Australian actor Liam McIntyre has successfully been building his career on an international stage.
McIntyre scored a legion of fans when he stepped into the lead role of the TV ‘Spartacus’. He stepped into the lead role of the series when the original actor Andy Whitfield stepped down after he was diagnosed with non-Hodgson Lymphoma. Whitfield passed away after a short battle with his illness.
“I was worried that I wouldn’t do justice to what Andy did,” McIntyre said of taking on the challenging job. “I used to watch the show and I loved it and I just really hoped that I couldn’t screw it up.”
McIntyre said that one a day to day basis he always worried about scenes involving nudity, of which there were numerous. “There is no normal thing about that.” McIntyre declared.
The show continued for another two seasons with McIntyre in the lead role. Since Spartacus ended he’s joined the cast of the US series ‘Arrow’, in between he returned to Australia to film ‘The Killing Field’ with Rebecca Gibney.
While he appears on TV as a sword brandishing hero, the actor admits that’s his real personality is much more geek than his Hollywood hunk image.
McIntyre describes himself as a huge television and video game fan. He really looks forward to big fan conventions like Supernova because not only does he get to meet fans of the shows he’s starred in, but he also gets to meet lots of actors who he himself admires.
Before he heads back to Australia from Los Angeles McIntyre is heading to E4, the world’s biggest electronics expo – something he describes as a boyhood dream come true.
Having now worked on both large international shows and smaller local productions McIntyre reflected on the experience and said they were really not too different.
“It depends on the series, but in a general sense it’s just a matter of scope.” McIntyre said, “That doesn’t make it a better or worse experience. It’s easy to go, American shows are bigger because they probably chuck on a few million dollars per episode, but like any job it comes down to who you’re with and what they want to get done.”
“Smaller budget shows are more contained, but if you’re working with good people, that’s the most important thing.” McIntyre said.
“The Flash has been awesome.” McIntyre said of his most recent role. “I’m a big nerd who grew up with comic books and video games. So to be in the DC universe in some way is kind of amazing. It’s got some of the best people I’ve ever worked with, they’re beautiful people, the cast is beautiful, the writers are really inspired and the crew works really hard.”
“Every time I get to go to work I’m really excited,” McIntyre shares, “, plus I get to control the weather and be a bad guy!”
McIntyre said he wished he really had the power to control the weather in real life, “It would be a handy ability.” He said breaking into a laugh.
While he started his career in Australia, and spent significant amounts of time in New Zealand while they filmed ‘Spartacus’, nowadays McIntyre and his wife are happily settled in Los Angeles.
“Now that we’ve been here for a couple of years, I actually love it” McIntyre said. “You get an impression of LA from different actors in Australia, some of them are good; some are not so good. I had the impression that it’s a place that’s a bit empty.”
“I understand where that comes from, but now we’re here and we’ve made some amazing friends, I love it.” McIntyre said.
“It’s weird being in a place where as an actor you feel like you’re the normal one, it’s the only place in the world. You walk around the strip everyone’s got scripts that they’re frantically going through, everyone one is trying to learn lines and that would never happen in Melbourne. It’s a crazy place.”
Liam McIntyre is appearing at Supernova Pop Culture Expo this weekend 26-28 June at the Perth Convention Centre.
