GERALDINE HAKEWILL talks about the importance of balance and simplicity in her life on the road as an actor.
Q: You recently finished filming your breakout television role as a lead on the new Australian series, Wanted. What were some of the highlights for you from your three month shoot around Queensland?
GH: My favorite thing about my job is being on set – meeting the crew, working with new actors, traveling to different locations and collaborating with the creative team. I got to do all these things more than ever before, as this was my first experience of being a lead actress in a TV series. I was in virtually every scene and working every single day for the whole shoot. I think the biggest highlight was being allowed to work so hard, and work constantly. I enjoy the work immensely and it’s a thrill to finally get a chance to do it.
This particular show was also special because we shot in sixty different locations over fifty days! We were constantly traveling. I saw so much of Queensland in Australia and visit towns in which I would never normally stop. I also got to know the people I was traveling with very well. Like any traveling ‘circus’, you form bonds with your colleagues and they become family. I cherish these relationships because it is such a strange industry to be in and it is important to have people around you can ask for advice and share knowledge.
There were obvious highlights like paddling a boat down a river through a rainforest, holding a beautiful black-headed python around my neck, learning how to do stunt driving and having an ice cream truck visit us on the set at the end of the first week of shooting. I love how much variety you can expect in a day.
I think the biggest highlight was
being allowed to work so hard,
and work constantly.
I enjoy the work immensely and
it’s a thrill to finally get a chance to do it.
Q: You and Rebecca Gibney worked together on almost every scene. What were some of the takeaways from working with such a well-seasoned actor?
GH: Rebecca Gibney is one of Australia’s most loved and most respected television actresses, and an absolute gem of a human. Being my first big experience of the television ‘machine’, I don’t know how I would have coped without having someone so seasoned at the helm, guiding me and also allowing me to play and be totally myself. I found a lot of confidence in my work through doing this show and that is partly to do with how supportive she was as an executive producer and fellow actress. It was great to witness her straddle those two roles and do it so elegantly.
I learnt good lessons in managing people and being strong with decision making – especially as a woman in an industry where men still make a lot of the business decisions. I also love how kind and generous she was with everybody, be it a fellow actor, the director, the writer, a fan on the street or the guy who makes the tea. She always had time and was always gracious. That’s a quality I really admire and try to emulate. I think it’s easy for actors to forget that they are just one cog in a wheel. The public sees you as the face of a production, but in actual fact it’s a team effort. We get a lot of the glory, and sometimes the criticism, but film is a true collaboration and everyone has to be doing their job, however big or small, to the best of their ability for it to be successful. My favourite actors are always grateful and always kind.
Q: Were there any moments during the filming when you felt how your meditation practice supported you as an artist and professional?
GH: Having a meditation practice is a great thing for anyone to have in their daily lives, but I think especially for a creative person. My job requires me to drop into different emotional places very quickly, sometimes visiting quite extreme emotional places. This requires imagination because it’s often something you haven’t gone through personally. However, once you’ve ‘acted’ it, I think your physical body can take on that emotion as something you have truly experienced, because essentially you have.
I find meditating brings me back to my centre and stops me getting caught up in the world of the show or the play, and it also helps me switch off my brain in a healthy way. There is a tradition in a lot of western cultures of drinking a lot of alcohol after you’ve finished a big day of filming or you’ve finished for the night at the theatre. That’s one way people deal with the drama that they’ve put themselves through. When you want to be physically fit and mentally clear, drinking isn’t the best option. I try and find things that make me feel alive again. Exercise is good too. Laughter, music… Meditating is such an efficient way of clearing the day away and focusing on that constant, quiet place that’s always there inside you when you look for it.
I think taking time to be present and sit with myself quietly also brings me back to what is important in life and stops me focusing on the white noise that fills our days. When you are publicly visible for your work, you often get thrown a lot of opinions and comments, positive and negative, from people. It’s incredibly useful to have a practice where you are able to let all of that go at some point so you don’t feel like you must live your life in accordance with what other people expect from you.
Meditating is such an efficient way of clearing the day away
and focusing on that constant, quiet place
that’s always there inside you when you look for it.
Q: As an actor, success often leads to a loss of anonymity. As you become more visible to the public eye, how have you begun to adapt?
GH: I haven’t reached a stage yet where I’m being recognized a lot, or where I have people approaching me and asking things from me. It may come; it may not. The thought of that is disconcerting in a way, but you have to be prepared for a certain level of public visibility if you want to be a successful performer, because you want as many people as possible to see the stories you want to tell. You are doing it for the audience. I think what matters is how much of yourself you are willing to give away to the public and how much you keep private.
The actors I know who deal with their loss of anonymity most successfully all seem to keep as low a profile as possible in public. They are all very normal and down to earth, and don’t capitalize on their fame. And if they do it’s usually to serve some greater purpose like being able to make people aware of certain social issues or a charity.
I’m really gratefully that this high profile work has come now that I am an adult and more settled in who I am. I can’t imagine how hard it would be worrying about fame when you’re in your teens and still making huge mistakes every five minutes, as you try to figure out what sort of person you want to be and what kind of life you want to lead.
My spiritual teachers have always spoken
about the joys of being simple.
The easiest way to be alive
is to be as you are inside,
as you are on the outside, and vice versa.
And to try to be the same with everyone you meet.
Q: How do you balance your inner and outer worlds, especially in a profession that can sometimes ask you to compromise that balance?
GH: This is a great question and I wish I had an answer! I’m still trying to figure this out. My spiritual teachers have always spoken about the joys of being simple. The easiest way to be alive is to be as you are inside, as you are on the outside, and vice versa. And to try to be the same with everyone you meet. Simplicity in my inner and outer worlds is something I aim for in life, but rarely achieve. But I know it is my ultimate goal and life is a journey, and we are probably not supposed to reach our goals immediately otherwise what would be the purpose of existence?
I try to live, to the best of my ability, in a way that means I can always be true to what I feel is my real self. It’s hard. There are always expectations that people place on you and I am someone who has always struggled with worrying about what other people think of me. The older I get and the more life I live, the more I realize how foolish this is. No one can live your life but you. I look forward to getting older and wiser and relinquishing that worry even more.
Interviewed by EMMA HAWLEY
