‘I WAS INSPIRED BY KEL KNIGHT!’
Magda Szubanski looked to Fountain Lakes to bring her new role to life
For Magda Szubanski, signing on to Nine’s new gripping jury drama After The Verdict was a no-brainer. “When someone asks you, ‘Do you want to play a Polish lesbian butcher?’ the answer is always, ‘Yes, yes I do,’” she laughs to Woman’s Day.
“But it was hard work. I had to take butchering lessons – that’s a dangerous job!”
The beloved actress, 61, also credits the show’s undercurrent of marriage equality as a major deciding factor to take the role of Margie.
“It’s one of the first Australian shows on mainstream TV to feature an openly lesbian couple and cover their normal relationship,” she says. “We were quite shocked when we learned that. But that’s what I loved about this story. If you had told me when I was in high school that I’d be an actress playing a character who is planning her wedding to her girlfriend, my mind would just explode.
“We’ve come on leaps and bounds now, but it’s still so important to have these types of characters on TV.”
But it wasn’t all serious, Magda adds, revealing that the chemistry between her and the cast, which features Michelle Lim Davidson and Sullivan Stapleton, was unlike anything she’s experienced, particularly with a certain Hollywood heartthrob.
“Oh, I love Lincoln [Younes], but he drives me crazy,” she laughs. “He’s like a little brother.”
The star also revealed that she “absolutely” looked to Fountain Lakes’ very own purveyor of fine meats, Kel Knight, for inspiration with her character, which may have been fresh in her mind, given that Magda has been filming a much-hyped reunion special at the same time.
“I can’t tell any details, but I think it’s the perfect amount, it’s not too much, it’s a bit of fun,” she says of the Kath & Kim special. “We had a lot of laughs and hopefully that’s a good sign,” says Magda. “It was really fun to be all together again.”
AFTER THE VERDICT airs Wednesday, 8.45pm, Nine & 9Now