The Double Life of Austra Lia's Most U Nconventiona I Actor
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The perfect cocktailp arty Thed oublel ifeo f From Australi a'sm ost underwear modelt o un conventionIa a ctor war hero Gulpililis asleepa nd the atmosphereis tense.P laywright RegC nbb says," We havet o be patient.B ackh ome David is at his best."H ow is he to r,vorkw ith?" lt'sb eena battle..." Hev anishefsr omf ilms hootsH. ed emands$ I 0,000t o speakH. el ivesin a humpyo ned aya nda hotelthen ext. ClaireS cobiet racksd ownt hee nigmatiDc avidG ulpilil. David Gulpilil is a man unleashed.E xuding the air of on one side,s how businesso n the other - a fact that a 70s rock star, he strides towards me in Levi's and is neatlys ummedu p in his play'so peningl ines:" Left a brown suede waistcoat. His taut arms are like side,m y country.R ight side,w hite man'sw orld. This 'tippie twisteds teel,h is gnarledh and swallowsm y own. He toe' in caviar and champagne,t his one in the is latea nd his managerJ, ohn Cann, ashenw irh stress, dirr of my Dreamtime." tells me there'st ime only for photos; David has to get "l don't like cities, I'm a bush man," he says in back to rehearsalsf or his one-man show, Gulpilil, deep,r umbling tones,b oundingu p the srepsr owards due to tour Brisbanea nd Sydneyl ater in the year. the photographerC. lose up, his craggyf ace is like a Interviewing this charismatica ctor,a n inrernational map of the world framed by shoulder-lengrhc urls icon of black Australia whose porrrait is rhis year's fleckedw ith grey.B ut oncet he camerai s on him, the Archibald o Prize winner, was never going to be 51-year-olda ctor is rransformed.\ fith eyesb urning o I straightforward. Gulpilil is known for vanishing intensely,h e performs like a wild man, whooping, during film shootsa nd in the city disappearsto the gabbling storieso f how he rescuedh is wife from the f pub when his minders are momenrarily distracred. jarvso f a crocodile." You wanna hear how I losr my : C His reputationg oes before him: volatile,c harming, finger?" He holds up a truncatedi ndex finger to the unpredictable, puppy. soft as a He is a man who crorvd that has gathered. "lr'll cost you $50," he o - z straddlest wo worlds rraditionalA boriginalc ulrure roars. "You Botra come to my shorv to know how ) l 6 s u r . r o rlvr r e a P R r L2 s 2 o o 4 "He is a complexs oul,"s aysd irectorR olf de Heer." In TheT racLtehre, spends half the film with chainsa roundh is neck. He wore them like this badgeo f honour,p roudb ecauseh e wass howingw hat hadb eend onet o his people." I done it." He is a whirlwind and then he is gone, whisked away (one repon put the sum at $1000); he took a fee of about $10,000 for back to rehearsals. Crocodile Dundee. which made more than $400 million at the box office. Since he was plucked out of the bush by English director Nicolas Gulpilil appears in a ragged jumper. He seems withdrawn and Roeg and cast in 1971's Walkabout, Gulpilil has achievedw hat many vulnerable and eyes me warily but as he sips sweet black tea, words would think impossible.H e was flown to London and presentedt o the tumble out in a back-to-front manner. He speaks 14 tribal languages; Queen holding spearsa nd wearing a lap-lap, then on to Cannesa nd Los English was the fifth languageh e learnt. Angeles. He has starred in a rosary of films - Storm Boy, Crocodile "My play is the true story about how I cope all alone," he begins." Its Dundee and Phillip Noyce's Rabbit-Proof Fence. He's co-starred with messagei s to understand everybody... For people to understand me, Richard Chamberlain (The Last Wauel and Dennis Hopper (Mad Dog you have to learn about my land, my language." He fixes me with a Morganl.ln 2002, he received an AFI Best Actor Award for his stunning defiant glare. "l live in a humpy house.T he Australian Government has performance in The Tracker, Rolf de Heer's challenging film about to wake up and look at how people like me are living. The Prime white settlement,a nd last year he picked up the inaugural Don Dunstan Miniscer is doing his iob for [white] Australia; why can't they look at award (as part of the Adelaide International Film Festival) for an what's going on in black Australia?" He draws angrily on a cigarette. outstanding contribution to the film industry. He was born under a tree on his father's land, Gulpulul, NII in 1953. Despite such an acclaimed career,G ulpilil lives in a humpy cobbled Details of his childhood are hazy but at about eight he saw his first together with corrugated iron and plastic sheeting,w ith no electriciryo r white man land in a plane. He saysh e thought it was a ghost and fled. running water. "l've travelled a lot but Ramingining in Arnhem Land His mother (a "wonderful woman, soft and gentle", saysf amily friend and where David lives is the most foreign country I've ever beent o," saysd e author Richard Trudgen) suffered from leprosy and "would get around Heer. "He is a complex soul. In some ways, highly sophisticateda nd the bush with a wooden leg". His father was a ceremonial dancer who very smart; in others there are things that are beyond his cultural died from gangrenea fter having his foot amputated. Gulpilil was then referencea bility. In The Tracker, he spends half the film with chains brought up by his uncle, dividing his time berween the bush and the around his neck and I expectedp roblems. But we couldn't get the chains mission school in Maningrida, becoming an accomplishedd ancer who off him. David wore them like this badge of honour, proud becauseh e won prizes at eisteddfods.H e worked briefly as a stockman in the area. was showing what had been done to his people." He was 11 when he saw his first film and 15 when cast in Walkabout. For years Gulpilil had a car called Never Ending Story and organising to Until then, Aboriginal roles were mostly confined to group scenesa nd meet him starts to feel like that. Our interview, arranged for the following extras. So when Gulpilil was cast as an empowered,s exualh ero, it made moming, is cancelleda t 11.30pm. His managerc alls to say Gulpilil won't international headlines.W hen not acting, he would tour with a troupe of talk "unless he's paid $10,000". (SundayLife doesn't pay its interviewees.) performers in Australia and, occasionally,E urope. In about 1990, he Cann's parting words are: "Come if you want. I've given up." returned to his community. Those who know of his fame are quick to Gulpilil and some of the crew are staying out of Adelaide and away from knock "the spoilt blackfella" (Gulpilil's words) off his pedestal." He's in the tempcation of ciry pubs - usually he lives in an alcohol-free community. a no-win situation," says Rolf de Heer. "Either he is ripping off his I arrive at a rustic farmhouse at 9.30am the next day. Gulpilil is asleepa nd community or he is being ripped off by white people." the atmosphere is tense. Cann lights one filterless Gitane after another; Gulpilil is a Yolngu, once regarded as a race of fearlessw arriors. playwright Reg Cribb, who co-wrote Gulpilil with the actog says, "We TodaS his people face a bleak future with mortaliry ratesf our and a half have to be patient. Back home David is at his best." How is he ro work times the national averagea nd spiralling levelso f alcohol and substance with? "It's been a banle," sighs Cribb. "There's a lot of suspicion from abuse." I'm waiting for the governmentt o say sorry to me," saysG ulpilil. David about white people. He doesn't realise that with this play he can "For all of Australia and for my people." He getsu p suddenly." l've been own something artistically for the first rime." Gulpilil feelsh e's beenr ipped batding through drugs and alcohol, everyone talks about drinking, offthroughout his career: he barely receiveda cent, he says,f or Walkabout smoking ... say that Gulpilil crazy one.B ut," he lifrs up his shirt ro reveal I 8 s u N o a yl t p e A p R r L2 s , 2 o o 4 Froml eft, CraigR uddyi 2004 Archibald-winninpgo rtrait;w ith co-starG ary Sweeta t the premiereo f IAe lroc/<enw inningB estA ctor at the AFlsi n2OO2i Gulpilili n the outbackl asty ear;( below)i n Adelaidef or hiso ne'mans how. I'm part of the wilderness. .. I go hunting for crocodile,t urtles ... I do fishingw ith spear."E veryd ay? "Vru got to get up in the morning and finish about 4 o'clock. I don't get paid for that." Gulpilil frequentlyr eturns to this gripe about "the hole in his pocket" and that he'so wed a house by the government (construction on his father's land was abandoned becauseit was difficult to reach)." He can't managem oney," sayse x- partner Airlie Thomas, who lived with him on and off from 1991 to 1994.