Alex Dimitriades has taken on leading roles in projects such as Heartbreak High, Underbelly, Amazing Grace and Head On, but he was more than happy to take a backseat on the new series Strife and be the supporting act to a string of strong women.
He stars in the new BINGE original series Strife, a story about former magazine editor Evelyn Jones’ rise from mummy blogger to one of the most influential figures in women’s digital media.
The series – which is based on media mogul Mia Freedman’s book Work, Strife, Balance – stars Asher Keddie in the lead role and as executive producer alongside powerhouse creatives Freedman, Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Sarah Scheller, among many others.
And Dimitriades says he is proud to be among the mix.
“We’ve got a bunch of badass women in real life. It’s only natural that it translates onto the screen and makes some power moves because it’s a great show. It really is,” Dimitriades tells news.com.au. “It’s probably more for women than men, but it doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it and didn’t get completely swept up in it and felt a lot for it.”
“I do quite well with these kind of little pivotal roles that sort help steer the ship,” he says. “You’ve got some great characters and the main character of the story, it’s her journey and we’re there to just make sure that it stays on track.”
Dimitriades plays the role of Daniel, the husband of Evelyn’s best friend, Lucy, played by the talented Emma Lung.
The actress – who worked with Keddie on The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart – says it’s about time viewers more narratives about women, being produced by women.
“I think it’s just so great that we’re moving more and more into that world,” Lung tells news.com.au.
“I mean, we’ve been kind of given the short end of the stick for a really long time, so it’s really nice for that to be shifting.”
Lung and Dimitriades depict a controversial storyline in the series in which Lucy – a busy doctor – allows lawyer husband Daniel to date and sleep with other women. Lung says she relates more to Evelyn than Lucy in real life, but she admires Lucy for thinking outside the box.
“It was phenomenal on the page, and then watching the episodes, I was like, ‘Wow.’ And now it’s elevated,” Lung said.
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“Playing Lucy is really quite different from me. I’d say I’d probably be a little bit more Evelyn in real life. So it was really nice to have the opportunity to play someone that where you have to think differently, think in a more measured way.
“I loved playing Lucy. She’s got a really open mind and I think I have a pretty open mind too. It’s sort of hard to shock me.”
The duo came into the series with a clean slate: Both had not read Freedman’s memoir prior to filming, which they believed was for the best.
“I mostly tend to avoid them,” Dimitriades admitted of reading books before starring in their TV or film adaptations.
“Because then they become an icon and you’re scared to deviate. It makes it tricky. You’ve got something on the page [in the script], you love it. Stay true to that, and then worry about the rest of it later.”
As for Lung, she said: “I was thinking, ‘My God, why haven’t I [read] that?’ But I knew how different [the book] was to [the series] and that they wanted to make sure that we were not playing [characters in the book].”
“I found out that the doctor that I’m based on was in the audience [at the premiere], but she’s nothing like [my character] or would never do what my character has done. So it felt sort of maybe counter-productive to read the book when the screenplay is so different.”
Strife is now streaming on BINGE