Joel Edgerton On the RIGHT TRACK

THE QUIETLY COMMANDING STAR POWERS AWARDS SEASON SLEEPER TRAIN DREAMS

- Jennie Noonan

In the three decades since he scored his first onscreen credits in 1995 – with a guest role as a video store robber on TV series Police Rescue and a two-episode arc on kids’ show Spellbinders - Joel Edgerton has packed his résumé with homegrown highlights, Hollywood blockbusters and character-driven performances. His attraction to Train Dreams (in cinemas now and streaming on Netflix from November 21) was deeply personal.

“Look, as a young actor I loved the idea of pulling out of yourself qualities that aren’t natural, which is why a lot of young guys want to be tough guys,” Edgerton – whose parts have included a schoolteacher and MMA fighter in Warrior, a US military operative in Zero Dark Thirty and a crim trying to go straight in Animal Kingdom - told Vanity Fair. “The older I’ve gotten, I’ve realised that perhaps the greater challenge for me is to play characters that are closer in nature to who I am.”