December 2009

An Out-of-this World Discovery

The star of Avatar, Perth-born actor Sam Worthington, tells how teaming with one of the world’s biggest directors was a career-changing moment

An Out-of-this World Discovery

WORDS DYLAN HOWARD

The modus operandi was the same: size up the plans and materials, and then build whatever the director tells you to. Drunk or sober. Bricklaying or acting. It didn’t really matter.

Explains Worthington: “I was just about to turn 30, which is a journey for any man. I looked back and began to assess my life. Even though I’d done TV and 13 films and had a successful career in Australia, I looked around the room and asked myself, ‘OK, well, I have a load of good-looking toys and stuff, but does that define me?’” It didn’t. In a split second of self-discovery, he organised a garage sale and sold everything he owned.

“When the auction was all over, I realised, I’m 30 years old and all I could raise was AU$2,000. That’s all my life is worth, I concluded. So I decided to figure out what I wanted to do. I looked at the direction my acting was taking and I found I wasn’t as brave anymore. I thought: stuff this, I’m not going to do it anymore, I’m quitting.”

Then, in a twist of fate, the phone rang. Worthington’s agent was on the line with an audition. He recalls: “I hit the audition not knowing whom the job was for or what it was about. I was told it was set in outer space. I was thinking: fine, whatever.”

Yet ever the perfectionist, he dived in and produced a commendable screen test. “In the meantime, personally, I was starting to discover myself again — getting my spirit and spunk back.”

Two weeks passed, and his agent rang again. “Remember that audition? James Cameron wants to fly you to America.” And that was how Worthington discovered he’d won the lead role in Oscar-winning Cameron’s epic return to filmmaking, Avatar.

Just 15 hours later, Worthington stepped into the US for a face-to-face meeting with Cameron, the famed director responsible for the blockbusters Aliens, The Terminator and Titanic. Cameron had tested hundreds of actors, from established to unknowns. But he needed someone who was a perfect fit for the role: a paraplegic war veteran journeying to the alien planet Pandora.

In truth, Cameron’s mind was made up even before he met Worthington. When the celebrated filmmaker saw his audition tape with a scene in which he had one two-syllable line — “Uh huh” — he was convinced.

Recalls Cameron: “We were making a US$200 million-plus movie and it’s all about the journey of one guy — the character of Jake’s in every scene in the film. It all hangs on that one piece of casting. Sam had me at ‘Uh huh’.”

Worthington reveals: “I said to Jim, ‘I will give you everything I’ve got, because I have nothing, I’ve sold it all. I have nothing to lose, man. I’ll do whatever you want. Let’s go to work, brother.’ During that time, I won my bravery back and got my priorities back. I realised, it’s not about all the toys, the bells and whistles, or fame. It’s about good work.”

Worthington is a deep thinker and well read. Yet on the exterior, with a three-day growth

and black jeans and black fitted T-shirt, he looks more roadie than sensitive movie star.

And he sounds more Russell Crowe than Hugh Jackman, with his deep, broad Aussie accent. Our interview is ruled with more bluntness than the bluster often found in Tinseltown. On creativity and deviating from a script: “I’m not a puppet, man.” On the physical nature of the roles he takes on: “I don’t go to the gym and stuff like that.” On the shelf life of Hollywood stars: “If I’ve got nothing to offer, I’ll go back to brick laying.”

Worthington’s life changed course from bricklayer to actor when he followed a girlfriend to auditions for NIDA, the same prestigious drama school that Mel Gibson and Cate Blanchett attended. He went for moral support, but put his name down as a prank. He got in. She didn’t. They broke up. Now, Worthington is following in the footsteps of those compatriots.

Having been tapped for Avatar, on Cameron’s whim, the jobs — and hype — followed. On Cameron’s recommendation, Worthington scored a gig alongside Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation. Despite mixed reviews, Worthington was singled out for critical praise. The newcomer had hit the big time.

Since then, Worthington has scored starring roles opposite Keira Knightley in the infidelity drama Last Night, and with Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes in Clash of the Titans. The trajectory can be traced back to Avatar.

Set in the future, Jake is brought to another planet, Pandora, where he falls in love with a local girl and joins the resistance fighters in a battle for survival. The multi-million dollar 3-D spectacle was shot in New Zealand, at Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital studios, using Cameron’s own filmmaking invention. Five years in the making, he also used six computer-generated actors known as ‘synthespians’. Hollywood veteran Sigourney Weaver — who stars in Avatar as Grace, a scientist — believes Cameron will revolutionise filmmaking.

“When I was watching Avatar being made, I thought this will change what people expect and want in a big movie,” she prophesises.

Of Worthington, the 60-year-old Weaver says: “From the moment the camera finds Sam, you’re riveted to him. He has so much presence. He brings so much mischief, humour and warmth to the character of Jake. He had to work so hard; I mean he’s in every shot. Off screen, Sam is such a sweetheart.

I think he brought so much to the film that only an Australian could.”

“This project not only changed my life,” says Worthington, “but it made me a better person, and not just a better actor. I have Jim to thank for that.”

Avatar opens nationally in cinemas across Australia on 17 December

SAM WORTHINGTON ON GOING HOME

“I don’t have a real home. I go where the work is. “When I got Avatar, I sold everything I owned, because I knew it was going to be a long journey. I’ve got two bags and that was four years ago and I’ve been working ever since. I’ve still only got two bags.

“I like to get back to Australia, but the trips are not often enough. I’ve got a nine-year-old nephew whom I adore. He is the barometer for a lot of things in my life, including Avatar. He fell off his seat when we saw some stuff in this film.”






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