SUFFERING FOR ART
The stress of writing, directing and starring in How To Stay Married took its toll on Peter Helliar, writes Siobhan Duck
FILMING How To Stay Married left Peter Helliar so physically wrecked that he suffered full body tremors while live on air hosting The Project.
As a writer, director, producer and star of the Channel 10 sitcom, Helliar was involved in every detail of the production, from casting actors right through to being consulted on the colours of the curtains in his character’s television home.
“I loved every minute that I was on set but the stress of having to do it all just took its toll on my health and by the end my body was left shaking,” he says.
“I said to the guys (Project co-hosts Carrie Bickmore and Waleed Aly), if you see me ‘vague-ing’ out or flinching, just ignore it and move along. It’s just something that happens to me when I get really run down.”
Now fully recovered, Helliar is using the enforced time in coronavirus lockdown to focus on recharging and self-improvement.
He’s working on the next instalments of his kids’ book series Frankie Fish. He’s also learning French. And the sports fanatic has been exercising much more than ever.
While recognising just how serious the matter is at present, Helliar’s screen wife, Lisa McCune, believes the coronavirus pandemic will eventually find itself in future episodes of How To Stay Married. She and Helliar play Greg and Emily, a mostly happy married couple raising two daughters in suburban Melbourne.
“All these spouses and kids locked in together, I told Pete it’s a comedy gold mine,” she laughs.
“And it would be very cheap to make because you wouldn’t need to shoot on any locations or have any extras. Just in the one place, inside the house with one camera and a few actors.”
McCune also believes the pandemic will inadvertently create a boom time for television.
“We are devouring so much content, old and new shows, there will be nothing left at the end of this to watch,” she says.
“So I say to all the writers out there, ‘Get to work!’ We will urgently need scripts and ideas for new shows once we are let out again. We will need to get back to work straight away.”
Helliar agrees and says the fact that there’s a storyline involving a cruise ship in the current season of How To Stay Married will provide the perfect segue into some corona-themed future episodes.
McCune and Helliar first played Emily and Greg on It’s a
Date back in 2013. The Helliardirected series featured a variety of different short stories about people going on dates. From Asher Keddie through to John Wood, Helliar was able to call upon his impressive contact book of celebrity pals to take part in the show. Most jumped at the chance, but one or two sadly missed out.
“Hughesy (Dave Hughes) has had two roles written for him but he didn’t get them after we saw his auditions,” Helliar jokes.
“He’s always asking me to write something for him, but when would he find the time to do it?”
On It’s a Date, McCune and Helliar played a long-time married couple who decide to go on a double date to a strip club with another couple. The awkward incident was based on a real experience Helliar had when he was dating his now wife Bridget.
And Helliar still draws on his own family life for inspiration for
How To Stay Married. He also calls upon friends like McCune for suggestions, and some of her ideas might come as a surprise.
Helliar laughingly recalls a prank that McCune played during a scene where they were filming by the poolside.
“I saw something black out of the corner of my eye,” he recalls.
“When I looked more closely, I realised that Lisa had shoved a curly black wig inside the front of her bathers. It looked like the most out-of-control merkin ( pubic wig) I have ever seen!
“It didn’t make the show because we were both laughing so much. But we filmed it. I might have to release it online somehow instead. That’s the real Lisa. She is hysterical.”
McCune is equally enamoured with her television husband.
Their union has lasted longer than many real-life Hollywood marriages. But unlike many long-time spouses, McCune has only good things to say about her other half.
“Pete doesn’t do anything that irritates me,” she says. “He is so patient with the young cast, he moves effortlessly between directing and acting. And he writes such wonderful scripts.”
Being a mother to three teenagers herself gives McCune great insight into playing her part.
Like Emily, she wanted to impress her kids’ friends and be “the cool mum”. But she laughs that she has failed miserably and that her offspring won’t even accept her requests to follow them on Instagram.
“I try really hard to be a good mother but honestly I have no idea what I am doing,” she confesses.
“I make mistakes, I ask for advice, I read all the self-help books and parenting articles.
For a while I was getting all the
Donna Hay magazines trying to cook all those recipes because they looked so impressive.
“I think as women we sometimes bite off more than we can chew between work and parenting and keeping a tidy house. That’s why I like seeing people on social media who can admit their failures as well as their successes.”
HOW TO STAY MARRIED
8.30PM, TUESDAY, MAY 5, CHANNEL 10 AND STREAMING NOW ON 10PLAY