Foxtel’s show Black Sails a shock to Luke Arnold after playing INXS star Michael Hutchence
AFTER playing Michael Hutchence in INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, Luke Arnold’s latest role will do nothing to diminish that raunchy reputation.
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BEING Australian television’s sizzling new sex god is taking its toll on Luke Arnold.
Not that he’s complaining.
After the stratospheric success of his lusty job playing rocker Michael Hutchence in the top-rating Channel Seven biopic INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, his latest role as hot-blooded buccaneer, Long John Silver in Foxtel’s new US drama series, Black Sails will do nothing to diminish that raunchy reputation.
But throwing himself into the act was an arduous task for the 30-year-old, who admits it was as much about his ego as it was the script which pushed him to get in ship shape.
Within days of landing the job, Arnold says he spent the first three weeks at the mercy of a personal trainer in Melbourne, before flying to Capetown, South Africa (for filming) to join the rest of the cast in a boot camp he describes as “the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“It was just hours every day in the gym and then fight training, so full on. I never really went to the gym before,” he told TV Guide, “it’s not something I put too much time into so it was a baptism of fire for me.
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“Then we have to keep all that up all the way through shooting because you can go from doing four pages of dialogue in the morning, to then climbing up the side of a ship more than a few times in the afternoon.”
While the prospect of having to strip down for those sweaty scenes may thrill his growing fan base, keeping camera-ready has turned Arnold and his co-stars into gym junkies.
“It really never was the focus too much for either the production or us to get the six pack and look good with our shirt off but it was much more about being the kind of functional warriors we had to be at the time. Then we all realised after season one we all kind of got too in shape, it almost went a bit beyond the reality of the world.”
Pointing to Silver’s depiction in Treasure Island, the children’s classic book upon which this Michael Bay-produced TV series is based, Arnold is looking forward to the time his character can ease up on the gym reps and eat up at the catering table on set.
“The Long John Silver in the book is definitely described as a weighty, jolly guy, so it’s nice starting here, knowing if the show gets to go for a few seasons I might get to feed on a few pizzas and spaghetti dinners across the years,” he joked.
Arnold’s natural swagger and good humour is a perfect fit for Silver, who he says survives in this cut-throat pirate world “on his wit.”
“He’s not the biggest guy in the world, not the toughest guy but most of the time he considers himself the smartest guy in the room,” Arnold said.
“He’s just worried about keeping his head off the chopping block and hopefully keeping some kind of gold in his pockets, so he’s a really fun character to play.”
With a second season of Black Sails already in the can and the production waiting for the greenlight to go again, Arnold is keen to keep riding his career wave.
“If it goes ahead, I have to be a part of it. Season two was a step up again. Everything we did was ten times what we got to do in the first season. We’re really playing a long game with this, as far as slowly building up the characters and the mystery in this world but the pay-offs are coming more and more.”
Meanwhile, INXS: Never Tear Us Apart has proven the TV hit which keeps on giving for the stellar cast.
Beyond launching the small screen career of Arnold, the blockbuster has also seen the job offers roll in for his co-stars.
Leading the charge is Damon Herriman, the man who nailed the band’s manager Chris Murphy, who has since starred in ABC telemovie, The Broken Shore and earned international acclaim as racist poacher, Dewey Crowe in US drama series, Justified.
It doesn’t stop there for the Logie and AACTA nominee, who will be seen next in Battle Creek (the gritty new detective series by Breaking Bad’s creator Vince Gilligan); and Flesh And Bone, a romance mystery set in New York and due out next year.
Making her TV debut as supermodel Helena Christensen has also put Melbourne actress Mallory Jansen in the frame for overseas stardom, scoring the lead in US musical comedy, Galavant; as well as a key role in CBS comedy, Young And Hungry.
BLACK SAILS
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Originally published as Foxtel’s show Black Sails a shock to Luke Arnold after playing INXS star Michael Hutchence
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