Westside star goes to law school
Dan Musgrove plays Lefty in the Kiwi drama Westside. He tells Sarah Nealon about his work behind the scenes and why he’s now studying law.
Dan Musgrove is used to playing characters on the wrong side of the law. The Auckland-based actor portrayed drug lord Marty Johnstone aka Mr Asia in Underbelly: Land Of The Long Green Cloud and he’s currently starring in Westside‘s third season as Lefty Munroe, a member of Ted West’s (David de Lautour) criminal gang.
Musgrove, 34, has been with Westside since it began and his character is known for his philandering ways and male chauvinist views.
In this third season, which is set in 1982, Lefty is now a single man after Ngaire (Esther Stephens) walked out on him and moved in with Detective Mike Mccarthy (Will Hall).
Musgrove says his character ‘‘has a lot of growing up to do’’.
‘‘I don’t relate to any of Lefty’s values,’’ he says. ‘‘But I do enjoy drinking beer and so does Lefty but that’s probably where it ends.
‘‘But I quite like his wardrobe. We’ve got a lot of fitted denim and for the women there are a lot of leather skirts, fake nails, big hair. I’m still rocking my mullet.
‘‘Last year, I did have some extensions. But we grew it out throughout the season so by the end of the show it was my natural hair. But I have enough to have the mullet now. I kind of try and tell myself that I look like Macgyver.’’
Musgrove’s love of acting stemmed from when he was a child growing up in Blenheim where his mother was a speech and drama teacher and he became part of the town’s local theatre scene.
After finishing high school, he did a gap year before taking what some might deem ‘‘the sensible route’’ and starting a law degree at Victoria University.
‘‘Although I really liked acting, I needed something to fall back on,’’ says Musgrove.
But after a few years at university, his interest in law waned.
‘‘I found myself in the lecture theatres thinking up ideas for plays and film scripts, rather than focusing on the cases,’’ says Musgrove.
In his early 20s, Musgrove ditched his legal studies to attend New Zealand drama school Toi Whakaari.
From there, he went on to star in local productions like Legend Of The Seeker, Go Girls and Piece Of My Heart.
Besides acting, Musgrove also writes for stage and screen. He cowrote Westside‘s sixth episode with writer James Griffin.
‘‘Writing dialogue for my own character was a bit weird,’’ says Musgrove.
‘‘You don’t want people to think that you’re hogging too much screen time. But it was a great process. I can’t wait to see it go to air.’’
When he’s not acting or writing, Musgrove attends Auckland University part-time where surprisingly, he has resumed his legal studies.
‘‘I was doing research for a play and sitting in at the high court on some cases and I was immediately just taken by probably the dramatics of it,’’ he says.
‘‘It was so engrossing and I thought I could probably activate those uni points again and maybe just nudge away at my degree.
‘‘I found out that even after 10 years, I was able to reactivate that degree and transfer it to Auckland uni. It’s been amazing to be back. It’s stimulating and giving me lots of great ideas for my writing as well. But things have changed. I was handwriting my notes in a sea of laptops and I realised how old I was.’’
As to whether he intends to practice law on completion of his degree, Musgrove doesn’t have a definitive answer.
‘‘Never say never, but I like the idea of continuing to work on stage and screen and bringing some of this legal knowledge to the table in that world,’’ he says.
‘‘Whether that might be by writing scripts set in the legal environment, or helping actors with parking tickets.’’
Since filming for Westside‘s third season finished earlier this year, Musgrove has divided his time between his tertiary studies and developing his play The Defendant. He’s also visited Los Angeles to take part in some writing courses.
‘‘Right now, I want to make world-class New Zealand television,’’ says Musgrove.
‘‘Explosive, inventive stories that really showcase what we can do on the small screen. For me, that means getting better at writing [and] developing concepts and producing material that competes with what I see produced in other countries.there’s a groundswell of people ready and able to make that happen.’’
Westside,
Three. 8.30pm, Mondays,