Heartthrob Aussie actor, Andrew Steele sat down with CW to chat about his starring role in Wish Man (2019), where he plays Make-A-Wish founder Frank Shankwitz in the genesis tale of the Foundation.

Wish Man hits the Wonder streaming platform on 5 September, and 40 per cent of all proceeds from every rental will go directly to Make-A-Wish.

How did you prepare for the role?

“There was a lot of pressure to tell the story right… but Frank was there every step of the way. He was a consultant all the way through.

“Even when the doctors said, ‘you need to stay in hospital,’ he was like, ‘Nah, I got a shoot to get to.’”

“If my uniform had a button undone, he was always there to tell me ‘You’d get in trouble if you had that in our day!’

“I had the role for a year before we started filming, so I had a year to hang out with Frank, get to know him quite well, and do my best to perfect how he spoke, how he held himself, how he walked, and just his thought process on life.

“It was [challenging] because I’m a pretty smiley guy and he’s quite stoic, he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, grew up dirt poor.

“But he had an incredible mentor who taught him the importance of giving back, even if you don’t think you have anything to give – a simple act of kindness can cause a ripple effect, which is the message of the film.”

“His accent was something to get down because it’s not your normal southern drawl, it’s very Prescott. I couldn’t find any other examples in films in my research, but Frank was there. I’d get him to read my lines, and I’d record him reading it.”

How did an Aussie actor end up playing US southerner, Frank Shankwitz?

“There were definitely a couple of people who were like, ‘We’re getting an Aussie to tell this story?!’

“It was an honour to meet Frank, but it was unbelievable that he picked me to play him in his life story.

“When I first met Frank, I told him about how I run a socially conscious film festival, called Flicks for Change, where we show films with important social messages, then invite all the non-profits that work in the fields that the film touches on.

“The audience watches the film, gets inspired to help the cause, then we connect them directly with the non-profits.

“I was telling Frank about this the first time we met, and he stops me and goes, ‘You know, what? Somebody like you should be playing me in this movie.’

“Then he calls out across the party we were at to the film’s producer, ‘Hey, Greg! This guy should play me in the movie.’

“Frank actually knew that I was the Aussie Batman (The Justice Lease) when we met. He was like ‘We’ll get the Aussie Batman to play me!’ Hopefully it comes full circle, and I’ll put on the cowl after Robert Pattinson,” Steele smiles.

How does it feel to have the film out there after Frank’s passing?

“Before making the film, Frank was interviewed onstage where he was asked, ‘What’s your wish? You’ve granted almost half a million wishes around the world. What’s yours?’

“And Frank said, ‘I guess to have my story told, so my grandkids could know I did something with my life, something cool.’ That’s how it began.

“It’s incredible that after we filmed, Frank had two years of travelling the world, getting to see the film in all these different places, on all these different red carpets.

“Wish Man screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and premiered to the world at the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

“It’s definitely emotional that Frank’s no longer with us, but his legacy does live on in Make-A-Wish. One wish is granted every 16 minutes somewhere in the world.

“Make-A-Wish is Frank’s legacy, but this film is his story to show what you can do with your life, even if you come from nothing.

“Hearing about the incredible work he and his wife Kitty have done got me to really step up my standards for my own life.”

Which was the most challenging scene to film?

“The first scene that we shot in the whole film was the one where I barge into Sergeant Mason’s office and pin him up against the wall.

“It was a lot of pressure, because I had been working on the role for a year, and obviously Tom Sizemore is an award-winning actor, and this is my first lead in a US feature film.

“So, I’m there, on set, in costume. I do the scene and it felt good, then I look down and my hand is bleeding. Because I had grabbed his police uniform and he had all these medals on.

“First take, and I’m already Mr Cottonwool. Second take, I grabbed him again – and now the other hand is bleeding. I was like, this is going to be a long shoot,” Steele laughs.

What simple act of kindness had a ripple effect on your life?

“In high school, we had a teacher who taught at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art) come in, Lynn Pierce is her name. She took us for a few days and at the end of it she pulled me aside and said, ‘You would be someone we would consider accepting at NIDA.’

“I had only just started doing drama and that changed everything. I didn’t think acting was something that I could do professionally. She planted that seed.

“I auditioned for NIDA three times over five years and got in on the third time.

“It was a simple act. She didn’t need to pull me aside to give me an encouraging word, but she did, and that gave me permission that it’s okay to be an artist.

“My bank balance might tell me differently,” Steele laughs, “but now I have a child with a beautiful wife who’s also in the film industry – Kym Jackson, who plays the nurse who resuscitates me. We were just friends at the time; I recommended her to audition for the role.

“She was also potentially going to play my mum in that film, so for a couple reasons I’m glad she didn’t,” he laughs.

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