Ian Hughes: On playing the sad clown...

Actor Ian Hughes made a big impact on our screens playing the ‘sad clown’ Ant in the acclaimed TV series and movie Topless Women Talk About Their Lives. From there, he went on to play a number of roles on television shows such as Shortland Street, Hercules, Xena, and Doves of War. He has also appeared in feature films including The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and directed his own short film The Waiting Room.

In this ScreenTalk, Hughes talks about:

• Having no idea of the plot on Topless Women Talk About Their Lives
• Loving playing the ‘sad clown’ Ant on the show
• Watching in awe as Lucy Lawless kept things going on the set of Xena
• How being involved with Shortland Street became all consuming
• Realising being in The Lord of the Rings was a once in a lifetime opportunity
• Making the short film Bogans for $800
• How they got Peter Jackson to do a cameo in the film
• Making sure the character of George in the TV movie Bliss was not a ‘victim’

This video was first uploaded on 5 March 2012, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside