Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/103334
closeup Left and below: Cowell alongside Damon Gameau, as Rick and Stavros, in Save Your Legs!; the Abbotsford Anglers with Stavros, Ted (Stephen Curry) and Rick in the back row. "From contemporary comedy to Shakespeare ... Brendan is a diverse actor and writer." 12 There are moments of hilarity and tender instances of mateship throughout the film as the teammates tour India and fail to win at the sport they care so deeply about. There is spiritual enlightenment, love, music, Bollywood dancing and cricket – all mixed in with upset stomachs, parties and train travel. "Males dealing with emotions and their love for each other is funny because what's funny is their behaviour, and when you've got men confronting change in a place where chaos reigns and digestive problems are quite common, then most likely many humorous situations prevail," explains Brendan, who says that filming in India was mad but was conducive to the desired result of the film. "Making a feature film is hard and travelling in India is hard, so when you put the two together it's a tall ask … there wasn't a lot of acting required," says Brendan. As this was his first time in India, cast mate Stephen Curry was wide-eyed with sensory overload the whole time. "His performance was 10 per cent genuine," says Brendan. As for the real Abbotsford Anglers, it's more than a decade since their own Indian adventure and seven years since their documentary. Dressed in Anglers jackets and hats, the team sat front row at the premiere of Save Your Legs! at the Melbourne International Film Festival. "I think they wanted to be portrayed in a brutally honest fashion and I'm not sure we had the leeway in the ratings system to do that, but I think it's a really charming, charismatic and iconic little cricket club," says Brendan, adding they're a marvellous group of men who deserve to have a story named after them. The award-winning Brendan has incredible talent in his field, yet he remains down-to-earth and humble. He describes himself as primarily a writer who sees acting as a kind of luxury. From contemporary comedy to Shakespeare, to exploring society's dark and serious side, Brendan is a diverse actor and writer. "When someone offers me a role it's like, 'Wow, they want me in their story!' and I feel honoured … and I want to give them everything. I want to find a way into the character, to really find their condition of being," he says over the phone from Hungary, where he has a role in The Borgias, the cable TV drama starring Jeremy Irons, adding that he is proud of all the roles he has played and wouldn't have chosen to do them if he didn't think they'd be interesting and a challenge. He has to be able to relate to a story to be able to write it, Brendan says, laughing at the fact that lately his stories seem to be about men, sport and alcohol. "I can relate to all three of the characters in Save Your Legs! in some way. I've pretty much lived like Rick for the past few years but I have ambitions to live a little bit more like Stavros. And, at the end of the day, I'm probably a little bit more like Ted than I'd like to admit." Save Your Legs! screens in Australian cinemas from February 28.