GOING ugly in Monster won glamorous Charlize Theron an Oscar, and the same move could lead to similar plaudits for Leederville actor Liam Graham.
The handsome 28-year-old shaved his hair, donned grubby looking clothes, wore pimple make-up and twisted his facial expressions to bring to life his bogan character Damo in 2014’s The Legend of Gavin Tanner web series, created by Matt Lovkis, from Maylands, who stars as Gavin Tanner and co-stars Doubleview’s Emily Rose Brennan.
Graham slipped back into the character earlier this year to film a half hour pilot of the show for ABC, which will air on Wednesday, May 11 at 9pm, with hopes of it being picked up as a television series.
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READ NOW“This is the first time I have come back to a character I have played before,” Graham said.
“There were extra nerves because the web series was successful; some aspects were tricky because we had new cast members which made the energy on set different.
“I stayed in character all day so my jaw did hurt a lot after a 10 hour day on the set.”
His good looks worked against him at first, with the part almost going to someone else.
“I did not look like what they were after,” he said.
“I had to undergo a transformation and just kept sending the ugliest selfies to the producers.
“But the hair and makeup was half the character so I have to share the credit with Kate Anderson for Damo.”
Graham embraced the comedic role with open arms after being typecast in dramas.
“I have looked into comedy in the last four years,” he said.
“Before, I always seemed to be pegged as the tortured, dark soul.”
Damo is in contrast to his WA Screen Academy award nominated role in web series Greenfield, which was recently up for a Webby Award.
Watch the pilot of The Legend of Gavin Tanner in iView at http://ab.co/1SYOIub and vote for it to be made into a series.