Callan Mulvey

Today I'm going to learn about the actor Callan Mulvey.  I'm currently watching him in the mini-series Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms. And a few weeks ago, I watched him in Rush.

I didn't like Mulvey that much in Rush, but I do like him in Bikie Wars. I don't know what that says about me, since in Rush he played a police officer and in Bikie Wars, he plays a gang member.  It could be just that his character in Bikie Wars is more interesting to me. I thought his character in Rush was a bit blah.

In Rush, Mulvey's character is having an affair with another police officer who happens to be married to someone else. I don't think I was offended by the affair. I can be sympathetic to adultery. Sometimes people find their better match after they've already gone through a wedding ceremony with someone else. It happens. But I think I wasn't on board with the relationship, because it was already in progress when I was invited into the picture. They already had feelings for each other. I think I would have been more into it if I was there before the love blossomed.

It's like with Rose and The Doctor. If the show started with them already knowing each other, they would mean so much less to me. And I probably wouldn't have been crying my eyes out after watching their good-bye scene.

Back to Callan Mulvey.....

I think he might be an international star. I've seen his name in places that led me to think that. Recently. But I forgot where. I've glanced at his filmography briefly in the last few weeks. I saw he was in the movie 300: Rise of an Empire. Maybe that's why he's an international star.

Or maybe he's not an international star. Maybe he's a rising international star and not many people know of him. I have no idea. Hopefully I'll get some bit of an idea as I do my research.

One other thing before I start the research.  Mulvey has a scar on his face. When I was watching Rush I wondered if it was real or a make-up effect. Then in Bikie Wars, I saw that there's a little gap in his beard. I assume that's because of the scar. So that made me conclude the scar is real.  Now I feel stupid for wondering that, though. Why would they put Mulvey through all the trouble of doing scar make-up everyday? Well, I guess they could. But it would make more sense if the scar was actually discussed, and part of the storyline. From what I remember, it wasn't.

Is there a point in adding a scar to someone's face just to make them look more interesting? I doubt it. It seems if you want someone with a scar, you could just find an actor who already has one.

I wonder what's more difficult for make-up artists—creating a scar or hiding one?

On that note, I'm going to start my research.

I'll start with Mulvey's IMDb biography.

They say Mulvey was born in New Zealand, on February 23, 1975. He's a few years younger than me. Since 2010, he's been married to a woman named Rachel Thomas. Here's a photo of the lovely couple. Maybe I'll learn more about her later.

In 2004, Mulvey was severely injured in a car accident. Maybe that's where he got his scar.  Besides that, though, there were other injuries. He lost sight in one eye, and he suffers headaches from the accident. Yikes.

Now I'm going to look at the filmography of Callan Mulvey. I'll talk about some stuff I see, but not everything.

Mulvey's screen career started in 1996. He was one of the stars of the TV show Heartbreak High.  He started on the show in the middle of season 4.

This is really confusing. IMDb has the episodes listed out of order. I'm trying to figure it out. They say episode 4:22 is from 1996; but then episode 4:10 is listed as being from 1997.

I'm just going to forget it and simply say Mulvey was on the show in season 4, season 5, and season 6. He appeared in 112 episodes as the character Bogdan Drazic.

According to this genealogy website, the last name Drazic is most likely to be found in Serbia; though the second most likely place to find it is Australia.

I'm guessing Bogdan Drazic is a Serbian-Australian then.

Lord Wiki says Bogdan Drazic is a student. That's all he says.

I went to a Heartbreak High website, and they don't have much to say about Drazic.

Here's a video clip from the show. I think maybe that's Mulvey in it. But I'm not 100% positive.

Here's another video.  Mulvey doesn't have a scar in it; so I'm guessing he did get it in the 2004 accident.

In 1999, Mulvey ended his work on Heartbreak High. And that year he appeared in a season 2 episode of All Saints.  I wonder what sort of disastrous thing happened to his character. Or was he a doctor? Though he could have been a doctor or nurse with a catastrophe. No...you know what. Doctors and nurses are usually cast regulars rather than guest stars.

I was going to try to watch some of the episode, but I can't find it on YouTube.

Mulvey was in a handful of things in 2001, but I'm skipping most of it, because I can't find a lot of information.

Actually, I might be skipping all of it. Sorry.

I'm going to move onto 2004. Thunderstruck. I think IMDb said that this is the movie Mulvey was filming when he had his car accident. Was it on set? Was the movie involved? Or did he just happen to have that particular job when the accident occurred?

I just looked back at IMDb. They say he was in the accident AFTER he finished filming.

Anyway....

Thunderstruck is a comedy about AC/DC fans.  I was thinking the plot sounds vaguely familiar to me; and then I saw that Scott Worthington is in the movie. Maybe I wrote about the movie when I wrote a post about him.

Here's the trailer. Mulvey can be seen at around :26.

The trailer wasn't very entertaining to me until the end when the guys started singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart". I don't think I saw Mulvey in that scene.

In 2006, Mulvey started working on Home and Away!  I had no idea he was a Home and Away actor. He played Johnny Cooper. Who is Johnny Cooper?

The Back to the Bay site says he's a gang member. And it also sounds like he's a bully. One thing I'm learning from watching The Straits and The Bikie Wars is that some criminals are worse than others. For some, crime is their life, but they don't seem to enjoy hurting others. That doesn't seem to be the case for Johnny Cooper. He sounds like a jerk.

If I'm understanding things right, Johnny Cooper went after Sally a lot—wanted to kill her at some point. I'm assuming they're talking about Sally Fletcher.

Well, actually Johnny Cooper didn't want to kill Sally himself. He felt betrayed by his brother and insisted his brother kill Sally.  But then it seems that maybe later Johnny went after her himself. I'm skimming a lot here.

I'm going to watch one of the episodes...or skip through and find Mulvey.

He's right there in the beginning.

Johnny's brother is now a student at Summer Bay High. He's trying to live a life without crime and Johnny finds him and insists he come back to the gang.

Mulvey was on Home and Away until 2008, but he did other things while on that show.

In 2007, he appeared on three episodes of McLeod's Daughters as a guy named Mitch Wahlberg. This Australian Television website says Mitch is an army-man with a dark secret. Later, it's revealed that he's selling stolen military weapons.

Here's one of the episodes. He appears at 5:05.  Now I can see his scar. I couldn't quite see it in the Home and Away scenes. But he had facial hair that was probably covering it.

It's interesting that in two shows after the 2004 accident, Mulvey plays a criminal. I wonder if the scar has something to do with that. Does a facial scar paint someone as being a tough person; or at least as having a tough life?  If it does, is that only in fiction? Or real life too?

But Mulvey is an actor who got into a car accident. A lot of people get into car accidents...not just certain types of people.

In 2008, Mulvey was on Underbelly. He played Mark Moran. Lord Wiki says Moran was part of the Moran crime family and was involved with the illegal drug trade. He was murdered.

Here's a scene from the show. The woman in the scene with Mulvey looks like someone I saw on Bikie Wars today. And when I saw her on Bikie Wars I thought she looked familar. Now I'm thinking she reminds me of that YouTube star. I forgot her name, but she's Australian and was really into The Law of Attraction. She was featured on Oprah when Oprah visited Australia.

Well, Lord Wiki says the woman in the scene I just watched is Madeline West. He doesn't say anything about her being in Bikie Wars. I think I'm imagining things.

I'm guessing neither actress is also the Law of Attraction YouTube star.

2008 is also the same year that Mulvey started working on Rush.  On this show, instead of playing a criminal, Mulvey played a person who fights crime.

Here's a scene from the show. Well, actually...it's a fan made video. One of those montage things.

In 2011, Mulvey was in the movie The Hunter. That's the one based on the Julia Leigh novel.

Mulvey's character in the movie was Rival Hunter. I'm not sure if that role was substantial or not.

Here's the trailer. I'll see if I can see Mulvey.

I didn't see him.

2012 was the year Mulvey was in the Bikie Wars. It's about a big fight that happened on Father's Day in 1984. I have one more episode left. The fight has just began. I'm guessing in the last episode, we'll see death and destruction. Lord Wiki has a lot to say about it, but I think I'll wait until I'm done watching to read it.

I just read one thing, though. One of the gangs in The Bikie Wars is an American one. I mean they're not Americans. They're Australians. But they're part of a gang (The Bandidos) that started in America What I didn't know, and Lord Wiki just told me, is that The Bandidos started in Texas.

I'm tempted to read more. But I'm going to try to wait. I'm curious, though, about what happens to Mulvey's character (Snoddy). Does he survive the fight?

I'm not going to look.

Also in 2012, Mulvey was in the movie Zero Dark Thirty. Tim saw that and liked it.

Mulvey isn't the only Aussie in the film. Joel Edgerton is in it too.

It has a huge cast. I can't really tell who are the main stars. Maybe Lord Wiki will help me get an idea.

Lord Wiki lists Edgerton has one of the main stars but not Mulvey.

Here's the trailer. I'll see if I can see Mulvey.

I think Mulvey quickly walks by at :59. I think he's the guy on the right. MAYBE. I could be wrong.

In 2013, Mulvey was in a movie I'm surprised I didn't hear of before. It's called The Turning, and it's a collection of short films based on Tim Winton's short stories.  The movie has a lot of names that are familar to me—Rose Byrne, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Richard Roxburgh, Myles Pollard, Dan Wylie, and Susie Porter.

Here's a trailer for the film.  It looks good. I wonder how many stories are in it.

I'm looking at the official website now.

Mulvey is the star of a segment called Aquifer  A music teacher sees something on the news that causes him to leave the house without telling his wife. He goes to his hometown to face some secret.

For this year (2014) Mulvey's filmography has four things listed— 300: Rise of an Empire, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Miss Meadows, and Kill Me Three Times.

In 300: Rise of an Empire, Mulvey played someone named Skyllias. Is that a real person?

Well, it seems it's a mythological person. I think what I was really wondering is whether it was a character invented by the movie, or not.  But this website has a story about Greek swimmers named Skyllias and Hydna.

I'm going to watch the trailer.  I think maybe I see Mulvey at :47. He has a mask on, so it's hard to tell.

In Captain America, Mulvey played Jack Rollins. Lord Wiki's cousin has a page about him.  I'm trying to figure out if he's one of the good guys or bad ones.  I think he's bad, because Lord Wiki's cousin says he infiltrated Shield. And from what I know, Shield is good.  Okay yeah. Rollins is part of something called HYDRA, and HYDRA is a terrorist organization.

Here's the trailer from the movie. I want to see it one day. I saw the first one, and I tend to like Marvel movies. Although we probably won't see it anytime soon. We're too busy with Doctor Who.

Miss Meadows hasn't been released yet. It's coming in November. It stars Katie Holmes as a teacher who moonlights as a vigilante.

Mulvey appears at :23. I think he might be a villain...maybe one targeted by Miss Meadows.

From the plot description, I thought it sounded like a dark comedy. But the trailer makes it look very much like a dark drama.

It might have been the sexist part of me that pictured a comedy. If it was a man vigilante, I would have probably assumed drama. But when it's a female—a teacher...I expect it to be cute and funny.

Kill Me Three Times is an American-Australian film featuring Simon Pegg. So I guess it's also kind of a British film.  It's an action movie that takes place in a Western Australian beach town. Or at least it's filmed in Western Australia.

I don't see a trailer for it. Maybe there's not one available yet? It's coming out in December, though. Don't they usually have trailers for movies more than three months ahead of time?

Oh well.

Mulvey has two upcoming films on his filmography. One is Home. It's an American movie.

And then there's Batman Vs. Superman. That one's due to come out in 2016. There's no character listed for Mulvey. But when I was searching for something else earlier, I saw glimpses of articles regarding rumors that Mulvey would play the Joker.

Here's one of the articles about the rumor. It sounds like the only basis for it is that Mulvey happens to come from the same country as Heath Ledger, the last Joker.

I am done with the filmography.

Now I'll see what Lord Wiki has to say about Mulvey.

He says Mulvey has Maori and Scottish heritage. That's pretty cool.

He moved to Sydney when he was eight.

Lord Wiki disagrees with IMDb about when the accident happens. He says it occurred in 2003 rather than 2004. I wonder who's right and who's wrong.

Lord Wiki says it was a head on collision, and that Mulvey was trapped in the vehicle for over an hour.  I thought he just had a cut on his face from the accident, but it sounds like his face was severely injured. Wow. It's a medical miracle that he just has that small scar.  I mean in terms of visible injuries. IMDb said Mulvey is blind in one eye. And I'm guessing he might also suffer from pain.

His knee and ankle were also injured.

Here's an article about the car accident.  They say it happened in Byron Bay on New Years Eve after shooting for Thunderstruck had been finished.  Since it happened on New Years Eve, that could explain why there's confusion about which year it took place. It could have begun in 2003 and continued into 2004.

The story is kind of uplifting. Well, it's actually somewhat sad. But knowing what comes next is uplifting. In the article, they talk about Mulvey taking some time to be ready to make a public appearance. It seems he was nervous about it. Now look at him, though. His film career is doing great.  His face may have gotten messed up, but somehow those plastic surgeons managed to make him still look awesome. Or maybe he looks even better than he would have without the accident. Scars can be pretty sexy... even if they typecast men as being of the dangerous bad boy sort.

This website has a gallery of actors and actresses who have scars. The first is Tina Fey. I never knew about that.

Shit. Her story's really awful. When she was very young, a stranger came over and cut her face.

Harrison Ford has a chin scar from a car accident. He's not usually a criminal in movies. But he does usually play adventurous types.  A scar doesn't have to say YOU are dangerous. It can also say you're the type to be brave enough to face danger.

Here's another article about Mulvey's accident. Reading stuff like that is oddly comforting to me. The reason is, I'm really scared of car accidents. I like hearing stories of people surviving. Surviving and thriving.

I think now I'll watch a video interview with Mulvey. It's about 300: Rise of an Empire.

Mulvey is wearing a lot of rings.

He talks about physical training, and how for the movie, it wasn't about looking a certain way. It was about being able to move well. I like that.  I like when fitness is more about being healthy, strong, and active rather than fitting into some kind of ideal appearance.

Well, I can't find much else that interests me. So I think I'll stop here.


Read my novel: The Dead are Online