Congratulations on Ruben Guthrie! When was the first time you saw the film, and how did you feel?
I saw a locked-off version, so it wasn’t mixed and didn’t have sound, maybe four months ago. Brendan Cowell just put me with a big-screen TV in an empty room to watch it, and I was sort of watching through my fingers … It’s weird watching my head on-screen for that long in every single scene! The first watch is a bit of a vanity watch, like, “Ew what are you making that face for, you idiot?” But also, you’re like, oh that scene has been cut, geographically that was nowhere near that but it looked like we were walking from door to door. So you’re kind of reliving the experience of filming when you’re watching it. It’s a bit discombobulating, the first watch. When we I saw the final edit a month ago I thought it was a really good film. I’m really proud of it on all levels; I hope it’s the kind of movie that people will latch on to.

It’s already had a few preview screenings before it officially opens today, Thursday July 16. How has the response been so far?
It’s been really positive. I haven’t actively pursued every review online, because that’s where madness lives, but I’ve just been hearing bits and pieces of what people think. Generally, it’s really positive, but the proof will be in the pudding in terms of whether the general public gets into it. It should really speak to people, particularly Australians – we all drink all the time, it’s certainly relatable.

The film was first conceived as a play. Did you ever see it on the stage and how did you get involved in the film?
Yeah, I saw the first production of it at the Downstairs Belvoir Street Theatre in Sydney around 2008, and I just thought it was great. It had a couple of incarnations with different producers and potential cast, and then I was on the set of Offspring last January when I got a call from Brendan out of the blue asking if I was interested. I was like, “Of course I’m interested, it’s an amazing story and an amazing part!”

What appealed to you about the role of Ruben?
The dialogue is crackling – it’s so good. It’s a really dark comedy, the themes are deadly serious and then you’ve got some comedy chops in there as well, that’s what appealed to me about it. It was a bit different to the sort of thing I’d done in the past – I hadn’t done a leading role in a film, so there was that challenge, and it was just a very potentially ugly part as well. Brendan and I talked about exploring all the dimensions of it and not shying away from the ugly, so that’s one of the things I was attracted to as well – just really chewing off a big bit of meat and seeing how it went.

Do you have a personal favourite scene in the film?
Yeah, I did love the final montage where I’m smashed in the bar and stumbling up the stairs and that sort of stuff. It was an interesting couple of days, just the state I got into for those scenes – I wasn’t drunk but I felt absolutely paralytic, even though I hadn’t touched a drop. They were really, really interesting scenes to do from an acting point of view, to change my state like that without changing it with alcohol. I absolutely felt like I had drunk I bunch of alcohol.

Had you ever acted drunk before?
I think I’d acted a bit drunk before, but not like that – that was proper! He’s really got to go off his head. It’s a tough one to do a convincing drunk.

That final scene was an interesting one; do you have your own personal opinion on what it means? Or is it better left unsaid …
Yeah, I don’t think I’d want to put a meaning on top of it because it does mean different things to different people. It’s sort of an everything moment – it’s what that seemingly innocuous drink means. What does it actually mean to him, not just in that moment but for his life. It’s a really big and small moment at the same time. I really like the ending, I thought it was great.

Sarah Blasko also did an incredible job on the original music score for the film.
Yeah, she was incredible. That ‘Alcohol’ song over the montage is incredible – Brendan shared that with me when we were still in production, and she said, “Oh something like this, but not this” and we were like, “Are you kidding, that’s amazing!”

The script was originally conceived when Brendan took a year off alcohol and discovered how deeply imbedded drinking is in Australian culture – is that a message you were trying to convey? Did you set out to start that conversation in the public sphere?
Yeah that’s something Brendan was trying to do with this, and it’s a good conversation to start. It’s kind of based on him trying to change his life and finding there were a lot of obstacles to it and a lot of people saying, “No, don’t change”. When you try to change, it’s very confronting for the people around you. If you’re there saying, “I won’t have a drink”, the people around you are like, “Well does that mean I can’t have a good time now, because you’ve decided you don’t want to drink?”. People can be quite aggressive about that stuff.

Now let’s put Ruben aside for a moment and talk about Patrick. What were you like as a child?
I think I was alright! I was a bit of a sick kid, I was in and out of hospitals a bit, so I think I developed a bit of an internal life probably, more than I realised. I think I was a good, happy kid; I had a fairly unremarkable upbringing in Canberra. My parents were still together, I had a brother and sister who loved me very much, it was very stable. I was just talking about that this morning with Jack Thompson actually, he was talking about his childhood and I thought that maybe being a sick kid did inform my acting more than I had given it credit for.

What did you dream of becoming when you grew up?
I always dreamt of being an actor. I watched all the big American blockbusters like Back to the Future, Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and I thought, “Hang on, if I can be an actor, then I can be all those things and I don’t have to lock it down to one thing”. That was a fairly naïve, but strangely a wise, thought and I never really shook it out of my head. But your reasons for acting change over the years. Initially, it’s a bit of a show off and a chance to meet girls at the neighbouring schools, but then it becomes a bit more real when you actively pursue it and do three or four years of training and take on a life of financial insecurity. It’s not enough just to say, “Oh yeah this is pretty fun”, there’s got to be a bit more going on – even if you can’t articulate it.

Can you remember your first role?
I remember in grade 1, there was a Friday afternoon treat and a couple of kids would put on a ‘play’ – and I use that term loosely – that we would basically make up. No one really knew what was going on. I got a role one time where I got to play Grandma, so I put a few cricket balls down my shirt for grandma boobs, and got some big laughs as a big, booby grandma … and I never looked back. It’s funny, I haven’t thought about that for ages!

If you could give that young fella any advice about his career or life, what would you want to say to him?
I’d say, relax, because it’s going to happen anyway. I don’t mean ‘success’ is going to happen, I mean life is going to happen anyway, so relax, because there’s no getting out of it. The good stuff and the bad stuff – it’s all going to happen whether you stress about it or not, so just relax.

You’ve won AACTA Awards and achieved so much in your career, but what in your life are you most proud of?
Probably my friends. I think you can really tell a person by the company they keep – friends are a fair indication of that. I’m proud of my family, but they’re stuck with me! And I’m stuck with them. But friends are your chosen family and they’re probably what I’m most proud of.

And finally, what’s your personal definition of ‘success’?
I’d say if you’re looking forward to getting up in the morning, consistently – that’s success.