‘There’s something fundamentally wrong with young men…that they gravitate to war, that they gravitate to violence, that they gravitate to self destruction…I’ve always felt compelled to wrestle with that.’

In this wide-ranging conversation, writer, director and performer Thomas M Wright talks to Alison Croggon about his new film Acute Misfortune, his background as a theatre artist as one of the founding members of Black Lung during the Australian theatre renaissance of the early Noughties, the construction of masculinity and what’s wrong with maleness today, and the formal conventions of film.

Thomas M Wright came to international notice when he was cast in Jane Campion’s series The Top of the Lake and has starred in many series and film since. His most recent film Acute Misfortune, which he directed and co-wrote, is a biopic about the controversial visual artist Adam Cullen, explores the destructive masculinity that runs through Australian culture. Based on the biography by journalist Erik Jensen, it won the Age Critics Prize at the Melbourne International Film Festival and is now showing in cinemas Australia-wide.

Further reading

Lauren Carroll-Harris in Kill Your Darlings on Acute Misfortune

Alison Croggon on Oscar Redding’s Hamlet

Alison Croggon on Black Lung’s Avast

You can subscribe to Witness podcasts through iTunes or an RSS feed. Click here for instructions on how to subscribe.