Herald Sun

March 31, 2007

Warrior Dave fit for Spartan conditioning

By ERIN Mcwhirter

Source: AAP

DAVID Wenham winces in pain as he tries to sprint with an 8kg car tyre around his waist.

No, the Australian actor hasn't taken a career nosedive and resorted to a weight loss reality television program -- he's preparing for his role as a Spartan warrior in Hollywood blockbuster 300.

For five months the modest Marrickville boy, 50 extras and 300's leading men, including Gerard Butler and Dominic West, battled their training demons in the French-speaking Canadian city of Montreal.

This was no two-hour gym session, it was hard-core physical and mental exercise at its best, lending new meaning to blood, sweat and tears.

Wenham bulked up, packing on 10kg, for the role of Dilios, which entailed a naked scene and acting mainly bare-chested in leather underpants.

``It's probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life . . . we trained with such intensity that you thought the body was actually going to give up,'' said the 41-year-old, now 10kg lighter and happy to be home in Sydney.

``I've lost it all now, but we used medicine balls, rings suspended from the ceiling, chains, tyres and ropes . . . it was boot camp 10-fold. I have to say at the time I thought, `this is just madness'.''

Despite the strain and pressure, Wenham said the physical challenge was needed to bring the film, inspired by graphic novelist Frank Miller, to life.

``I have to say I found myself extremely lucky to have experienced that because I was the fittest I have ever been in my life, fitter than when I was in my teens or 20s,'' he said.

``I wish I could keep it up but no one can afford that many hours of training unless you are a professional athlete and it's your life.

``At least we can all look at the film and know we looked like Spartan warriors once in our life!''

Shot entirely against a special effects blue screen in a Montreal studio, 300 is the ferocious retelling of the 480BC Battle of Thermopylae.

For Wenham, 300 was a project he eagerly wanted to work on and a dramatic piece that would complement his previous offerings, ranging from Diver Dan in SeaChange to Faramir in The Lord of the Rings, and portraying Hugh Jackman's meek and quirky vampire-hunter sidekick in Van Helsing.

He's no stranger to box-office hits, with 300 already taking $310 million globally.

Van Helsing bagged more than $370 million and the Rings trilogy secured almost $2.5 billion.

The seasoned professional chooses his roles carefully.

``It's tricky, it's different to what people's perceptions of how a career is really built,'' Wenham said.

``You can't manufacture a career as an actor because you aren't in control of what projects come to you, unless you are No. 1, two, three or four in the world.''

In saying that, Wenham didn't think twice when the script for Australia, Baz Luhrmann's follow-up to Moulin Rouge!, landed in his lap.

``It's not as though there are a huge array of incredible scripts that I would like to be involved in . . . it's really rare that I read a script and think `I'd love to do that','' he said.

``But there is only one Baz Luhrmann. I'm incredibly excited to go on this adventure.

``There is no downer or negative in this film. To be involved in any project that Baz directs . . . you would give your left foot if you had to.''

Wenham will portray station manager Neil Fletcher in the film, alongside Oscar winner Nicole Kidman and Jackman.

Set in northern Australia before World War II, Australia is a romantic tale of an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a sprawling station and reluctantly makes a pact with a drover (Jackman) to protect it from a plot to steal it.

While Wenham admits there may be pressure on Luhrmann for the film to succeed on an international scale, he isn't feeling the heat.

``It's going to take us places I have never been in Australia,'' he said.

``Australia is a phenomenally beautiful country and every time I go away and come back it never ceases to amaze me.

``It's incredible, so I am looking forward to it.''

Australia is likely to keep Wenham in the country for the rest of the year, and the father of one has no qualms with that.

In terms of the future, he isn't sure, but envisages a change in career direction.

``I think I am a frustrated director in an actor's body.''

300 opens nationally on April 5.