LIFE & CRIMES
“There was a time when a lot of bad things happened”
In 1995, Richard Roxburgh won acclaim as disgraced former detective Roger Rogerson in the miniseries Blue Murder and, 22 years on, the actor reprises his role in Seven’s two-parter Blue Murder: Killer Cop, which traces real-life events including Rogerson’s conviction last year over the murder of Jamie Gao in a drug deal gone wrong (see box). “He could out-dark the darkest of people,” says the Rake star, 55, who lives on Sydney’s northern beaches with his wife, actress and cookbook author Silvia Colloca, 39, and children Raphael, 10, Miro, 6, and Luna, 3 months. He tells WHO’S Kate Halfpenny about his “rebellious” past, thoughts on Donald Trump and why he hates social media.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? A cheese sandwich with a beer on a summer’s day is pretty good. I don’t think there’s such a thing as perfect happiness. There’s a really dangerous and mad thing that’s happened as a result of social-media platforms: this idea of idealised lives and the way we should be living as if lives were a bottle of cold New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with droplets forming on the outside, next to an infinity pool with a sunset backdrop somewhere in Bali. I really struggle with all of that stuff, the mad idea that’s what happiness is. My perfect happiness will always be to do with a moment with my people, my family, and it’s a moment that will come and go.
So is it safe to say you’ve never posted on Instagram?
I did some “Instagrams” when they first came out. But very quickly it just seemed like the dark potential of people trying to outdo each other with the sheer magnificence of their magnificent lives, and I thought, “This is a bunch of shit.”
You’ve said you’re terribly hard on yourself. Are you, and why?
Yes. I am. I don’t know why, I think it’s a bad habit that started when I was very young. I had a mother who was very hard on me; she was tough on all of us. I’ve always been incredibly self-critical, to the extent that I can’t really stomach watching anything I’m in, ever.
You should watch yourself. It’s widely agreed that you’re terrific.
That’s very kind, but you have to understand for as many of you as there are out there, there would be just as many people saying I’m no good.
Have you done much lying on therapists’ couches?
No, I haven’t. I probably should have done more. I did do a little bit when I went through a particularly bad patch in my early 30s—there was a time when a lot of bad things happened in my life, pretty sad things. I thought, “I seem to be in the midst of something,” and took myself off and saw a therapist, probably about six times. It was so great, it was really a great thing to do in that moment in time, and probably helped enormously. I think just having somebody who’s an unbiased, helpful, empathetic listener is a good thing to do.
What was it like coming back to Roger Rogerson 21 years on?
Well, it was strange in lots of ways, also strange because the Roger I was playing was so totally changed and it was a totally different part of that weird and very complicated life he made for himself.
Is he completely amoral?
I don’t think he was amoral, I think he had a very strong moral sensibility, but it was not one that is easy for us to understand. I think he would really see that there are people on this earth whose lives don’t count. Roger’s moral compass would and could contain that, that he would be quite OK with that idea, that essentially there are people who are
Richard Roxburgh gets inside the head of the nation’s most crooked cop to reprise his famous role
kind of like cockroaches and blowflies, and you could just give them a squirt of Pea Beu.
Your famous character, criminal lawyer Cleaver Greene from ABC-TV’S Rake, is morally malleable. Is Richard Roxburgh in any way naughty?
I’ve had my moments. Cleaver is a kind of product of a great, long friendship I’ve had with Peter Duncan, Rake’s writer and co-creator, so I was sort of badgering Pete for years to write me this idea about this character who was incredibly brilliant but also just so damaged and in trouble and beaten up and addicted to everything. There is some territory that might be loosely based on an earlier incarnation of my being, not the one who lives on the northern beaches with three lovely kids and a beautiful wife.
Have you ever been arrested?
No. There were times when I should have been, but I have never been. Which is lucky.
What would you never do again?
That’s a really dangerous question. I can say when I was a boy I was a pretty wilful, rebellious, problematic teen and when I first had my licence in the country we would have races around in our parents’ cars, drunk as lords, and we thought that was kind of OK. I would never do that again. The things that adolescent boys do, it’s terrifying, but hopefully keeping a strong and available presence in my kids’ lives means the possibility of things tilting wildly off in the wrong direction is minimised.
Where are you at on Donald Trump?
Oh, it’s extraordinary, I’m completely addicted to it. I read every article about him. It’s incredible that somebody like that is running the world, in charge of the world. There is a funny side to it right up until the point when he uses the codes and then the fun might quickly fall away.
How is having a new baby daughter in the house?
It’s great. I’m completely gone. She lies there with the big saucer eyes trying to mouth words to copy back at me. I’m gone. So are the boys— Raphy just completely dotes on her. Miro is still trying to figure out what possible fun Luna can be. I did a play on Broadway over Christmas, which meant for two months the family could be with me, but the last half they couldn’t. My idea of hell is being stuck on the other side of the world in deep mid-winter, removed from my family. But I try to be there as much as I can, and we can normally manipulate circumstances so that does happen.
Where your career is now, are you confident in the freedom of freelancing?
Oh no, you still go through times when you think, “Oh God, I’ve got to get something,” and it’s bizarre because my not working through this time while Luna is little, that’s my choice. I always have things on the go—i’m developing a TV series currently, and writing another children’s book. I keep myself entertained. You’ll never see me on the golf links, no.
You and Silvia have been married for 13 years. What’s the secret to marriage?
I think you have to tend to it. It’s a garden that needs maintenance so you have to tend it and look after it in all ways, because otherwise you can turn around and suddenly it’s gone to seed or it’s withered. There’s times when it’s hard—marriage is—so if you throw sleepless nights and babies into that mix it’s tough, but it’s life and if it’s worth it to you, you will keep tending it. Making time is really critical, making enough time to have those moments just to do things together, just the two of you.
What sort of husband would Silvia say you are?
A very good, extraordinary nude-dancing husband. She would say I’m a doting husband, I hope she would say I acknowledge I’m very hard on myself, she would say that I’m a very powerful presence in our children’s lives and she would say—hopefully, she would say—that I’m a loving presence in our lives.