By James Mottram
“I’ve been friends with Wayne Blair for a long time, and I’ve grown up with such a huge admiration of his work, and also of him as a person,” Stef Dawson tells FilmInk of what drew her to the new Australian TV series, Cleverman. “We’ve been looking to collaborate together for a while, and then he just skyped me one day. He pitched me the concept, and I was so excited by being a part of something that was so unique. I just got it immediately, and I didn’t even know what the role involved! But just to be a part of something that has such a unique voice was enough for me. I signed on immediately because I trust Wayne.”
Cleverman is indeed unique. “It’s about an Aboriginal superhero,” Dawson smiles of the show, which comes courtesy of creator, Ryan Griffen, and the aforementioned Wayne Blair, the director of the smash hit movie, The Sapphires. “The first day that I met Ryan, he told me that he wanted to do this for his kids. They love superheroes, and they dress up as superheroes, but he’s never had a role model for his kids to look up to, so he wrote an Aboriginal superhero for his child.”
Backed by ABC-TV locally, and set to screen on the BBC in the UK and Sundance TV in the US, the indigenous-driven Cleverman is set in a wholly recognisable near-future Australia in which ancient creatures, the “Hairypeople”, have re-emerged to take their place alongside humans. Their integration into society, however, is far from easy, with government agencies unwilling to recognise the Hairypeople (or “Hairies”) as citizens, and forcing them to live isolated in a heavily policed area known as The Zone. Thrown into this hazardous, politically explosive mix are Waruu (Rob Collins) and Koen (Hunter Page-Lochard), battling human half-brothers with a decidedly divergent take on the current social climate. Waruu is the self-appointed leader of all the disenfranchised people of The Zone, while Koen exploits this situation to his advantage. When their Uncle Jimmy (Jack Charles) passes the mythological power of the Cleverman to Koen (much to the chagrin of his more morally sound and upstanding brother), this already fevered and fractured picture of Australia will become even more fascinating.
“It’s so universal as well,” Stef Dawson tells FilmInk at The Berlin Film Festival – where the show’s first episodes debuted – of what is essentially a deeply Australian project. “It deals really well with the concept of otherness, and how this group of people have been boxed into one particular area because people are afraid. It comes from this fear of the unknown, and that’s something that everyone can relate to. No matter what era it is, or what country, everyone can relate to that. And it’s all the more fascinating to see such a range of characters and people on screen. I remember that first day when we saw the pictures up on the walls, and we were like, ‘Wow! That is a great collection of faces.’”
Having Stef Dawson – who plays the determined Ash Kerry, a friend and co-worker of Koen’s – as one of those faces is a major windfall for Cleverman. Playing Annie Cresta in the massive Hunger Games franchise has given the actress an instant profile and an immediate fan-base. “The moment it was announced, all my social media exploded,” Dawson told FilmInk last year. “My Twitter and Instagram went off! I didn’t even know how to work them properly. My phone got so hot that it died. I put it in the freezer and just sat on the couch rocking myself and trying to process the fact that things had changed a little bit.” Outside of The Hunger Games (she appeared in the last three installments), Dawson has shot a number of films including Creedmoria, The Paper Store (which co-stars Penn Badgley and Richard Kind), The Lennon Report (which chronicles the night John Lennon was assassinated, largely from the perspective of the individuals who were trying to save him), and the horror flick, Nest. “Since The Hunger Games, it’s been an amazing, intense time,” Dawson smiles. “I’ve been working really hard without a whole lot of downtime, but I’m hungry to work. I don’t have a lot of time off and I think I do need to work on balance! But it’s what I’ve wanted to do for such a long time.”
And right now, Stef Dawson is very excited about Cleverman. “What Weta has done with the visual effects is incredible,” the actress enthuses. “I don’t think we’ve ever had anything like this in Australia before. It’s an amazing team of people, and it could really continue. It could go anywhere for any of the characters. We’ll just leave it at that. Anything can happen…”
Cleverman will launch on ABC and ABC iView on Thursday, June 2 at 9:30pm. Stay tuned for more on Cleverman right here, and for more on the show, head to its Facebook page. And be sure to check out our interviews with director, Wayne Blair, and actress, Frances O’Connor.
