Piper Willis
| Piper Willis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Neighbours character | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Mavournee Hazel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2015–2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 16 September 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 3 April 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Jason Herbison | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spin-off appearances |
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Piper Willis is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Mavournee Hazel. The actress went through a long casting process, which involved her travelling to Melbourne to audition three times. Months later, she was offered the role. Hazel then relocated to the city from Sydney within three days, so she was available for fittings and filming the following week. Ahead of her first episode, Piper was introduced to viewers in a four-part webisode series called Hey Piper. She made her first appearance in the main show during the episode broadcast on 16 September 2015. Hazel chose to leave her role to pursue further acting opportunities, and her final scenes aired on 3 April 2019.
Piper is the youngest child of Brad (Kip Gamblin) and Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou). Upon her family's arrival in 2013, Piper was often mentioned and said to be living in Canada on an exchange program. Producers held back her introduction to give her parents "a second chapter" ahead of her siblings' departures. Piper is portrayed as being a typical teenager, who is independent, mature, quick witted and loves technology. Hazel did not find the character much of a challenge to portray as she thought that she was similar to Piper. She was also pleased to be playing a character that teenage viewers would be able to relate to.
The character's early storylines revolved around her finding her place within her family, her parents' separation, and her part in a fire at the local high school. Piper has been involved in an on-off relationship with her older neighbour Tyler Brennan (Travis Burns). The pairing has proven popular with viewers, who refer to them by the portmanteau "Typer". Writers have put several obstacles in the couple's way, including Tyler's casual relationship with Piper's half-sister Paige Smith (Olympia Valance). Other storylines have seen Piper bullied by her English teacher Elly Conway (Jodi Anasta), and have a one-night stand with her friend Angus Beaumont-Hannay (Jai Waetford).
Casting
[edit]The character had often been mentioned and referred to by her on-screen family since their arrival in May 2013, but she did not appear. Piper was said to be living and studying in Canada as part of a school exchange program.[1] Executive producer Jason Herbison explained that Piper's introduction was held back for when her on-screen parents needed "a second chapter", should her siblings leave the show.[2] Piper's arrival and Mavournee Hazel's casting was announced on 18 August 2015.[1] Of joining the permanent cast, Hazel commented "It's a great feeling to be rewarded with the role of Piper after years of hard work, especially when I fell in love with the character after my first audition."[3]
Hazel flew to Melbourne from her home in Sydney to meet with the casting director and audition for the role. This was followed by two more rounds of auditioning and a waiting period spread over a few months, until she was given the role.[4] Hazel's biggest challenge during the auditioning process was the financial cost of getting to Melbourne, as she was a university student with a small budget. But she was confident that she would secure the role, saying "something just felt right about the whole situation".[4] Hazel relocated to Melbourne within three days to be available for fittings and filming the following week.[4] She told Anthony Graetz of CLIQUE Mag that she wanted to be with Neighbours for a few years, but had plans to relocate to Los Angeles or the UK for further acting work.[4] Hazel made her debut as Piper on 16 September 2015.[3]
Development
[edit]Characterisation
[edit]"As soon as I first read her profile she really spoke to me as a product of her generation. It’s great to play a character that a lot of teenagers can relate to and identify with. She talks about a lot of issues I'm sure many teenagers feel."[5]
During the casting process, Hazel and the producers shared a similar vision of what they wanted the character to be and Hazel was "so grateful" that they trusted her to bring Piper's quirkiness and storylines to life.[3] Hazel shares some of the same personality traits with Piper and found that the character was not much of a challenge to portray, as she felt that she "knew this girl, knew what she was about."[4] The actress also found that being so similar to Piper meant that she took criticism of her personally.[4] Hazel wished she had been similar to Piper when she was her age, and she felt that she was slowly growing up to be like Piper.[5]
In an interview with Carena Crawford from All About Soap, Hazel described Piper as having typical traits of a teenager, saying she was "technology-loving, free-thinking, liberated".[6] She also said Piper was mature and intelligent, with "a quick wit and dry sense of humour."[6] In an interview published on the official website, Hazel also described Piper as being fun, having a "cool approach to life" and someone who can be herself "unapologetically".[5] Hazel enjoyed playing a character with a rebellious personality, but pointed out that for all of Piper's maturity and intelligence, she "doesn't have a filter when it comes to her actions."[7]
During an interview for the show's official website, Hazel believed Piper's dream job would be a journalist at BuzzFeed or somewhere similar. She would enjoy voicing her opinions in "a very 21st century environment."[7] Hazel did not think Piper was the type of person who finished high school, instead she would just apply for internships in the industry she wanted to work in.[7] Hazel told Tim Falk of TV Soap that getting to live in Piper's Doc Martens, and the opportunity she got as an actor were the best things about playing Piper.[8] She said that future storylines would see different aspects of Piper's personality. She continued, "There's lots of mischief, some deceit and guilt in store for Piper."[8] Hazel added that viewers would get to see Piper's vulnerable side, as she lets her guard down.[8]
Piper struggled growing up in her elder siblings' Imogen (Ariel Kaplan) and Josh's (Harley Bonner) shadows. Imogen was academic, while Josh excelled at sports, so Piper did not have a strong identity within the family until she went to Canada, where she built up an identity for herself.[6] Unlike Imogen, Piper prefers to discover things for herself instead of learning from a book.[6] Herbison called Piper the "anti-Imogen", as she tries to be different from her family.[2] But Piper does have "the Willis temper", and like her mother, she is very independent. She also shares a strong bond with her father.[6] When Piper meets Paige for the first time, they get along well. Hazel stated, "They both have this sort of sparky, sassy assertion about their character."[6]
Piper was conceived as bisexual, with the character making reference to previous girlfriends on-screen. In 2017. Hazel discussed the positive responses from fans to mentions of this, despite there being no plans to explore the character's sexuality further.[9]
Piper becomes good friends with her neighbour Xanthe Canning (Lilly Van der Meer). Hazel initially thought Piper would not be friends with someone like Xanthe, but she realised that Xanthe brings out Piper's "girlie side", while Piper is always there for Xanthe.