Alex Dimitriades in the heat of the moment

Minor Spoiler: In ABC1’s new drama series The Slap, Alex Dimitriades plays Harry.

In the 2008 novel by Christos Tsolkias Harry’s temper gets the better of him in the middle of a backyard celebration. He’s the culprit who slaps an unruly child and all hell breaks loose.

Dimitriades says in order to play the part he had to separate his own views from that of the character.

“He’s a hard-working man who’s seemingly created something for his family from nothing. He’s come from a hard background and all of that is at stake because of one brief moment in time. If he could turn back time I guess he might have treated things differently,” he says.

“But in the heat of the moment it’s a judgement. It’s an action upon which he will be judged.  Everyone’s story is different and everyone has a different opinion. Our influences shape us differently. I just try and play the character as truthfully as possible and believe in what they believe in.

“But you can’t colour things too much with of yourself otherwise it’s not really being true to the essence of the story.”

The best-selling book has ignited debate ever since it was published. It won the 2009 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and has since been published in 26 countries.

Dimitriades isn’t surprised its themes have attracted such attention.

“I guess we all judge one another and everybody has their opinion. The fact is that nobody is perfect and these are all flawed characters. I empathise towards everyone. It’s difficult to know who’s right and who’s wrong,” he says.

“There are a lot of issues. Parenting, alcoholism, religion, cultural differences and sex and fidelity on top of that. So it zooms and analyses these people, what they’re going through and who they are and why they have these opinions.

“They’re representative of our society, multicultural Australia in 2011. And they’re different generations as well, which is very important.”

He’s not a father yet, but the drama has given Dimitriades food for thought.

“Not yet but it’s a daunting and scary thought when you’re faced with the possibilities of what could go wrong and all the questions that arise when you’re confronted with a situation like this. How would you deal with the situation?” he asks.

“What would I do if that was my kid? Who knows? My brother was put in that situation recently and it was pretty scary. Another kid’s parent wasn’t around and his kid was being influenced by a really out of line kid and if that parent isn’t there and the other child needs disciplining, what do you do?”

With a strong multicultural cast, the series will also pose questions about the way different cultures deal with family and parenting. What’s socially acceptable for one ethnicity is not always condoned by another.

“In ethnic communities that are a little bit more tight-knit and old-school in a sense, it is a little bit more acceptable. But that’s the difference. In this story it does cross cultures and it’s a generational thing as well,” he explains.

“In 2011 how you parent your kid is policed by the ‘PC committee’ very heavily. People are scared to admit how they go about things and are forced to be very PC. But it’s great that this whole topic is receiving exposure for people to talk about it.”

Each episode of The Slap focusses on a different principal character. The series begins by looking at party Hector (Jonathan LaPaglia). Dimitriades comes to the fore in the third episode as the ripple effect of The Slap takes its toll.

The shooting of the crucial scene involved all of the key cast, but despite its intense nature, Dimitriades says the filming was handled very well.

“It was pretty easy but we were more wary for the kid and the fact there was a minor amongst all this who has no idea of the depth and the importance of it all. So it was all about making sure the kid was ok. Choreographing that sort of stuff is not that difficult. There’s always ways to shoot things to make them look right,” he explains.

“He’s the best annoying-kid you’ve ever seen in your life. Very talented, highly intelligent and he’s only 4 years old!”

Having starred in the 1998 film Head On, this is the second time Dimitriades has featured in a work by Tsolkias. Although there have been some minor changes from the book to fit a television production, he believes it is respectful to the spirit of the work.

“Obviously it comes down to logistics and what you can do shooting-wise, but it’s pretty faithful. I think the book is written almost a script in itself. There are very little dynamics and changes to make it do-able for TV. It’s not one of those ones that are far-fetched or impossible. Christos’ style automatically lends itself to the screen. I wonder if he does it on purpose? But it’s certainly doing his publishing some favours, with the exposure the book is receiving,” he says.

“I hope, and I’m pretty confident, that we’ve done it justice.”

The Slap airs 8:30pm Thursdays on ABC1.