In fighting form
On The Ropes is a new drama set in the world of a boxing club in Sydney. Actor Louis Hunter stars as a fighter in the show and tells DANIELLE MCGRANE what it was like taking on this challenging role.
There were a few reasons why Louis Hunter decided he wanted to be in new Australian drama On The Ropes.
For the Australian actor, it was a great excuse to come home from Los Angeles and to catch up on what he sees as a thriving local industry.
“I hadn’t been back to Australia to film for a very long period of time, and it’s so amazing and so impressive to see how much the Australian TV market has grown and become more sophisticated,” Hunter said.
“Not that long ago if you were in America or England or anywhere internationally, there were two shows you knew of, Home and Away and
Neighbours and not much else. But now there’s so much going on in TV land.”
Hunter is wise to keep an eye on TV considering it’s been good to him. He’s currently starring as the lead Paris in the Netflix/BBC miniseries, Troy: The Fall
of a City, so he knows what he’s talking about.
But he had other reasons to be a part of this new show as he gets to play out his fantasy of being a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.
“I’m a huge combat sport enthusiast. Anything to do with jujitsu, kick boxing, boxing MMA, you name it I love it, so that aspect of the show really excited me,” he said. “I’d done a bit of boxing and karate when I was younger, but then more recently when I moved to Los Angeles I took up some kick boxing and I love it. I think it’s beautiful.”
In On The Ropes, Hunter plays Lachy O’Leary, an MMA fighter turned boxer in the show who tackles the misogyny of the sport through the experiences of female trainer Amirah, played by Nicole Chamoun.
Even though the show has this deeper message, Hunter realises people may have a preconceived notion of what these sports are all about.
“Mixed martial arts is a form of art to me. Yes it can be violent and yes it can be bloody and that turns people off and I get it, I totally understand, but if you go deeper, past the flesh and surface images you get from sport, it really is a very spiritual experience,” he said.
“I relate it to a lot of areas in life and I think it can help with self-discipline and selfactualisation and pushing through certain barriers, and it can be helpful when you apply it to acting as well.”
By playing a boxer, Hunter joins in a long list of greats, including Robert De Niro and Daniel Day-Lewis, who have all gotten into a ring for a role.
“Tarantino said violence is cinematic and as much as people wince at that statement, there is some truth to that, so there is something inherently dramatic about a fight,” he said.
“It’s so easy to see a fight as a metaphor for life: whether it’s a fight against yourself or a fight against culture.”
On The Ropes delves into more than just the boxing. It looks at the misogyny that the character Amirah faces, and also the complex cultural issues she’s dealing with at home coming from a migrant family.
“She’s working in this hyper-masculine, male-dominated world, which is very much a metaphor for what she’s going up against in her culture and her religion,” Hunter said.
“What she comes up against in the boxing world and in the world of Islam is a real challenge. She forms a beautiful coalition of friends and comrades and they become her family and they become the soldiers who help her fight those challenges and that’s really beautiful.”
The show also stars legendary Australian actor Jack Thompson and Game of Thrones star Keisha CastleHughes, along with quite a few new faces.
“It was great to see the young ones coming up because they were me 10 years ago. I enjoyed getting to pass on my nuggets of wisdom to them,” he said. n On The Ropes Wednesday, 8.30pm on SBS