Boy Swallows Universe and Robbie Williams the big winners at the AACTA Awards

The TV adaptation of a Queensland-inspired book and a Robbie Williams biopic cleaned up at the Australian version of the Oscars. FULL WINNER’S LIST

The TV adaptation of Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe and Robbie Williams’ biopic Better Man were the big winners at the 2025 Australian Academy of Arts and Cinema (AACTA) Awards.

Going into the ceremony with 22 nominations, Netflix’s gritty Boy Swallows Universe took home a total of 12 awards while Williams’ Better Man won nine from 16 nods.

“I’m walking on air,” Dalton, a News Corp Australia journalist, said on the red carpet, wearing a “discount two-for-one offer” suit he bought from Tarocash at Westfield.

“This is kind of the end of a six year journey of this story for me.

“I love that the story was embraced by people around the world, it’s extraordinary. Everyone on this show put so much of themselves into it, and so much heart and soul and I felt like the nation of Australia and the whole film industry kind of rewarded all those people and said ‘hey, well done’.”

Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton on the red carpet at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) awards at the Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast. Picture: Annette Dew.

On top of Best Miniseries and Best Screenplay, Boy Swallows Universe trumped the acting categories on TV with Phoebe Tonkin named Best Lead Actress in a Drama and 15-year-old Felix Cameron Best Lead Actor.

“Making Boy Swallows Universe has been one of the best experiences of my life. It has changed my life,” a visibly emotional Tonkin said as she accepted her award from close friend Teresa Palmer.

Speaking with this masthead, Tonkin expressed her immense pride in co-stars Felix Cameron and Lee Tiger Halley, affectionately referring to them as “her kids.”

“They feel like my own kids, and I’m just so proud of them. They’ve been incredible to work with — I’m their biggest fan,” she said.

Cameron, who won the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent at last year’s Logies, was all jokes when asked about his breakthrough role.

“We’ll see, I could just absolutely plateau and become … this is as high as it gets and then all downhill from here. Hopefully not.”

If not for acting, he’d look at a range of sports like cricket or golf, or, “investing – buy low, sell high”.

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Deborah Mailman and Lee Tiger Halley also took home Best Supporting awards for their work in the series.

Better Man meanwhile, directed by Australian Michael Gracey, is Williams’ story of fame, from addiction, love. It is a rags-to-riches story of a young boy from Stoke-on-Trent, who becomes one of the most famous musicians on the planet.

Robbie Williams on the red carpet at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) awards at the Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast. Picture: Annette Dew.

It took out Best Film, as well as Best Direction for Gracey, along with Best Lead Actor in Film for Jonno Davies and Best Supporting Actor in Film for Damon Herriman.

“I think it is a modern day story for a modern-day age where our generations are all discovering that we are mentally unwell and we want to talk about it,” Williams said.

“Whereas the generation before me weren’t allowed to because they’d just been through the war and there was a scarcity where they could barely eat. And then they ate, they built stuff and created people like me and now we are at a place in humanity where we go, ‘hey, we really need to work out our inner lives’.”

On stage, accepting Best Film, Williams joked about sleeping with Davies.

“I slept with Jonno Davies, and he was a shit lay,” he said to applause and laughter from the crowd.

Newswire 7 February 2025 Gold Coast AACTA Awards at HOTA Cast and crew from Better Man. Photo by Richard Gosling

“I wasn’t expecting this (pulls out notes) … I would like to thank drugs, ADHD, depression, anxiety, dyslexia, dyscalculia, insomnia, dyspraxia, a lack of self awareness, a lack of self-worth, a fear of social interaction, body dysmorphia, addiction, alcoholism, and a lower than average size penis, without which none of this would be possible.”

Two of the top film winners weren’t able to attend the awards in Sarah Snook and Jackie Weaver for Best Lead Actress in Film and Best Supporting Actress in Film respectively for Adam Elliott’s Memoir of A Snail.

Elliott flies to the USA today (Saturday) ahead of attending the upcoming Academy Awards, where Memoir of A Snail is nominated in the Best Animated Feature category.

“We are the underdogs, I feel like it is a horse race and we are the donkey down the back up against Inside Out 2 and we are up against Inside Out 2 which has made $1.8 billion at the box office and our budget was only seven so it is this david and goliath sort of situation,” Elliott said.

Elsewhere in the television awards, Heartbreak High was named Best Drama Series while Fisk won Best Narrative Comedy Series and the shows Kitty Flanagan secured Best Acting in a Comedy.

Kids favourite Bluey won Best Children’s Program while MasterChef Australia was the Best Reality Program of the Year and Tom Gleeson Best Comedy Performer.