Is Gran a lesbian? Is Nathan a virgin? Will “sneaky nuts” replace planking? Who’s on his Wall of Legends? And loads more on the awesome Angry Boys...







So, Chris... Daniel has made it on the cover of ZOO with the girls from his Wall of Legends! How do you reckon he’d feel about that?
Oh, he would be very, very happy with that. He’d run straight to the Wall of Legends with that one! That’s so cool.

That also means you’re the first-ever bloke on the cover of ZOO!
Whoa! That’s just awesome! That is… I can’t believe it. Who’d have ever thought I’d have that honour? Thanks!

Are you stoked about the ratings?
I never worry too much about the ratings. I’m just glad to get it all out there. It’s more about the intensity of love for it than the numbers for me. But, it keeps the important people happy.


How long has it taken you to put Angry Boys together?
I began writing this one straight after Summer Heights High. I started putting all the ideas together in 2008. There was probably about a year of writing and then we went into production. There was a lot of time putting it all together with the guys from HBO in the States. So it’s taken about three years.

How much of the dialogue is ad libbed on the day?
Almost none. It’s very scripted. I write the scripts pretty tightly — it’s written like a documentary. When you read it, it’s very similar to what you see on screen. The way I like to work is to just sort of expand on everything. I like to work with people that aren’t really actors. Like, when we do Gran, the boys in the prison don’t really have much in the way of a script. They’re just sort of bouncing off Gran. That’s pretty loose. That means it takes ages to edit because there’s just so much footage!

You’ve earned some pretty serious chops by now — do you get stopped in the street much these days?
A fair bit. It depends where I go. If I go to a shopping centre, I get recognised a fair bit. I walked down [Melbourne’s] Chapel Street on the weekend, and just got constantly stopped.

Do you really hate it, or do you secretly dig the fame?
People are pretty nice but it makes me feel really weird, though. People always want photos.

Do they always bug you to do your characters?
Yeah, I get asked to do the voices non-stop. It’s sooooo awkward. I keep saying “no” and then it gets really awkward.

Do the voices. Now!
Nup.


You’re never tempted to leave an S.mouse message on someone’s answering machine?
Nup. Sometimes I’ll get on the phone and people will be like, “Can you be Jonah?” Then I’ll kinda go into a quiet corner and talk to someone as Jonah. I’ve done that. I’ve done Mr G over the phone, but it’s weird.

Does it still feel strange when you see yourself on TV as Gran or another character?
Nah, I’m so used to it. I spend all day seeing myself on screen. I notice that I start to adopt the character on screen while I’m editing. If it’s Gran or Nathan, I find myself swearing a lot more than I normally would.  I’ll be like, “Who wants a f**kin’ tea?” trotting over to the kettle in a Daniel Sims way.

Which character is most like you?
I dunno. I get told I’m most like Nathan.

Is that a badge of honour?
I don’t know about that! He’s certainly one of my favourites. He’s pretty quiet, not as much of a know-it-all. I’m not a smartarse like Daniel, and I certainly haven’t got the arrogance of S.mouse.


Who do you think would win in a fight between Daniel and Nathan?
Well, Daniel would reckon he’d win. He’s a little more aggressive. There’s quite a few fight scenes, but in order to do that, I had to have a body double. We’d always start with him punching Daniel, then we’d swap and I’d be Nathan and he’d continue beating the shit out of me. You can even see it in the show. I’ve got a massive red bicep from where he kept punching me. The body double was way more into it than I was.

Nathan’s a horny bastard, but who’ll lose their virginity first: Nathan or Daniel?
Nathan is a bit of a ladies’ man and there’s episodes later in the series that explore that a bit further. Daniel thinks he is, but he’s all talk. There’s an episode coming up where the hot girl in the video shop gets stalked by Daniel.

You’re a bloody funny bloke, but who are some other funny Aussies you get a giggle out of?
Oh, I don’t know. I just laugh at everyday things — not really comedians and stuff. I don’t really follow that scene. I just laugh at stupid stuff.

Like “sneaky nuts”?
Ha ha! Yeah…

Hopefully it’ll knock off planking as the new internet craze...
I hope so. Everyone’s been sending me “sneaky nuts” photos to my Facebook page. It’s really building. It’s funny — one day it [planking] was the coolest thing ever, then a week later it was the shittest thing ever.

Maybe it’s time to create the “sneaky nut plank”?
Oooh, that sounds a little painful. Maybe. It would depend on the positioning, I suppose.

S.mouse is hilarious, but he’s still a white guy in blackface. How do you reckon that aspect will go down when the show airs in the US?
I can’t wait. I’ve sent it over to a few people there already, and that’s the one character everyone there loves.

You don’t reckon you’ll cop a bit of grief over you dressing as a black guy?
They’re a lot more sensitive to that over there, but I don’t think it’s very offensive. It’s pretty harmless.

Some people here were calling it racist, even after the first episode. Whingers?
I think we’re slightly too sensitive about it. As soon as I’m not playing an Aussie, people get all funny about it. But I think when people actually watch the show, and see that the characters are much more fleshed out and aren’t stereotypes, I think they’ll calm down.

Maybe you’re just a bit of a shit-stirrer...
Part of me likes to provoke people and make sure people are a little shocked by what’s going on.

Have you had any complaints from deaf people?
No, I never do. And when I played Ricky Wong, I never had any issues from Chinese people, or from Tongans when I played Jonah. I spent some time with a family who had a deaf teenage kid to make sure I got everything right.

Even Nathan’s wanking?
Well, I can’t say whether that part was true. But when you go to that much trouble, people tend to realise you’re not being racist.


Gran is a bit of a favourite here at ZOO. We know she’s got kids, but is she a lezza?
Well… it’s open to interpretation. It’s explored a little bit in the later episodes, but she’s got a live-in “friend” [Penny]. I’m working on the DVD at the moment, and there’s a lot in there about Penny and Gran that didn’t make the series. But that gives you a better idea of their relationship. They would describe each other as “very close friends”.

Who was your inspiration for S.mouse?
No-one in particular, really. It was just a piss-take of all those commercial sell-outs.

What’s the go with “gay style”? How the hell did you come up with that?
I don’t really know. I just wanted to play with someone who was an insanely nasty bitch of a character — the meanest person I’ve ever played. Tim’s mum is a parent exploiting her own child — it’s the ultimate in awfulness. This kid is desperate to say that he’s not gay and she’s like, “No, you are!”. When I went to Japan to film some stuff, I found out there was no-one there like her at all. I got that completely wrong. But I don’t think that matters. And the gay thing is a really taboo topic in Japan. I kind of had this idea that it was huge over there and everyone talks about it, but they don’t.

Is everyone in the show an actor?
Nah, kinda the opposite. I like to have real people. Sometimes real people help to make it more real, if you know what I mean.


Is Blake Oakfield a piss-take of Koby Abberton and the Bra Boys?
I’ve seen that doco. I’ve seen a few docos about surfers. I was just trying to capture the Aussie surf culture thing. But it wasn’t directed at any one person. That whole territorial thing — it’s bizarre. It’s pretty primitive and disturbing.

It must have been tough deciding which babes made the cut for the Wall of Legends. How’d you decide who made it and who was axed?
Well, you’ll notice that almost all the girls are ZOO babes, except for Gran. Initially, I told the props people what I wanted and how I wanted it to look. They set it up, but when I walked in, I didn’t like it. Actually, I hated it. So I did a bit of a swap around, moved a few of my favourite girls into the prime positions. There were some I knew would end up in the background of a lot of shots, because there’s so many scenes of Daniel and Nathan on the bed together. So I started shifting all my favourites down the bottom of the wall.


So Emily Chase was obviously your favourite, then?
Yeah, I got sent a whole bunch of choices of models. I put myself in the shoes of the boys and thought, “What’s the look they’d go for? Who would they choose to put up on their wall?” So we got stacks of photos of Emily.

If Chris Lilley had a Wall of Legends, who would he have up on it? Who is your dream babe?
Oh, I dunno. I’m more your sort of Kim Kardashian kind of bloke. I like the exotic look — the dark skin, dark features. That’s the look.

Catch Angry Boys on ABC1 at 9.00pm Wednesdays. Visit the website at: www.abc.net.au/tv/angryboys

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