Tammy Davis is a film director, actor, father of four and a radio DJ at George FM. Photo / Matt Klitscher
Tammy Davis is walking through Kings Plant Barn when he answers the phone. If Urban Dictionary had an entry for the colloquial Kiwi joker, just his voice would do. He's at the Plant Barn because he's got a week off and he is searching for something to stop his cat pooing in the garden. "I gotta find some stuff to keep her outta there, because she's starting to piss me off," he says.
Later, as the conversation wraps up, he goes full circle and contemplates an early exit from the acting world to become a gardener. Then he laughs the laugh of a mischievous kid. "Nah, that's not for real, it's just because I'm at the potting mix store."
During the working week, Tammy Davis the film director, the actor, the father of four and now the radio DJ, gets up at 5am, makes his way to the George FM headquarters and co-hosts the morning slot. "I get down there at 5.30, have a bit of a chat, some brekkie, kick off at 6. Then sometimes I go from there to Shortland Street and work till six at night so it's a pretty long day. But, oh mate," he says, "I'll complain about it when I'm dead."
He's most well known for his role as Munter on the acclaimed TV drama/comedy series Outrageous Fortune, and since the show's ending in 2010, Davis has popped up here and there, mostly on Jono and Ben, but he's about to appear on screen again in a somewhat serious role as cult leader Luke on our longest-running soap. "It's good to be acting again, y'know, I studied as an actor so it's fun to play again, I 'spose."
Davis reached out to George FM listeners for some light-hearted advice on how to play a cult leader before he turned up to his first day on the soap. "They are awesomely charismatic," offers one female caller. "Yeah," says Davis, "I got that in spades."
His approach to a new role is quite simple; he bases each character he plays on a friend. It worked for Outrageous Fortune.
"I had this friend called Richard, he's in the Mongrel Mob now. When we were growing up, he was a fighter, a scrapper, he wasn't afraid of anybody, and he was really, really smart. He could have been anything in this world he was that smart, I'm telling you, he was the top at school, he was that clever. It's quite a sad story, he had the potential to be whoever he wanted to be, and he just wanted to be a bad bastard. I made Munter a loveable rogue like he was with all these attributes, who was bad at times, vulnerable, loveable and smart."
But for his latest role, finding a friend similar to cult leader Luke, who he describes as a bit of a sociopath, was a little more difficult.
"I've met a few people that have grown up alternatively, but that doesn't mean they have that darker side, it's more of a freedom, an idealistic way of thinking," he says.
"As an actor, you can only put your best foot forward, mate, that's it really, and try not to be stereotypical and try to be as open and honest as possible, that way the audience get it. We all just want to see characters we recognise. We all know each other, we all want the same things, y'know what I mean?
"Most writers write about love and you've gotta kind of believe that and you've got to go into the character and go on the set and walk into those scenes believing that your character is operating from a place of love even if that place is the darkest shit that you've ever seen, y'know, you've got to believe that we as human beings have the capacity to love each other, and even the people who do the worst things have the capacity to love other people. And then you gotta believe the people who love each other the most have the capacity to do the most horrific things."
In an age where the world feels like it is turning upside down in certain political spheres, maybe the popularity of Margaret Atwood's novel-turned-TV drama The Handmaid's Tale and closer to home, the Gloriavale documentary, have parallels to broader societal issues.
Davis is not sure why cults seem to be popular on telly right now. "Is it because we've gone so far into consumerism and all we wanna do is turn the clock back," he asks. "Everyone just wants to unplug and get away from their bloody phone. I think a lot of people are intrigued about what would happen. To tell you the honest truth mate, I dunno, we are all afraid of losing all the shit we got."
What he does know is that his character returns next year, surviving the famous Shortland Street Christmas cliffhanger, but the longevity of Luke will never reach Chris Warner status. "I've heard it doesn't end well for [Luke], but they haven't informed me yet whether they have killed me off or whether I go to some dark place and murder somebody. Probably," he adds, and he laughs that cheeky laugh.
Followers of fashion
Nicola Newman wanted to steer away from Gloriavale when designing the look for Ferndale's cult on Shortland Street.
"Obviously, we couldn't do anything like the current cult we've got out there at the moment, so we tried to go a bit more stylish," she says, adding that inspiration for the women's floral wrap costumes came from kimono-style dresses and tops that are currently in fashion.
Newman did look to the TV series Peaky Blinders, set in the 1920s, when designing costumes for the men: cotton/linen waistcoats and shirts, fob chains, trench coats and cheese-cutter hats. "They are stylish, cool dudes and practical in what they are doing as well."
Lowdown
Shortland Street, weeknights, TVNZ2, 7pm
The Cult debuts Monday