I am standing on the steps of Alexandria Gardens, metres from the banks of the Yarra river, its sick and sludgy brown texture camouflaged by darkness. Rowers slice through the water while trams rattle on the road above me. Flinders Street station’s famous dome is a stone’s throw away, looming above a street preacher who is ranting about the end of days.
I am on the set, if you can call it that, of the new Romper Stomper TV series: a belated follow-up to the writer/director Geoffrey Wright’s notorious 1992 drama about a gang of ultra-violent neo-Nazi skinheads. The filming location on the banks of the Yarra could not be more Melbourne, or more out in the open. Whereas the film was based in the burbs, famously opening at Footscray station, this television series has a wider view of the city, whizzing between locations.
The range of characters is also more diverse. While the film focused on white skinheads, the TV series includes a far left anti-fascist group fighting a gang of right-wing thugs called Patriot Blue. Innocent Lebanese Australians are caught in a violent brouhaha, including university student Laila, played by Nicole Chamoun (who recently appeared in Ronny Chieng: International Student) and a nurse at an aged care facility, Farid, played by Julian Maroun (recently seen in season one of Cleverman).
Chamoun and Maroun arrive on the steps near me. The scene about to be shot is part of the grand finale. Neither actor knew how the show would conclude before signing on. Taking leaps of faith is par for the course for actors, who have little influence in how their performances are shaped in the editing room, or how the stories they play out will resolve on screen. That’s a particular point of contention for Romper Stomper, given the series has been a lighting rod for controversy – and given the ending of the original film is problematic at best, mistaking coincidence for irony.
“I was a little nervous, to be honest, after seeing the original Romper Stomper. That film was very much told from one perspective,” says Chamoun, whose parents (like Maroun’s) were born in Lebanon. “But I was excited that this show widened to accommodate different perspectives ... I always felt like my voice was heard. And if something didn’t feel quite right, there was always room to gently navigate that.”
Chamoun and Maroun contribute fine, nuanced performances, alongside a range of actors who play harder, edgier, and in many ways less complex characters. A virtually unrecognisable Lachy Hulme plays, with frightening verisimilitude, one of the head honchos in Patriot Blue. Newcomer Toby Wallace (star of the 2016 Australian film Boys in the Trees) plays his protégé, Kane, son of Hando, Russell Crowe’s character in the film.
Laila and Farid are a far cry from these feral racists. In one scene, Farid’s older brother Malik (Jamie Abdallah), an MMA fighter, encourages his sibling to use fists to fight back, but the younger character remains calm and measured, despite being a victim of violence. This restraint appealed to Maroun.
“He [Farid] keeps trying to use reason and rationality as a means of dealing with all this stuff, even though it can be quite aggressive, even though it can be morose and dark,” the actor says. “Believe it or not, that’s close to how I looked at things growing up. When you’re put in situations like he is, I remember how tough it was to stand up and use your voice rather than your fists.”
Chamoun also hopes audiences will be inspired by her character. Laila is headstrong and compassionate, taking on Hulme’s foul alpha male, and a right-wing shock jock (played by David Wenham) during a testy exchange on a current affairs TV show in episode two. She uses logic, nuance and evidence, only to be rebutted time and time again by frenzied generalisations and finger-pointing.
“What she is trying to get across in that scene are the thoughts of the majority of the Australian public, I hope,” says Chamoun. “A lot of people have related and identified with my struggle in that scene in particular – how frustrating a moment like that is.”
Maroun, who co-stars in Foxtel’s coming drama Fighting Season, which focuses on Australian soldiers readjusting to life at home after serving in Afghanistan, believes the quality of characters offered to actors of Middle Eastern heritage has improved significantly in recent years. Hollywood in particular still has a problem flogging racial stereotypes, including painting Arab characters as villains, terrorists and barbarians. But long overdue progress is definitely being made.
“That’s where I’ve got to give thanks to the people who have come before me,” Maroun says. “The actors, producers, writers – the people who have come before and helped shift the industry to where it is now. I’ve got to give thanks to them, because through their hard work the industry has changed.”
Addressing the elephant in the room, which is the question of whether copycat behaviour might emerge from viewers of the television series (as it arguably did from viewers of the film, and arguably already has, with the name Patriot Blue being appropriated by a rightwing group involved in a racist incident before the show had even aired, resulting in Stan taking legal action), Maroun plays down Romper Stomper’s connection to reality.
“The bottom line is that this is entertainment,” he says. “It’s not something to be taken too seriously. It’s a show. It’s a representation of life and an interpretation of life. It’s not a documentary. My worry would be that people don’t view it as entertainment and take it too seriously.”
Adds Chamoun: “I’m less scared about the crazies this is going to bring out of the closet, and I’m more excited about the optimists who will come out in support of this.”
• Romper Stomper is now available to stream on Stan
