After living in Los Angeles for four years, comedian, actor, and award-winning composer Tim Minchin has relocated to Sydney in the wake of several professional setbacks, an interview with The Guardian has revealed.
Despite having been in development for several years, Minchin’s animated movie musical, Larrikins, which was set to star fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman, was scrapped when Comcast acquired the film’s production studio DreamWorks.
Not long after this first professional blow, Minchin learned that his second musical, Groundhog Day, would close its premiere season on Broadway after just five months, in stark contrast to the unstoppable international success of his debut musical theatre show Matilda.
In the candid interview, Minchin revealed how his mental health had suffered due to the emotional distress of the career stumbles.
On the collapse of his movie, Minchin said, “The people who made the decision didn’t even have the balls to phone me. It’s been awful… Four years, three-quarters done, $50 million spent. I said no to a tour every year, to two or three different fantastic Broadway projects, to TV shows.
"I said no to so much, because I went, ‘I’m the director of a $100 million movie and it will be all worth it.’ And then, just binned. It was unbearable.”
Revealing that he had felt “as unhappy as I’ve ever been,” Minchin shared details of his ailing emotional health during the months leading up to the closure of Groundhog Day: “At the middle of the year, I was depressed for the first time in my life. Like, ‘I’m done. I can’t make anything.’”
Minchin told The Guardian that his mental state has much improved since Groundhog Day closed its New York season, and it also seems that those dark clouds of 2017 have a silver lining for Australian audiences in the future.
Of his return Down Under, Minchin said, “I want to be here for my family, I want to make stuff in Australia. I want to take what I’ve learned and contribute to the industry. I think there’s a moral imperative to do so for people like me.”
His first return to the spotlight in Australia will be in new ABC sitcom Squinters, following the lives of commuters on their early morning drives to work. Minchin appears alongside a stellar cast of Aussie comedy greats, including Sam Simmons, Andrea Demetriades and Jacki Weaver.
The six-part show premieres on ABC on 7 February.
Comments