Australia’s Mark Davis charms in witty romantic comedy

For Australia’s Mark Davis, acting means constantly exploring. Every role requires research into humanity and discovering a new aspect of himself. No matter the character he is portraying, he aims to constantly convey their own personal truth, and in doing so, he learns something. That is why Davis loves acting, and it is why he is such an in-demand actor both in his home country and abroad.

Davis’ career has been filled with success, and although he has excelled on stage and on screen, he is most passionate about filmmaking. His work on films such as I Want You and Topdecked exemplify just what a talented actor he truly is. No matter the genre, he excels.

“I use my personal emotions, physicality and ingenuity to embody people who are not me. I take day trips in someone else’s shoes, and even when it’s challenging, I have fun in the process,” he said.

One of Davis’ most decorated projects on his impressive resume is the 2016 romantic comedy Lucy. The film tells the story of a woman named Lucy, who lives down the street from Simon Corbin, and is convinced he’s the man for her. The only problem is, she’s never spoken to him, and she’s not quite sure he knows she exists… or that he’s even single. Despite all of this, Lucy knows that Simon must be her soul mate. Therefore, coming up with a perfect plan, she prepares to erase any problems in her way with a single masterstroke. However, when Lucy’s brilliant idea doesn’t exactly go to plan, she realizes that desperate times call for desperate measures. After creating an ‘emergency’ and luring Simon into her home, Lucy knows that it’s just a matter of time before he asks her out on the perfect date. Simon, wary but intrigued, soon finds himself embroiled in a situation that he doesn’t know how to get out of, and it slowly dawns on him that the girl next door isn’t exactly as she seems.

“Lucy is a female character driven story. It explores the insecurities of young people trying to connect, in a satirical way. In a world where online interaction is now how people meet and seek each other out our story uses similar ways of approaching people but done face to face. People are not always who they pretend to be, we always present ourselves in the best light, we brand ourselves well and sometimes our actions are not always sincere. Lucy explores just that,” said Davis. In the film, Davis plays Simon, the counterpoint to Lucy’s bizarre character. To add to the comedy of the script, Davis chose to underplay the character, using dry wit to keep the balance of Lucy’s crazy tendencies. “It was fun playing a character like Simon, who is dry but charming. I’m actually a bit shy in person, but I enjoy playing the confidence of certain characters,” said Davis.

One of the pivotal moments in the film for Davis was when his character sustains a serious head injury. Not only did Davis have to show his pain in a realistic fashion, the character also gets amnesia, and Davis used his seasoned acting techniques to authentically portray such a condition.

“As the male lead, I used charm and charisma to politely resist my co-star’s advances,” he described.

Davis’ commitment to his role led Lucy to tremendous success at many prestigious international film festivals. It played at the Mornington Peninsula Short Film Festival where it won the Audience Choice Award and Tawni Bryant, who played the title character, won Best Actress. It went on to win Audience Choice at Fresh Flix in Sydney and played at the Perth Film Festival. On top of this, Lucy was shortlisted for the celebrated Tropfest Film Festival.

“It’s still inspiring to me that our film did so well. It’s when the ideas boom that things like this take off. Knowing the audience loved the film is a big one as it also had broad appeal and did very well,” said Davis.

Davis was initially approached to be in the film by Bryant after she saw the actor in a play. Davis, knowing of Bryant’s work, jumped at the opportunity to work alongside her. The two formed a great relationship on set, which made shooting easy and enjoyable for Bryant.

“We had a lot of fun filming this. The crew were all amazing and we had good banter. It should be in every contract that the set must have good banter,” he joked.

Be sure to check out Davis’ latest film, Fallen, which will be released later this year.

Written by Sara Fowler