Jagged Edge

QLD TV Guide.   Written by Dianne Butler.  Thanks to Julia for sending this!

 

Clearly parts of Hollywood still cling to the idea that Australia is some sort of outpost in which kangaroos hop blithely through the streets. Why else would Trevor Goddard's character on JAG be called Mick Brumby, for crying out loud? Why didn't they just name him Crocodile Dundee and be done with it? Still, as Goddard himself says, what are you going to do?

Goddard, a Perth native, found himself on JAG, a peculiarly popular show with the most zealous fans this side of Collingwood Football Club, after going to America as a boxer of all things.

"I came over as a boxer 14 years ago-I turned professional here- and I was having a fight at the Forum, which is one of the biggest arenas in America."

"Budweiser just happened to be there looking for someone to sponsor to do commercials for them."

"I had a great fight that night, won by a knockout, and they approached me afterwards and said would I be interested in doing a campaign. So I didn't hesitate."

Goddard did Budweiser ads and the rest, as they say is history.  "The funny thing is," he says, "when I came to LA, I promise you, without a word of a lie, I didn't know Hollwood was in LA. I knew nothing about Hollywood."

A couple of solid performances, including a role in Mortal Kombat, finally resulted in Goddard winning the part of Brumby, a job he's contractually committed to for another three years.

"As the season evolves, Mick's feelings become a lot stronger and true towards Mac," Goddard reveals. "He's no longer just a knockabout looking to get laid or whatever. He actually really starts to fall in love with her. Its beautiful to watch unfold, if I do say so myself."

"Mick starts to wear his feeling right on his sleeve, so everything he starts to feel, he tells her. Which is actually quite touching for her."

"Harm (JAG co-star) is so closed off. He's a very repressed American pilot and she's looking for something from him, but all of a sudden this other guy comes along and starts giving it to her and it causes great conflict throughout the season."

"The tension between my self and Harm builds and builds. Then we do the episode Boomerang, which we shot in Sydney, and we get into a blue. We have a wonderful battle in the Supreme Court, there's marriage proposals, there's everything going down, its tremendous."

Goddard seems amazed at the turn his life has taken. "Its better than being dead," he says. Well, yes, you'd think so. And if he was sacked tomorrow (always on the cards in TV)?

"Mate, I couldn't care less. I'll just having a good go."

 


First Appeared 15th July, 2000