He Ain’t Heavy follows 30-year-old Jade (Leila George) who has sacrificed the better part of her life to rescue her little brother Max (Sam Corlett) from drug addiction.
In desperation, unbeknownst to their ever-forgiving mother Bev (Greta Scacchi) Jade locks Max inside their vacant rural home in an attempt to “get him clean’. But when Bev arrives, a shocking discovery leads them all to reevaluate their own lives.
A film about drug addiction, but greater than that it explores the emotional toll of love, presenting a gripping drama, urging viewers to experience Jade’s desperation and panic. Asking the question, how far would you go to save someone you love? He Ain’t Heavy is a “confronting, oft-harrowing drama that surpasses the intimacy of its setting and miniature ensemble with its brutal mindset.” (You can read our full review here).
As the film arrives in Australian theatres, Peter Gray spoke with star Sam Corlett about the emotional and physical toll this role took on him, finding the light in his character’s darkness, and what he’s learned about himself as an actor across his career thus far.
I watched this film, and, man, this is a performance! Absolutely phenomenal. I can’t imagine the emotional preparation this takes. When it came to authentically portraying the emotion and the physicality of an addict, what does that process look like? This is such a full-bodied performance from you.
Thank you, man. I actually got emotional from you saying that. I suppose knowing where the story came from. Knowing that it’s from real life, and seeing that it very much mirrored my mum’s relationship with my uncle. We’re actually doing a screening at the cinemas near where I grew up, and they happen to be right next to where we spread my uncle’s ashes. He ended up on the streets. Addiction, unfortunately, became a big part of his life.
Essentially, when I read this script, there were things that very much mirrored my life. Things I’d seen and heard. And there was nothing I wasn’t willing to do to honour this person. I’ve always had a spiritual connection, in a way, to my uncle. Every time I picked up a guitar, my mum would say I had his hands. I knew that the light that existed in (my character) Max’s life was so bright and cheeky and charming, and it was just shrouded in these levels of trauma, levels of trying to be understood, not knowing where to place his energy, and ending up down this rabbit hole.
The physical prep was losing weight. I went from 92kgs to 66 (kgs). I just finished season three of Vikings, and then I had to get ready for this, and having that as a structural thing was really helpful for everything else. Then it was the psychology and the kind of nature of talking to people that I met on the streets, and I watched as much as I could, read as much as I could, (and) I had already done a fair bit of research with a coach a few years prior, who was Bradley Cooper’s coach, and I actually took the role that Heath Ledger played in Candy to this coach and I explored that at drama school. This world kind of felt familiar already.
One of the great things about Max is that you can see that cheekiness and light shine through. You’re always on his side, even though he’s doing these monstrous things. What was one of the biggest challenges for you in bringing the intensity, but maintaining that dynamic of being someone we understand?
It’s cool that you said that you’re on his side, because I’m not sure if a lot of society would say that. I always put the whole script out on the wall and, I think because I’ve done theatre training, you’re aware of A to Z, and even out of order, and have an understanding of the whole curation of the story. We were lucky to shoot in chronological order, so because it was pretty much one location we were able to ton up and down the dial depending on how the last day went. And there were scenes that we may have projected, may have been in the height of an argument or high energy that ended up being the most subtle. There’s such love between the brother and sister, and I think this script was really clear and everyone was in it for the right reasons. Even if we strayed from the script, we were embedded in it.
As you mentioned before about playing the guitar, obviously we have Max playing one in the film. Was that always a character element? Or did you inject that?
There was an always an element of singing a song, in some way. My little sister and I would actually sing together, so I definitely brought that. David (Vincent Smith, director) was so open to collaborate and new ideas. There were a lot of nuances that I brought, and I got to design all (Max’s) tattoos, which all had sentimental meanings. After Vikings I tried to make it like a ritual with tattoos. And then with the final moment and the scene with the glass, I was pretty adamant how I felt like that should be told, and David entertained it, and me and Leila (George) played with a few different versions of that. It was independent and universal, and we all connected with it.
And with Leila, the chemistry you two have is incredible. Was there a lot of time getting to know each other? Or learning each other’s quirks?
Yeah, we became so tight. Lails and I have the same sensibility when it comes to the work. We’re willing to go where we need to go in order to honour the story. We knew the power of this story. Often, if we’re fortunate, films block out like a week of rehearsals, and for this rehearsal, we would imagine our characters as kids. I’m friends with Angus and Julia Stone, and in the film we hear that (our characters’) dream was to play a music festival, so we were able to watch Angus and Julia play, and then on Monday go to work and explore this “reality.” She’s awesome. She’s phenomenal.
Have you taken lessons away from your work so far? Anything you’ve learnt so far as an actor?
Oh, without a doubt. I think having done Vikings for so long, I really recognized not putting borders on a character affect my life. With (He Ain’t Heavy), I was very strict with ritual. I had two Bon Iver songs that I listened to in the morning and afternoon, and I would tell myself that I needed to lay down and just listen. Take a moment to breathe before you go into normal banter. That was something I really took away. I feel like characters tend to find me in a time of my life that I need to explore something deeply. I think the reason I was so enthusiastic about Max is that I had some things in my own life that I needed to express and come to terms with and understand. Therefore, it became quite a cathartic experience. Not that I promote acting as therapy, but any art comes from a personal place. Max gifted me the understanding of humanity and myself.
He Ain’t Heavy is now screening in select Australian theatres.
