In the Mind of a Monster

Malcolm Kennard plays the role of Ivan Milat in 'Catching Milat'. Photo: WHO

Throughout his 25-year career, Malcolm Kennard has often kept clothes or props given to him as mementos from shows and films he has starred in. But a pair of work boots and other gear he wore while playing Australia's worst serial killer, Ivan Milat, were a gift he didn't want to keep.

"I ended up taking them way out back and burning the whole bloody lot of them to try and get rid of it," says Kennard, 48, who was hand-picked to play Milat in Seven's two-part miniseries Catching Milat (premieres Sunday May 17 at 8.45PM).

"I just wanted to get the whole thing off me."

The backpacker murders – of Milat's seven victims, three were German, two British and two Australian – in NSW's Belanglo State Forest in the late 1980s and early '90s are etched into the national psyche.

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Milat's conviction; he is currently serving seven consecutive life sentences for murder, plus six years for detaining for advantage, in Goulburn's Supermax prison.

"It's a terrible thing that happened. I think, in a way, we are fascinated by it because we want to stop it from ever happening again," says Kennard, who adds that playing Milat was the toughest role of his career, and took him to a very dark place.

"It was like a meditation on these really dark events and this really dark and morbid, very disturbing psyche, and it's not a healthy space to be in," he says.

For our full interview with Malcolm Kennard and making Catching Milat, see this week's issue of WHO, on sale now.