Boy Swallows Universe big winner at Logie Awards
Boy Swallows Universe - including Australian television’s night of nights - as the Netflix adaptation of Trent Dalton’s semi-autobiographical novel was the big winner at the Logie Awards. Plus, Dalton confirms a new project set for the small screen is in the works.
Boy Swallows Universe … including Australian television’s night of nights.
The Netflix adaptation of Trent Dalton’s best-selling semi-autobiographical novel is the big winner of the 64th TV Week Logie Awards, which returned to Sydney on Sunday night for only the second time in 37 years.
The series took home the gongs for Best Miniseries, with a Best Lead Actor in a Drama win for its young star Felix Cameron, Best Supporting Actor for Bryan Brown, and Best Supporting Actress for Sophie Wilde.
Cameron, 15 and barely able to wrap his mind around the evening, shared with The Australian, “It’s quite incredible; I can’t quite imagine it … especially to be nominated with the people I’m nominated with, you know, Hugo Weaving and all these sort of names I grew up watching as a kid.”
“It’s so awesome walking past and seeing how many people have watched the show. Especially (for) Trent, who couldn’t have imagined what would have come from it.”
And just how will he celebrate his win? “I’m too young to go to the afterparties, so I might just go crazy in the room with my brother and sister and watch the footy.” For the record: he’s a Hawthorn fan.
Premiering to a staggering 3.75 million views worldwide within days and quickly ascending to the fifth-most-watched Netflix show globally, Boy Swallows Universe was the frontrunner going into the ceremony. It led the field with eight nominations, out of Netflix’s total of 11.
The series stars’ Cameron and Lee Halley were also both up for the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent, which golden boy Cameron won.
The gritty coming-of-age saga, set in Brisbane circa 1985, follows the story of Eli (Cameron), a clever 13-year-old who dreams of becoming a journalist while juggling a dysfunctional family life. He lives with his older brother Gus (Halley), who is selectively mute and can predict the future; his well-meaning but drug-addled mother, Frankie (Phoebe Tonkin, nominated for Best Actress); and his heroin-slinging stepfather, Lyle (Travis Fimmel, nominated for Best Supporting Actor).
“It’s a tough story about a family that has fallen through the cracks in 1980s Australia. It’s the most touching thing that people in this country would vote for the story,” author Trent Dalton said.
He said Boy Swallows Universe was “as deep as my life goes”. “I was terrified of writing about this because it’s from my own life, it’s about some tough times Mum went through in the 1980s and she’s currently at home babysitting my daughters and she’s going … to be really proud.”
When The Australian spoke with Dalton on the red carpet, he did not yet know young Cameron had won a Logie. “Tonight I’m here for those boys,” Dalton said. “They carried that whole show on their shoulders. They’re so special. If they were to get up tonight, you might hear me jumping up on the table, it might be a scene.”
And what kind of scene are we talking about? “I’ll go Tom Cruise mode. I might actually rappel from the ceiling of the Logies.”
In accepting the award for Best Miniseries or Telemovie, the last trophy for Boy Swallows Universe of the night, Dalton took a moment to pay tribute to his hometown of Brisbane and his family.
“You showed the world why I love my mum, why I miss my dad, and why I worship my brothers. I want to shout out all the mums who are like Frankie Bell; they’re out in the suburbs tonight, they’re in the darkness, and when your children look at you in the darkness, all they see is your light! Keep shining, we see you, and we love you!”
While the curtain has fallen on Boy Swallows Universe, Dalton and producer Troy Lum confirmed in the media room that an adaptation of the authors 2023 novel Lola in the Mirror — about a “houseless” 17-year-old girl who lives with her mum in a car — is in the works. “I can’t say much, but it’s coming,” said Lum.
The Gold Logie category this year was full of familiar faces, with just three first-timers breaking through: Larry Emdur, host of The Morning Show and The Chase Australia; Robert Irwin, fresh off his stint as the new co-host of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!; and former AFL star turned ABC sports presenter Tony Armstrong.
Armstrong, who is of Barrabinya descent, would have made history as the first Indigenous Australian to win the Gold Logie. He told The Australian that such a win would “probably mean less to me individually, and more to people who are minorities and trying to enter this space.” He added, “I don’t think it adds to or takes away from the work I’ve done. It would be more about giving hope to others—something that some little brown kids could look at and think, ‘F—k, that could be me.’”
But it wasn’t to be. The Gold Logie, the night’s top prize, went to Emdur. “In 30 years time when I’m at the Shady Pines nursing home and I’m calling bingo.... I want to remember this night,” he said during his acceptance speech.
“I love being in TV and I love being on TV and I have never done anything else and I never wanted to do anything else,” he said, joking that his children have not watched free-to-air TV “for about 15 years” but admired him for another reason.
“Apparently it’s rhyming slang now that if you’re going on a bender, you’re going on a Larry Emdur, so they’re proud of me for that.
Earlier that evening, he had also received the Bert Newton Award for Most Popular Presenter, quipping, “This is wonderful recognition for me … Recognition for me is usually someone yelling out on the street, ‘Come on down, you wanker.’”
The overlong and bloated ceremony was held together by Sam Pang, who, clearly gunning for the mantle of TV’s finest curmudgeon, returned to host for a second consecutive year. He opened the evening with a sardonic monologue that took brazen swipes at the industry, the stars, and a particularly gruesome year for commercial networks.
“I am not getting paid by Channel 7 tonight. Instead, for the next 12 months, they are paying my rent, which is handy as they’ll know where to send the Thai masseuse to,” he quipped.
There was a “surprise” (read: not at all surprising) guest cameo from Olympian du jour Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn. And a milquetoast musical performance from the British singer James Bay, still clinging to his fedora for dear life. Given the dire straits facing Australian musicians, and the fact that Bay hasn’t been in the spotlight for a decade, his inclusion felt like an especially odd choice.
The other big winner of the evening was the ABC — which entered the evening with a record 51 nominations. Aunty landed multiple nods in 17 of the 20 ‘best’ categories, with actor Deborah Mailman nabbing the Best Drama Actor award for Total Control, Utopia taking home Best Comedy, and stars Rob Sitch and Kitty Flanagan winning Best Actor and Actress, respectively, while Australian Story won Best Current Affairs Program, but perhaps most importantly, Bluey finally got its due, winning Best Children’s Program after last year’s snub.
The Logie for Best News Coverage or Public Affairs Report was awarded to the 60 Minutes production, “Ben Roberts-Smith: The Truth.”
The segment, reported by Tom Steinfort, detailed the high-stakes defamation trial between Ben Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient, and Nine Newspapers. The trial followed journalist Nick McKenzie’s reporting on allegations of war crimes committed by the decorated soldier.
Journalists Tom Steinfort, Chris Masters, and Nick McKenzie took the stage to accept the award. In his remarks, Steinfort said, “We definitely weren’t expecting this given Ben Roberts-Smith’s employment history,” a pointed reference to Roberts-Smith’s tenure at Seven and the support he received from Kerry Stokes.
Actor Rebecca Gibney is inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame, a milestone achieved by only four women. The segment was marked by heartfelt tributes from her Packed to the Rafters co-star Erik Thomson, Claudia Karvan, and her son Zac Bell.
Gibney, visibly moved by the occasion, reflected on her journey with palpable emotion. “If someone had told 16-year-old me, who suffered crippling anxiety and severe body dysmorphia, that one day I would be standing on the stage with this award, she wouldn’t have believed it,” Gibney remarked.
MasterChef Australia took home the award for Best Competition Reality Program, with host Andy Allen dedicating his speech to his late co-star and “great mate” Jock Zonfrillo, who passed away in May 2023.
“It’s a tough one because it’s the last season that we’re doing the dance together,” Allen said. “It’s always emotional talking about him, but I know he’ll be up there having a whisky for us.”
Five hours into the broadcast, The Logies nearly had its own Moonlight/La La Land moment when presenter Celia Pacquola mistakenly announced the best drama category as best lead actor, quipping, “Someone at Channel Seven has f---ed me.” Despite the slip-up, the award went to Channel Seven’s RFDS, pulling off what could be the night’s biggest upset by beating out hits like The Newsreader, The Tourist, and Love Me.