Meet Lachlan Buchanan, Kirk Jenkins, Ben Miliken, Debra Ades and Rebecca Breeds, the rising actors and stars behind hot new surfing flick, Newcastle.

Based on the NSW coastal town of Newcastle, the movie engages the reality of teen life, the harsh and demanding world of surf culture in Australia and, of course, drama to create a film of desperation, tragedy and triumph.

Kate from Bellaboo HQ was lucky enough to sit down with the hot new cast to talk about their characters, roles in the film and philosophies on life in general.

What I liked about the film was that it was completely raw in terms of dialogue, attitudes and relationships between characters. Was this something that you as the cast in collaboration with Dan Castle (writer and director) concentrated on?
Lachlan Buchanan (Jesse): It was great Dan allowed us a lot of freedom, even though you usually don't get that on the set. For Dan it was about making the scenes appear as real as possible. He let us improvise a fair bit which was great. There were lines we thought weren't quite in our own words, so he let us change them around a bit. We were lucky to have that.

What about the film, do you guys think its appeal is to teenagers only or beyond that?
I think the film is really cleverly put together and it allows access for everyone to kind of enjoy the film and take something away from it. The overseas reaction, where it has already been released, has been great. For people to come out of it and say "Wow" is a great relief. Even the people living in land lock in Central America have been able to take something away from the film and find similarities in their own lives…so I guess that is what makes it so appealing.

As actors on set, having a familiarity of the surfing culture, did you click straight away?
Kirk Jenkins (Andy): Yes, for sure. However, I don't think that it was the link of surfing that made us click. I think it was because we are all pretty real and on a similar level.

Lachlan, you played Jesse who was the main character of the film. You said previously that besides surfing you didn't have much in common with Jesse, did this create a challenge for you as an actor?
I guess Jesse and I are very different. He's obviously a really angry and confused kind of person, which isn't really me. It is interesting to play a character that is completely different from you and to enjoy the things that you usually wouldn't. So I guess apart from a challenge it is a cool thing to see what it is like being another person through their day to day life.

Was this a dream role for you?
Yes definitely. I have been in the performing arts since I was young. It's one of the best roles I have ever done. It has completely raised the bar for me in terms of my acting skills, my potential and where I can go in the future.

Kirk you played Andy who was an interesting character to watch. He was quite easy going and very liberal.
Kirk Jenkins (Andy): Well yeah, the film exposed the basic truth to not judge a book by its cover. You know like Fergus with his dyed black hair and purple streak didn't mean he was like some crazy ass junky that sits in his room praying to Satan or whatever. I think there was a sort of subplot going on where it broke stereotypes down to individuality within cultures rather than showing them in a negative way. Andy was a sort of a mediator in that sense.

Was there a love connection between Andy and Fergus?
Dan left it up to me choose what his deal was if we was a homosexual or not. Dan didn't necessarily think Andy was gay, but perhaps more of a free spirit. Andy's primary role being gay, bi or straight was to deconstruct stereotypes in a society where we often tend to label people, which is extremely unfair.