“There are a lot of American movies about soldiers that have come back from the war and we do forget that there are a lot of Australians that also came back and are dealing with the effects of PTSD,” Phoebe Tonkin tells me of her new Stan Original Film Transfusion.
The local legend plays a pivotal role in yet another Stan OG after previously playing Gwen in both seasons of Stan’s award-winning series Bloom.
In her latest role, Phoebe portrays the deceased wife of a troubled veteran (played by Sam Worthington) suffering from trauma and PTSD after retiring from the Special Air Service regiment (SAS) of the Australian Army.
The film stars Phoebe and Sam along with Matt Nable who also serves as writer and director.
Before the film lands on Stan on January 20, I jumped on a Zoom chat with Phoebe to discuss the “powerful, beautiful and tragic” new film along with method acting, her friendship with Lara Worthington and filming Down Under.
Hey Phoebe! So great to chat to you again. Transfusion is such a heavy movie, what drew you to this project?
Hey! I thought it was a really interesting portrayal of grief and pain. I thought it was a unique Australian story, seeing this very strong male figure be really, really vulnerable. And I think that vulnerability is incredibly powerful and not necessarily always seen, especially in Australian cinema.
I was drawn to playing Justine because I thought the idea of this great loss and the pain and guilt that then trickled down into both my husband and my son was really powerful. And I just was really excited to work with Matt Nable. I think he’s incredibly talented as an actor. I think his performance in this is extraordinary, as is Sam Worthington’s.
