STRAIGHT MATE PHOTOGRAPHY ALINA GOZIN’A

ROGER RODGER HE’S BAD-BOY HEART SURGEON DR HUGH ON BUT, SAYS , HIS ZOMBIE WITH NO UNDERPANTS WAS A MEMORABLE ROLE WE’LL NEVER SEE! INTERVIEW BY MATT MYERS.

DNA: Okay, here’s just some of your CV: McLeod’s must collectively roll their eyes thinking, “Oh my Daughters, Last Man Standing, , God, it’s this bloke again!” , , Puberty Blues, Dr Blake, Glitch, Well, there’s that Hyundai commercial! Doctor Doctor… Would you consider yourself a Actually, I haven’t been on TV with that for a while seasoned actor? but I still do all the voice-overs. I’ve been doing Rodger Corser: An old actor? Sure! I guess if you that for ten years now. Ninety five percent of those hang around long enough you pop up everywhere. voice-overs are mine, and the only time I don’t do I’ve been lucky over the past five years to be in a them is when I’m stuck on set. good variety of shows. It started with Rush. I’d been And to think it all started back in 1998 when you in a few cop shows so I was sort of typecast but were cast as Roger in RENT! then gave me the opportunity to Cut! Yeah, I remember fronting up to the open call be in , which was a real gear change. It was auditions. There were three imports and the rest of quite a comedic role as my character was a bit of a Put some the cast, of 20, came from the 6,000 who turned up doofus. Then I started to get more character-based to strange casting venues. Mine was at the Prince roles rather than procedural stuff and I moved Of Wales Hotel in St Kilda. It was more rock and roll onto things like Puberty Blues where I played the underwear than the usual auditions. abusive father. Then Emma Freeman, the director If you were gay, who would be the one? of Glitch, gave me the opportunity to play another on Rodger! Rob Collins who I worked with on Glitch. I say very different character, and here on Doctor Doctor, that, hoping that he would turn for me. But I know even though we’re a drama, there’s a lot of comedy I’m not pretty enough for him because he expects in our scripts. I get to build on my comedy chops as people to be as good-looking as he is! He stated we work on comic timing and make it bounce. recently in another interview that I’m not hot You’re like an Australian version of Six Degrees enough for him. Of Kevin Bacon! For instance, there are two Well… he recently did our Straight Mate degrees between you and Johnny Depp, Natalie interview and said he’d turn for Ian Meadows Portman and Hugh Jackman. from The Wrong Girl. [Laughing] None of them would ever work with me! See… He’s enough for me but obviously I’m not They like to keep at least two degrees of separation! enough for him! Sometimes when I get a job I think the audience When DNA interviewed you back in 2005 you

36 DNA were watching Queer As Folk and said it worked well on SBS but was too racy for the other networks. Do you think it’s a different story these days? It’s probably still not for the commercial networks because the streaming services and cable audiences are always going to be a bit more genre. The ABC and SBS can afford to be a bit more like that, with broader appeal. And that’s with everything, not necessarily just the gay content in Queer As Folk. Those sex scenes were quite graphic… mind you, Underbelly had some sex, too. I recently re-watched the English version of Queer As Folk and it’s a little dated but stands the test of time. It intended to shock but nowadays that door’s been broken down because of those very shows like Queer As Folk. Doctor Doctor has been a ratings winner. What’s the show’s secret? It’s always hard to put your finger on it. If we knew the formula we’d repeat it every time. Audiences are a moving beast and it goes in cycles. Maybe it was time for another show like this. Around 15 years ago we had McLeod’s Daughters and SeaChange and further back The Flying Doctors. They all had that rural town thing. But Doctor Doctor has dry humour mixed in with that bad-boy (ABOVE) RODGER AS DR HUGH KNIGHT IN DOCTOR What shows do you watch? DOCTOR WITH RYAN JOHNSON AS HUGH’S element. I think that’s part of the secret. BROTHER MATT (IN THE BATH). I’m not into Game Of Thrones as yet but I’m Yes, Dr Hugh is a gifted heart surgeon and a bit of definitely a House Of Cards fan. I’ve got a two-year- a bad boy. Did that require much research? old and it was the period before she was born where As far as the bad boy part, we all have a past, I I’d watch shows more regularly. Mad Men and suppose! But I did speak to some surgeons, not The Wire, for instance, but now it all depends on a necessarily ones like Hugh. When we talked about combination of work and children. I watch less and his character they said there are a couple like him IF YOU WERE GAY, WHO less television. around. It’s funny – the heart surgeons we spoke WOULD BE THE ONE? When it comes to music, who’s your diva? to blamed the brain surgeons for being the party My 14-year-old daughter influences me and she’s boys, and the brain surgeons blamed the heart a mad Beyoncé fan. It’s Queen Bey this and Queen surgeons! Bey that. If I didn’t say her I’d be in trouble. I also Where is Dr Hugh headed this season? like a bit of Adele, but when I’m driving with my He moves into the hospital and the prototype daughter we have a battle of the iTunes! artificial heart he’s been working on is about to Have you ever had an on-set wardrobe go into a human. So he’s reinvigorated thinking malfunction? about life outside Whyhope, and how it’s going I ripped my pants while filming Glitch. I can’t to be successful. But we’ll see if that’s a success give too much away but my character finally has or failure. He’s biding his time and making a joke flashbacks about who he was. So… I’m wearing about it with a countdown clock. He thinks he’ll do these ye olde pants that button up at the front, with his time, not get involved in work politics and get no stretch in them whatsoever, and they sat so low out of there. That’s his intention but obviously as that I didn’t want my Calvin’s poking out the top, so time passes things will happen to make him more I took them off. So I had no underwear on, which I invested. Rodger: Rob Collins (above) never, ever do. In the scene, I had to be submerged In some ways his situation is similar to Dr Joel who I worked with on Glitch… in water. The pants tripled in weight and then I had Fleischman on Northern Exposure. But I’m not pretty enough for to run and the things just split! It was like, “Cut! Put I’ve heard that quite a bit, and also Californication. him. He expects people to be as some underwear on Rodger!” They left it out of the They have those different bad boy and fish-out-of- good-looking as he is!” scene but I definitely gave the wardrobe people a water scenarios. shock. Nicole da Silva, who plays Charlie, also co-stared Okay, we know you don’t usually free ball – what with you on Rush and has had great success sort of underwear do you prefer? playing Frankie on Wentworth. Do you get a I’m definitely not a freeballer and never will be chance to watch that show? again after that experience. I used to be boxers but I’ve seen bits of Wentworth, but whenever anything I’ve gone back to briefs. My wife started buying happens on that show we see how popular Nicole them and I’ve stayed with them. is through her social media. She’ll get 40,000 responses because she has an amazing Twitter following from Wentworth. It’s so great that it’s MORE: Doctor Doctor screens on Channel Nine. doing well internationally.

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