For Australia actress Phoebe Tonkin, who cut her teeth in fantasy shows like The Originals and The Vampire Diaries, preparing her role as young Gwen Reed in season two was about reviving the love story that was at the centre of the supernatural drama.
“At the end of season one, Gwen had made the decision that she was not going to cause any more pain and suffering to her husband; then we find out in the second season that she does end up taking another berry,” Phoebe told Mamamia while filming Bloom season two in Melbourne.
“This time around for Gwen it’s not so much about regret but wanting to experience this new surge of vitality and youth with the person she loves, and the struggle of wanting him to have the experience with her. It’s much harder than she anticipated.
“This season is about hope and also love, that’s the biggest thing for Gwen. I will also say Bryan Brown is a magical man, and I’ll be sad when the time comes to stop playing his wife.”
Jackson Heywood, best known for his portrayal of Brody Morgan in Home and Away, is one of the new additions to the Bloom season two lineup, a fact he used to his advantage while filming,
“As much as Bryan Brown is the icon that he is, he’s a larrikin in real life when you really meet him,” he told Mamamia. “The actual character of Ray, that I took from watching the first season a few times, is a very soft man and I wanted to capture that.
“Even though I’m playing a young Ray, not a young Bryan Brown, I still went and watched some of his movies from when he was my age, just to really study his mannerisms. But with the character of Ray, we learn that he’s come from a really rough upbringing; he’s had to be very happy-go-lucky to get through that.
“What I like about this season though, is that the stakes are higher because the berries are more intense and more people know about it. It’s a real look at how humans would behave if they were to find a miracle like this.
“To be honest, it’s been a really intense show to shoot, it’s very emotional. These are life-and-death scenes, high-stakes stuff. There’s a lot more conflict, there are action sequences.
“In the scene we were shooting today, I’m holding a real gun, and there is a weight to that, to be holding a real weapon, even though it’s all safe. But these are the scenes that you really want to see.
“I’m a newcomer to the cast and I used that to my advantage. My first scene with Phoebe is basically me coming in just blazing, and saying, ‘Here I am! Who are you?’ So that added to the day because Phoebe had no idea what kind of actor I am or how I would play it, and I used that to kind of mess with her a little bit. And it really worked for our characters.”
Other new additions to the Bloom season two lineup include veteran Australian actor Gary Sweet (House Husbands), Christiaan Van Vuuren (from Stan Original Series The Other Guy) and Neighbours star turned Hollywood actress Bella Heathcote.
Published April 18, 2020
by Laura Brodnik
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