RHYS WAKEFIELD
Underwater World

Sanctum is Australian actor Rhys Wakefield’s ticket to Hollywood.
“It’s my last night in Melbourne,” says Wakefield, out stumping his role in the 3D nautical thriller. “It’s very bittersweet. It feels a little strange and sad. I’m excited though. I’ve gone to LA before, but this is the longest amount of time I’ll have spent there.”
The Queensland born actor had heard about the big-budget thriller, executive produced by James Cameron, through his agent, and decided it was worth a shot. Wakefield and a mate put an audition on video.
“When [director] Alister [Grierson] called me and said that Jim [Cameron] had responded to my test … that was quite surreal,” says the Aliens and Terminator fan. “I’ve always loved Jim’s imaginative movies… they are always such a cool journey. The prospect of working with him was… well, I have no words”.
But would it all be fun and games? On Jim Cameron’s own The Abyss, the cast were said to have gone near crazy from all the time they were forced to spend in underwater tanks. While Wakefield admits there were trying times, neither he nor co-stars Richard Roxburgh or Ioan Gruffudd never started to go all Jack Torrance.
“It was intense. All the underwater stuff was physically exhausting. Incredibly tiring. But it wasn’t too bad and it makes the movie better”, says the actor, who plays Roxburgh’s son in the picture.
Wakefield says that leading up to the shoot he “was going to the gym five times a week and I was going two hours of swim training a day. And then there was rock-climbing as well” so by film’s completion he was ready for a good siesta.
Not only did the actor have to look the part, he had to act the part. Wakefield says he was determined to not only hold his own against esteemed actor Roxburgh but convincingly play the actor’s son.
“We were lucky that, in one regard, we somewhat shot the film in order. We got to know each other and the relationship grew, just as it does for the father and son in the movie.”
It works… as does another aspect of the film: the 3D. Like most of us, Wakefield is skeptical when it comes to 3D movies but believes Sanctum is one of the few that makes good use of the technology.
“They haven’t used it as some kind of gimmick [here]”, says the actor. “So many films have just jumped on the bandwagon and so many add 3D in post –because they think people don’t know. That’s what’s surprising though, audiences do know… they can now spot what films were conceived and shot in 3D and what films were converted in post.
“Sanctum is a good example of true enhanced storytelling through the 3D medium.”
Wakefield admits he’s had easier co-stars though than the Cameron/Pace Fusion 3D Camera System.
“They were a bit temperamental at times,” laughs Wakefield, “like any new technology there are some glitches with them that still need to be ironed out. You could be four takes, five takes into a shot and then the camera dies and so you’d have to stop for an hour or two hours while the camera is fixed. That could be pretty frustrating.”

_CLINT MORRIS