Ryan Moloney | Man of Earth
Ryan texted that morning: It’s muddy. Really muddy. I packed boots and a rain coat. Ready for the cold and the wet. But those conditions were exactly what I wanted. To breath the cool air, to work, to dig into the mud, and to get dirt under the nails and in the cracks and creases of the hands.
The essence of the man I came to know on the sanitised set of Aussie Soap Neighbours was something else; nothing like what is seen on the TV. Or, perhaps more accurately, he’s that and more. Exponentially more down-to-earth than his character, Toadie. Impossibly real in person. Impossible in his suchness.
On set, I was always so impressed by his groundedness and, like so many others, came to depend on his solidity. So, on a cool Saturday morning in Autumn, we worked with the aim of capturing something of this. Who he is beyond the character, beyond the celebrity, beyond the public persona. Who he is in relation to the earth he lives and works on. The earth he raises his family on. The earth he loves.
‘Man of Earth’ speaks of the textures, rhythms, and the deeper nature of actor Ryan Moloney.
— Nicholas Coghlan, May 2023