{"id":490206,"date":"2026-05-18T06:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T06:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/490206\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T06:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T06:41:10","slug":"former-neighbours-star-unrecognisable-in-new-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/490206\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Neighbours star unrecognisable in new role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie actor Daniel MacPherson has truly transformed in what has been called the role of his career.<\/p>\n

The former Neighbours star looks almost unrecognisable for the new Stan Original film Beast, which co-stars Oscar winner Russell Crowe.<\/p>\n

The high-octane trailer was released on Monday showing MacPherson looking completely ripped and intensely in character as mixed martial arts legend Patton James.<\/p>\n

The gritty sports drama, which premieres on Stan on June 4, follows the washed-up champ who is now retired and working as a commercial fisherman. <\/p>\n

But he is pulled back into the cage when his younger brother (played by Mojean Aria), an MMA wannabe, ends up badly beaten and in serious debt.<\/p>\n

A tale of redemption and rivalry soon unfolds as Patton gets back into beast mode with the help of veteran trainer Sammy (Crowe).<\/p>\n

Stepping into the transformative role was no easy feat. When the script came to him three years ago, MacPherson immersed himself in the world of MMA, undergoing brutal boxing, Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu training to gain the skills and mindset of a true fighter.<\/p>\n

The actor \u2013 who has gained success in films such as A Wrinkle in Time and The Cup \u2013 also packed on 10kg of muscle for the role.<\/p>\n

Although he says prepping for the role was the most intense thing he\u2019s ever done in his life, the actor says \u201cit\u2019s not every day in your career that Russell Crowe backs you into the lead in a fight movie\u201d.<\/p>\n

So MacPherson threw himself into a rigorous regimen that included intermittent fasting and morning HIIT sessions paired with hours of MMA lessons \u2013 and, on top of that, he lived like a fighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this enormous physical challenge in making everybody in the world believe that you\u2019re an MMA fighter,\u201d he told Esquire<\/a> last month. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was doing my own training. I was doing my own washing. I was doing my own cooking. Everything was a grind but that\u2019s what it needed.\u201d <\/p>\n

Futhermore, MacPherson signed up for fight camps in Thailand on two separate occasions to workout with semi-pro fighters who initially had no idea he was famous. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was training at a gym called Superpro in Koh Samui with a bunch of elite semi-professional fighters,\u201d he told the masthead. \u201cEventually they asked why I had so many Instagram followers. I had to come clean, but they weren\u2019t holding back in sparring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never forget the first time I got properly choked out and had a mild panic attack on the mats. I had to fight every instinct in my body not to quit on the spot. There was this physiological response of having the breath and the blood choked out of you by someone you don\u2019t know. It was a lesson.\u201d <\/p>\n

Well, when you\u2019re set square up on screen with real-life champ Bren Foster \u2013 who plays Patton\u2019s main rival, Xavier Grau \u2013 you need to bring your A-game. <\/p>\n

Foster, a 9-time world champion across six disciplines, also served as the lead fight choreographer in Beast. <\/p>\n

The film also stars former NRL star George Burgess as a boxer who is close friends with Patton, Luke Hemsworth is also on-board as Patton\u2019s dubious manager, and ARIA Award-winning singer-songwriter and Australian Idol judge Amy Shark stars in her debut acting role.<\/p>\n

Shark plays Rose, the daughter of Crowe\u2019s character who steps up to retrain Patton when her dad wants no part in his story.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a lot of people don\u2019t know is that acting was my first love,\u201d Shark said in prior interview with the ABC<\/a>. \u201cI did a lot of theatre when I was a kid and was always making videos, doing the odd commercial here and there. As I got into my teen angsty years, music took over and I was obsessed with playing guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shark said she also bonded off-set with her on-screen dad Crowe over their mutual passion for NRL and music.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously he\u2019s a musician himself and a real backer of Aussie music,\u201d Shark said. \u201cHe liked my albums, came to some of my shows and we jammed together a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the trailer dropped, fans have since begun counting down the days for the film\u2019s premiere. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis looks intense! Can\u2019t wait to see Daniel MacPherson throw down with Russell Crowe in his corner,\u201d a fan tweeted on X, as another wrote, \u201cI want to see Crowe in this space & I really believe he has a lot left in the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beast premieres June 4, streaming only on Stan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie actor Daniel MacPherson has truly transformed in what has been called the role of his career. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[265],"tags":[14350,213943,213955,2786,213936,213941,37869,213935,213949,185163,153804,213952,213942,18,213947,117,213931,213948,213946,213930,213954,19,17,213937,213929,213950,213953,213945,213956,213933,213940,213938,213951,37336,5791,213939,213957,213934,195759,179690,213958,213932,391,128,213944,112930],"class_list":["post-490206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-abc","tag-actor-hits","tag-amy-shark","tag-asia","tag-aussie-actor","tag-aussie-singer","tag-beast-mode","tag-beast-official-movie","tag-beast-premieres","tag-christine-salazar","tag-close-friends","tag-commercial-fisherman","tag-daniel-donald-macpherson","tag-eire","tag-elite-fighters","tag-entertainment","tag-fight-movie","tag-fight-scenes","tag-film-debut","tag-george-burgess","tag-gritty-sports-drama","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lead-fight-choreographer","tag-martial-artist-champ","tag-martial-arts-legend","tag-official-movie-trailerdaniel","tag-on-screen-dad","tag-on-screen-daughter","tag-on-screen-rival","tag-patton-james","tag-real-backer","tag-rigorous-training-regimen","tag-rose","tag-russell-crowe","tag-sammy","tag-semi-pro-fighters","tag-shark-plays","tag-soap-star","tag-south-eastern-asia","tag-star-looks","tag-teen-angsty","tag-thailand","tag-tv","tag-veteran-trainer","tag-world-champion"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}