The new Aussie action comedy series Sunny Nights enlists a couple of Hollywood heavyweights as its leads \u2013 but it\u2019s a homegrown hero who might garner the most buzz when the series debuts.<\/p>\n
NRL great Willie Mason makes his acting debut in the show, which debuts on Stan on Boxing Day. The eight-part series follow an American brother-sister duo, Martin (SNL legend Will Forte) and Vicki Marvin (The Good Place scene stealer D\u2019Arcy Carden), who relocate to Sydney to establish a spray tan business \u2013 but get themselves tangled up with all sorts of dodgy characters in the city\u2019s criminal underworld. <\/p>\n
Mason plays one of those characters, and when news.com.au visited the set in Western Sydney on a punishingly hot day late last year, we found the sporting legend still grappling with the reality of life as a working actor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even say a f**king word! Just: Get out of a car 18 times and walk to there,\u201d an incredulous Mason said after filming take after take of one brief scene. <\/p>\n
The 45-year-old said he\u2019d harboured no secret urges to try acting, and needed some convincing from director Trent O\u2019Donnell when a family friend on the production team suggested he could be a good fit to play underworld heavy Terry Torres. His initial response, he confessed, was to say no. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have any aspirations to be an actor until this landed in my lap. But it\u2019s not a small part, and I was touched by Trent having this vote of confidence in me \u2013 he really went out on a limb for me, and had to vouch for me over in the US,\u201d Mason said. <\/p>\n
He said it was O\u2019Donnell\u2019s belief in him that made him decide to give it a shot \u2013 and like any good pro athlete, if he was going to do it, he wanted to do it well. <\/p>\n
He credits fellow Kiwi, actress Rachel House, for making him feel comfortable in his acting debut. House also stars in Sunny Nights, and had become Mason\u2019s defacto acting teacher while they worked together. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s pretty blunt \u2026 that\u2019s the sort of demeanour that you need to have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He shared one example to demonstrate how much of a novice he was at on-set life: He\u2019d turned down several offers a coffee during his first days of filming, thinking it would require someone to make a special visit to a cafe just to fetch him a latte. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018I don\u2019t need a coffee that bad.\u2019 Without experience being on a set, you don\u2019t realise how it\u2019s all set up \u2013 there\u2019s a coffee machine right behind us,\u201d he said with a laugh. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I would be at the bottom of the pecking order as a newcomer, but everyone\u2019s been so nice.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mason\u2019s second-ever scene was alongside the show\u2019s two American leads, Forte and Corden, two bona fide TV comedy stars with a slew of Emmy, SAG and Critics\u2019 Choice Award nominations between them for past projects. He said there was no ego to be found in the US leads: \u201cGod damn, how nice and supportive can you be?\u201d <\/p>\n
Shortly after, I got my own audience with Forte and Carden and learned for myself what Mason was talking about. The pair appeared practically giddy at having been given the chance to relocate to Australia for several months of filming.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Travel] is such a fun part of our job. Not that it\u2019s easy, especially when you have two young kids like Will does. But travelling to Australia would normally be for like a week, and you try to fit everything in, and we\u2019ll be here for three months,\u201d said Carden.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is absolutely one of the best parts of this job. We just take it for granted and it\u2019s easy to complain about, but it\u2019s f**king great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other perk of this particular job: Forte and Carden were excited to work together for the first time. Both accomplished TV comedy performers, each with strong backgrounds in improv, the pair soon learned how strange it was their paths had never crossed before. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum lives about a one-and-half minute drive from where she grew up. Isn\u2019t that weird?\u201d said Forte.<\/p>\n
Carden said she and Forte had enough friends in common that she was able to do her homework and make sure she was committing to spending three months on the other side of the world with the right person. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I told people that I was going to Australia with Will, every single person, I heard zero bad things. Everybody said he was the best. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now,\u201d she said, turning to her co-star, \u201cworking with you, I could cry. People I really like, love and respect you – and now I know exactly why.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sunny Nights debuts on Stan on Boxing Day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new Aussie action comedy series Sunny Nights enlists a couple of Hollywood heavyweights as its leads \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[144927,209008,2095,209018,64,63,689,485,209007,209011,209021,209009,209006,1973,209010,761,762,673,209012,2041,2067,158,677,209005,209013,209017,209016,209015,33111,85,209020,670,209014,209022,2614,209023,209019,99735],"class_list":{"0":"post-390269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-acting-debut","9":"tag-action-comedy-series","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-american-brother-sister-duo","12":"tag-au","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","15":"tag-california","16":"tag-coffee-order","17":"tag-comedy-stars","18":"tag-comic-actors","19":"tag-defacto-acting-teacher","20":"tag-family-friend","21":"tag-hollywood","22":"tag-king-word","23":"tag-national-rugby-league","24":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","25":"tag-new-south-wales","26":"tag-nick-bond","27":"tag-north-america","28":"tag-northern-america","29":"tag-nrl","30":"tag-oceania","31":"tag-phone-messaging","32":"tag-production-team","33":"tag-rachel-house","34":"tag-real-people","35":"tag-scene-stealer","36":"tag-single-person","37":"tag-sports","38":"tag-spray-tan-business","39":"tag-sydney","40":"tag-terry-torres","41":"tag-trent-odonnell","42":"tag-united-states-of-america","43":"tag-vicki-marvin","44":"tag-will-forte","45":"tag-willie-mason"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}