By Travis Johnson
Australian actor Xavier Samuel isn’t quite ubiquitous, but he certainly likes to keep busy. He racked up appearances in four films last year – Love & Friendship, Mr. Church, Spin Out and The Death and Life of Otto Bloom – and followed that up with two this year, the comedy A Few Less Men and the thriller, Bad Blood.
The latter, directed by David Pulbrook (Last Dance) and produced by veteran Australian genre specialist Antony Ginnane, sees Samuel as Vincent, a successful crime novelist who is haunted by the murder of his wife two years gone by – and who may or may not have had something to do with her death. It also reunites him with his Spin Out co-star, Morgan Griffin, who plays Carrie, Vincent’s new girlfriend – and possible next victim?
Samuel refuses to give the game away, but notes, “It was good to work with Morgan again – although this time around wasn’t as nice as last time!”
Shooting the thriller also brought Samuel back to his hometown of Adelaide. Although he was born in Hamilton, Victoria, the actor spent his formative years in the South Australian capital, and was happy to come home for the film’s tight three week shoot.
“It’s good to be able to bring a production like this home to Adelaide,” he said.
Indeed, Samuel has shown a commendable commitment to working in Australia. Although he’s frequently cast in American productions, From David Ayers’ WWII drama, Fury, to Bernard Rose’s recent Frankenstein, to his turn in the Twilight Saga, Samuel goes out of his way to find Australian productions to attach himself to. It’s a commitment that means a lot of searching for the right project, though.
“People get the wrong idea,” he explains. “That you have a pile of scripts to choose from at your leisure, but that’s not the case. So when something like this comes along, I jump at the chance to be involved.”
Bad Blood is in cinemas now. Read our review here.