FILMOGRAPHY
2005] Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee (TV)
2005] Hell Has Harbour Views (TV)
2003] And Starring
Pancho Villa as Himself (TV)
2002] The Hound of the Baskervilles (TV)
2002] Shackleton (TV)
2001] Green-Eyed Monster (TV)
2001] "My Brother Jack" (mini)
2000] The Love of Lionel's Life (TV)
2000] Muggers
1998] The Sugar Factory
1998] Fetch
1997] Doing Time for Patsy Cline
1997]
The Two-Wheeled Time Machine
1997] Kiss or Kill
1996] Dating the Enemy
1996] Love and Other Catastrophes
1996] "The Beast" (mini)
1994] "The Bob Morrison Show"
1994] This Marching Girl Thing
1994] Muriel's Wedding
1989-91] "A Country Practice"
1988] "House Rules"
CONTACT
Matt Day
c/o RGM Associates
PO Box 128,
Surry Hills, NSW, 2010,
Australia
LINKS
Born 28 September 1971 Melbourne Australia
In 1997 Matt was Nominated for an AFI Award - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for: Kiss or Kill. For the same role he was also nominated in the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.
Matt's television credits include: "C/O The Bartons", "House Rules", "G.P.", for ABC TV; "The Bob Morrison Show"; "Vidiot"; "The Man From Snowy River"; "Beast" and "Water Rats".
Theatre credits include:
"Fred" & "Six Degrees Of Separation" for the Sydney Theatre Company; "Zigger Zagger" and "The Hobbit" for St Martins Theatre; "Black Rabbit" for the Playbox Theatre; "The Game Of Love And Chance" for the New England Theatre Company and "Man Of The Moment" for Ensemble Productions.
Matt on his career:
"I did a lot of theatre when I was a teenager, but this (the STC's production of Fred co-starring Claudia Karvan) is the first play I've done for five years. I've worked with the New England Theatre, Ensemble Theatre, STC. They approached me about the play. I don't know if I'll do any more soon. I don't make any huge plans about where I'm going to go. It was just timing. I did a lot of travelling last year, then came back and shot a film in Melbourne for eight weeks. I really wanted to settle down, so settled in Sydney because I hadn't had a base for a while. The play came up; I liked it when I read it, met the director, and thought this would be a good way to spend summer. You get out there, you enjoy yourself, you entertain people, and then you go home."
Matt on Muggers:
"It's a commercial film and that's why I did it. It's enjoyable. That was the attraction. I read the script and laughed and thought this could be quite funny. Met Dean and he was quite inspirational. Plus he was my age. He's one of the few directors who I sat down with and he didn't bore me to tears within the first ten minutes. He wasn't dropping cliches, but actually had storyboards designed, talked about the look, certain camera moves and other films he'd seen. He talked about the soundtrack and about making a film that would entertain - be fun to shoot and make. And it was. It was a laugh. Everyone had a great time because we created this little Muggers world in Melbourne. It's not a Melbourne film because it's all in the backalleys and could be anywhere. The reality is quite heightened. Even quirky to use an awful word. It was a lot of things that people in the establishment hate, which is one of the reasons I did it."
Matt on My Brother Jack:
“The best thing about the whole project is the amount of depth in it. The thing that struck me about David is the intelligence of the character. The book uses the two brothers – David and Jack – to expose two very different sides of the Australian psyche. One is at home with the Australian identity of the battler and one is struggling to find meaning and intellectual stimulation. For David, not fitting into the she’ll be right’ almost anti-intellectual culture we celebrate makes it difficult to find his own place in the world. For David that meant he had to leave. That is a character a lot of people understand and that is the key to the appeal of the series.”
Matt on his character in My Brother Jack:
“David Meredith was the most complex character I have ever played and the most satisfying. The project had more richness and subtlety and depth to it than any other thing I have worked on. It is very rare to get that depth in any kind of project unless you are doing the classics on stage.”
Matt on government funding in Australian Films:
"The good thing about a subsidised industry is that people can make films that normally wouldn't be made because they're not commercially viable. We can explore more. I think with The Sugar Factory they thought there was some commercial element with a young audience. Whether or not that works in the final product, I don't know. I mean there's no guarantee if you go out and make a commercial film that it's going to end up being successful. But in Australia, if you make a film for a million bucks and it makes half a million bucks domestically, I think that's commercial. There's sales overseas, TV, etc. One of the great things about being subsidised is that films like Head On can be made. There would be other people, and I'm not saying that I'm one of them, who would argue that why make films if no one is going to see them? Isn't it an indulgence to let one person make their vision that the masses don't want to see? There are two sides there. I think a degree of government funding is necessary. You need that like the French have in order to protect the industry. There wouldn't be an industry otherwise."
Matt on making career decisions:
"I've been working for fifteen years as an actor and have heard of every argument. Like there were so many people that told me I was insane for leaving a long running television series when I was a teenager because it was good money. I should have bought a house and blah, blah, blah. That's very true, but I had to leave in terms of career. But you've got to balance it. And I've seen people who have done a film and it's caught people's attention on the international market. Other people have said to them to stay here and support the Australian film industry because that's the comrade thing to do. But the Australian film industry doesn't support them. So you have to weigh things up."