Lisa McCune is one of Australia’s most decorated and beloved actors. A four-time Gold Logie winner, she is the star of TV shows such as Blue Heelers, Sea Patrol and How To Stay Married, and stage shows including The Sound of Music, Cabaret and South Pacific. Her latest project is narrating the Nine documentary series Big Miracles.
Lisa McCune on Big Miracles: “Ultimately it’s giving people hope.”Credit:SImon Schluter
You must have done about a million interviews in your life. Is it just a painful chore by this stage?
No, because you’re generally talking about a new project, and I think it’s really lovely. It’s not like I’m talking about the same thing over and over again, and it becomes tired. As an actor you’re talking about a new journey – terribly word – but you’re talking about a new project. And you’re usually really excited about it, you’ve just lived it, you’ve just shot it, and then it’s about explaining to people why they might want to see it.
How do you maintain the passion to do new stuff, given you’ve achieved so much? Some people might say, I’ve got the Logies, I’ve had the hits, I’ve done what I wanted to do, I’m just going to sit back and relax now.
I think you evolve and I think the projects that come your way are really different. There’s always new challenges at different stages of your life – like real life I guess. And I don’t think as an actor you’ve ever really arrived. I think you get hungry to do the next thing, or tell the next story.
So even now, projects come along that offer something totally new to you?
Absolutely. Last year I finished doing this amazing piece of theatre called The Girl From The North Country, which is a play set to the songs of Bob Dylan. It was the most remarkable year for me. It was the most gorgeous piece of theatre, I loved it, and I got to play a role I never played before, really one out of the box. And that for me was awesome. So to go out and talk about that and do all the research – because that’s the other thing as an actor, you get to research all these lives and all these stories. I feel really fortunate. Then something like Big Miracles comes along: my role in this is very much as the narrator, so I’m coming in right at the tail end; I haven’t been there at the construction or the formation or the filming. I kind of get to enjoy it like the audience, and it’s really lovely to be part of it in a much smaller way.
Narration is a different to acting. Have you done a lot of that job in your career?
Well, now that you can buy audiobooks and things like that, yeah, quite a few things. I’ve done a couple of books and, you know, telling a story is very different in that way because you don’t have the person to watch, so you do find it’s a different kind of performance. Big Miracles is a really lovely journey for these couples. I’m still mid-narration, so I’ve got a couple of episodes to go, and I find myself saying to the producers, “I can’t wait to actually see it”. I’m going back each week really looking forward to seeing each couple – there’s one story in particular that I’m very much wrapped up in.
So this isn’t just a “show up and read” job? You’re caught up in this show.
Oh yeah, I’ve found every episode I’ve had a bit of a cry, whether it be tears of sadness or tears of joy. Fortunately they’re tears of joy most of the time, but you really find yourself quite emotionally caught up in seeing these people who have so bravely told their stories, who’ve so openly let these producers and directors and camera crews follow a very very personal journey. I take my hat off to them for allowing us all in to see and share their journeys, because ultimately it’s giving people hope, I think.
Would that be a frightening prospect for you, to let cameras into your life?
Absolutely! I think that’s what’s so remarkable, particularly for something so incredibly personal. That’s such a gift for everybody at home, because when they agreed to be a part of it, they didn’t know the outcome. For me, that sits on my shoulder as I’m watching the show. As we go through it, at the end of every week, when they get phone calls about updates to their IVF journey, you really feel for them. You see how it wears on them emotionally.
That maybe is the difference between a documentary and reality TV: that genuine uncertainty about how things will turn out. In a reality show, you don’t know who will win, but there is a narrative that is set. In a show like this you just don’t know how things will go.
Yeah, and this is so human and so raw and so emotional. One in six people struggle with their fertility, and we’re such an immediate society, we think that if we want something, we can attain a lot of stuff. But having a baby … that’s where the science comes into it, and that does give people hope.
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