Audio of Ben Mendelsohn, giving a speech at a G'day USA event in Hollywood:

Now, there are many Australians over the decades that provided me with bed, board, a car. If you didn't charge me rent, there's a good chance you're in this list: Simon Baker, Rebecca Rigg, Dominic Purcell, Rebecca Williamson, Andrew Dominik, Robin Tunney, Peter Wilson, Heath Ledger; Naomi Watts is not in that list but she's a big inspiration, and so is Nicole Kidman.

Speaker 1 (Interviewer Jenny Cooney):

Was it really a matter of couch surfing for a long time?

Speaker 2 (Ben Mendelsohn):

Look, absolutely, for a really long time. There's no way I would have – I just didn't have the wherewithal to be paying for places and this and that. And also I didn't want to be sitting around here with nothing going on in a house, alone. That was just a nightmare scenario. So I was very fortunate that there was a group of people in the time that I had come up and come through, that did have good working lives here.

And Rebecca and Simon, that's Rebecca Rigg and Simon Baker, were a real linchpin of the Australians of my age in LA. They had this place, and it was a good scene. There were good people around, and they're really good people, and she's a fantastic person.

Interviewer:

I think it's ironic that Nicole had the guesthouse in the beginning, and people like Simon and Rebecca stayed with her, and then they passed it along.

Ben Mendelsohn:

Yes.

Interviewer:

And Heath was famous for doing that too.

Ben Mendelsohn:

Yes, absolutely. And Heath’s place, and that was much, much later, but Heath’s place, that was the most fun I'd ever had being a guest in a house.

Interviewer:

Really?

Ben Mendelsohn:

Heath wasn’t around. He was working somewhere, but there were a bunch of guys in that place. And that place was – that was a lot of fun, that time. That was a very, very good time.

Interviewer:

So did you ever get to that point where – because there's only so much rejection you can take...

Ben Mendelsohn:

Well, it just became the idea of, well, this is stupid, and you give it X amount of terms, and then you go, well, this isn't happening, and so I'm going to have to think about what else I do with my life. So, yes, that happened.

Interviewer:

When did that happen?

Ben Mendelsohn:

That happened a few times. But I guess it was around about 2007, just pulling a rough-enough sounding date. By about that time – 2007, 2008 – it was pretty obvious that nothing was happening. My 30s were ending, and I was going to have to think about what I was going to do with the rest of my life. Now, I knew I could go back, and I could work at home, but I didn't know that – I thought, I don't really – I'm not sure that that's what I want to do. So I had a time limit on it, and then that time limit ran out. And then I thought, what am I going to do?

And as is the nature of these things, you get a job or something happens, and you tick along for another 6 months or so, and that happened. And then I got a tonne of work at home, and that was around about – I don’t know, 2008, 2009. And the last job of that, I think I did 5 or 6 things in a row, and the last one of those was Animal Kingdom.

Audio excerpt from Animal Kingdom (David Michôd, Australia, 2010):

Detective Senior Sgt Nathan Leckie (Guy Pearce): G'day Josh, I've got some bad news, mate.
Andrew 'Pope' Cody (Ben Mendelsohn): He knows the bad news.
Leckie: Josh, I'd like you to come down to St Kilda Road with me, if that's OK.
Cody: Hey, what's he done? Tell me, I'll make sure he gets disciplined.
Leckie: You come with me, Josh?
Cody: What do you want to talk to him about? Talk to me about it.
Leckie: We'll speak to you again at a later time, when we're ready.
Cody: I might have some information for you about those two murdered police.

Ben Mendelsohn:

And when that finished, I turned 40. The day after that finished.

Interviewer:

And did you know immediately while you guys were working on that –

Ben Mendelsohn:

Absolutely not.

Interviewer:

– that it had the potential?

Ben Mendelsohn:

No, absolutely not. I knew that I didn't know as well. I'd stopped watching myself many years before, so –

Interviewer:

Have you seen it –

Ben Mendelsohn:

– it’s still my attitude.

Interviewer:

– since?

Ben Mendelsohn:

No. No, I’ve never seen it.

Interviewer:

You’ve never seen Animal Kingdom? Wow. Have you seen any of your films?

Ben Mendelsohn:

Yes, I’ve seen a couple of them.

Interviewer:

Let me guess, Star Wars?

Ben Mendelsohn:

Yes, I've seen Star Wars. I've seen Star Wars.

Interviewer:

You had to see yourself with Darth Vader didn't you?

Audio excerpt from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards, USA, 2016):

Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones): Director Krennic.
Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn): Lord Vader.
Vader: You seem unsettled.
Krennic: No, just pressed for time. There's a great many things to attend to.
Vader: My apologies, you do have a great many things to explain.
Krennic: I delivered the weapon the Emperor requested. I deserve an audience to make sure he understands its remarkable – potential.

Ben Mendelsohn:

We got taken to Skywalker Ranch. We all got flown up there to see it before it opened.

Interviewer:

Well, that's like, that movie, I'm imagining, was one of those pinch-me moments for you, I would imagine, being in that world.

Ben Mendelsohn:

Yes. Look, that was – I say this a bit, and I'm bored of myself saying it, but –

Interviewer:

They’re clean, I swear.

Ben Mendelsohn:

– I would say that if I could have told the younger me, don't worry about it. One day, you'll be in Star Wars, I would have saved myself a lot of drama, and a lot of worry.