Lachy Hulme’s long wait for Gallipoli role

“I was just excited to be involved in this project, full stop,” Lachy Hulme talks about his new role in Gallipoli and playing an older man.

THE LAST WORD …

WITH GALLIPOLI’S LACHY HULME

“I LOVE playing real life people because all the work is done for you, basically.

All the research is available and once you’ve gathered and consolidated it all, you get to make your own interpretation of that person and it’s great fun.

I was just excited to be involved in this project, full stop. I started talking with (director) Glendyn Ivin about two years ago, when we were working together on Howzat. It was Glendyn and Chris Lee, who wrote it, (producer) John Edwards and I all having a meal together.

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On board ... Lachy Hulme was involved in Gallipoli from the very beginning. Picture: Supplied.

They asked if I’d be interested in being involved, there was no talk of what role because we didn’t even have a script at that stage.

As things started unfolding and my dance card started getting filled up, the windows of opportunity started closing.

At that stage we didn’t know the story would centre around the four young boys, what the shape of it would be, but just after Christmas, Glendyn rang and said ‘what do you think about playing Kitchener?’

Having just done Sir Frank Packer (in Power Games) and playing an older man in that, I thought we could probably pull it off. It’s been an absolute thrill to be back on set with Glendyn.

Aged beyond his years ... Lachy Hulme is used to playing older characters having played Sir Frank Packer in Power Games. Picture: Supplied.

We’re very close and I do rate him as the best filmmaker in this country and I felt that about him even before we did Beaconsfield together.

That showed the mastery of the man — he could do something like Beaconsfield, which is essentially two men stuck in a coffin and we all know how it ended; but right up until Todd and Brant walked out of the elevator you were still on tenterhooks about what’s going to happen.

It’s not a foot race against the other Gallipoli (TV) projects ... each of them is going to find an audience, all of them will have something important to say about this event, but in terms of getting the full meal, this is it.

From my point of view, (playing Dr Martin Clegg on) Offspring was like a vacation job for me.

Vacation ... Hulme said playing Dr Clegg on Offspring was incredibly fun. Picture: Channel 10

I got to go and be surrounded by the most beautiful, talented women in Australia, who mollycoddled me beyond belief and let me get away with anything. Asher (Keddie), Kat (Stewart), Deb Mailman, Jane Harber, Linda Cropper ... those girls just wrapped me up in cotton wool and let me be the terror at the back of the classroom.

I just want to know why Clegg never had the chance to sleep with Nina (Keddie)?

She slept with everybody else in that hospital. The show has just been nothing but fun from day one and I made a lot of very good friendships out of that and that’s very unusual for a cast to become legitimately close. The other thing I’ve always loved about it was the core ensemble of about 10 actors ... there’s never been a weak link. It’s probably the best ensemble we’ve brought together in Australian TV history. Everybody who came to the table had serious credits and serious acting chops. The personalities really meshed on that show.”

GALLIPOLI

MONDAY, 8.40PM, NINE

Originally published as Lachy Hulme’s long wait for Gallipoli role