Seasoned actor Ben Miller reveals how working alongside star Michael Theo is not easy when he’s such a natural.
Ben Miller chuckles down the line, sitting in the sun in Devon, as he reflects back on Season Two of ABC comedy Austin.
It’s clear the writers have had fun playing with Austin‘s (Michael Theo’s) growing confidence and his very own publishing deal. Be careful what you wish for.
“Austin sort of breaks bad in season two,” says Miller. “It kind of goes to his head a bit, and he becomes a bit of a knob.
“I’ve gotta say, Michael did that brilliantly. He wasn’t very happy with his clothes or his hair style because it’s not how he would choose to dress or behave. So it was really fun to see him do that.
“It’s hilarious seeing Austin disappear up his own fundament.”
When Miller was first pitched the idea of a scripted comedy with Love on the Spectrum‘s Michael Theo, by creator / director Darren Ashton, he was intrigued. The intial concept would suggest Theo’s character turning up to Miller unannounced on the set of Bridgerton, claiming to be his son.
While the premise shifted Miller still had one question he needed answered.
“I’d seen Michael in Love on the Spectrum, and I just thought he was the most fascinating character and clearly had his own feel for comedy. So my question was more angled towards, ‘Do you think he’s interested in acting? Do you think he has any talent as an actor? Can we find out? Because I’d love to work with him,’” he recalls.
“It turns out he’s a better actor than any of us!
“He’d gotten an awful lot of his own courage from watching animations and movies. Stories on screen meant probably even more to him than they did to us, and they mean a lot to us. So, it was a long process from then, because you can’t just throw someone into a lead part. We had to get Michael some acting training.”
But even for the seasoned Miller, whose lengthy credits include The Armstrong & Miller Show, Professor T, Johnny English, Paddington and Death in Paradise, acting alongside Theo is sometimes a challenge.
“It became apparent really quickly that he was incredibly talented as an actor. He’s quite hard to act against!” he explains.
“The whole thing was a huge risk, and that was what was one of the really exciting things about it, but he’s so natural and so good. There are kind of tricks of acting. He doesn’t really use those. He uses the truth. So it’s quite hard to act against.”
Filming in both Australia and the UK, Austin also incorporates writers and crew with lived experience of autism and neurodivergence. Theo is also credited as script consultant.
“Being a job is a good enough reason to want to be involved but we wanted to be a bit more neurodiverse on the crew as well. And that was really fantastic. It’s funny what you say about educating people about neuro diversity, because at the same time, you don’t want to be preachy,” Miller insists.
“What I like about Austin is anything you learn about neurodiversity, you really sort of learn through Michael himself. Like we all do on set. It’s funny, my character hasn’t really learned diversity at all, and that’s quite fun as well. You know, not every character is singing from the same hymn sheet in the story. I find that quite refreshing. I wouldn’t want it to feel worthy. I think if it felt worthy, people would suss that straight away. I think people have got a really good nose for what’s authentic.
“The idea of the story is to bring us more and more into Austin‘s viewpoint. So we start in the other characters’ viewpoints out of necessity, really. We get to know them first, and then we get to know Austin, and then the longer the show goes on, the more it becomes Austin‘s view.”
Performing alongside Sally Phillips, Gia Carides, Roy Billing and Ellie McKay, Miller enjoys the contrast to some of his more recent dramatic roles.
“If you’ve got a long view of what you’re doing, you want to work with as many brilliant people and do as many different things as you can,” he says.
“I’ve got to be really invested in what I’m doing, and in Austin that’s definitely been the case, because the whole thing started with kicking an idea around with Darren. It’s wonderful that it’s ended up becoming a show. Often those things don’t go anywhere.
“What I’m less good at is just being an actor for hire, but then sometimes you’re working with such amazing people or the story is so interesting that it brings some that brings something else.
“It’s about the people, isn’t it? God, I wish there was a simple thing you could say…I’ve never really found a rule to work by that has been borne true. As things have gone on, I’m kind of muddling through and I’m trying to do things that where I feel I can contribute something. I suppose that that’s what it is, and where I’ll learn something.
“I was trying to get parts in dramas and ended up being in Professor T, which I’m really, proud of. It’s a very interesting crime drama with a very, very complex character and fascinating to do. I learned a lot about psychology and criminology. And then I thought, ‘Why have I not done any comedy for so long?’ You feel the urge to do the opposite thing.
“That’s what’s been nice with Austin. I go back to pure comedy, where your only aim really is to try and make people laugh. And I really, really love that.”
Austin screens 7:30pm Sundays on ABC.