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Latin love on the Wonderland menu

Glenn McMillan says Wonderland's FAT nights are more about banter than food.

2013-08-25_2230This week the young tenants at TEN’s Wonderland will introduce the nation to their FAT nights and Glenn McMillan is hoping the idea takes off with viewers.

FAT nights are for Food Appreciation Time where everyone surrenders their phone and gathers together around meals that have been competitively cooked.

If they catch-on as a concept, the show is hoping viewers might be inspired to host their own FAT nights. In the glory days of Melrose Place‘s “Tuesday night’s a Bitch” pizza shops reported a big uptake in pizza deliveries.

As McMillan explains, FAT nights are all about the community.

“All the mates have a cook-off by cooking the same dish and try to outdo each another. But it’s really just an excuse to get together and have a yack,” he says.

“It’s not as dramatic as MasterChef. The emphasis isn’t so much on the food as it is on the banter.”

Wonderland premiered well for TEN last week. The 22 part drama revolves around the young tenants in the beachside apartment block, their romances and their everyday problems revolving around a weekly theme.

“The opening scene will establish what the episode is about. It’s the theme of the episode whether its exxes or issues to do with parking,” McMillan explains.

“They’re just things that you chat with your mates about. It’s amazing in this show how much art imitates life. I kid you not, the week before we got the script about a parking ep I got a parking fine for $100 that I disputed because the sign was so faded. I showed my mates and said ‘This is ridiculous!’ and appealed the decision and they came back and said ‘Yes, we agree with you.’

“They’re first world problems that come in and give us grief!”

Brazilian-born McMillan, 28, plays 26 year old Brazilian student Carlos who is already attracted to barrister Grace Barnes (Brooke Satchwell).

“Carlos is on a student visa from Brazil studying Engineering. He’s been here a year and a half on a 2 year Visa, but he can extend it,” he says.

“You can only work 20 hours a week ….but Brazilians have a way!

“I was born in the same town as my mum, which is a small town north of San Paulo. Small with 80,000 people.

“I try to get back every couple of years. I’m planning to go at the end of the year.

“My dad went for a year and never left. He stayed for 15 years when he fell in love with my mum and Brazil. Brazil has a way of swallowing people like that.”

His character has a zest for life, but it’s intrinsic to McMillan, who spent much of his life growing up in Adelaide.

“Carlos has a personality that to me represents what a lot of Brazilians are like: very happy, charming, hot tempered –and I would say emotionally unfiltered. What he reacts to is what he reacts to. He doesn’t process or analyse. He’s a stream of emotional consciousness which gets him into trouble,” he warns.

“He also acts as a sounding board for Grace (Satchwell). Carlos is the heart and Grace is the brain. It’s how they attract each other but also how they repel each other. There’s a lot of fire there…”

McMillan most recently appeared in the UK-Australian co-production Mrs. Biggs, but began acting when he was just 11.

“I studied with the (South Australian) State Theatre Company when I was 11 and then did a feature film with the SAFC, a series of Chuck Finn for Seven and then I was on Power Rangers for a couple of years,” he recalls.

He played the Yellow Wind Ranger in two Power Rangers seasons, filmed in New Zealand.

“I’ve never been able to wear yellow since!”

Playing Carlos dos Santos on Wonderland represents a return to acting after an extensive break from performance, mostly in the UK.

“I was on a long break from my acting in London. I was a lawyer, practising in London for a couple of years,” he remarks.

“I studied Entertainment Law and Media. Libel, Defamation, Privacy and dealt with litigants against most of the newspapers and magazines.

“But I came to terms with the fact that I was an actor not a lawyer but that wasn’t an easy choice to make. I threw in all the security and study that I had done. I’d worked very hard at it but it was a life choice to say ‘This is who I am and I’m going to go back to do it.’”

Wonderland airs 8:30pm Wednesdays on TEN.

4 Responses

  1. After watching episode 1 the show seems a cross between Any Questions For Ben and Tricky Business. Lots of banal talk and oh so “now”. With a cast of characters you just can’t warm to.

  2. Am I the only one sick of hearing about the FAT nights when this show is being promoted? It’s only been done in the hope that viewers will do it on Wednesdays and get their freinds into Wonderland to increase the ratings because based on the writing of the pilot and its unexplainable situations, they will need help.

  3. Thanks for that. I was wondering how he looked so South American but had an Anglo surname. Glad that Wonderland chose to use an actor with a multi-cultural background and didn’t try to hide it.

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