Role Aussie loss to US star: ‘More famous'
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British actor Jim Sturgess and Australian actress Teresa Palmer play high school sweethearts who reunite after decades apart in the new Aussie series Mix Tape.
In a case of life imitating art, both Sturgess and Palmer also experience a reunion of sorts on the set, as they actually met years ago in Hollywood.
That year was 2008 and Palmer had auditioned for a role in the drama 21, a film about a group of genius college students who use maths to win big at blackjack in Las Vegas. Sturgess scored the lead opposite Kevin Spacey, but Palmer didn't get the role.
'Kate Bosworth got the role ultimately. She was a lot more famous than me back then,' Palmer, 39, told news.com.au.
But doing the audition process together at the time marked the start of a beautiful friendship between the stars.
'When they do those screen tests, they really kind of put you through it. And so me and Teresa spent a whole day together and got on really well,' Sturgess, 47, tells news.com.au. 'I'd always been aware of her work since that day and always sort of follow [her career].'
'Then literally 20 years later we're coming back and shooting Mix Tape together. We messaged each other about it and we were excited that we were both getting on board.'
Stream Mix Tape now on BINGE, available on Hubbl.
In Mix Tape, which is now streaming on BINGE, Sturgess and Palmer play former 80s high-school sweethearts Daniel and Alison who are now living in Sydney and Sheffield, respectively.
As high-school sweethearts, the pair would make each other mix tapes, but a tragic event pulls them to opposite ends of the world.
Through modern technology, they reconnect after a chance encounter and discover that the songs from their shared past evoke feelings that never went away.
Off set, Sturgess and Palmer also connected through music – not through mix tapes, but through playlists.
'We made each other some playlists, but it was about as unromantic as you could imagine,' he laughs. 'We were sending each other hip-hop music basically. T's a big hip-hop fan, and I was sending her a lot of English sort of grime, hip-hop music, and she was sending me stuff back.'
But fun and music aside, Mix Tape is more than just a rom-com.
The four-part series explores missed opportunities, second chances, and childhood trauma.
'It sort of exists in this really interesting space where it's gritty enough and romantic enough and it's all these things just coming together to make the show. So that's all really of exciting and deeply nostalgic,' Sturgess says.
'This is definitely not a gushy kind of romance film. It's difficult and it's traumatic at times.'
Palmer's character of Alison lives through a traumatic experience that forces her to leave town for Sydney where she now resides with her husband (played by Ben Lawson).
But her troubled and impoverished childhood in Sheffield is never far from her mind. And in some ways, Palmer could relate to Alison.
'I would not say my upbringing was anywhere near what Alison went through. Not even close, but I grew up in government housing,' Palmer reveals. 'I went to a private Catholic school that my dad paid for, but I lived with my mum who was on a disability pension. I remember feeling like I was the one at school who couldn't have people over to my house because my house was so tiny and embarrassing and I didn't really want to have a lot of friends over.'
'But my place ended up being the place everyone wanted to go to because my mum was very open with her rules. We didn't really have any rules, to be honest. So all my friends suddenly were like, 'We want to be at our house. We're going to go to Teresa's house.''
Mix Tape will hit home for many people who have ever asked 'what if' – and both Sturgess and Palmer loved the 'beautiful, nuanced way' the story was told.
'I think it is hugely romantic for anyone looking back,' Sturgess says. 'There's a generation of 40 year olds that are really going to be moved by the nostalgia of it.'
Mix Tape is now streaming on BINGE, available on Hubbl and watch On Demand on Foxtel
Originally published as Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess reunite 17 years after almost starring together in Hollywood film
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