Jay Laga'aia: The right stuff

By LOUISA CLEAVE

New Zealand television has finally lured hunky actor Jay Laga'aia away from Australia.

The bait? Playing a drag-race loving lawyer in the new drama Street Legal.

Like his character David Silesi, Laga'aia has never been short on confidence but he admits he's taking a huge risk by leaving the hit Aussie cop show Water Rats.

The move was prompted, says Laga'aia, by a niggling voice in his head. It kept asking whether he had the right stuff to be a leading man.

"I came back here because I believed in the project and I wanted to get scared again. I have faith and respect for the producers and the writer and director," he says.

"But most of all I was sick and tired of hearing myself whinge: 'Am I good enough, am I this or am I that?' So it was either put up or shut up.

"There are romantic leads, there are good-looking leads. Obviously I'll have to go for the Kevin Spacey character-driven lead."

Street Legal - written by Greg McGee (Foreskin's Lament), produced by Chris Hampson and directed by Chris Bailey - has been planned for five years. New Zealand On Air has granted the series of 13 one-hour episodes more than $5 million, including $820,000 for a pilot telefeature, since 1998.

The action centres around hot-headed Silesi, an ex-rugby player with a competitive streak. He tends to jump feet-first into his cases and then rely on his co-workers, Joni Collins (Katherine Kennard) and Tim O'Connor (Daniel Gillies) to pull him out of the holes he digs himself into.

"Sometimes he tries his hardest and what he sees as right and wrong eventually adds up to wrong and wrong," says Laga'aia.

Tim O'Connor is fresh out of law school and often plays Robin to Silesi's Batman, says co-star Gillies.

"He's the little sidekick, but the very dependable sidekick who delivers the goods, the shred of evidence that's going to solve the case."

English-born Kennard says Joni Collins provides the love interest for Silesi but the pair are like chalk and cheese.

"They know each other very well and they love each other. Whether they are right for each other is another story.

"That's what is proved throughout the series, because there is a lot of conflict between them."

Kennard may be familiar to some viewers from her part as super-vixen Lucinda Reeves in Shortland Street.

While Street Legal could provide the actress with her big break, don't expect her to turn out to be another Ally McBeal.

"For a while there, with the outfits I wore, I thought Ally McBeal. I don't knock it because it's a great script but I've tried to work on keeping the short skirts a little longer," says Kennard.

Originally from Hamilton, Gillies comes from a theatre background but like many a Kiwi actor he has appeared on Shortland Street and Young Hercules.

O'Connor zooms into Auckland on a motorbike - although bikes terrify Gillies. He filmed close-ups on a scooter rather than the BSA his character adores.

Gillies says the earnest young O'Connor is nothing like he was when he first arrived in the big smoke. "[Tim] is so new to Auckland and to law and to being around these exciting people and it's all happening too fast for him.

"I was more enthusiastic about being naughty and Tim's not naughty. I was enthusiastic about getting out and getting drunk and looking at girls. When I got here I wanted to cut loose a little bit, but Tim's a bit more about his job."

Street Legal is set in inner-city Ponsonby and Grey Lynn- originally working-class suburbs populated by many Pacific Island families before the area became known as "Cappuccino mile" for its many cafes.

Which is turning the cafe tables a bit - one reason Laga'aia remained in Australia was the lack of strong television roles for Pacific Islanders.

Then McGee developed David Silesi with Laga'aia in mind.

"We make no excuses for the fact we sometimes speak like islanders because we are. We celebrate the fact that we are Polynesians who work in this field," says Laga'aia.

"From David's point of view he is a lawyer first and Polynesian second. That's why you won't find tapa cloths having up in his office. You'll just find diplomas and a hard-assed attitude."

Laga'aia, Kennard and Gillies have high expectations - not least a second series - of Street Legal.

"The quality is very much the driving force behind it and when you see it you will think it is from Australia or England," Laga'aia says.

"I gave up an on-going role in an international television show, sold in 186 countries, to take a punt on something I think will equal Water Rats, if not go better."

Gillies says the show is "pretty sexy right from the word go" and he believes viewers will be impressed.

"It's pacy drama and these guys really wanted to do it right. They weren't going to take their chances a few years earlier. It's been years of negotiation and forethought and you'll see it in the product."

Watching brief

The star: Jay Laga'aia

The show: Street Legal

When and where: TV2, Tuesday, 8.30 pm