NAKED AMBITION
Collete's intimate encounters in 'Wanderlust'
Big-screen staple Toni Collette doesn’t do much TV — so it’s surprising that “Wander
lust,” in which she plays a middle-aged woman exploring her sexuality, was called the BBC’s “most Xrated drama ever” when it premiered in the UK.
“True, I’ve only had a handful of TV jobs,” Collette, 45, tells The Post. “[‘Wanderlust’] is unusual and original and warm and funny and painfully honest.
“When I first read it, I had that rare, soulful feeling of having to do it.”
The racy six-episode series (now on Netflix) was created by playwright Nick Payne (Broadway’s “Constellations,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson). It follows Joy (Collette) and Alan (Steven Mackintosh), a married, middle-aged couple who decide to spice things up by striking up relationships with separate lovers — even as they stay together. The series was filmed in “sunny Manchester,” Collette jokes.
“I think the sun came out three times over my four months there. I didn’t mind. I was having the time of my life,” she says. “Great great people, surprisingly good food. You always find your routine and haunts in every new location. I totally loved it. It has grit and spirit.”
Collette, who’s Australian and lives in Sydney with her children and musician husband Dave Galafassi, adopts an English accent for her role as Joy.
“It wasn’t modeled on anyone in particular,” she says. “And it isn’t a British accent I’ve done before. I didn’t think about it much ...”
While Collette’s on-screen resume is varied, many of her projects do feature the theme of dysfunctional families (“Little Miss Sunshine,” “Hereditary”).
“Nobody is normal. Normalcy is a myth,” she says. “I’m not interested in perpetuating the myth. I think it’s more exciting to see something true and idiosyncratic on screen.”
“Wanderlust” is certainly idiosyncratic. One British viewer tweeted, “My windows are open, my neighbours must think I’m watching porn, with the moaning & groaning in #wanderlust bbc.”
But, Collette says, “It’s too easy to focus on sex. It’s the shiny, instantly gratifying issue that most people blame or complain about.” She says she enjoys the role on a more psychological level. “The story goes much deeper. There is so much behind all this sexy surface activity.
“The story is more about grief and control. It’s about freeing yourself from your past in order to live an authentic and fulfilling life.
“It’s about your relationship with yourself just as much as others.”