by Abhi Parasher
The miniseries, which aired its first episode on April 10, follows a team of detectives as they gather clues and chase down leads with the burden of continued violence looming over their heads.
Aaron Glenane plays Detective Gavin Wyatt, a lead investigator on the case. In a career spanning many standout supporting roles, this is the logical next step up for Glenane.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play fantastic supporting characters, but this was definitely a new challenge,” remarks Glenane. “One of the most exciting parts of it was getting to build a psychology over the arc of 25 years. Coming into the story as a wide-eyed, eager, and naïve detective and then taking him to an obsessed, dogged and somewhat broken person.”
Glenane’s career has spanned a variety of roles, taking him from action flicks like Interceptor to horror/thrillers like The Killing Ground. “I’ve been doing this for 17 years now and I really felt ready to take on this character. The only pressure I had was to do justice to the people that went through all of this.”
The fictional character of Detective Wyatt was influenced by Glenane’s talks with detectives and visits to Claremont itself. “I spoke with three detectives who all worked in homicide to get a thorough understanding of what that world is like, and I also visited the locations where the victims disappeared, so that I could map out what happened in my head, which made the acting as truthful as possible.”
The Claremont Murders is directed by veteran Peter Andrikidis and also stars Laura Gordon, Erik Thomson, Tasma Walton, Kate Ritchie and Ryan Johnson. “Everyone involved did an incredible job of capturing a mammoth story,” says Glenane. Talking about working with Andrikidis, Glenane says that “he likes it to be messy, in the way life is messy. Over the years, I think he has built up great techniques to get actors to a place where they are living truthfully in the moment.”
Glenane has remained busy for the last year, traversing into the audio drama world with You Don’t Know Me, adapted from a novel by award-winning Australian crime writer Sara Foster.
The actor has also taken up the pen, as he works on developing a half-hour comedy along with a feature film script. “I’m spending more time taking it into my own hands and getting into the writing side of things. It’s been such a great learning curve and it really feeds right back into acting. The more you understand story as a writer, the deeper understanding you have as an actor, in terms of what you need to bring to the table.”
Episode 2 of The Claremont Murders airs on Channel 7 on Monday April 17, 2023
