Ryan Kwanten :: Beyond 'True Blood'

"I'm a masochist at heart so the harder it got the more pleasure I took in it," said sexy actor Ryan Kwanten recently in Los Angeles where he was promoting his new film Red Hill.

Now, while the mind wanders as to what exactly he is talking about in terms of being hard and what gave him pleasure, he was actually discussing the less-than-glamorous location shoot for the Australian Western that he starred in during his True Blood hiatus.

With his sculpted, ripped physique, tousled sandy-blonde hair and innocent, yet smoking, good looks, Australian-born Kwanten has placed himself on the map as one of our favorite TV hunks for his often-hilarious (and shirtless) portrayal of Jason Stackhouse on the HBO Vampire series True Blood. However, while Jason may not be the smartest resident of the Bon Temps, Louisiana community brought to television by Alan Ball, Kwanten is making a point to show that there is much more to him than just being a piece of delicious eye candy on weekly television.

It should be noted that Kwanten, who also said he's more interested in the overall artistic process than the payday for any role he takes, did indeed pass on some of the bigger budgeted projects offered to him and decided to take the starring role in this low-budget film. The risk paid off because while Red Hill is solid, thrilling and effectively utilizes elements of both the Western and Horror genre, Kwanten does something he doesn't get to do very often on True Blood when Alan Ball has him in scenes wearing only his boxer shorts - he shows off not only his impressive acting skills but also his more-than-capable ability to carry a movie as the main character and the film's moral center.

In Red Hill (which opens this weekend in Los Angeles, New York and Austin), Kwanten plays young police officer Shane Cooper who moves to a small, remote town of Red Hill and just happens to arrive on the day an escaped prisoner comes back to seek revenge on the cops who put him in prison in the first place.

Kwanten, along with first-time feature director (and fellow Aussie) Patrick Hughes, were in Los Angeles recently to talk about the film and the challenges in shooting with limited funds and the thought that went into whether the film should show off Kwan ten's physical attributes.

A fan of Westerns

EDGE: What first attracted you to the role, Ryan?

Ryan Kwanten: As much as it is a throwback to some of the classics like (Sergio) Leone/(Clint) Eastwood style of Western [there is also] very much a modern day spin to it. What was even more intriguing to me was a character called Shane Cooper - obviously a nod to (the classic Western film) Shane and Gary Cooper - who didn't really [share] any of those qualities. Shane Cooper is a very fallible character. The very first frame you see him in he's forgotten his gun and that's rule number one of every Western is always have your gun on you at every time and rule number one of being a police officer is never lose your gun. That was really intriguing to play a character that was set up with these lists of faults and then thrown into probably the worst day of policing possible.

EDGE: Have you always been a fan of the genre?

RK Absolutely! My three favorite - and even that is hard to pick - I would say are The Searchers, High Plains Drifter and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

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Watch this interview with Ryan Kwanten and Patrick Hughes on Red Hill (including the trailer):

Why an indie film?

EDGE: Why choose to go from True Blood to a very small film in Australia?

RK I love shooting the show and love playing that character but nothing could be more uninspiring to me than to go off after six months of shooting that show and do a film that was exactly like True Blood, playing a character that's exactly like Jason. That's not what I'm in the business for. That's not what inspires me in life. It just happened to be shooting in Australia but it was the story and Patrick that got me involved. Australia was a beautiful by-product.

EDGE: Patrick, you have a big sex symbol like Ryan in the movie and yet you don't necessarily take advantage of that in the film. Was that a conscious decision?

Patrick Hughes: I think it's funny, the first time you see Ryan he's putting his shirt on. I was considering if there's a way maybe when he's falling down the cliff and his shirt rips and Ryan was like 'We're not doing that.' I think it was refreshing for Ryan to keep his clothes on for the majority of the film. I think Ryan has an incredible presence. He's a fit, young guy and you feel like he could be a threat in a room... at the same time someone who can show that vulnerability and the innocence. He's not afraid to go there.

RK It wasn't in the story so it seemed silly to put it into the film. To have me start stripping off... it wasn't an option. I didn't think about it. I think what makes someone sexy is not just taking off your clothes. I think it goes beyond that, hopefully, there's whole levels of layers that brains can be beautiful. Just because someone's talented at something that can make them a beautiful being.

EDGE: The area you were shooting in was once thriving but is now drought-ridden and most of the population is gone as well as being cold when filming. What was it like working in that environment?

RK I'm a masochist at heart so the harder it got the more pleasure I took in it. I was the crazy guy who was walking around at 4 in the morning and still smiling. Patrick is very much the same. He was always the last man standing. It was great. I don't think you can make a film like this... it was really interesting even if we had more money and more time whether we would've made a better film. You have to sometimes, like in a good relationship; you learn to love the imperfections just as much as the things that originally drew you to it. I look at it now and even though there's things that I would ideally love to change, at the same time I look back and think 'Well, no, it's there and it's there for a reason."

EDGE: Ryan, in regards to using a gun and riding a horse, what did you already know before shooting the film?

RK Without being too cocky, I knew a lot of it. I grew up with guns, as silly as that sounds, and I've done a lot of horse films like Flick, which is a family film, but I was forced to ride a horse and go to cowboy camp. The interesting thing about this was that I was un-training myself and putting myself on the saddle for the first time and how would someone go about doing that. What Patrick and I talked was that maybe he should just sit on a horse like he was going to ride a bus so I had the reins up here and was steering like that and little moments of comedy that you throw into this kind of story.

EDGE: You and Patrick obviously get along well. How was it working together on a tight shooting schedule in a desolate area?

RK Our relationship survived on trust. I put a tremendous amount of trust in Patrick in shooting this. I had far bigger monetary offers to go off and shoot but this was the one I chose to do for obviously next to no money. I put the utmost faith in Patrick that we were going to make a damn good film and that was sort of what our relationship survived on. We very rarely had more than one take so I had to trust him that he had the coverage he wanted and he had trust me that I was bringing the performance that I was supposed to be doing.

EDGE: While the area is pretty scarce, there are still people there. How was it interacting with them during filming the film?

RK I think we were the most exciting thing to happen to that town since the Gold Rush days of 1890. They pretty much adopted us, which is really cute and there are certain scenes if you were to pan the camera a little to the left you'd see a hundred locals with a beer in their hands. It was like live theater. You'd really go back to shooting films like what I've heard in the 70s. You go outside of the system and you make things happen. You find that money isn't always the best way to win over people. You buy someone a case of beer and you can have a second trailer come around or you buy someone a case of beer and they'll let you shoot in the local pub.

Red Hill opens Friday, November 5, 2010 in Los Angeles, New York and Austin and will roll out to more cities soon. For more information, go to www.RedHillMovie.com.

Watch this interview with Ryan Kwanten and Patrick Hughes on Red Hill: