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Interview with Bobby Morley and Indiana Evans


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Soap Watch - Home and Away

Chillout! - The Sunday Times

22 October 2006

Find out a little more about four of your favourite Home and Away stars. Shillout! had a chat with them on the set in Sydney.

Bobby Morley plays Drew Curtis

Q. How long have you been on Home and Away?

A. I have been with the Home and Away crew now for five months, and close to three months on air.

Q. How did you get into acting?

A. I was doing drama all through school, I then went to uni and did a year of engineering, but I then realised that acting was my thing. I went back to performing and writing. I got into theatre through uni and this role came up and it went from there. I auditioned and within a week I was working on Home and Away - it was a very quick turn-around. It all happened relatively quickly. I got uprooted from Melbourne and came to Sydney. It was intense - but now I am getting the hang of things - there is more of a routine.

Q. Is this your first stint in TV?

A. Yes, after working in theatre, this is very different. It was taken me a while, but I am slowly getting there. I have to work out masking and technical aspects like that. It is challenging. I haven't lost the theatre bug, where on the stage you are in character for three hours straight and on TV it is three minutes and then you do it again, and again in bursts. I love the feeling of being in one character for a long time. I was initially scared of doing TV, but now going back to theatre is scary. I would love to go back to do some theatre, but it is all so flat-out here.

Q. Home and Away is such a good grounding - isn't it?

A. Oh yeah, it is so intense and working to such a tight schedule, it really does make you come prepared and ready to nail the scenes. You can't turn up and slack-off, because it will show. You have to really make sure you are ready, because if you stuff-up and keep stuffing-up, your scenes run late and then everyone's scenes are delayed.

Q. How many episodes do you shoot in a week?

A. We shoot an episode a day, and there are 23-24 scenes. It is pretty intensive, but you might do a bit here and a bit there. One day you might have 12 hours and the next day, you might have five or six hours. you are on and off sets depending on your story line. In between all of that we have rehearsals, location shots and studio shots. There are two different directors we are working with - one in the studio and the other on location.

Q. How did you develop the character of Drew Curtis?

A. Initially the information comes from the breakdowns from the writers. As you go on, you learn things about your character that you didn't know, such as five years ago you lit a fire. So I found the spine for my character, such as Drew's passion, independence and those key aspects, but you have to keep yourself open to other things coming in.

A. When I see some of the storylines, I am sometimes amazed - aren't you?

A. They are out there. At the moment, the Amanda/Drew storyline is the focus. I remember sitting down in a group and reading what was coming up and going, 'whoa - that is full on.' We then sat down and worked out how to pull it all off and make it credible. Some things we look at and think, that is soo dramatic - but you have to put yourself in that position. Things also happen very quickly in Summer Bay - as in Drew;s case when he found his father had died, he got over it in a couple of weeks. Normally, people grieve for years.

Q. How like Drew are you?

A. Initially there were lots of things that Drew did, that I would never do, but the more I learn about Drew, the easier it is for me to connect. I am only 21 and he is 17, so it is not that big an age gap. The play I ws doing before Home and Away, I was playing an angry teenager. Sometimes the storylines are quite huge, and I hope that I would never be as angry as Drew. You have to take some of yourself to flesh-out a character. At the moment Drew is not a very nice guy.

Q. When you are not in front of the camera, what do you get up to?

A. I am a bit obsessed with rock-climbing at the moment. I work, do my rock-climbing and read my books.

Indiana evans plays Matilda Hunter

Q. How did you get started in acting?

A. Well, my next-door neighbour was in an agency and she did advertisements, so I joined her. Before Home and Away I had done a couple of ads and I had been in a TV series called Snobs. Just as we were filming the last couple of weeks of Snobs, I was asked to audition for Home and Away. I had a couple of recalls and I got the part and that was two and-a-half years ago. When I started on the show everyone said that the time would go really quickly amd I said, no - but it has.

Q. Has your character Matilda changed a lot in that time?

A. We have grown up together and the storylines have become more interesting as I have grown older. With growing up there has also been some good storylines, and the viewers have grown up with me.

Q. How did it feel when you got the role?

A. I was ecstatic but it has been very hard work. Getting on to Home and Away is a bit like a fast-running train and I have been lucky to jump on. I don't really have another lifestyle to compare it to.

Q. Tell me a little aboout your week?

A. It is always different, which makes it interesting, but hard too. Some days you can start at 5an and other days you start at 5pm. Depending on the storyline, you tend to go through dips. When you have a big storyline, you are working, working and when you are not on set as much, then you are sitting around not doing very much at all. And when you have thousands of lines, you wish you had less, and when you have nothing, you wish you had more to do.

Q. Tell me about Matilda?

A. She is the same age as me - 16. She is stubborn and speaks her mind. Matilda is more confident than I am - I am much shyer. She is fun to play.

Q. Was it hard to develop her character?

A. Sometimes when you read the script, it doesn't make sense because she is doing something that you wouldn't do or say. But that is my job and it makes it interesting.

Q. What are you currently filming?

A. It is very exciting - and I am not sur how much I can tell you. I have a new love interest - a very interesting storyline.

Q. The storylines are often very interesting.

A. We have had a story recently about a guy who was struggling to admit he was gay. It is often interesting coming in and reading the next block and sometimes it is quite shocking. There was also the storyline that I had about eating disorders, which I know was covered in quite a few newspapers. Apparently the numbers of girls ringing to get help with their eating problems increased significantly when that storyline was on air, and that made it all worthwile. We do try and do what i right by the viewers, amny of whom are very young. The show is very influential, and I feel we owe it to the viewers to inform and entertain them.

Q. When you are not on Home and Away, what do you get up to?

A. I am doing home school, so I have school work. I love shopping, catching up with friends, and I love reading and dancing.

Whew ... that took a while. I know at the top it says four of your favourite stars but thats what they printed :huh: .

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