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Jessica Tovey was rapt to be asked onto True Story. And then they asked a 2nd question...

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Like most actors, Jessica Tovey was rapt when she got the casting call from Nine.

“They said ‘Do you want to work on True Story with Hamish & Andy?’ and I said ‘Fantastic!’”

“Then they said, ‘Second question, are you afraid of snakes?’”

But Tovey replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never played with one before.”

What followed would be a preliminary introduction to a python nearly 3 metres in length in order to recreate “Lisa’s Wake Up Story.”

In the episode which aired last night, Tovey played Lisa who woke up at her boyfriend’s to discover his pet python was attempting to devour her.

Production used three versions of snakes in order to recreate the scene: a real python, an  articulated rubber prop and a ‘VFX snake’ for the various shots.

Speaking to TV Tonight on set, Tovey says the real snake behaved pretty well most of the time.

“It’s not quite like a dog or cat that you can get to sit still. It kind of has a mind of its own. So I’ve been throwing it on and hoping it will behave itself,” she said.

“We have a snake handler who keeps throwing her back around me. But she will just do whatever she wants to do. She’s been pretty intimate, coming up to my face and giving me a little lick with her tongue.”

But if the show business rule is to never work with kids & animals then Tovey would soon learn why.

“The director said ‘We’ll just do some close-ups, so just act a little, pant a little.’ Then they said ‘That looks great!’ and I said ‘Yes because it’s actually constricting around my throat!’

“But I never felt worried. There are 15 people standing around ready to get it off me if need be. As long as they got the shot!”

Thankfully no actors nor live pythons were harmed in the making so Tovey remains an intact fan of True Story‘s clever mix of fusing real stories with scripted comedy. She first saw the show whilst travelling on a plane (without snakes).

“Some of them are wacky and extreme but some are really human, where people say ‘I had something similar happen to me,'” she explains.

“I don’t really like reality TV because you can feel it being scripted and forced. But this isn’t. It’s very clear when they are doing the interview that the guys have no idea what’s about to happen. Their reactions are so natural, so it feels like a very honest retelling of story.”

True Story with Hamish & Andy continues 8:40pm Tuesdays on Nine.

5 Responses

  1. I wish nine would show the end credits. Especially with this show, where the actors change every week. they deserve to have their names listed. I tried to find an episde cast list online but couldn’t. I didn’t realsoe it was Jessica Toovey at first. One thing I noticed was that the real life young lady was very attractive and I could see her as an actress herself.

  2. I don’t always see this show, but I saw it last night. It is a great little show and I love the character actors they bring in to play the role. Some of these really ham it up.

    At the end of last night I was thinking how stories such as this reflected an old fashion Aussie characteristic of being able to laugh at ourselves. Put the same situation with an American and I wonder how the story would have panned out. I doubt it would have been laughs at 10 paces, but rather a horror story with an emotional breakdown.

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