Australian actor, Alex Williams, is no stranger to biopics.
He’s played the controversial Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, INXS guitarist Kirk Pengilly in Never Tear Us Apart, a racing car driver in Brock and the key witness Paul Onions in Catching Milat.
Now, just 15 months after the tragic death of cricket icon Shane Warne in March last year, Williams is portraying the man who, among his many on and off-field talents, revolutionised and mastered leg spin bowling in Nine mini-series, Warnie.
As the first trailer dropped during a May 31 State of Origin game in Adelaide, it caught fans by surprise, many asking whether it was “too soon”, and calling it “absolutely dire”, “horrendous” and that it should be “mothballed”.
Speaking to The New Daily a day later, Williams was pragmatic.
“My phone blew up about 7.40pm last night, so I knew something had gone up. I haven’t looked.
“It’s one of those things where you try and make your acting about process, and the experience and character, and you understand that no matter what people make [of it], people are going to love it, people are going to hate it before they even see it.
“So, I try and steer clear of external noise as much as I can,” he says.
Warne died suddenly on March 4 last year, aged 52, while on a trip to Thailand.
The news sent shockwaves around the cricket world, as friends and family came to grips with how enormous his contributions were to sport and entertainment, with a passion for golf, poker, fast cars and a flamboyant live-life-to-the-fullest lifestyle.
When the Nine network announced in September last year it was making a two-part mini-series, it was met with criticism by the family.
Daughters Brooke and Summer Warne called out Nine, saying the plan to dramatise their father’s life was “beyond disrespectful”.
“Do any of you have any respect for Dad? Or his family? Who did so much for Channel [Nine] and now you want to dramatise his life and our families (sic) life 6 months after he has passed away?
“You are beyond disrespectful,” wrote Brooke Warne on her Instagram at the time.
By November, there was a breakthrough.
“During pre-production, the 9Network and Screentime have met with the Warne family who have offered their support for the series,” they said in a statement.
“The 9Network looks forward to collaborating with the family as filming continues,” it read.
So what’s in the series?
Based on the trailer, there is a dramatisation of events surrounding Warne’s cricket highlights, his awkward press conferences and TV interviews, gambling issues, his relationship with his then-wife Simone Callaghan and his whirlwind falling in love chapter with English actress and bikini model Liz Hurley.
“One of the things people loved about Warnie was that he made a lot of mistakes, and has written in his book [about being] honest about his mistakes.
“He didn’t shirk his responsibility and owned those mistakes and constantly tried to be become a better man for his family and his children and those around him.
“There’s a couple of things, like [one] ACA [A Current Affair] interview, Simone is watching him, he’s trying to defend himself. Some of the things he said, it does kind of baffle you a bit, but also it is what he said.
“He owned it.”
Williams says he hopes people see “a nice bit of nostalgia, and that it’s treated as a celebration of his life and a positive lens with which to view his life”.
“When you make a show, a song, there’s going to be people who love it, or hate it, you can’t control that … all we can control is the kind of show we wanted to make.
“I can control how I wanted to portray him, which was a genuine person who loved his family, friends, cricket, competition. You want to create a three dimensional representation of a magnetic personality which is a hard thing to do.
“I gave it my all and we’ll see how people respond.”
‘The cricket stuff was really hard’
Like all good actors, there’s got to be sessions if you’re cast in a biopic and your role requires learning a new skill, and pretend you’re brilliant at it.
Like how to fly a plane (Tom Cruise, Top Gun), play golf (Tin Cup, Kevin Costner), riding race horses (The Cup, about Damian Oliver’s brother) or swim, box, jump or ice skate like an Olympic champion.
The list goes on.
“The cricket stuff was really hard because there was so much pressure to get it right. I wanted it to look authentic,” says Williams.
He described having cricketers, camera and production crews out on the pitch and how disheartening it was when he “dragged one down” where it “comes out weird”.
Did he master the spin?
“If I mastered the spin, I reckon I’d be on the Ashes tour, so no, I didn’t,” he says.
“Leg spin bowling is the hardest skill in cricket. There’s a reason it was dead and gone for decades until it was revitalised by Warne which is why he was so incredible.
“I can’t bowl like Shane Warne can bowl. Absolutely not,” he laughs.
As for scriptwriting and collaboration with the Warne family on the project, a Nine spokesperson told The New Daily on June 1 the creative team met with the Warne family last year and “discussed our approach for the show”.
“We had a two way conversation about that.
“The creative team took their inspiration from many sources, including discussions with the family.”
Warne played 145 Tests between 1992 and 2007, and his 708 Test wickets was the highest total taken until he was passed by Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
He took his 700th wicket on the MCG against England.
He was honoured as one of Wisden‘s five cricketers of the 20th century. Also significantly, Warne was the only one of the five players not to be knighted.
He was a much-loved larrikin who never captained the Test team, despite being its best player for many years.
“The show is a celebration, it doesn’t leave out indiscretions but it is a celebration of an Australian icon,” says Williams.
