by Jon Wertheim
[When I watched this segment of 60 Minutes, the venerable CBS News magazine show, last Sunday, 17 November, I realized something. I’ve seen acting troupes from all over the world, either when I traveled abroad or when they came to the States. I’d made some conclusions about the quality of their work, most of which was superb. These were mostly the top troupes in their homelands like the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Comédie Française, or the Grand Kabuki.
[But I realized I’d missed something, something right under my nose. That’s what this 60 Minutes segment was about. I’d never noticed that, little by little, we’d assembled a sort of ad hoc acting troupe of Australians here in the U.S., and for the most part, it was damn good, even excellent.
[Okay, so they weren’t all working on the stage here—in fact, most of them were making movies. But, like the Brits and most European actors, back home, they almost all work in all the media: TV, movies, and theater. (There’s more inter-genre movement here now, but most American actors still specialize; they’re either TV actors, movie actors, or stage actors.)
[But as correspondent Jon Wertheim points out, the Australians that have come here to work—some as permanent residents or even naturalized citizens, others are migrant workers: they do a job here and then go back Down Under. Still, they’ve mostly contributed some good acting here, and Wertheim looks at why that’s so. I thought I’d share his report with those Rick On Theater readers who aren’t also 60 Minutes watchers. There’s a video of the segment on the CBS News website.]
For the record: it’s iron ore. But it’s easy to make the case that Australia’s leading export is . . . acting talent. How has an island of only 27 million people minted Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Cate Blanchett, Mel Gibson, Margot Robbie, Chris Hemsworth . . . we can keep going here . . . Sarah Snook, Russell Crowe, Heath Ledger, Naomi Watts . . . to say nothing of so many Oscar-winning directors, designers and crew? We headed to the bottom of the globe—and then, other spots on the globe—to explore the Aussie takeover. We met stars. We heard theories . . . and in a quiet Sydney neighborhood—impossibly far and away from Hollywood—we found a place that pumps out talent.
Scene: London’s West End, it’s Theater District. Sarah Snook [b. 1987; Adelaide, South Australia] is fresh off her Emmy-winning breakthrough role as Shiv Roy . . . the vicious-yet-vulnerable daughter in the HBO show “Succession” [cable TV series; 2018-23].
For her next act, she has upped the degree of difficulty and pivoted from TV to live performance, playing all 26 roles in an innovative, multimedia staging of Oscar Wilde’s [1854-1900] “The Picture of Dorian Gray” . . . a theatrical sensation, coming soon to Broadway [Sydney Theatre Company production at the Music Box Theatre; scheduled: 27 March-15 June 2025; adapted by Kip Williams from the 1890 novel].
Jon Wertheim: It’s not unheard of for someone to have a successful run in TV or film and then go do theater. I’m not sure I’ve seen someone do 26 roles of theater at once. What are you thinking?
Sarah Snook: You know, it’s an incredible play, an incredible opportunity to be able to play so many different roles, and so many different characters. And, you know, it’s that thing of you come off some of the best writing in the world, what do you do next? Something has to be, you know, out there to challenge you. And this certainly is. Yeah. The challenge.
If it’s an unusual bit of career management, it is also on-brand as the kind of daring move you would expect from a modern Australian star.
Jon Wertheim: What is going through your head during this performance, with all of these marks, and roles, and lines, and angles?
Sarah Snook: Nothing. Which is quite nice.
Jon Wertheim: Really?
Sarah Snook: Yeah. The focus required is a kind of a state of meditative flow in a way. Because if I’m sitting there going, “Oh. Am I on my mark? Am I doing this?” Then the next line has happened. So if I think about anything else, then I’m stitched up.
Stitched up? That’s Aussie for in a jam. . . . didn’t know Sarah Snook was Australian?
If you couldn’t have guessed by the accent—we’ll get to that soon—you might have guessed it by simply playing the percentages.
Name an A-list star of the stage or screen today; odds are bloomin’ good, they come from the Land Down Under.
Jon Wertheim: There are a lot of you, aren’t there?
Sarah Snook: Yeah. There’s a few of us out there.
Jon Wertheim: Here’s this country. Fewer people than Texas [30 million].
Sarah Snook: Is it really? Stop it. Really? Pretty good ratio.
Jon Wertheim: I was gonna say you guys are doing pretty well for yourself, aren’t you?
Sarah Snook: Yeah. Not so bad. Not so bad. Huh.
Yes, they are everywhere, these Aussies . . . filling up IMDB [Internet Movie Database] pages and call sheets . . .
JACKMAN IN “WOLVERINE”: Oh, are you . . .
MARGOT ROBBIE IN “BARBIE”: Yes! This is what I was supposed to do . . .
They’ve brought us her . . .
And him . . .
CHRIS HEMSWORTH IN “THOR”: Don’t touch my things.
Him too . . .
RUSSELL CROWE IN THE “GLADIATOR”: Are you not entertained?
Heroes . . .
CATE BLANCHETT IN “ELIZABETH”: Upon this moment . . .
And villains . . .
HEATH LEDGER IN “THE DARK KNIGHT”: Why so serious?
Earning top billings . . .
NICOLE KIDMAN IN “MOULIN ROUGE”: A real actress
GEOFFREY RUSH IN “THE KING’S SPEECH”: I am a thistle-sifter. I have a sieve of sifted thistles and a sieve of unsifted thistles.
Earning top awards . . .
CATE BLANCHETT ACCEPTANCE SPEECH FOR “BLUE JASMINE”: Thank you so much.
NICOLE KIDMAN ACCEPTANCE SPEECH FOR “THE HOURS”: I have such appreciation . . .
RUSSELL CROWE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH FOR THE “GLADIATOR”: Thanks very much . . .
HUGH JACKMAN: I’m an Australian, who played an Australian, in a movie called Australia . . .
[The fundamental details of the films named above are:
• This seems to be a scene with Jackman (b. 1968; Sydney) as
Logan / Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool from 2024’s Deadpool
& Wolverine directed by Shawn Levy for Marvel Studios.
• Barbie
(2023), directed by Greta Gerwig with Robbie (b.
1990; Dalby, Queensland) as Barbie for Warner Bros. Pictures.
• Thor:
Love and Thunder (2022), directed by Taika
Waititi with Hemsworth (b. 1983; Melbourne) as Thor for Marvel Studios.
• Gladiator
(2000), directed by Ridley Scott with Crowe (b.
1964; Wellington, New Zealand; family settled in Sydney when he was four) as Maximus
for DreamWorks Pictures.
• Elizabeth
(1998), directed by Shekhar Kapur with Blanchett
(b. 1969; Melbourne) as Elizabeth I for PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.
• The
Dark Knight (2008), directed by Christopher
Nolan with Ledger (1979-2008; born in Perth) as The Joker for Warner Bros.
Pictures.
• Moulin
Rouge! (2001), directed by Baz Luhrmann (b, 1962;
Sydney) with Kidman (b. 1967; Honolulu, Hawaii, to Australian parents on student
visas) as Satine for Twentieth Century Fox.
• The
King's Speech (2001), directed by Tom Hooper
with Rush (b. 1951; Toowoomba, Queensland) as Lionel Logue for Momentum
Pictures.
• Blue
Jasmine (2013), directed by Woody Allen with
Blanchett as Jasmine for Sony Pictures Classics.
• The
Hours (2002), directed by Stephen Daldry with Kidman
as Virginia Woolf for Paramount Pictures.
• Australia (2008), directed by Luhrmann with Kidman as Lady Sarah Ashley and Jackman as The Drover for 20th Century Fox.]
Aussies, they’ve become [sic] to Hollywood, what Kenyans are to marathoning, wildly overrepresented. and not just in front of the camera.
Take filmmaker Baz Luhrmann—a singular creative force, almost a genre unto himself . . . he spoke to us from a far-flung location where he was scouting his next film.
Baz Luhrmann: It’s got to a point where there are so many Australian performers and actors, behind the screen, I mean, screenplay writing and directing, but particularly with actors, that even I have to be told, “Oh, you know, X is Australian.” I mean, “Oh, I didn’t know that.” Because they are really everywhere. Now, NIDA was a really big part of that because I think it kind of set the culture and set the attitude.
NIDA—the National Institute of Dramatic Art [based in Sydney; founded in 1958], think of it as the Juilliard of Australia.
[For those who aren’t from the U.S. or New York City, or aren’t theater or music enthusiasts, the Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan, is arguably the premier music conservatory in the United States, founded in 1905. The Drama Division was launched in 1968 and has become one of the two top theater training programs in the U.S. (the other being the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, known as the Yale School of Drama until 2021).]
Its rise to prominence marks a major plot point in the Aussie cinematic invasion. The acceptance rate is barely 2% . . . Naomi Watts and Hugh Jackman were among those declined. Baz Luhrmann was class of 1985. Sarah Snook, class of 2008, one of only 24 admitted students that year.
At NIDA, Snook received training in the classics, experimental theater . . . and also picked up some hacks . . .
Jon Wertheim: I was told I had to ask you about how you cried during [Anton] Chekhov [esteemed Russian dramatist; 1860-1904], during the “Three Sisters” [1901] performance.
Sarah Snook: Who told you that?
Jon Wertheim: We’ve got our sources.
Sarah Snook: Who told you? (laugh)
Jon Wertheim: We do our research here.
Sarah Snook: Yeah. (laugh) There were a few of us who were nervous about having to you know, instantaneously (snap) produce tears. And so we were very cheeky and would put Tiger Balm on a little handkerchief. And when we were behind a particular screen, we would just quickly like put the Tiger Balm in our eyes. And so then we’d have very red eyes, and look very upset, to cry for, for Russia.
[Tiger Balm, first developed in Burma (now Myanmar) in 1870, is a
Chinese product popular as a topical pain reliever all over Southeast Asia (and
apparently in Australia as well). It’s an ointment based on petroleum jelly
(what Vaseline is) mixed with ingredients like menthol, camphor (that’s the
main ingredient in mothballs), and eucalyptus oil, all of which are irritants
and will make the skin sting and redden. As there is a risk of damage and even blindness,
most doctors and medical professionals don’t recommend using it near or, worse,
in the eyes.]
At less risk to her health, there she also learned to mask that charming Aussie accent.
Jon Wertheim: How often do you get, “She’s Australian?”
Sarah Snook: I do. Yeah. Frequently.
Jon Wertheim: Is that something they taught you at NIDA at all?
Sarah Snook: Yeah. Accent work at NIDA, you know, British accents, American accents.
Jon Wertheim: I’m thinking that’s one more thing you’ve got to think about. Not, not just your lines, and not just your marks.
Sarah Snook: No. I know. Well, that was the thing on the show. We always had to [. . .] you know, there was often times where we had to improvise. And so I had to try and think in an American accent as well, which is tricky.
Luhrmann, too, still leans on his NIDA training . . .
Baz Luhrmann: The National Institute of Dramatic Art, the drama school I went to, I mean, I, I do remember one thing. And I think it’s sort of an Australian attitude which is, “Don’t wait for permission to be told that you can act.” We were taught to devise things. We were taught not to sit around and, “Okay, there’s the play. That’s your part. You may be in it.” We were taught to make up story, get with friends, make a show, create something. I had an idea that I would take the Greek myth and with a bunch of friends devise it and set it in the world of ballroom dancing while I was at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. That little play went for about 30 minutes. It was called “Strictly Ballroom” [1984].
Within a few years, Luhrmann had turned that “little play” into a worldwide film, a cult hit with all Aussie cast and crew. That was 1992. Then, Australia was still a theatrical outback of sorts. True, Errol Flynn was born in Tasmania; but Australia’s contribution to the silver screen extended not much beyond well, this . . .
Then the NIDA talent started filtering out . . . Mel Gibson . . .
Cate Blanchett . . .
Toni Collette . . .
Baz Luhrmann’s wife, the four-time Oscar-winning costume and production designer, Catherine Martin is another NIDA grad. . . .
Jon Wertheim: Help us understand where NIDA fits into the broader entertainment industry.
Baz Luhrmann: That “can do, will tell, you know, don’t wait for permission” attitude that NIDA instilled in the very first graduates, that spilled out into the kind of larger sense of what it was to be, you know, a performer in Australia. You know, just throwing yourself off the cliff and flying.
In Sydney, we found the godfather, the guru . . . now 92, John Clark [b. 1932; Hobart, Tasmania] was NIDA’s all-powerful director for 35 years, starting in 1969. He set a goal from the start: developing and unlocking a distinct Aussie mode of acting, marrying the theater of London with Hollywood gloss . . .
John Clark: We thought the method acting that was having such an influence [see “The Method – a Review” by Kirk Woodward, 12 March 2022]. And everybody was emoting. And the style of acting was terribly emotional and lacking in skill and imagination. So we thought, “No, we’ve got to find a way of doing it that takes the best of America and the best of Britain, but allows our own national characteristics to develop.”
Jon Wertheim: What makes Australian acting unique?
John Clark: Skill, confidence, courage, an enjoyment of the body. I mean, NIDA’s never encouraged self-indulgence or show-off acting. The actors who have done well in Hollywood, they are not acting with a capital A. They are playing characters with such conviction and with such truth-without what Australians would call decoration or bullshit.
John Clark: It’s straight down the middle. And they do their homework. They’re highly intelligent.
John Clark: And they know who the person is they’re playing.
In addition to running NIDA, John Clark co-founded the Sydney Theatre Company, a harborside bandbox, where NIDA students can launch careers . . . and established stars can come back home to get back to basics . . .
Yet another supporting role in this story: Aussie soap operas . . . seriously, don’t judge . . . the soaps enable actors to sharpen their skills day-in, day-out, before their call-ups. . . .
Jon Wertheim: Australia has all these institutions. There’s NIDA, Sydney Theatre Company, the soaps. What contributions do they make to this over-representation of Aussies that we see?
Sarah Snook: Well, a good training ground. Australia’s got great training grounds for international work. There’s a way you can—you can test yourself in Australia. And you can fail safely in a way. And I think failure’s really important to see your limits and to help grow.
Hardly a child star, Snook grew up as a typical Aussie free-range kid . . .
Jon Wertheim: You were telling me about your upbringing. You’re riding a bike in the national park in Southern Australia with kangaroos . . .
Sarah Snook: I feel like that’s a real grounding force in my life. Having that, you know, independent play in-in-in sort of risky areas, that breeds a lot of self-reliance in a kid.
Jon Wertheim: These experiences you had on the other side of the world actually really help you.
Sarah Snook: Yeah. They build your character, so that you can play other characters.
For all of the pathways and infrastructure there’s something else about Aussies. And there’s probably a lesson here for all of us. Simply put: they’re the anti-divas—doing drama; not bringing drama to work.
Sarah Snook: The things that I really respect about the Australian actors that I love overseas, there is a bit of an understanding that it’s all oftentimes smoke and mirrors. And it’s fun. And it’s a game. And it’s, you know, it is profound in some ways, but it’s also silly. Like Chris Hemsworth has got a great tongue and cheek sort of attitude about it all. And also Baz Luhrmann, with all, you know, his films tend to have a bit of a little cheek or a wink to the audience.
Jon Wertheim: There’s a phrase in heavy rotation we kept hearing. Those Aussies, they take the work seriously. They don’t take themselves particularly seriously.
Sarah Snook: Yeah. That’s it. That’s what it is. A much better way of saying what I just said. (laugh)
Finally . . about that distance . . . Baz Luhrmann believes that the remoteness of Australia—a place where actors can stretch their talents and horizons beyond the gaze of Hollywood tastemakers—is, in fact, a blessing. . . .
Baz Luhrmann: The one thing everyone agrees about with Australia is that it’s far, far away. And I think that we still think that the idea of being either in a movie or in a play on Broadway or in a television show in Hollywood is still a romantic notion. It’s still a privilege. It isn’t a job. It’s a dream.
Produced by Jacqueline Williams. Associate producer, Elizabeth Germino. Edited by Daniel J. Glucksman.
[Jonathan Wertheim is a sports journalist who became a 60 Minutes correspondent on CBS in 2017. His reporting for the newsmagazine has spanned from sports, and foreign and national news to sports and culture. In 2021, Wertheim shared the story of the Ritchie Boys, the secret U.S. intelligence unit bolstered by German-born Jews who helped the Allies beat Hitler; see his report posted on ROT on 19 May 2021.
[Two other Wertheim
reports from the broadcast magazine that are on this blog are "‘Prisoners
in Nazi concentration camps made music; now it’s being discovered and performed,’"
2 March 2022, and "‘Kabuki: Inside the Japanese Artform with its Biggest
Star, Ebizo,’" 1 May 2020.]