BEN FELDMAN
FILMING A SERIES IN REMOTE AUSTRALIA WAS A NO BRAINER
In Population: 11, American actor Ben Feldman plays Andy, a suburban bank teller from Ohio who arrives in a tiny outback town to nd his father. He talks to WHO about shooting Down Under, why this is his dream role, plus what he and the crew got up to after hours.
Why did you take on the role of Andy?
Oh gosh, I needed the money, I was bored … no I loved the script! The script was perfect and it was everything that I wanted to do and exactly the kind of show I was looking to do. I described what a dream project would be a few months prior … this was all the things I described.
What was it like lming in the Kimberley Region?
It’s why you do this kind of a job and why you become an actor. You get to go to places that you could never imagine going to, that no-one knows anything about. It’s beautiful, it’s stunning, it’s dramatic, it’s dark, it can be creepy – it’s what the show is, and it needed to be shot there.
What are some common misconceptions Americans might have about Australians?
I expected everyone to be pretty cool, laid-back, funny and all the things they kind of were. I will say, that each and every Australian at some point came up to me during
lming and said, “Mate I’m so glad you’re not an a--hole, we were all terri ed.” It makes me wonder what: A. Australians think about Americans, or B: how poorly behaved we’ve been in this country in the past.
Any funny stories from the set?
There was a lot! Most of them I can’t talk about on camera because they were real cancell-ey. It was just the funniest, craziest people, you know, getting claustrophobia for three months in what felt like the middle of nowhere to us. It was a lot of fun and a lot of drinking.
(Population: 11 is streaming on Stan)