Richard Roxburgh

[from a blog I once wrote, which no longer exists]

One thing I can do in this blog that I have decided not to do in the main australiancinema.info site is to write about actors (and actresses, if I may). That site is basically a database, although unfortunately not constructed in the form of one. It’s not too arduous to write a separate page for each director in whom one is interested, but to do the same for an actor is much more work, simply because actors participate in many more films than directors. (If it were a database that would not be a problem because the links would write themselves, but in the nineteenth-century way in which I work I have to cut and paste each film individually.)
So—considering this particular glass to be half full—let me enjoy writing about actors, if I am so moved. And why not start with … Richard Roxburgh.
People who live in the capital of Australia, Sydney, and who can tell the difference between a latte and a chardonnay, may well have had the good fortune to see him work on stage. As I happen live in a part of Australia only thought about by Sinnysiders when they need some money, I shall never see him in the flesh: so I’ve only seen him on a screen. The first such sighting was in Doing Time for Patsy Cline (Chris Kennedy, 1997). I’d not really been aware of Miranda Otto either. So I found their characters’ first encounter with Matt Day’s a knockout, especially Roxburgh’s.
Then, in my mind, (minds don’t necessarily work chronologically) the next thing that pops up is Passion (Peter Duncan, 1999). I was initially interested in this more for Percy Grainger than for RR, but he delivers the goods. In between there was another small film, In the Winter Dark (Murray Jacob, 1998) with another believable human being. Then a major piece of theatricality in Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001) which shows someone who’s only seen him on a screen how good Roxburgh must be on stage.
Those are just a few of the items that spring to mind—and I srsly could go on—from a consummate, all-round actor whose work I look forward to going on seeing as long as I live.
RR has also directed one film.

Garry Gillard | New: 24 August, 2014 | Now: 6 January, 2020