Boomer’s OK:
Wentworth actor weathers some tough times.
The final episode of Wentworth’s previous season was shocking – particularly for Boomer. Not only was her mother May (Anni Finsterer) murdered by evil prison guard Sean Brody (Rick Donald) but she made the controversial decision to kill her best friend Liz (Celia Ireland) by smothering her with a pillow.
Viewers will recall that Liz, who was suffering from dementia, had previously requested that Boomer end her life should her health deteriorate.
Fans of the show will no doubt have many questions about what will happen this season but one thing is certain – Boomer, who has been charged with manslaughter, won’t be leaving prison any time soon.
“I actually think Boomer is in prison for life now after what happened with Liz,” says Katrina Milosevic, who plays Boomer.
“I don’t actually hold out much hope. I think in that moment when she smothered Liz, she knew that she was giving up any chance she had of getting out.
“But you know what? I actually think that’s OK. She knows how prison works and she knows that’s as much as she can cope with.
“She did get out on parole and it didn’t go so well. I think she’s not happy to be here but accepts it. She doesn’t dwell on it. This is what it is – and that’s her lot in life.”
Milosevic says her character was nicknamed ‘Boomer’ because of an inability to stay out of jail.
“You throw her out of prison but
“She knows how prison works and she knows that’s as much as she can cope with.” – Katrina Milosevic
she comes back again, like a boomerang,” Milosevic says. To play Boomer, the actress usually wears a baggy blue tracksuit and unflattering hairstyles and make-up. While working in a tracksuit sounds comfortable, you can’t help but wonder if years of dressing like a prison inmate takes its toll. “I think about it all the time because I’m actually quite a girly girl,” says Milosevic. “I’m obsessed with makeup and skin products and hair products. It’s ridiculous, it’s pathetic, but that’s me. “But Boomer is the complete opposite. She barely has a shower. “So it’s actually quite confronting for me, especially when there’s new people coming into work who are meeting me for the first time. “I am so sensitive to what they are seeing and what they might think and so it’s quite confronting. I get a little bit shy and embarrassed. “But then I feel completely free when I’m on set in the scenes because I know I don’t have to worry about what I look like. “There is no vanity there at all and the worse I look the better. But then it’s just when they call ‘Cut’ and I have to walk around like that all day.” Wentworth viewers will know that Boomer is a complex character who has a fiery temper and is not afraid to use physical force. So how does Milosevic get inside Boomer’s head? “It used to be that I’d have to think about what would I do and then do the complete opposite,” she says.
“But now it just sort of becomes a bit second nature. The thing is, Boomer is growing up. She’s maturing a lot over the series. That presents another challenge because I sort of had to think, ‘What are the moments when she’s rising above what she used to do? And what are the moments when she regresses?’ So it’s just trying to do that homework before I get to set and then really just seeing how things play out on the day.”
Milosevic has been with Wentworth since its first season and these days her partner is part of the production crew. But no, they didn’t meet via the television industry.
“We actually met 21 years ago,” says Milosevic. “He was a waiter at a cafe and I’d just moved to Melbourne from Sydney. I didn’t know anyone or anywhere and I walked into this cafe.
“I was an avid diary writer. I used to keep a diary and every day I’d write in my diary. I was writing in the diary, sitting in this cafe and I saw this guy and he was so lovely to me. I thought he was really cute so I wrote it all down. That was Rodney, my partner.
“We went on a couple of dates and it didn’t work out. He went off and did his thing. I went off and did my thing.
“And then 10 years ago, he sort of got in touch again and here we are. I feel very lucky. He’s a good man.”