel Van Helsing, England's Beckinsale the female lead,
Anna Valerias.

Roxburgh is Count Dracula and, during filming, managed to fall in love with
Italian beauty Silvia Colloca, who plays one of Dracula's wives.

Now they are planning to get married in real life.

Wenham, well known in America from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, almost
steals the film as Van Helsing's bumbling but ultimately brilliant partner,
Carl the friar.

So how did Beckinsale cope with spending six months filming in Prague with
three Australian men?

``I grew up with four foul-mouthed brothers and it was kind of like that,''
Beckinsale says.

``David and Richard are naughtier but Hugh is quite easily led. They would be
up to all kinds of terrible things.''

She spent most of the time either on the set or in her hotel room with her
child, Lily, and shies away from offering details on what went on after work.

``They may have got up to all kinds of debauchery, but I didn't see
anything.''

Beckinsale says they were always chivalrous to her, but she heard they did
``terrible things'' to one another.

``Especially Richard and David, they were awful. Things with each other's
toilets, plastic wrap and God knows what was going on.''

Jackman concurs. ``They're a bad influence, those two. They are old mates and
sparring partners and you should ask them stories about the practical jokes
they played on each other because there were many,'' he says.

Roxburgh keeps the golden rule with his mate by not telling too much other
than he and Daisy spent many a night sampling the fine beers of Prague.

``Hugh had to get some beauty sleep and look after himself properly and we
were able to tear around town a bit more.''

Roxburgh's romantic relationship with Colloca provided opportunities for the
other two.

``Daisy and I made a bit of fun with Rox because he was falling in love with
Silvia and all of a sudden Silvia was spending a lot of time in his trailer,''
Jackman says.

``At the hotel, we'd leave fake room service outside their door and things
like that.

``It was just great having them on board because they were so much fun. David
is one of the funniest guys on the planet.''

Wenham auditioned for his role by sending director Stephen Sommers a videotape
of himself with his shoulders hunched, his ears taped so they were protruding
and ``an incredibly bad haircut''.

``David is considered one of the sexiest men in Australia,'' says Sommers, who
had not heard of Wenham before receiving the tape.

``When I got his audition tape, not only was his performance great but his
look was perfect too, but definitely not the sexiest man look.''

Jackman says he used to compete with Wenham for roles in Australia, so when
Sommers rang to say he wanted to cast Wenham in Van Helsing, ``I'm like, I've
lost another role to him''.

``It was really great. David shoulders 80 per cent of the the movie and he's
such a good actor,'' he says.

Beckinsale says the cultural similarities between Australia and England helped
during the shoot.

``It was great. I've actually had a lot of luck with the American actors that
I've worked with, but there is something about being the underdog.

``The Australians would eat Vegemite and I'd eat Marmite and all the Americans
would go `Ugh, how can you do that?' ''

Jackman says working with his compatriots was a ball.

``The actual work of acting with them just felt so easy because we understood
one another,'' he says.
                                                                              
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