Ben Mendelsohn & Sophie Lowe

“It’s one that’s going to evoke a lot of different reactions – every time people see it, we hear a lot of different takes on it. And as far as I’m concerned, that means it’s a success – it’s done what we wanted it do”.

And Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn is spot-on, “Beautiful Kate”, actress cum filmmaker Rachel Ward’s adaptation of the Newton Thornburg novel, is going to evoke more chatter than the back-row of a rowdy school classroom.

The film, which teams Mendelsohn with Bryan Brown, Rachel Griffiths, and newcomer Sophie Lowe, tells of a forlorn writer, Ned (Mendelsohn) who is asked to return to the family home to say goodbye to his father (Brown) who is dying. Via flashbacks, we learn that something may have went on between Ned and his late sister (Sophie Lowe).

“I think it’s already a success because people take away their own interpretations of it – what was going on, what this meant, what that meant”, says Mendelsohn, of the film that premiered at the Sydney Film Festival. ‘’That’s always the best. That’s what Rach [Ward] wants”.

Not to say opinions aren’t already quite varied.

‘’People respond very, very strongly to it – opinions are quite mixed. But that’s good. It’s a good film I feel – when it’s doing it’s thing, it’s doing it’s thing. There’s not another film like it.

“And I think there’s a lot going on in this film – it’s a story of redemption, it’s a father-and-son story, and it’s a love story.’’

The book is actually an American yarn – almost a different beast from the film Ward (and producer husband Bryan Brown) adapted for the screen.

“I started to read the book – but I stopped”, admits Mendelsohn, last seen in the Nicolas Cage starrer “Knowing”. ‘’It’s a Southern Gothic novel, for starters, but I was reading it and noticed there was a couple of different characters, and some stuff going on that wasn’t in the film script, so I decided ‘No. I don’t want to read it. I don’t wanna know what happens in the book’. It starts to get confusing otherwise.”

It’s quite a heavy role for the 40-year-old actor – but the job was made so much easier because of the fact he’s working with friends.

“I worked with Bryan on Australia – we have a super great Aussie-bloke way of working together”, he says. ‘’We’ll talk about footy or this, or that, or the other, and then we will work. Then we come back out of it, and talk about footy. We get along great – but then there’s times, of course, for the film’s sake, that I had to hate him.’’

Sophie Lowe, playing the titular Kate, adds,“I didn’t have that many scenes with Bryan but he’s really funny… he’s like my dad. He’s always telling these really lame dad jokes. I love them.”

“It’s a good one for him”, Mendelsohn says of the veteran actor. ‘’You see a really different side of him. Not to say he’s playing a villain – all the characters in the film are just behaving in ways that…. Catch your attention.’’

The film also reunites Mendelsohn with Rachel Griffiths – who he worked with on the ‘’Cosi’’ – who plays his on-screen sister.

“She’s incredibly gifted. She’s great. She had to come in and come out – she wasn’t there long – but she was crucial to the film… for it to get it’s finance”.

“It’s great to do scenes – like the one at the end (a poignant moment between brother and sister) – with someone you know and are really quite comfortable with –like I am with Rachel”, continues Mendelsohn. ‘’We have a great deal of affection for each other, but we can get funny with each other – we had a bit of that going on in this one. I think it helps. It’s good when you’re working with someone you’ve known for a while, and can look at them and go ‘Okay, we’re going here’’’.

But “by going there”, or immersing yourself in a very dramatic role, doesn’t mean Mendelsohn can’t separate the job from life.

“All the characters I’ve played stay with me bit… but one of the big misconceptions about acting is that there’s some sort of big mountain to climb to get there. Not at all. It’s about finding the character, going out and just doing it. That’s pretty much it. Obviously here, we were playing with big sort of emotions and feelings, and the characters had big personalities and feelings. But it’s still just a job.”

It goes without saying, Mendelsohn’s very frank when it comes to his outlook on the industry. He’s also about as fond as publicity as he is of people confusing the acting profession as something impossibly challenging, not to mention glamorous.

“I’m not a big fan of the whole [publicity] game – but it’s got to be done”, the actor admits. ‘’I prefer to let people walk into a movie, not knowing anything about a movie, and not having read anything about the behind-the-scenes hijinks, and just enjoying it. It’s a very weird job – acting. It’s a great job, but it’s a very weird job.’’

Mendelsohn, who has starred in nearly 50 films and TV series (‘’The ones that tend to mean the most to me are the ones that generally seem to impact on people a bit – The Year my Voice Broke, Return Home, The Big Steal, Idiot Box, Nirvana Street Murder’’, he says), never seems to be absent from a local quality production. Case in Point : The acclaimed cable series “Love My Way”, created by and starring his good friend Claudia Karvan. The only question he gets regularly is ‘When is it coming back?’

“It’s not”, he says of the show, which ran for three seasons. ‘’That’s Clauds, she didn’t want to do anymore – and I give her credit for that. She did that show all on her own – all off her own back. She just didn’t want to keep going just for the sake of it. But it was a wonderful show.”

The actor has since moved on, recently completing work on another promising Aussie film, ‘’Animal Kingdom’’.

“It’s looking pretty good”, says the actor, “but for the moment I’m all about Beautiful Kate”.

Both Mendelsohn and Lowe have much praise for Ward’s film.

Lowe, who at first wasn’t convinced she was the right girl for the role, says snagging a lead role in a major movie like this still feels quite dreamlike.

“It was all surreal. I auditioned – and then got a call back to come back and test with all these boys…. Lots of boys. I found out a couple of weeks later that I got the role – I was so excited! I still can’t believe I got it. I didn’t tell anyone though, I wanted them to find out on their own. I never usually tell people about myself, or what I’m up to, so I didn’t want to be the one to break the news.”

The nerves kicked in once Lowe arrived on set, but Ward was very supportive of the young actress.

“She made me feel much more confident”, says Lowe. ‘’She kept reminding me that I was the best person for this role. She’s very supportive’’.

Mendelsohn adds, “She really is. She’s a terrific director. She was really prepared. She was very compassionate. She would bleed for you if she thought it would help.’’

The film is likely to launch young Lowe into the cinematic stratosphere – and Mendelsohn – whose “dabbled” and “had a look” in the states himself – is very encouraging of the young actress – saying she should definitely head where the work is, and where the best opportunities lie. If that’s America, so be it!

‘’There’s plenty of advantages to working in America”, Mendelsohn says. ‘’It’s difficult to just live on the work you get from Australia.’’

And though she’ll no doubt be seen on Australian screens for quite some time (she has another three local films due for release), Lowe admits she “would like to try the states” sometime in the future.

BEAUTIFUL KATE commences August 6
– CLINT MORRIS