‘Reborn’: TV’s new take on colourful criminal Chopper Read

UNDERBELLY Files: Chopper star Ella Scott Lynch says she is ready to be judged by fans of the Mark “Chopper” Read film, as viewers look forward to a very different take on the colourful criminal’s story.

UNDERBELLY Files: Chopper star Ella Scott Lynch says she is ready to be judged by fans of the Mark “Chopper” Read film.

She plays Margaret Read, the first love and second wife of the late colourful Melbourne underworld figure.

“Some (fans) were like, ‘why would you remake it?’, but they will find this telemovie is a very different take on the Chopper story,” she said.

“It goes into very different parts of his life. I realised when we were filming down there in Melbourne that so many people have a story about him, or used to run into him, or know people who knew him.

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Zoe Ventura and Ella Scott Lynch who are playing Mary Ann Read and Margaret Read in the Channel Nine TV movie Chopper. Picture: Mark Stewart

Aaron Jeffery as Mark 'Chopper' Read in Channel Nine's upcoming Underbelly Files: Chopper. Picture: Channel 9

“I think a lot of people feel a slight ownership over him and his story.

“So many people have read the books and loved the movie with (Eric) Bana in it. There is certainly an expectation to live up to.”

Scott Lynch said while she did not have the opportunity to speak with Margaret while learning about her character, both she and Aaron Jeffery, who plays Chopper, saw their relationship as that of soulmates.

“Obviously, (Margaret) is very protective of his memory, which is completely understandable,” she said.

“(This) is not a documentary and it is a bit of an interpretation really, but Aaron and I really felt they were soulmates. That was the decision we made at the beginning. It is like that push and pull, where you can’t really ever properly say goodbye to somebody. They are always in your thoughts.”

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Aaron Jeffery as Mark 'Chopper' Read in Channel Nine's new telemovie.

While Scott Lynch plays Margaret, former Packed to the Rafter’s favourite Zoe Ventura plays Mary-Ann Hodge, Chopper’s first wife, in the telemovie, which will screen on Channel 9 on February 11 and 12.

Chopper married Ms Hodge in 1995 while behind bars in Tasmania’s Risdon Prison. They had a son, Charlie. He married Margaret in 2003 and they also had a son, Roy.

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