Pic of the Day - Xavier Samuel

by Annette Basile | November 1, 2010 15:01 | Edited November 1, 2010 16:06

Onscreen, Xavier Samuel's been tortured, faced outback terror and hung out with vampires. You might think he has a taste for the bizarre, but that’s not quite the case...

Xavier Samuel doesn't actually like horror movies. He confessed this fact to FILMINK when we talked to him about his lead role in the deliriously brilliant Aussie horror, The Loved Ones which is released this week. Horror flicks, said the young actor - who also stars in the scary Road Train - can make his "stomach a bit sick". Clearly, this hasn't stopped him. The Adelaide-raised Samuel's star has been steadily on the rise since his graduation from Flinders University, where he studied drama. From home-grown arthouse dramas like September and Newcastle through to the multiplex mega-hit Eclipse, Samuel has been gathering acclaim - and fans. Sean Byrne, who helmed The Loved Ones, sums up Samuel's appeal in the current issue of FILMINK: "Xavier's got classic leading man good looks but a real character actor's command of the craft, which is a really great combination." We'll soon see Samuel in the historical thriller Anonymous, which, he told FILMINK is about the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. "I've been wearing tights and riding horses," he says, "Definitely a change of speed from the Twilight series."