Bruce Beresford, director: ‘I couldn’t work in Australia – people wouldn’t talk to me.’

The Breaker Morant and Puberty Blues director says his Barry McKenzie films damaged his reputation for a long time.

Few honestly deserve the title ‘living legend’. Bruce Beresford is one. 

Nonetheless, the experience proved formative – just not in the way he might have expected. 

‘They came around to my house one night and said, “We need a white man in some of our plays,” so I joined this African theatre group. I then directed a number of plays for them. It was good training because I was directing actors.’

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Tahlia Norrish (@tahlianorrish) is an Aussie-Brit actor, writer, and current MPhil Candidate at the University of Queensland's School of Sport Sciences. After graduating from The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (Distinction, Acting & Musical Theatre) and Rose Bruford College (First Class Hons, Acting), Tahlia founded The Actor's Dojo — a pioneering coaching program centred on actor peak performance and holistic well-being.