There’s method acting – and then there’s David Howell.
The Aussie actor was so spectacular when he auditioned for the role of a bank robber in the new BINGE series “Run,” that concerned neighbors believed he was actually a criminal and called the police.
Needless to say, Howell got the role in the miniseries based on the life of notorious Aussie bank robber Brenden Abbott, aka ‘The Postcard Bandit’. But first the crew had to convince police that Howell was in fact an actor when they rocked up in a fleet of cop cars to the Sydney studio.
Howell’s co-star George Mason, who was cast as Brenden in the series, recalls being so impressed after seeing Howell at the audition dressed like a complete criminal, that he’s not surprised he fooled the police.
“I’m pulling up, I see David, he’s pacing around his car and he’s smoking a cigarette – he doesn’t even smoke,” Mason recalled to news.com.au to promote the series, which is now streaming on BINGE.
“So he’s obviously just dropping into character. And I just sort of acknowledged him, but I was like, ‘I’ll let him do his thing.’ I’ve got nothing but respect for him.”
However, Mason knew they were in for trouble when he heard Howell burst into the studio already in character as Glenn Abbott, Brenden’s little brother.
“Next minute I hear him start the scene. It’s the hold-up scene and I’m going, ‘Oh, that’s loud,’” Mason shared. “I’m in the street two blocks down in Surry Hills and I can hear him screaming his head off, ‘Get on the effing floor!’ And straight away I went, ‘The cops are going to come.’”
“Most people in Sydney live in apartments and what not. So you can’t just scream at the top of your lungs, ‘This is a hold-up, everybody on the floor.’’”
Just as he predicted, police showed up… with the tactical response group.
“Next minute, the sirens are coming and I’m going, ‘Sh*t,’” Mason said. “And I’m dressed up looking like [a robber]. I think I was wearing a white singlet and I had a pretend gun as well because I kind of had the same instincts – I was going to hold them up as well with a balaclava.”
Mason said that despite appearing suss himself, he thought he’d help ease tensions by informing the cops that it was all for a TV show.
“I run down the road and then I thought I should probably start walking because I can see the police filing into the frigging room,” he shared. “I stopped the first guy and I was like, ‘Hey, just letting you know there’s an audition room. I’ve got the script here, just don’t go in there and shoot. It’s my mate in there.’ And the cop turned around and said to me, ‘Well, you should have a permit.’ And I was like, ‘Don’t shoot the messenger, bro.”
After the debacle, which saw nearby apartment buildings being evacuated, Mason praised Howell for his method acting.
“You’ll see him in the show and he’s an absolute standout,” Mason said. “I mean, he’d also just been working with [Aussie director] Justin Kurzel [on the miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North] before he did that little method stunt. So I think maybe that’s the school of Justin Cosell right there.”
“If they didn’t give him the part after that, I don’t know what gives,” he added.
Mason plays the lead role in “Run,” which follows Abbott’s unprecedented career in crime in the 80s and 90s during which he was dubbed ‘The Postcard Bandit’ for robbing more than 40 banks across the country, all while evading police for five years.
After escaping maximum security prisons twice, Abbott was eventually arrested and jailed in 1998. To this day, he remains Australia’s longest-serving prisoner not convicted of murder. He is eligible for parole in August 2028.
“Run” is now streaming on BINGE.
