Love for animals attracted Annie to lead role in N.Z. running thriller

Press, 15 November 1984, Page 10

Love for animals attracted Annie to lead role in N.Z. running thriller

Annie Whittle’s love for animals was one of the factors which attracted her to play the leading role in “Trial Run,” which will start at the Savoy tomorrow.

In this New Zealandmade thriller, she plays a wildlife photographer who goes to an isolated beach cottage to photograph yellow-eyed penguins for a book on endangered species.

Annie’s strong feeling for animals is something which made her unpopular with some fellow film people recently when, following the deaths of two animals, she made a public stand about the lack of controls regarding the use of animals in movies.

Annie also worked for several years as a veterinary nurse during her teens, and this training has led to her becoming involved in other incidents concerning animals.

She sadly recalls one visit to Thailand with her husband, Bruce Morrison, the director of the New Zealand feature film, “Constance”: “We were driving along when I noticed this dog, obviously in trouble, trying to crawl along. I demanded that we stop the car, although no one else wanted to get involved. “The poor animal obviously could not walk properly. It was pretty emaciated and had worn the joints of its forelegs to the bone in trying to pull itself along. I wanted to take him to a vet to find out exactly what was wrong with it. “Fortunately, we found a vet who established that the back of the dog was paralysed. There was nothing we could do to help, and I felt the best thing to do was to put it to sleep. “It turned out, however, that the vet was a Buddhist, and could not take life, leaving him no option but to let the animal go and fend for itself in the bush. “What’s more, he did not have any specific drug for the killing. With this terrible

dilemma, it was left to me to do the job, injecting an overdose of tranquilliser. “It was a long time since I had worked as a nurse, and I had some difficulty finding the vein. It was horrible,” Annie.said. In “Trial Run,” however, the character played by Annie has more interests than just the penguins — she is also a long-distance runner. Training for the part and getting fit took up a large part of each day. ’‘This was my lunatic period,” Annie said,. . ... .

... “I . would get up each morning and go for a mile swim, which took about 50 minutes. Then I would go to dance classes for the musical, ‘Chicago,’ in which I was appearing at the Mer : cury, in Auckland. “This was ' exhausting enough but I would follow it with a five to seven-mile rim. Then there was the evening performance, with all the singing, dancing and leaping about. “It was very time consuming and I don’t think I could have kept it up. However, I had never been more fit or felt better,” Annie said.

Undertaking the photographic assignment in “Trial Run,” the main character leaves her husband, son and daughter to move to an isolated cottage about 16km from her home and urban life that have influenced her last 16 years. Her dramatic change in lifestyle is offset by strange neighbours and stranger events at her new home. Bumps in the night and unpleasant occurrences by day leave her wondering if it would be better to return home but she decides to hold her ground and confront her tormentor.

Increasingly fearsome events are paralleled by her intensive running training until, in the last five minutes of the film, she is forced to run the fastest mile of her life.

This part might sound like something from “The Loneliness of the Long-Dis-

tance Runner,” but Annie said, “I actually like playing leading roles. “This is my first feature filip, and I am on screen most of the time in the leading role: It is totally demanding, I get full of excitement, and it is also very satisfying,” she said. Annie Whittle began her performing career as a singer, moving into comic acting via the television series, “A Week of It.”

Then on to straight acting as well. She has been New Zealand’s female vocalist of the year twice, was entertainer of the year in 1979 and has won a Feltex award for best actress. Annie said she never really planned her career but just sort of drifted into it. “I did not take up serious acting until about six years ago, otherwise I would have developed it much more,” she said.

Annie is in Christchurch, her home towrj, this week to make a situation comedy,

tentatively called “Snakes and Ladders,” for TV’s Comedy Playhouse. “This is also quite a demanding play, with a lot of words in it,” she said. “I’m amazed how success-

ful ‘Trial Run’ has been doing in Auckland and Wellington. “It’s a thriller, and perhaps I’ve underestimated the drawing power of a thriller,” Annie said.

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