Warnie's Alex Williams speaks out on Shane Warne's controversies: 'Owned it'

A little over a year on from the shock death of Aussie cricket icon Shane Warne, Nine's miniseries Warnie shares the King of Spin's highs and lows with Alex Williams in the leading role.

The star spoke with Yahoo Lifestyle ahead of the show's release, revealing why he wasn't nervous about portraying the cricket legend and his numerous controversies, including bribing and cheating scandals.

"No, not really," Alex says. "I think he was pretty open and honest about some of the indiscretions or mistakes that he made. I think that's kind of what people loved about him so much. He didn't shirk responsibility, he owned his mistakes.

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"And that kind of honesty is endearing, you know, he's trying to be a better man. He's trying to do something, trying to improve himself. So yeah, look, the downs were downs, but yeah, he talked very candidly about them pretty often, and in his autobiography, so I felt like that was stuff that had been covered by him [and] I kind of felt okay to go into that territory."

'Mixed emotions'

The star shared that there were "mixed emotions" on set with the cast and crew shooting the series not long after the cricketer's death.

"The show really is a celebration of his life, so it's mixed emotions, obviously everyone was devastated, the country was," Alex tells us. "But, you know, we set out to celebrate his life and that's what we knew we were doing so yeah, that was the goal.

"And you had to bring that joy, he lived his life with a joy, and you know he was a magnetic person. You didn't want to go [into work] every day, kind of with that feeling lumped on your shoulders you needed to kind of bring the magnetism."

While the show is a celebration of the cricketer's life, Alex shares that Shane's death came as a great 'shock' to him.

"It was really young for him to pass, and just sad really," he says. "Not only did I grow up with him and watching him, but then he's been kind of the voice – he was such a talented broadcaster on the cricket for the last ten years – and for that to be taken away from people, from everyone, it was horrible."

Alex on his transformation into Shane

Watching the show, it's easy to see why Alex was chosen for the role, with the star sharing that he was surprised by how "bang on" the hair and makeup teams got the looks.

"When you're doing it, obviously with hair and makeup and doing all the trials, you're doing camera trials, seeing what it looks like on camera," he explains. "There were a few initially that I was like, 'Oh wow, that's pretty bang on,' but, you know, I played him over quite a few different eras.

"There was a lot of different looks that we had to achieve, so it was making sure that you know, we could hit all those different eras in a five week period of a shoot so there were a few moments that I was like, 'Wow it's pretty good, it's pretty close.'"

Alex adds that to complete the transformation, he had to do a lot of cricket training, with the star sharing, "As soon as I got the role, I was basically down at the nets because I knew that was something that I wanted to make authentic, and I knew that watching a lot of sports films, as soon as you see someone who's really got no idea what they're doing, it kind of breaks [the viewer's] suspension of disbelief, it can take you out of it a little bit.

"So, I knew that for the cricket fans I had to get as close as I could, so I worked really hard on that."

The star worked with former cricketer Bryce McGain in Melbourne to perfect his portrayal of Shane, not just for the bowling but also his competitiveness on the field.

'Something new'

When asked what he wants people to take from the show, Alex hopes fans learn "something new".

"People probably feel like they know everything about him and about his career, but I almost guarantee you don't," he shares with a laugh. "It'll be about kind of finding that out and having a bit of nostalgia as well."

"I learned a lot, I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know and I learned just an absolute tonne. So, I think no matter who you are, you'll learn something from the show."

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