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TV Week (February 22, 1997)Colin Friels’ decision to do Water Rats has affected his career but he couldn’t care less. COLIN
FRIELS is a man of many personalities. One
minute, he can be the spitting image of this moody man-of-a-few-words character
in the Nine Network’s Water Rats’ Detective Senior Constable Frank Holloway
– quiet, modest, reserved and reluctant to discuss himself.
The next, he is open, friendly and warm, keen to talk about everything
from the pollution in Sydney’s harbor to politics (he would like time to be
more involved and outspoken on issues), current affairs, Hollywood and his still
new TV career. Some
things, however, are constant. He
will always look right a home in the blue shirt, tie and suit that identifies
his Water Rats character, and he will almost always be nursing a cigarette.
Above all, he will always be brutally honest when it comes to his life
and work. Colin
believes a yawning chasm, more than a fine line, divides the worlds of film and
television in Australia, and that his defection from the film scene a year ago
to join Water Rats is certain to have repercussions on his career. “There
is a real stigma to doing TV,” says the star of the films “Malcolm”,
“Angel Baby”, “High Tide”, “Monkey Grip” and “Ground Zero”.
“I don’t think you’ve got a hope of getting a film role if you do a
TV series… not in Australia.” Colin’s
last local film, Mr. Reliable (completed before he began Water Rats), has just
been released, and he recently played a small role in a new American-financed
sci-fi feature, “Dark City”, but he is prepared to kiss his film career
goodbye, if necessary, while he concentrates on the series. “That
doesn’t worry me a bit,” he says. “Theatre,
film, television… I’ve never seen any difference. I look at a wonderful performance on film, on television or
at the theatre, and I don’t give a stuff what medium the people are working
in. I’d prefer to watch some
performances on (Channel Seven’s) Cracker than go to see a film. “Look
at Woody Harrelson. He’s a
fantastic actor. Just wonderful.
Was he a different actor on Cheers, compared to the one doing movies
now?” Also,
as an actor "I'll do a play here, I'll go to (the Sydney suburb of) Penrith and do a play or I'll go to bloody Hollywood and do a part if it is all right.! "I did an episode of (the telemovie series) Halifax, f.p. in Melbourne and I had a great time. I enjoyed that more than any film I've worked on." Colin turned his back on a blossoming Hollywood career after roles in Dark Man, starring Liam Neeson, and Class Action, with Gene Hackman. "It (Hollywood) is an obscene place," he says. "I was there only temporarily. I had no intention of working, it just worked out that way. (...) |