Interview: Wayne Hope - The Librarians
By Sean Lynch
Interview
with Wayne Hope & Robyn Butler
Stars
& Creators of the TV series The Librarians
It's been a long time coming, but finally
Australian TV's favourite background actor has been given the keys to
his own show.
The husband and wife writing duo behind the hit Aussie comedy, The Librarians,
caught up with our own Sean Lynch via phone to talk all things
Libraries, TV and... masturbating.
You'll
have to excuse me, I'm still trying to work out this new fangled
"Speaker Phone" technology...
WH:
Well, I'm trying to work out this old fashioned technology, because I'm
at the ABC...it's like a pianola, I'm kind of cranking the base of it
under the table here.
Now
Wayne, the last time we saw you on screen you were wearing tiny shorts
and kissing boys in Boytown,
and the first time we see you in The
Librarians - you were masturbating in a shower. So it
appears you have no issue of making a bit of a fool of yourself...
WH: [laughs]
Well, I do. It's just I can't seem to get any other work! It's short
shorts, gay boys and a pop in the shower with Librarians. If I
could step up to the leads I would...
Well if
it's any consolation, you're very good at it.
WH: [Laughs]
Look, I tell you - with that masturbating scene in the first episode:
there is nothing quite like dropping your kids off at Kinder the next
morning after that's gone to air on the National Broadcaster.
There's some very worried parents [laughs].
Now, it
was a long time coming this show. I understand it was a bit of a pet
project for you both.
WH: Yeah, it was. I think it was about
three years [from the time it was submitted until the time it was
commissioned].
So
is this the norm with Australian TV at the moment? Where you pretty
much let go of it, forget about it, and hope one day you'll get a
call...
WH: You certainly have to fight for your
idea,
because the thing is, if you still like your idea after a couple of
years it's probably for a reason.
But I've had things that I'm
on fire for the moment they arrive at 2 O'Clock in the morning and I've
had a couple of beers and think it's brilliant. Three months later, you
realise it's not a burning desire anymore and maybe that's the test of
a good idea: if it's still bugging you after a little while, you should
probably keep trying.
Are you
looking to do a second series, especially considering the ratings of
Series One?
WH:
Yeah, we are. We're gonna try and do a second series, we've actually
been writing it for the last few weeks to see where the story would go
from here on in. And the ABC were quite keen, I suppose because it
found a big audience for them, which they were wrapped with.
So
with that sort of power at the ABC, were you not tempted to give a new
project a chance while you were "hot" as opposed to continuing with
this series?
WH: We had such a strong response to all
of the
characters, but especially Francis O'Brien the head librarian, because
she was such an interesting concept of an incredibly repressed woman
who most people ended up feeling for - bizzarely. We were delighted
with that. Because we wanted someone who was clearly...
...A
Racist
WH: [laughs]
Exactly. Someone who was in turmoil, who you had to try and dig
underneath and kind of go "What's going on under there? Why is she like
that?".
One of
the biggest comparisons that was promoted all the way through the show,
was The Office.
Was there a conscious thing to try and stay away from that, or is it
just a case where the empathy the audience feels for Francis
happens to be similar to that of David Brent?
WH: No, we
never really worried about it. And people [in the first batch of
reviews] kind of related Francis to being a "Female David Brent"...
Robyn and I were fairly
happy with that [laughs]
comparison. That's a masterful comic character, so to be drawing
similarities between those is a nice thing.
I think there's clearly huge difference between the two: Francis
is...Francis is a woman [laughs]
Well,
considering she's your wife - I'm glad you can admit that...
WH: [Laughs]
Well yes! Look, she's a much more assertive character and she's got a
very different mind set, and if anything it's just the awkwardness
which they share - and that's just a very, sort of popular style of
comedy these days anyway.
Robyn,
from your perspective: Have you had any backlash from playing, what is
essentially, the bitchiest lady on television?
RB:
Um, I have a few comments. From the general public, I've had a terrific
response - it's more people I know who are perplexed that I can be
Francis and, clearly, the quite lovely Robyn in my downtime [laughs]. So when I
go to Kinder or school, the parents say "I keep telling everybody your
not racist!"
The
fact your married to each other has been one of the major selling
points of the show, and without sounding like to obvious a question,
but what were the downsides of working with the husband/wife combo?
WH: Ooo Gee, I wish I was still on the
line individually...
RB: [Laughs]
We'll
make it like that old dating game, where we chuck one of you into the
"Soundproof Booth"...
RB: [laughs] You know
what, without sounding ridiculously sappy...
WH: It's just there's such a great short hand (creatively) and it
didn't take 3 weeks to work out who each other is.
RB:
We've been working together a long time now (as well as Bob Franklin
& Roz Hammond), so we all kind of think artistically the same...
Well
that's one of the best things about the series - the familiar faces.
You've pretty much got everyone from Thank God You're Here
except Shane Bourne in the show...
RB: It's just one of those strange
things...I was one of the first to film a scene on TGYH
- I think before the first episode had even gone to air and I met Heidi
while filming one of those pre-records.. and we both just got the
giggles, which is so rare with someone you've just met. And I came home
that night and said to Wayne "I think I've found Dawn".
WH: The same happened with Josh (Lawson), on Boytown, and I came
home and said "Yeah, I've met the perfect guy for our Lachey character".
Wayne,
I bumped into briefly at the Arias last year when you were doing some
promo for Boytown
or something...
WH: [Laughs]
Yes, that's right...
You
introduced me to Bob Franklin that day, and to be honest, he actually
seems more animated in The
Librarians than he does in real life. How, as a director,
did you get him...awake?
WH: [Laughs] If you feed
Bob Franklin the right catering, you can adjust his performance by
increments...
RB:
You know what I think, I think so often people give Bob something quite
confined & refined to play. So we gave him a couple of things
to
play with: he wanted to be a jockey and that he loved Christine - and I
think it gave him something else to play. We sort of gave him a bit of
extra room to be active. You're the only person that's observed that,
that's quite good...
He
actually turned out to be one of may favourite characters, so that
works out well! Not to take anything away from the Masturbating dad or
the Racist Librarian...
RB & WH: [Laughs]
Finally,
what can we expect from Series 2?
WH: Aw, Gee Whiz. Um, well... it takes
place in Library [Laughs]
THE
LIBRARIANS is out now on DVD
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