Resident evil
He's been Neighbours bad boy for some 14 years but while Stefan Dennis loves to play the villain, he has a message for casting directors.
- Published by David Knox
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He came back for a 2 week stint, but now he’s approaching 7 years in his second term on Neighbours –and will soon be nudging close to his original stay of 7.5 years.
As Paul Robinson, Stefan Dennis is Ramsay Street’s bad boy, a position in the local heirarchy he has always held dear.
“I guess I’m lucky because I’ve always had the monopoly on the villainous role in Neighbours even though we’ve had a lot of characters who’ve been bad who have come and gone. Paul is still the resident evil, so to speak,” he says.
Soap is known for its heroes and villains, but Dennis says there is no choice as to which he would rather play.
“The villain every time. It’s much more fun to play,” he says.
“As actors we always go for the villain because it’s the more interesting part to play.
“Paul’s always had a warm and compassionate side, it’s just that it hasn’t surfaced very often. But now he’s got his son and two nieces who he is very fond of, really it’s just a need for protecting them.
“It’s a nice balance at the moment and I hope the writers never let go of the fact that Paul is the bad guy.
“But the audience never warms to the villain they always warm to the hero, which is why I think the balance is quite nice.”
For every villain there has to be those who reinforce a dark side. While Dennis says Paul Robinson is fundamentally a bloke who knows what he wants and knows how to get it, there are those on the street who don’t see him the same way.
“There’s an absolute love / hate relationship with Susan, there’s another one with Karl Kennedy which is on a different level. Susan is more understanding and knows where Paul’s coming from whereas Karl just doesn’t trust him. Toadie just tolerates him because he has to,” he says.
But there are times when Paul Robinson’s leadership qualities show a more human side. In upcoming storylines he will lead a fight against a new shopping centre development that poses a threat to the Erinsborough locals.
“The reason Paul is challenging it is because it’s a huge threat to his livelihood and he’s obviously doing it for very selfish reasons. But on top of that there is a concern for the community. Do you know how many people he employs? They’d probably lose their job if the shopping centre goes ahead,” he explains.
“His immediate thinking is ‘These are people who depend on me for their livelihood.’”
In real life, Dennis was part of a suburban protest against a local development to put phone towers near a kindergarten. His profile helped gain some media attention to the cause, including giving interviews to TV news coverage. It could almost have been a storyline ripped from the Neighbours bible.
“We were not saying don’t put it up, just don’t put it there. There must be other spots to put it other than beside a kid’s kindergarten,” he says.
“The council is now reconsidering it, which is good.”
Yet despite his ongoing success in the ELEVEN series, Dennis still yearns to do other work. He recently appeared in a short film, without pay, as a way of giving something back to emerging filmmakers. But he says casting directors often overlook those on soaps.
“I’m yearning to do more film. But people have this idea that I’m unavailable, which is silly. I’m always available, it’s just a matter of tweaking it,” he insists.
“People think ‘We won’t book Stefan, he’s unavailable because he’s in the studio all the time.’ My agent keeps saying ‘No he’s available it’s just sometimes he’s not.’
“If it’s a significant role and I’m needed for weeks I need to give Neighbours 15 weeks notice and there’s not many films that are cast 15 weeks in advance.
“People think ‘I just won’t bother,’ but I’d prefer they did bother, ask the question before they assume the answer.
“I am thoroughly available.”
Neighbours airs 6:30pm weeknights on ELEVEN.
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15 Responses
Good God people love or loath Neighbours it deserves kudos for surviving 26years and for being the only australian soap to successfully move from one network to another sure its changed and isn’t as good as the Anne Haddy/Kylie Minogue days but for christ sakes give it and the actors past and present the respect it and they deserve!
@ Mark/Jake: well of course Neighbours isn’t credible… but the same could be said of 95% of all TV shows! Starting with all the cop shows that solve a crime a week, while ‘real’ investigations drag on for months, not to mention that many ‘real’ crimes never get solved.
I really don’t understand why some of the people who don’t like Neighbours have to be so theatrical about it.
Good on him for being such a distinctive omnipresence on Aussie TV. But I’ve still not gotten over “Don’t It Make You Feel Good”. (It didn’t).
Love your work Stefan.
I especially love when they make jokes about his one leg 🙂
@ Mark’s comment: ….my flatmate changed the name….this comment was made by myself …Jake….
One ID per IP Address please.
@ John Jackson – lol! Explanation time!!! It’s not “hatred” I have for “Neigh-bores”…. It’s just that I don’t see the point in this show. Never did when Kylie was in it and still won’t in 5 years time if it’s still around….It’s just not credible. Most people live next door to the same neighbores for 20 years and would only exchange the occassional “hello”. On this show all the “neigh-bores” live in each other’s pockets….live together, work together, sleep together….it’s just so annoying as this simply isn’t how it is….”dislike” would probably be a better word…..
@jake – you knew Neighbours was still on. You brought your hatred of it and being thankful for it on Channel 11 (so you don’t have to see it) the last time there was an interview with the actress that plays Susan Kennedy. I don’t get people like you. You say you don’t care.. don’t like.. yet you go into a piece about the show and comment to say how you’re not interested.
Anyway with regards to Paul.. he has definitely had quite a journey.. being there on the very first episode and there still although he had a significant break in between. There were times you thought they had totally changed his character to being good, but it tends to always stray so you never really know where hes going to stay.
He really isn’t evil anymore & hasn’t been in a while, just like Morag on H&A for some reason both characters have been softened.
While Paul can be seen as the evil guy, he is very intriguing with light and shade. I do enjoy the relationship he has with Toadie. He’s almost like the black sheep uncle type.
Great article David. I do hope that Stefan sticks around for a while yet because he definitely fills a role that makes the show more interesting.
Without Neighbours, Home and Away, E Street, etc we wouldn’t have Alan Dale, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Natalie Bassingthaite, Natalie Imbruglia, Heath Ledger, Simon Baker, Melissa George, Naomi Watts, Guy Pearce, Craig McLachlin, Isla Fisher, Julian McMahon, Ryan Kwanten, Toni Pearon, Marcus Graham, Kelley Abbey
Love it or hate it without Neighbours or Home and Away we have very little as a constant for Media exposure and mainstream acting experience.
With the volume of critically acclaimed Actors making their way to the States and beyond comments such as “Is Neigh-bores still on the air” are naive at best and show a complete lack of understanding of the Industry.
Is Neigh-bores still on the air????? Crikeys I thought it was deservedly axed years ago!! Onto vastly more important matters….I’ll be watching the weeds grow in my yard…….yawn!!
Was this an interview or him pleading for filmmakers to give him more gigs LOL.
Stefen Dennis for Gold Logie!!!