Today I am immensely happy to welcome a very special guest, actor Sean Scully, to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS. Sean has acted in many movies over the years including ALMOST ANGELS, A CITY’S CHILD, SUNDAY TOO FAR AWAY, CACTUS, HIGH ROLLING, PHOBIA, and ELIZA FRASER, to name just a few examples. In this five questions post, Sean will be discussing his entry into acting from a young age, the art of acting, film, and television production.
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Welcome to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS Sean!
Athan: You made your acting debut as a teenager in British movie HUNTED IN HOLLAND in 1961. Your next three pictures, THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, ALMOST ANGELS, and DR. SYN, ALIAS THE SCARECROW were produced by Walt Disney. What was the experience of making a movie for the Walt Disney Company, and did you personally meet the famous animator?
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Sean: Yes, I did meet Walt Disney once on the final day of the showing, the final day, of the gathering of the people at Shepperton Studios to watch either the rough cut or the fine cut, I can’t remember which one, of THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER. He was there of course and there was a party afterwards in the restaurant. I suppose I had about five minutes with him. People seemed to be a little bit nervous of him. At one stage he was standing by himself in the middle of the room with everybody sort of surrounding him with drinks and chatting. So I just went up to him and made a comment about a film he made that I enjoyed very much, he seemed very happy with that, he seemed a fairly jolly fellow.
And I met him a second time in Vienna when we were making ALMOST ANGELS, he came to the Rosenhugel Studios. Everybody there was queuing up to get his autograph, I jumped into the queue and got his autograph. But I must admit that I just got my payslip and that was the only piece of paper I had on me, and of course there’s printing on one side, and it is blank on the other. I gave him the blank space and he was signing it on a book, and he noticed the figures and the numbers through the paper, and turned it over and had a quick look at what he was signing which I thought was pretty sharp. Signing a blank cheque in other words.
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Athan: After acting in movies from childhood, how did you find the later transition to adult roles? Was it something you found difficult, or did it occur in an organic nature for you?
Sean: Going from acting from childhood to adulthood, no I didn’t find it difficult. I mean movies don’t come along very often, you know, particularly as you’re whizzing through the years from 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, not necessarily films with that age group in it. I was doing stage work and I worked at Birmingham Rep [Birmingham Repertory Theatre], and came back to Australia at the age of seventeen. I came back to Australia because the Taxation Office called me in and said that I’d been double-taxed on my money in America. I’d done a Broadway show there called the The Girl Who Came To Supper. We had checked it out with the accountant before we left for America and he said ‘oh no you won’t be double-taxed’, well that was the worst advice ever. Mum had come back to Australia and I was there by myself and they called me in one day and said we are double-taxing you, and bring your passport in about three days’ time. So I went straight home and phoned home and said, ‘can you, you know, get me out of here’. So I came back to Australia at seventeen with that bill. Finally it wasn’t very much but it was a lot of money in those days. And the Statute of Limitations finally eased my burden some years later.
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Athan: After a hiatus lasting several years in the 1960s you returned to movie acting in Australia with A CITY’S CHILD in 1971, followed by other films such as SUNDAY TOO FAR AWAY, ELIZA FRASER, and HIGH ROLLING. It was a time when many influential, and daring films were released by Australian directors, with many fine Australian performers showcased. What was it like being part of the renaissance of Australian cinema in the 1970s?
Sean: Look getting into the business in Australia, it just seemed, I mean it was easier to get an agent, you know I had a bit of experience and so forth. I got an agent and just went on. I never thought of it the way you put your question… it was just something that I did…if it came along great, if it didn’t, you know, I’d do something else.
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Athan: You have acted in many television series over the years, including classic shows such as Bellbird, Matlock Police, Division 4, Homicide, The Sullivans, Sons and Daughters, Neighbours, Blue Heelers, and Stingers, which are just some of the shows in your extensive filmography. What for you are the differences which stand out between filmmaking, and television production?
Sean: So the standout differences between filmmaking and television production. Television production, in my experience, is usually in a studio, and there are lots of people and lots of actors and lots of cameras, so it’s a bit fuzzy; film is very focused. There’s a two shot, there’s a one shot, there’s a wide shot, and the lighting is done to every particular shot; the lighting cameraman. It’s just a much more concentrated way of working. So that really kind of really covers that.
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Athan: In 1991 you were the recipient of the Film Critics Circle of Australia award for Best Actor for the movie PHOBIA. What was the feeling at the time at being recognized for your acting work in this manner?
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Sean: And you asked about the 1991 film Critics Circle of Australia award. What was the feeling at the time at being recognized for your acting work in this manner? Oh yeah, good. I was working at the time in a play at the Ensemble Theatre in Milsons Point [Sydney], and so I was very late getting there. You know, the party had been going on all night. A number of awards had been given out to various people. I got there just in time to sort of have one drink, and say hello to a couple of actors that I knew. And having it, I guess, yeah was good, but I don’t think that you would necessarily, you know, it’s not winning an Oscar, put it that way.
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It has been a pleasure having you on the blog Sean, and I thank you for giving readers a great insight into acting as a child performer, the art of acting, Walt Disney, the Australian cinema of the 1970s, and film and television. You are always welcome to return to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS whenever you wish.
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Sean Scully links
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