Directing ambitions

Press, 22 January 1988, Page 19

Directing ambitions

The rugged good looks of Australian actor Dominic Sweeney won him a host of fans when the mini-series "A Fortunate Life” screened across the Tasman, but they were all destined for broken hearts — Sweeney’s ambitions lie not in front of the camera but behind it. Sweeney trained as a teacher and completed a Bachelor of Education at Melbourne’s Rusden College before being sidetracked into acting. He had been involved with drama at school and acted and directed at col-

lege, but prior to “A Fortunate Life,” all his experience had been in theatre. “Directing is what I want to do in the long run,” he told the Australian “TV Week,” “but I want to get my training as an actor first. I think it’s important to have actordirectors, people who really understand what it is to act.” While his interest lies in film direction, Sweeney is candid about the fact that he has a lot to learn. “I’ve never directed anything on film because I don’t understand the

medium well enough,” he says. "A Fortunate Life” did not exactly send producers rushing to Sweeney’s door with contracts held aloft — the only things he has done for television since are a documentary about Australia for a German firm, and a commercial. “I’m not too worried,” he says, “for the first time in years I’ve been able to have some spare time and catch up on old friends.” The second episode of “A Fortunate Life” screens on Two this evening at 8,30 p.m.