Universal appeal as local boys get ready to swallow Netflix

It is the love letter to Brisbane that shut down a whole street in the city’s heartland on Tuesday.

Actor Felix Cameron and author Trent Dalton at the global premiere of Boy Swallows Universe in Brisbane. Picture: Getty Images

It is the love letter to Brisbane that shut down a whole street in the city’s heartland on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people packed into Barker St in inner-city New Farm for the red carpet premiere of Netflix’s seven-part adaptation of acclaimed author Trent Dalton’s best-selling novel Boy Swallows Universe, based loosely on his own early experiences.

A sky blue Holden Kingswood was propped under a floating moon and star-like lights for the final transformation of Dalton’s debut novel, which has sold more than a million copies worldwide and has already been adapted for the stage.

Walking the red carpet, Dalton said it was “absolutely surreal” to see his childhood portrayed on the screen.

“(The story) is a ringing endorsement of feeling stuff – and I’m feeling very moved right now,” said Dalton, a longtime writer on the The Weekend Australian Magazine.

“I’m so deeply connected to Brisbane, and this city saved my family’s life … and now they are closing down a street for something that I wrote.”

Boy Swallows Universe transports viewers back to Brisbane’s suburban streets in the 1980s, when mullets were plentiful and teachers still wielded the cane.

The semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story follows teenager Eli Bell, whose younger iteration is played by Felix Cameron, trying to figure out how to become a good man while dealing with the realities of life, alongside his mute older brother August, played by Lee Tiger Halley.

The all-star Australian cast features Phoebe Tonkin as the boy’s recovering drug addict mum and Travis Fimmel as their heroin-dealing stepfather.

Real-life criminal Slim Halli­day is brought to life by Bryan Brown, who acts as the Bell brothers’ babysitter after his release from Boggo Road Gaol. Halliday was a family friend of the Daltons.

Simon Baker, Anthony LaPaglia and Sophie Wilde also have starring roles.

Dalton has described young Eli as his “teenage avatar”, creating big shoes for Cameron to fill.

Only 14 when the show was filmed on location in Brisbane, the actor said he “thoroughly enjoyed” the challenge.

“He is just so full of life and energy and you just want to do the best job for him as possible,” he said. “He has become a bit of a Brisbane icon and it’s pretty amazing to almost tell his story.”

Friends Lisa Haigh and Ingrid Woodrow were front row to spot the stars, but it was Dalton who they wanted to see. “Trent is just the most amazing human as well as a brilliant author,” said Ms Haigh. “And how wonderful to have a story based in Brisbane premiering in our local area.”

For young fans Scarlett and Audrey Reed and Zara Hickling, it was a chance to cheer on their schoolfriend Eloise Rothfield, who plays young Shelly Huffman.

The series will debut worldwide on Netflix on Thursday.