The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia)

June 22, 2002

DAVID WENHAM; 'In this job you can't plot a career'

Byline: Stan James

WHEN David Wenham began production on his first film, Molokai, in 1998, he had become one

of the best-known faces on Australian television, with the hit SeaChange.

If he'd been relying on Molokai to start building his film career, he'd have had a long wait.

Director Paul Cox's film, the story of remarkable Belgian priest Father Damien,

who worked on the leper colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, is only now on

the local scene.

"It's a relief that it's finally got a release in Australia,'' Wenham says.

"It means Paul Cox and myself can go on with our daily life and not answer that

question that pops up every week or so: 'When's that film about the Belgian priest

going to be released?' ''

The 36-year-old actor says it's ironic that a film about a man who dedicated his life

to acts of altruism and generosity was held up basically over money.

There are two versions of the film. "The Belgian producers tried to sack Paul three

times through the production,'' Wenham says. "They succeeded in getting him off the

film for post-production because they wanted a totally different type of film -

something sugar-coated and saccharin-sweet, which is not the way Paul approaches these projects.

"Then, with absolutely no experience, they cut the film themselves and released it.

It was rather diabolical.

"When Paul succeeded in a landmark court case in Belgium to get the film back, he

found they'd cut the negative and there are some parts of the film that can never be retrieved.''

Wenham and Cox took the film back to Molokai 18 months ago and screened it:

"They are so proud of it and consider it their film, which it is. Their story,

their history. It's very, very satisfying.''

Wenham is satisfied with SeaChange, too, and the films that have moved his career

into the stardom arena.

"SeaChange changed my career domestically,'' he says. It changed him into a sex

symbol: "That's what television does; it gives you a profile, an enormous profile.

That was great. I loved being a part of it.''

The film that opened international doors for Wenham was The Boys. "I was one of

its producers and it was very critically successful in many countries,'' he says.

The big surprise was The Bank, with its blast at the ruthless activities in the

banking system. "It was at a time of enormous anti-bank sentiment,'' Wenham explains.

"We were quite fortuitous that it was released when there was such a feeling in the community.''

Wenham scored a role in the The Lord of the Rings blockbuster trilogy but won't

know how large his role is in The Twin Towers, until November when it's due out.

Like most actors, Wenham is philosophical about his future. "I'd like to spend half my time here and half overseas,'' he says.

"But in this profession, you're at the whim of a phone call. You can't really

plot a career in a way. You just have to wait and see how it goes.''

HIS STORY SO FAR

David Wenham

Born: September 21, 1965, in Marrickville, New South Wales.

Career: First appearance on TV in G.P. (1988). First film Molokai (1999). Received Australian Film Institute best actor nominations for The Boys (1999), Better than Sex (2000) and The Bank (2001). Won AFI best TV actor for Simone De Beauvoir's Babies (1997) and nominated for best actor for SeaChange (1998).

Personal: Unmarried, five sisters, one brother. Adam Cullen's portrait of him won the 2000 Archibald Prize. In March, he signed up as an Ancient Forest Guardian, joining Sam Neill and Toni Collette.