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This
story is printed by kind permission of Pol Publications, Vive Magazine.
This article is for one usage only and cannot be reproduced without
author's written permission.
Sigrid Thornton
by
Lisa
Dethridge
Page
2
At industry gatherings and parties, Tom will toss a loud joke at
the most poignant moment of the proceedings. At the most decorous
dinner parties, he is guaranteed to push the envelope of polite
discourse with a cheeky one-liner. While Tom wreaks havoc, Sigrid
usually smiles indulgently, serene as ever, as if he were a unruly
child. To the outside world, they present an anomaly; a tricky duo
of good cop-bad cop. Tom acts out all his naughty impulses while
she plays it straight. "Tom as bad cop?" Sigrid considers
with a slow smile, I'd never attempt to put him in a nutshell but
yes, he's tremendously mischievous and boyish... I don't know if
I'm the good cop; otherwise I'd never get up to any hi-jinks.
Thornton presents a polished public persona of sophisticated refinement
and ladylike good manners but privately, she matches her husband
for wit and irreverence. At a recent gal-pal bash for Deborah-Lee
Furness, Thornton reduced several of Australia's top actresses,
including Rebecca Gibney and Kerry Armstrong, to tears. The whole
room was squealing in response to her very spicy, uncensored rendition
of the old "lobster" gag by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
Hardly the deportment, Thornton's ABC audience might expect. Thornton
breaks into a hearty belly-laugh along with everyone else. She's
illuminated by the kind of glow we all recognise and hope to attain;
the kind of glow you can't apply from a bottle - success, after
all, is a great tonic.
As star of Sea Change, Thornton portrays a prickly working mother
whose career and marriage collide. She's a slick city lawyer who
ditches her faithless husband, moves to the beach, takes up a new
career as local magistrate and tries to repair relations with her
children. It's a no-holds-barred glimpse at what Thornton calls
"the juggle;" the struggle to balance the rigours of marriage
and parenthood with the demands of a career. Her juggling secret?
"Some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you."
In reality, the pressures on Thornton's are comparable to those
of her on-screen character. Her shooting schedule - five fourteen
hour days a week - would be enough to give anyone a breakdown, especially
when caring for two school-age children. To cope with the stress,
she's had to totally reorganise her household; bring in a nanny
and put her personal life on hold.
Being the star of a long-running series is more than an artistic
responsibility; there's a business and a management angle involved
too. So many hopes - of producer, cast and crew - are riding on
the shoulders of the star, who is artistic lynch-pin of the operation.
While the popular perception of TV stardom is all glamour and glitz,
the job involves huge stress factors; with the key actor having
to perform consistently well over a long period under extraordinary
pressure. It requires immense focus, to envisage, develop and sustain
a character over a period of months. Thornton is characteristically
sanguine about this aspect of the job, "Fortunately I've been
in the industry long enough to really pace myself. I don't have
a sense of huge responsibility. I try to set a tone that's positive
and optimistic and egalitarian; to inject fun into the work and
into the people around me."
Thornton's biggest luxury right now is artistic. She loves the
huge scope provided by a twenty-six episode dramatic framework.
"When shooting a feature, your approach to a role has to be
concentrated into a short period. A TV series presents a very big
artistic canvas; you don't have to say it all at once and can be
more realistic, so the audience has to really get to know the character."
"I'm very lucky because I've always played strong women,"
a quality she ascribes to the influence of her mother. Thornton
spent two years in England as a child, then a year in New Zealand
before her family settled back in Brisbane and she joined a youth
theatre training program. "I checked in briefly at Uni but
left when offered an acting job in Melbourne. I grew up in a high-powered
intellectual environment. My mother taught women's studies and was
a staunch feminist before the word was bandied- around. She chained
herself to the bar of a city pub in Brisbane to protest the ban
on women's entry. This actually resulted in women being allowed
to drink in public bars. Back in the bra-burning days, I was taken
to Women's Lib meetings. Our whole family were arrested during the
anti-Vietnam demonstrations. I spent the night in Brisbane watchtower
with mum. It was a very lively childhood."
The story of Thornton's mother makes a lot of sense. A little of
that stubborn; forthright and righteous female strength comes across
in both Thornton's on and off-screen personae. In Sea Change, Thornton's
wiry magistrate/mum snarls at her children like an impatient tigress
and then stops herself; recognising the insecurity that drives her
anger. A lesser actress attempting the same scene but not "reading
between the lines" as Thornton puts it, may come across as
simply bitchy and harsh. It's this feminine ambiguity and subtlety
that comes across in Thornton's performance; endearing her to the
audience; connecting us to ourselves.
Some show-biz show-ponies demand limousines to protect their sensitive
auras. Thornton however is a woman with her ego in check. She is
approachable and no-nonsense. Predictably, we're interrupted at
lunch by admirers who want to say "hi." She treats each
with grace and good humour; the first distinguishing mark of a theatrical
thoroughbred.
Thornton knows how to maintain herself but not at the expense of
her personal life, "Glamour is an adjunct to my work; not an
end in itself. It's a part of my life but I don't hanker after it.
I didn't become a performer for that. I can be enormously disciplined
for periods but I'm too practical to spend twenty minutes on skincare
or blow-drying my hair each day. I try to keep everything very simple.
It's the same with wardrobe; I need something I can throw on at
6 a.m. and not think
about it."
Today, she dressed in one of her usual Italian tailored classics,
a button-up pant-suit. No hat, no scarf, no trimmings. We discuss
the influence of Jodie Foster, whose personal style was somewhat
disorganised (jeans and tee shirts) until she discovered that Armani
and Oscar went hand-in-hand. Thornton wears very little makeup;
her hair's in a simple twist. There's no doubt the camera loves
her exquisite bones; petite, well-proportioned curves and warm,
deep-set eyes. She'd look good in a flour sac. Exercise? "Haven't
done a thing for six months. When we're shooting the series it's
a fourteen hour work day, there's no time to manage personal business
of any kind and any extra time is spent with my kids. I do however
get into some fast walking and pilates."
As far as growing older is concerned, Thornton subscribes to the
French approach. "The more a woman has lived; the more of her
life experience she wears on her face; the more appealing she becomes.
The older you get, you're more in touch with what you like and what
suits you. You also care less about what other people think of your
appearance, which is a very liberating experience as you become
more confident about your own choices. "Absolutely right. Which
leads me to a very blunt, superficial question. What is the secret
of Thornton's success? "Success is a fuzzy buzz word".
To me it's about genuine ongoing career fulfilment, friends and
family. In show business, unless you initiate your own work, you're
at the mercy of the industry. If an actor's world view is defined
by their position within the film industry, well it's a very limited
world view, isn't it?".
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