Luke Arnold lands iconic rock star and pirate roles

ARNOLD. Portrays Michael Hutchence in “Never Tear Us Apart.” Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

LOS ANGELES—A lucky actor lands two iconic roles—the late rock star Michael Hutchence and one of the most famous pirates in literature. Luke Arnold, yet one more Australian actor making his mark, stars as INXS’ frontman in “Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS” and John Silver in “Black Sails,” Michael Bay’s TV adventure-drama series being shot in Cape Town, South Africa.

“This is the story of INXS,” said Luke of “Never Tear Us…,” a two-part TV miniseries to be aired next year, in a recent interview at London’s The May Fair Hotel. With his long, curly hair and goatee, and black shirt and jeans, Luke looks the part of a rock icon.

“It’s not a Michael Hutchence biopic,” Luke clarified. Michael, the mercurial lead singer, lyricist and founding member of the band known for such hits as “New Sensation” and “What You Need,” was found dead in a Sydney hotel room in 1997. “It’s the story of the band, from their meeting in high school. Obviously, Michael plays a big part in that. It’s a fun story to begin with, this group of mates taking on the world and winning. Then, the prices of achieving those goals come out as the story unfolds.”

Luke, who was awarded runner-up of the 2011 Australians in Film Heath Ledger Scholarship, said, “I had always hoped this role would come up, and that I would have a chance to play it. When I heard that this was actually happening, I started sending tapes in.”

He does the actual singing in the miniseries. “I am musical myself, but I always had a real phobia about singing in front of people. Luckily, I played another role in Australia, where I had to sing in the audition. I got the role, and I sang on the show, ‘Winners & Losers.’ I started getting more confident. I have been working in the last few years to bring that (singing) into my repertoire as an actor.”

Favorite day

On what was it like for him to shoot the first musical scene, Luke answered, “We open the show with the Wembley concert in 1991, which was the height of their career on the INXS tour. It’s on the ‘Live Baby Live’ DVD. It’s a real tossup whether that day shooting that (opening scene) and this one scene in ‘Black Sails’ is my favorite day ever as an actor. We did three numbers from the Wembley concert. We used archival footage and mixed that with the live footage we shot.”

Luke revealed that the miniseries covers Michael’s final day. “We take the film to the end of Michael’s life. No one knows what really happened in the end. We know certain things about phone calls made and meetings, but no one knows what happened in those final hours—except Michael. The writers handled it well, as well as Daina Reid, the director.”

Luke remarked that he doesn’t plan to try for the Hutchence part in “Michael,” a biopic by Richard Lowenstein who directed some of the band’s seminal music videos.

A third INXS-themed project, “Two Worlds Colliding,” is reportedly being planned by Michael’s mother and sister, Patricia Glassop and Tina Hutchence, respectively, to be based on their book, “Just A Man—The Real Michael Hutchence.”

Expertise

Luke gets to use his swordsman expertise as a sailor turned pirate recruit in “Black Sails,” which is set in 1715, when the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean was at its height. Toby Stephens (Captain Flint) and Hannah New (Eleanor Guthrie) co-star.

Of the series’ raunchy element—the first season opens with an orgy—Luke smiled as he said, “The beauty of Silver in Episode One is that, the audience is seeing the world through his eyes. He is being introduced to this world, and all the good and bad that comes with that. The audience gets to see that, as well. In Episode Two, there’s a bit of wish fulfillment. That scene in the brothel is a great introduction.

“Then, the brutality starts to be witnessed by the end of the episode. We start to see the reality of what it is to live in that world that’s outside the rules, keeping everyone else in England and the rest of the world at bay.”

Luke is grateful for his break in “Black Sails,” which will premiere next year, but has already picked up to run until 2015. “It’s pretty amazing,” he said. “When you are a kid, and you have that first idea of becoming an actor, these are the kinds of roles you hope for. But, for so many years, you play someone who is accused of killing his wife on a cop show and that stuff. When the pirate role came along, I was over the moon!”

With his burgeoning career, Luke said that the woman to share this phase in his life “would have to be someone special—someone who would be flexible with me, living in Cape Town for six months of the year, traveling the other six months, and being focused on the job.”

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