These Final Hours star Nathan Phillips lives life like there’s no tomorrow

“I HAVE always spent my time more preciously than my money,” says Nathan Phillips, but the These Final Hours star won’t let that attitude cost him his second shot at the big time.

Phillips starred with Lisa Flanagan and Luke Carroll in footy drama <i>Australian Rules</i>.

A decade ago, Nathan Phillips was being widely tipped as the next big thing.

The actor, then in his mid-20s, had consolidated upon his breakout performance in homegrown horror hit Wolf Creek with a role opposite Samuel L Jackson in the unapologetically B-grade creature-feature Snakes On a Plane.

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At that point, Phillips seemed to be well positioned for an action-oriented Hollywood career.

Then he totally disappeared off the radar.

“I have always spent my time more preciously than my money,” says the actor, in Australia for the premiere of his apocalyptic new drama These Final Hours,which received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.

Actor Sunny Mabrey with Nathan Phillips in scene from film "Snakes on a Plane". /Films/Titles/Snakes/on/a/Plane

“Was it a wise career move? Probably not. But I travelled to Papua New Guinea or lived in some small, South American town because that’s what made sense to me at the time.

“I had to trust my inner compass.”

Phillips has continued to work in the intervening years — in well-received projects such as Balibo and Dying Breed — but even he acknowledges that he failed to capitalise on his early success.

Actor Nathan Phillips as Malcolm Rennie in 2009 film 'Balibo'.

“I was a boy! If I could do things differently I am sure I would. But I am very thankful for that experience. And without it, I would not be who I am now to make this movie.”

Phillips was working on a farm in northern California when he read writer-director Zak Hilditch’s screenplay about a narcissistic young man who is determined to party his way through the last day on Earth — until he crosses paths with a young girl (Angourie Rice) in search of her father.

Scene from These Final Hours. Roadshow Films.

“It came at a very good time for me,” he says. “I was very willing and physically able to do the role. I felt incredibly fit.”

Although he was very far from Hollywood at the time, labouring had equipped Phillips with an eight-pack that usually requires months of dedicated gym training, overseen by dietary advisers and personal trainers.

Nathan Phillips is an actor in the film These Final Hours.

The themes explored in Hilditch’s screenplay also resonated strongly with the young actor, who says he tries to live his life today as if there were no tomorrow.

“How would I spend my final hours? I am doing it. I have already chosen to live my life with that mantra.

“A film like this really aligns with my own search for a deeper understanding of the suffering we all go through and the art of living.”

Scene from These Final Hours. Roadshow Films.

In keeping with that philosophy, Phillips says he does not have a permanent address.

“My mum asks me, ‘where are you living now, Nathan?’ It’s kind of hard to pinpoint. It’s like, wherever I have to be.

Nathan Phillips is an actor in the film These Final Hours.

“Very happily, I am very fortunate to be able to be where the wind takes me, where the work takes me and where I want to be … surfing a beach in Mexico that I haven’t surfed before.

“While I can, I’ll be very happy to say postcode unknown.”

All he needs to exist, says the actor, is a bag and a surfboard.

“You don’t really need much. I try to live my life with that sort of minimalist mentality.

“If you are in a beautiful place where you can enjoy sunrise and sunset, then you are living like a lord.”

By travelling light, Phillips finds himself remarkably well-placed to ride the wave of his current resurgence all the way to the shore.

He describes Cannes as a bucket list experience.

“It’s why I am in this game. I really wanted that moment. It was like a piece of theatre. The audience cried, they cheered — (French audiences) are very passionate.”

James, the character he plays in These Final Hours, provided a much-needed professional stretch.

“I found myself trying to make him more likable and redeemable after the first couple of pages because I am like, ‘he is such a tool!’ But it was cool to play against what Nathan would normally do, you know?

Actor Nathan Phillips with Lisa Flanagan and Luke Carroll in scene from film "Australian Rules". /Films/Titles/Australian/Rules

“I see this as a really nice circle. I cut my teeth on intense subject matter — (2002 footy drama) Australian Rules was my introduction to filmmaking.

“As a man in my 30s, it was perfect timing. You start to ask the big questions as you get older.

Red Carpet Launch of These Final Hours (AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE) at Hoyts, Broadway. Nathan Phillips and his girlfriend Lea Pakiry Rocha

“It’s up to us to find enlightenment in our final breath, to find sense and sensibility.”

Phillips is waiting for confirmation of a third season of the FX network’s acclaimed crime drama The Bridge, in which he plays Diane Kruger’s mysterious lover.

The ducks are lining up for his debut as a feature film director, which he hopes to shoot in Melbourne in the near future.

And he is also in talks for a feature film to be shot in Ireland.

“There’s good momentum to my career right now so I definitely won’t be taking off like I always do,” he says.

“I’m sticking around. I’m a bit wiser now, in some regards. I know I’m only as good as my last job.

“It’s different when you have got kids and a mortgage, but right now I have got no excuse to make things I am not proud of.”

Originally published as These Final Hours star Nathan Phillips lives life like there’s no tomorrow