Glamorous Geelong actor Esther Anderson tells GC’s John Van Klaveren about the excitement of appearing in her first feature film …
ESTHER Anderson was reading the script to Broken Contract as a straight-up action movie when she started encountering several comedic moments.
“I remember thinking ‘hang on, that can’t happen’,” the Geelong actor laughed.
But it was the dry and dark comedy moments in the script that helped convince her to take on the role of Detective Keeling, a feisty internal affairs cop with a smart mouth.
Despite playing another detective, it still marks a departure from Esther’s popular Home and Away character of policewoman Charlie Buckton, the role for which she received her Gold and Silver Logie nominations.
“I play a detective who has to clean up the mess as best I can. Being internal affairs, I’m not there to make any friends,” Esther explains.
“It’s a strong, confident, smart character with a cheeky side to her. It’s a bit of fun for me.”
The prospect of doing comedy for the first time – albeit as part of a rollicking, action-packed storyline – excites Esther.
“It’s a blend of comedy and action, and my scenes aren’t so comedic so haven’t had to sharpen my comedic timing.
“But the story is full of really good characters, like gangsters, cross dressers, transvestites and hitmen. It reminds me a little of Breaking Bad.”
Esther’s character plays opposite the male lead, Max, a down-on-his-luck stripclub owner struggling to make ends meet.
Max, played by Janet King and Crownies regular Christopher Morris, hires a hit man to protect the ones he loves when a local gang threatens his livelihood and his family.
But circumstances soon start spinning out of control as friends and enemies alike start disappearing. The twists and turns in the plot mean nothing is quite what it seems.
Broken Contract is the second feature from writer-director James Pentecost, who debuted with Twisted Minds, with Hayden Fortescue producing.
The production is based in Perth, which makes it a little easier for Esther to jump on a plane back to Geelong than from her normal base in Los Angeles.
“I am back and forth a bit, I come back every two or three months to see the family and re-energise,” Esther confessed.
“LA is an interesting place and it’s where I’m meant to be at the moment. I am learning a lot on the audition circuit and everything is at your fingertips, which is important for those of us in the film and television industry.
“But it’s important to me to come home regularly so I am happy to be working again in Australia.
“It’s all worked out really well timing-wise. I’ve just finished filming a commercial for Telstra, I managed to catch some family birthdays as well as Easter at home, and then came over to WA for the start of production on this feature film.”
The timing was certainly better than her first foray to LA, when a burgeoning relationship with Geelong Cats skipper Joel Selwood was defeated by distance.
The new role also dovetailed nicely with the finish of the first series of an American television series, Siberia, a drama masquerading as a reality show.
The 13-part NBC series featured actors using their own names playing a group of 16 international contestants who are left to fend for themselves in the Siberian wilderness for the chance to win $US500,000.
A scripted hybrid between Survivor and Lost, Siberia fooled many, including some reviewers, into thinking it was actually a reality show, complete with a host and the usual group meetings and confessionals.
“I loved the show because as it went on it became more of a drama, a little more obvious that it wasn’t a reality show.
“By end of it, it was quite climactic, with lots of drama happening — including some real life drama – just goes to show the gap between reality and drama isn’t as big after all.”
Esther says while the first season was well-received, NBC has yet to confirm a second series.
“We are all hoping to season two will eventuate,” she said.
The movie casting coup will boost the popular actor’s chances of getting a foot in the LA film industry door after paying her dues in modelling and commercials, spending six years shuttling between Japan and Europe.
But she always wanted to be a performer and her on-screen work in Japan eventually led to her decision to head back to Melbourne to take some acting courses.
The move paid off with Esther landing a presenting gig with travel show Postcards in 2007. A year later, she scored an audition for Home and Away.
Away from the screen, Esther has used her celebrity status for a number of causes including the Royal Children’s Good Friday Appeal and acting as ambassador for the Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave.
One of her most challenging roles yet came in the short 2011 film Breathless, which won the directors award at the prestigious Lady Filmmakers Film Festival.
Esther plays a mother clinging desperately to the fading memory of her son lost in a tragic drowning by submerging herself in her backyard swimming pool.
The film highlighted the emotional toll taken by suburban pool drownings and the impact on the surviving family members. It received extensive film festival exposure.
