Kevin J Wilson: On avoiding the leading role...

Veteran actor Kevin J Wilson has made a career out of playing no-nonsense Kiwi blokes. His film credits include Pictures, Wild Horses and Chunuk Bair. He played Janet Frame’s father in Jane Campion’s An Angel at My Table, starred in the Wellington-based TV cop series Shark in the Park, and replaced the late Bruno Lawrence in the Aussie comedy show Frontline.

In this ScreenTalk, Wilson talks about:

• How the weather on a Pukemanu shoot changed industry pay rates
• Not really knowing what he was doing in the film Pictures
• How troubled feature film Wild Horses went wrong right from the beginning
• Enjoying hanging out with real cops preparing for Shark in the Park
• Playing ‘end of an era’ character Sgt Jessop in the show
• Meeting Janet Frame on the set of An Angel at My Table
• Working with the 'intense but wonderful' Jane Campion
• Feeling the film Chunuk Bair looked too much like a piece of theatre
• Taking over from Bruno Lawrence as the star of Australian comedy Frontline 
• Getting his first ever sex scene, with Lucy Lawless in Spartacus
• How avoiding lead roles can give you longevity as an actor

This video was first uploaded on 14 April 2014, 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