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... plays Dougie
"Dougie was heaps of fun to play and also a real challenge. The physical transformations that I experienced during
the shoot were a real thrill. Going from a derelict to a Liberace look-alike was something that I hadn’t done before.
I remember feeling pretty confronted after the make-up tests and, seeing what Tiffany
Beckwith-Skinner had created, I felt ugly beyond my expectations. That was a bit of an ego deflator. But I found
that after the initial shock getting into make up everyday was a heap of fun and something which kinda brought out my inner Dougie.
I remember a couple
of times I walked to a location around the corner from the production office while in Dougie’s
make-up and costume. On every occasion I did this I was treated quite differently. People mumbled things under their breath
as I passed them and one occasion some guy, who didn’t look much better than Dougie
did, called me “a f****** disgrace” and started trying to pick a fight with me. It was fun being given permission
to play parts of myself that are generally discouraged from being revealed to the world.
When I was growing up in
Brisbane there was a guy that my friends and I would always see walking. He would walk everywhere. He had this amazing walk,
his whole body would punctuate each step and he was slouched over very low. He had a big head of teased blonde hair, very
skinny, always wore tight black jeans and a heavy metal t-shirt and would always have a deck of cigarettes hooked in his hand.
This guy used to fascinate my friends and I and as a result we made up stories about him, stories that explained why he walked
everywhere, and why his appearance was so distinctive. It wasn’t until half way through shooting The Underdog’s Tale that a conversation with the writers Jim Loftus
and Jon Terry revealed that the character of Dougie was based on this same local
character that fascinated me while growing up. I thought that was pretty special. I got to meet this guy at the wrap party
of the film too. It was nice to dispel the ludicrous scenarios that my friends and I had created out of curiosity while growing
up.
I guess one thing that I really
loved about Dougie was his appreciation of the small things. He is a guy that doesn’t
have a hell of a lot going for him, looks like shit, smells, isn’t too smart and is generally treated pretty poorly
by people he cares about. But despite this he still has a smile on his face and a warm heart."
... Biography Matthew Zeremes received a BA in Acting at Queensland University of Technology
(QUT) in 2002. Since graduating, Matthew's television credits include All Saints, Small Claims, and
numerous Australian and US television commercials. In 2003, with fellow QUT graduate Oliver Torr, Matthew wrote, produced and co-directed the feature film Burke
and Wills which was pre-selected for Cannes in 2004. Together, Matthew and Oliver produced and acted in several theatre
productions at the Old Fitzroy, Sydney, including This is Our Youth, Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against
the Eunuchs, and Ninja. Early in 2005 Matthew also appeared in the Project Greenlight film Solo, and
he later went on to star as Dr. Lachie Hatsatouris in Channel Ten's The Surgeon.
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