Toni Collette on moving to LA and leaving Muriel’s Wedding behind

Nearly 30 years since Muriel’s Wedding, Toni Collette is still one of Australia’s most highly regarded acting exports. In a rare interview, she talks about juggling her nomadic career with family life, acting her age on film and her very relatable childhood.

You’re currently here in Australia filming, but considering your work takes you all over the world, where is home for you?

I’m based here [in Australia], but I travel for work.

You’re very private about your home life with husband Dave Galafassi and your two children, daughter Sage, 13, and son Arlo, 10.

So what can you tell us about what home life is like in the Collette/Galafassi household?

You know, lunches and school drop-offs, running to violin lessons, going to soccer games, and somebody else in control of the remote control. Friday-night pizza. It’s delicious. It’s the best. I love it.

“I remember when I first went to LA after Muriel’s Wedding, and I was getting scripts sent to me that were very similar but I just knew not to go down that path.” (Picture: Pål Hansen)

It’s a question all working parents grapple with – but in your case, how do you manage juggling that family life with film and television projects that can take you away from home for long periods?

I love what I do as an actor, and I don’t struggle with it. I have surrendered to the fact that is what my life is, and I get so much out of it, but I’m also completely in love with my children and I love my family time. It’s just a matter of balancing things. They travel with me sometimes, sometimes they don’t.

It depends on the length of time and projects, and where it is, and how safe it is. That’s something to consider now as well. But you just take every day as it comes like anybody else and figure it out as you go. You can only do so much planning, and then life will actually happen and tell you what it wants, so it’s a matter of going with the flow.

You’ve mastered a Welsh accent in your next film, Dream Horse, which is no mean feat.

I love you for saying that. I was so intimidated by this accent. It really scared me because it’s very particular, and if you go too far, you end up in India. And also it’s a true story and I thought, if I stuff this up, I am letting down an entire nation. Thank God I didn’t screw it up.

I had a brilliant, warm, gorgeous, open dialect coach who actually grew up in the area where the film is set. There are a lot of dialects in Wales and throughout the UK it changes wherever you are, so to have someone who just knew the specificity of it was so incredible. Also, I had the cast and the crew right there and willing to help at any time. I was always running lines with everyone.

Toni Collette with her children Sage and Arlo at Disneyland in 2018. (Picture: Splash News)

The film carries a poignant message, which is that we need to appreciate where we are and the possibilities in life.

They are some of the things that drew me to this film. I found, on the whole, it’s incredibly inspirational. I’m such a sucker for an underdog story. The fact that it’s a true story makes it even more meaningful. They all live very simple lives, they’re so humble – there’s nothing flashy about it.

There is a scene early in the film where the villagers feel out of place at a fancy horse-racing meet. Did you connect with the fish-out-of-water element?

Look, I grew up in Blacktown [a working-class suburb in Western Sydney]. I can totally relate to suddenly being in a world that is very different from what you know. There was so much about it that I could relate to.

I really hope people go to see it, because it couldn’t be released at a better time in terms of what we need, and the stories that reflect the possibilities ahead of us, despite the challenges.

Toni Collette accepting her Emmy award for United States Of Tara in 2009. (Picture: Supplied)

What was your childhood like?

It feels normal to me because it’s my experience. It, too, was humble and full of love and support, and I have a very strong family connection and bonds, and still do to this day. They put me in good stead to venture out into the world and I’m so appreciative of all my parents did for me and my brothers.

Parenting is such an interesting role to play because if you do a good job, it’s just a constant sense of letting go, which is heartbreaking at the same time. I played netball, I jumped on the trampoline, swam in the pool, rode my bike. You know, did all the normal things that you do when you’re growing up, or maybe in that period, you do. It’s a little different now, depending on where you are, but I loved it. I’m fond of it, and it feels a million years ago.

You have played characters from all walks of life during your almost three-decade long career. Was that a plan from the start or did it simply happen that way?

I very clearly remember when I first went to LA after Muriel’s Wedding, and I was getting scripts sent to me that were very similar but I just knew not to go down that path. To feel satisfied as an artist you have to do different things and you have to challenge yourself. If you’re feeling comfortable, it ain’t good.

I don’t really have any plan in terms of the types of roles or the types of films, but if something comes along, it literally just has to speak to my soul and then if everything else lines up, I’m in. It’s that simple.

Toni Collette with co-star Damian Lewis in Dream Horse. (Picture: Alamy)

How have these roles changed since you started out in Muriel’s Wedding back in 1994?

As I grow, the roles change. I’m playing people my age who look like me, so I have to find the truth in each of them and create whole people. So it’s just as challenging as it ever was because I could only ever do that at any age, maybe apart from United States Of Tara, where I play a man or a child.

Has the pandemic influenced or changed the way you look at the industry?

Well, don’t you think it was interesting how all anyone really talked about, apart from pure panic, was what they’re watching? And you realise how storytelling is what we return to when we need comfort. I hate the word “content”, but it’s like everyone ran out of it.

So there’s a real overdrive at the moment to catch up, to give people what they quite literally have proven to need in moments of survival and uncertainty. I don’t want to make it sound too important. It’s still entertainment, but people really clung to it.

Toni Collette stars on the cover of this Sunday’s Stellar

Outside of work, what were the past 12 months like for you?

I’m lucky enough to have enough money and a roof over my head to have sat pretty comfortably through lockdown. I’ve really appreciated that time. I had no obligations so I could just spend it with my family. I did a lot of reading, I started writing and became quite productive. But I also really enjoyed the stillness of it.

I really meditated a lot more and got into my practice in that way, so it was a gift in a way. Just having an enforced break from the rat race has been healthy. I know it’s tragic and challenging, but part of it’s quite healthy.

Tell us about your tattoos.

I have three tattoos; they’re all quite small. It’s nothing crazy, but there are three more tattoos that I want to get. However, I’m not going to tell you what they are, because they’re very personal. Well, I can tell you one: I’m literally going to get a small circle, because it’s a really good reminder of not only me, but that we’re all whole.

We come into this world whole, and we’ve got to remember that.

Dream Horse opens in cinemas nationally on Thursday.

Originally published as Toni Collette on moving to LA and leaving Muriel’s Wedding behind