From 'SeaChange' to sheets change

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

He's done violence. Now David Wenham is doing sex.

It looks like that's how the former SeaChange star - he played the charming, laconically philosophical Diver Dan in the hit Australian telly series - is picking his film roles.

The last time we saw Wenham on the big screen was as suburban psychopath Brett Sprague in the chilling The Boys.

Other roles included the lead in Molokai: The Story of Father Damien, about a Belgian priest working in a 19th-century Hawaiian leper colony. That film has barely seen a projector because of legal wrangles between director Paul Cox and its producers - which doubly disheartens Wenham since he effectively quit SeaChange for the part.

But now filmgoers will be able to see quite a lot of the actor.

In Better Than Sex - a quirky comedy about two Sydney strangers who embark on a commitment-free, three-day fling only to find life isn't that simple - Wenham's character, Josh, didn't use up much of the costume budget.

"It's always bit of a tricky issue, I suppose," Wenham muses, Dan-like, about having a line of work where getting your gear off is a requirement.

"You try not to think about it too much because if you did you would never step in front of the cameras like that. But I look at it now and think, 'Oh my God, I can't believe I actually did that'."

But Wenham says the film is about aspects of human relationships other than the ones represented by the frequent love scenes with co-star Susie Porter.

"Essentially, what it is about are the small moments that occur between two people who don't really know each other but really want to. It's a situation everybody has found themselves in at least once in their life.

"It's two people anyone can relate to - they are two real people up there on the screen. And it is interesting to see how audiences who have seen it in different places react, depending on their own experiences."

Do women react differently to men?

"They certainly do. Women find it slightly more appealing. Men are a little bit hesitant with the film and I don't know why."

Those blokes, huh. So after the likes of The Boys, was doing Better Than Sex a sort of light relief?

"Absolutely. They are ends of the spectrum, both films I love for various reasons."

Better Than Sex does have, for reasons best explained by the film itself, a scene or two of Wenham wearing a wedding dress. All good practice for the costume-heavy films he's done since.

He's in Baz Luhrmann's extravaganza Moulin Rouge - "I play a character called Audrey who is a very effeminate writer who thinks he's a genius. That's as far away from my own being as you could possibly be."

And he is part of the Australian contingent in the cast of The Lord of The Rings trilogy, though his character, Faramir, brother of Sean Bean's Boromir, won't appear until the second or third movie.

"It's very odd doing stuff when you think, 'This won't be seen for over three years.' I'll be unrecognisable by then. But it was an amazing experience to be involved in. I felt privileged."

And looking back, he can't say anything but good things about SeaChange and the mark it made either.

"I am amazed how much it has become ingrained in the Australian psyche. Over here it had the most phenomenal effect.

"It was made for the ABC which isn't known for popular drama series and normally has a very small audience, and it became the most watched show in the country - a phenomenon."

And the reason for that was the scripts?

"You can't do it if the writing's not there. You just can't. It becomes alchemy otherwise."

He's not doing badly is Wenham, having stamped his mark on what is the best television drama series to have come out of Australasia in the past decade, as well as appearing in the biggest film production, and being able to fit in provocative indie movies as well. So what now?

"My burning ambitions seem to be dwindling as time goes on, which is probably a good thing because the less ambition I have, things come a little bit easier ... which is probably the case in anything."

It's a notion which would surely find approval with Diver Dan.

* Better Than Sex is released tomorrow.