Amy Mathews fights for the good guys in an action packed Sci-Fi flick Gabriel.
Despite the much anticipated wait for her name to appear on the big screen Summer Bay’s very own Amy Mathews feels extremely lucky to have landed a role on the Australian independent film Gabriel, which premiered to a great response on October 26 after spending two years in post production.
“Everyone who worked closely on the film was so passionate about it, to finally see it come to fruition is fantastic, especially in Australia where it’s very difficult to get money for films," Amy said.
The new Aussie feature film directed and written by Shane Abbess profiles a generic modern city as a symbol for purgatory, a name given to the realm between heaven and hell where souls can redeem themselves for the wrongs they have done during their lifetime. A showdown occurs between good and evil where Archangel Gabriel is sent to reclaim the realm of heaven which threatens to be overtaken by fallen angels.
Considering the difficulties actors face in Australia and the lack of opportunities that exist Amy’s really pleased to have been involved in such a huge genre film like Gabriel.
“A lot of our films are really naturalistic about Australian life, it was a really brave idea for Australian film making,” she said.
Initially for Amy these weren’t the reasons for taking the job. It really just boiled down to her basic needs as an actor, to be in work. She got an audition and landed the job!
“When you’re an actor in Australia it’s hard to choose the work. I was just fortunate that it turned out to be a great job. The reality is in Australia it’s not like Hollywood where you can wait for the right script to show up, really we’re just trying to feed ourselves here,” she said.
Gabriel was filmed in October 2005, around the same time Amy accepted her role as the gorgeous and intelligent Rachel Armstrong on Home and Away. “It was a frantic week. I finished shooting Gabriel on the Thursday and I needed to be on the set of Home and Away for my first shoot on the Friday,” she said.
In Gabriel Amy played a mortal called Maggie, one of the good guys fighting alongside archangels for world peace. For Amy, Rachel and Maggie are worlds apart, the only comparison being their compassionate natures. “Maggie is much more rough and tumble compared to Rachel’s educated and sensible attitude to life. I love Rachel very much, she’s very close to my heart. They were very different roles,” she said.
However transforming herself overnight from Maggie to Rachel was a relatively painless task as Amy is not a method actor who needs a lot of time to absorb herself in the role.
“For me it’s more like changing hats,” she said.
What she did find hard was spending two 14 hour days on location for Gabriel in the underground tunnels of Sydney’s inner west suburb of Rozelle with smoke machines pumping out toxic fumes constantly.
“The next day my lungs were full of chemicals and I had a really sore throat from breathing in all this smoke, so I guess I put my body on the line for the work,” she said.
For an action-packed sci-fi flick there were no real action scenes for Amy. “It was pretty simple, I wasn’t glammed up or anything. It was a lot of dirt and ruffled hair and I don’t think I look particularly good but it was a good look for the film,” she said.
Amy enjoyed working with the gorgeous Andy Whitefield who plays Archangel Gabriel in the film.
“He’s going to do really well, and that’s more to do with his personality and being a great actor than just his good looks. He’s got all the qualities you need in this business. I really wish him every success, he’s going to do well,” she said.
“I also worked closely with Jack Campbell, Archangel Raphael, who now works with me at Channel 7. It was quite funny because we did the film and he ended up being on All Saints so we bump in to each other in the corridors. He’s really lovely and he mentored me as well on the film as he’s had a lot of experience as an actor, which was really nice of him.”
Interview by Megan McAuliffe
