Carly Dennis
Every interview I’ve done until now has been heavily researched: I’ve watched the films, seen any previous interviews. This interview was different for me because I saw the trailer, and had a night of research and an early shift at work the next day. Thankfully though, I am Australian. This means I can both ask a lot of questions based on the fact this film is set in Australia, and that I work so much better under stress than anything else. Hooray! This interview was lovely though; Jamie Bamber (”Law and Order”, ”Battlestar Galactica”) is down to earth, very smart and conversational, and super understanding of my lack of knowledge about this movie. What a guy. The film is called ”John Doe: Vigilante”, and is certainly worth a look for those searching for something a little darker and more action-based.
So Jamie, tell me, what was it like getting into the mind of, and getting to know John Doe?
It’s tough, because well—have you seen this film or just the trailer?
Just the trailer actually!
Okay, well the film is largely about perception; how people who become notorious or remarkable in the headlines are largely characterised by the media and public opinion. So you never really get to know their actual characters, you never get to see the shades of grey. It’s always people painted as heroes or villains in the media because those are the kinds of characters people are drawn to. It was a tough challenge because you don’t really know John Doe. He’s a precept rather than a person for a large chunk of the film. I had to try and create a real, rounded character. For me, he’s a dad who’s suffered tragedy. I’m a dad and every parent knows, when you become a parent you inherit a huge capacity for heartache as well as joy.
I had to create an every-man kind of character who goes through an extraordinary set of circumstances and become this much larger than life figure. That’s really what the movie is about, how easily people are manipulated by the media.
What was the filming process like, working with Stephen M. Coates’ screenplay and Kelly Dolen as director?
It’s an interesting question, because I read the script and it was this very disturbing, dark and edgy piece of work. I was really both bemused and excited by it because it seemed to really sprout all sorts of opinions that I just don’t hold. So I was frustrated as to why they wanted to make the film. I didn’t meet them until they had me do a little take—to convince them I could do the Australian accent, and then I met them when we started shooting in Australia.
So it was a very, very short ‘getting to know you’, but then I clicked with them on a personal level very quickly. Kelly is a very direct, very open guy and easy to connect with. They’re both family men like myself, they’re both fathers. They had a slightly harsher view of the criminal justice system than I did; they had a more righteous anger about the things that went on in the streets, they felt the justice system was maybe not working quite as well as it should.
I don’t really share that concern, I’m more concerned about vigilantism becoming a frightening thing. I have a slightly more balanced view there.
The film itself, even simply in its advertising, poses the question: hero or villain?—what do you think personally?
I think he’s more complicated than either. The heart of what this film is about is the way we consume the media—new drama or whatever it is—we love to nutshell people even when it’s only one particular moment of their lives. We’re always missing much more context. I think there are very few heroes in this world and very few villains. There are a lot of human beings just getting ahead, getting on. John Doe’s travesty is that his life is turned upside down and he takes an extreme course of action and everyone has an opinion on him as either hero or villain and he’s just sort of lost himself in the process. That’s my take on it.
When people watch the film they have all kinds of different reactions. It challenges people to see a reflection of an extreme version of their own view. It kind of reinforces your view when you go in but takes it a little too far, so you’re forced to examine your view in the first place. I think it’s an incredible film in that regard, quite unlike most films you will see.
Did you have any difficulty with the Australian accent?
I love working with accents and it’s something that I do quite a bit, but I’d never done an Australian accent, I’d never worked in Australia before. It was nerve-wracking, and it’s always a challenge. I do trust myself; I trust my ability to get there in the end, so I had confidence going in. I’m a linguist you know, I speak a couple of languages and I’ve been all over Europe. I know I have an aptitude for it with hard work, and Kel [Dolen] was there to put his foot down if I went too far in the wrong direction or was too much of a caricature. We didn’t want too much of that broad Australian, but a much more believable suburban version and sometimes that’s the hardest thing to get right. It’s so subtle and it’s sometimes easier to go broad but he was very good with me.
I’ve observed that you’ve travelled quite a bit in your career for different shoots, but did you find any differences filming here in Melbourne?
I really enjoyed my time in Melbourne. The weird thing about the film industry is there are more similarities than differences, no matter where you shoot. There’s a strange kind of set up that the world seems to have adopted. The budget is always tight because you spend the money on the things that count in independent films, and not creature comforts. We didn’t really have any dressing rooms or things like that. I would often spend my lunch breaks having a nap on the floor, not a couch or bed; because there wasn’t one. Things like that I’m very used to, being from a British background, who are not very wasteful with their budget. What I appreciated was the crews’ sense of humour and the camaraderie, which is integral to a good set and certainly was there on ours.
I’d never lived in Melbourne before, I met so many different people. It was wonderful to get to know a city like that, that is so rich culturally in its cuisine. It’s really cool and we really enjoyed our time there, my kids and my wife. Melbourne’s got a real creative heart—which I really took to.
Now, the film has no problems posing questions of morality, social injustices, and even questioning solid ideas of what a hero is compared to a villain. My question to you is: is this inquisitive nature of the film something you have yourself?
Yeah! I think I do look at the world, especially my generation, as at sort of a crossroads in some regards. I think morality is a big word and I don’t like using it too much because it implies a kind of code, a right and wrong which I’m not sure I agree with. We do seem to be facing some big decisions about what’s the best drama you know, civilisation, politics, religion, the way we use our planet—I’m very mindful of all those issues. I’m all for leaders who will have the self confidence to address them rather than have the short term sort of attitude towards them to get elected. So yeah, I do look at the world trying to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong but I don’t really do enough about it I suppose.
What’s the process like, as an actor, reaching into those darker areas of human behaviour?
Tough. When you take on a character like John Doe and you think of what the character has been through—the reality of his tragedy and the extreme path he’s taken as a result—it’s tough because you don’t sort of go there in your mind and you don’t have to experience what that might feel like. But the experiences that he’s gone through are so extreme that in some ways it’s easy because it’s visceral and strong and it doesn’t take too much imagination to wonder what that would be like. My wife was on the set for some of the time, for some of the more harrowing stuff. It is emotionally raw and that does take energy and that does take commitment but it’s why I do the job I do.
Acting is a drug in that regard, you do tap into some pretty extreme feelings and that’s life affirming in some ways, just like it’s painful at times. So you embrace it, you take it on as a challenge and hopefully you do it justice.
Is there any advice you wish you’d been given at the start of your career?
Yeah, I suppose there is and I’m honestly not sure I wasn’t given it, but I maybe hadn’t acted on it [laughs]. For any young actor today, I think it has changed slightly from when I was starting out, but it’s important to create your own little products whether that might be little movies on phones or simple cameras. My advice is: don’t wait around for someone else to tell you which parts you should or shouldn’t play. Write your own materials, direct your own materials together with friends and create and learn your craft. All the great actors and directors have always done that. That would be the first thing I would concentrate on. It’s a very frustrating industry if you’re forever blowing in the wind waiting on someone else to tell you when to work.
Australians can’t get enough of television series and films that bring our shadier, more violent history to light. Is this something that also applies to where you grew up, in London?
Australia makes some great films, and a lot of it is quite violent and about crime. British people are quite similar: we love our detective stories, we love true crimes, and our who-done-its and always have. It’s present in American TV as well, though I suppose American TV is always slightly glamourized. There’s a lot of it around right now. I have to say that I think there’s room for other things. I’m not really drawn to serial killers and the like, I’ve sort of had my fill of them, but any time it’s done in a new, fresh way—and I think John Doe is different from most things—I think it’s worth taking a look. It’s about humanity, it teaches us about the decisions we make everyday, how we deal with people under stress, and these are important issues. But I am always drawn to the more surprising things, the newer kinds of storytelling. I just started watching Master of Sex the other day, and that kind of television I think is more interesting than just finding a case and beating down on corruption. Having said that though, my favourite TV show of all time is The Wire, which is almost like a piece about society and nobody escapes, everyone from politicians to the police to the teachers, they’re all guilty of something.
