Richard Roxburgh and Rebecca Gibney have every faith that their new TV drama, Prosper, will leave viewers praying for more!
In the exciting series, the pair play Cal and Abi Quinn, a highly religious power couple whose megachurch U Star has taken the world by storm.
It’s the second time Richard and Rebecca have worked together following his one-episode guest stint on Halifax f.p. back in 1995.
WATCH: Richard Roxburgh on filming Rake. Article continues below.
“Richard is a phenomenal colleague and an absolute pleasure to watch and play opposite,” Bec shares with New Idea ahead of the show’s premiere this week. Richard, 61, tells us that he was drawn to playing pastor Cal as it was “territory I hadn’t explored before”. He adds, “Cal is so little like me in my actual life.”
Bec, 59, was also fascinated by the topic.
“As an actor it was a great challenge to play someone so complex and, in some ways, unlikeable,” the Gold Logie winner confesses. “I really hope the audience will swing between loving these people and really not liking them at all.”
Both stars did a lot of research to prepare for the show, with Richard “reading and listening to podcasts, preachers, and pastors” in order to fully understand the type of man he was playing.
“I watched and read about the evangelical movement,” he adds. “Within an evangelical church, I think it’s important that people have as much information as they can, if that’s the world you believe in. The more people examine the structures of the places that they’re going to worship, the healthier the world will be.”
Rebecca chimes in, “I think the show is a comment on how even the faithful can be corrupted.
“If you set yourself up as a pillar of goodness and light, you have to be prepared to be transparent and that’s not the case for many of the characters in this series.”
When drawing comparisons with the Quinns and her real-life family, Bec says there aren’t many similarities, apart from a “very strong faith”.
“My husband Richard, my son Zac and I are extremely close,” she tells us. “I’m so grateful that our priorities have always been about hanging out together and enjoying the simple things. I’m much more at home on a Saturday, or at Bunnings, eating a sausage sandwich off the barbie, than my character Abi ever would be.”
For Richard, leaving his character’s dark family behind at the end of a long day filming filled him with gratitude for his own. The actor is married to cookbook author Silvia Colloca and they share sons Raphael and Miro, and daughter Luna.
“I feel fortunate to have the life I have,” he explains, before admitting it’s a very different one to the when he was single.
“I’ve got big boy responsibilities now, as well as kids and a wife who’s also incredibly busy.”
However, they all support one another, even if it’s a “fascinating conundrum” in making the logistics work.
“It’s become trickier than it used to be,” he says. “When you’re a single guy, it’s so easy, you didn’t have to think about too much. Now there’s a lot of managing things.”
With a laugh Richard adds, “I wouldn’t swap that for anything! I get to go home after work and see all my morons! I get to have dinner with them and that’s beautiful!”
