Paul de Gelder gets out of his comfort zone for debut acting role
IT’S fair to say ex-Navy diver and shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder was stripped bare for his debut acting role.
Confidential
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IT’S fair to say ex-Navy diver and shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder was stripped bare for his debut acting role.
The former Navy clearance diver, who lost his right arm and leg when a bull shark attacked him in Sydney Harbour in 2009, was “thrown in the deep end” on his second day filming Foxtel’s new drama Fighting Season with a Magic Mike-style striptease.
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“They did tell me there was a strip scene,” de Gelder told Confidential.
“I was like ‘yeah, yeah, no worries, that should be fine’ and then you get there and someone is lathering you up with coconut oil and there are two girls on their knees fitting a G-string to you and then you’re on stage in front of 30 screaming extras and you’re giving yourself G-string rope burn between your butt cheeks. I didn't stop shaking for about five hours, it was terrifying,” he said.
“But getting outside your comfort zone and doing those things is what life is all about. Throw yourself into it wholeheartedly, but it really made me realise how much I need to learn to dance.”
While the show has its moments of humour, the six-part drama that begins on Sunday, October 28, on Showcase, tells the story of a platoon of Australian soldiers who return from Afghanistan and the emotional challenges they face adjusting to life back home
“This hasn’t been done before, on Australian television so that was extremely rewarding for me as a soldier and as a person,” de Gelder said.
When asked if prior to his accident he ever thought he’d be acting in a Foxtel drama, he replied “hell no”.
“So a lot of good has come out of the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” he said. “ Now, my life is so good and so amazing that I wouldn't even go back and change it anymore. I don’t know what that person would be like with his two limbs still intact, I don’t know where he would be, his emotional state or his career.
“I know where I am now and my life is pretty bloody incredible.”
The first two episodes will be screened at the Veterans Film Festival in Canberra on November 3 with the cast and creative talent to host a Q&A on the groundbreaking program.