Boy Swallows Universe Now streaming on Netflix
CAST
Felix Cameron (Penguin Bloom) as young Eli Bell
Zac Burgess (One Night) as older Eli Bell
Lee Tiger Halley (Crazy Fun Park) as August “Gus” Bell, Eli’s brother
Travis Fimmel (Raised by Wolves, Vikings) as Lyle Orlik, Gus and Eli’s stepdad
Phoebe Tonkin (Babylon, Transfusion) as Frankie Bell, Gus and Eli’s mom
Simon Baker (Breath, The Mentalist) as Robert Bell, Gus and Eli’s dad
Bryan Brown (Gods of Egypt, Cocktail) as Slim Halliday, Gus and Eli’s babysitter
Sophie Wilde (Everything Now, Talk to Me) as Caitlyn Spies, a news reporter
Anthony LaPaglia (Florida Man, Without a Trace) as Tytus Broz, a drug dealer
Christopher James Baker (True Detective, Ozark) as Ivan Kroll, a drug dealer
Deborah Mailman (2067, Offspring) as Poppy Birkbeck, a guidance counselor
HaiHa Le (Back to the Rafters) as Bich Dang
Adam Briggs (Black Comedy) as Alex Bermuda, Eli’s pen pal
The Story.
It’s 1985 in a dusty suburb in Brisbane. Middle schooler Eli Bell (Cameron) and his older brother, Gus (Tiger Halley), live in a working-class neighborhood with their mom, Frankie (Tonkin), and their stepdad, Lyle (Fimmel). Eli’s just trying to get by and make the best out of things — he’s mentored by a warmhearted convicted felon (Brown) and gets life advice from a pen pal serving jail time (Briggs) — but the school bullies and his stepdad don’t make it easy. Eli’s coerced into troublemaking at school, and at home he’s desperate to find out if Lyle’s fallen back into dealing heroin. As he investigates what his stepdad’s really up to (fearing that his mom, an addict, has begun using again), he gets mixed up in the criminal underbelly of his town. Boy Swallows Universe follows Eli through his dark but often magical teenage years as he stumbles toward adulthood.
Brisbane sure was sparkling around New Farm Cinemas last week as they celebrated an impressive launch of Trent Dalton’s story adapted from the top-selling book “Boy Swallows the Universe”. It has been the talk of the town to line up stars that walked the red carpet to after party that had Alister Simon Baker, Bryon Brown, Travis Fimmel, and Phoebe Tonkin, along with other cast members and VIP guests.
This is an Australian story set in Brisbane in the ’80s and it is a ripper that has turned around the life of Trent Dalton who is one of the most nicest men to meet. Trent has been known to be a Courier Mail journalist over his years to be over the last few years a successful author with his books and now can be so proud of the screen version that is already No. 1 on Netflix only days later streaming.
I completely binged the whole series Saturday night and was so invested in finishing it and I did! It has to be one of the best things I have seen made locally as to production, script, and direction and the casting is spot on.
It all began with Trent meeting multi-award-winning executive producer Joel Edgerton, that led for
Writer John Collee of Hotel Mumbai fame who then worked closely with Trent Dalton; to Emmy-winning director Bharat Nalluri, who directed Shantaram and then with Jocelyn Moorhousen director what a dream team you have there!
Add on BAFTA-nominated producer Sophie Gardiner; is series producer and executive producer Andrew Mason, producer of three Matrix movies; and including executive producers Troy Lum and Andrew Mason.
Felix Cameron as young Elle is an amazing young actor and what a performance he does I was blown away watching him, as he sure carries a lot of the series as to his older brother Lee Tiger Halley Gus who is a perfect fit.
Seeing Simon Baker as the dad also lit up the screen as he sure has some fine moments throughout the series and good lines, but then again I can add to all cast Step dad Travis very moving parts, as to also Byron Brown as Slim and a big applause to Phoebe playing mum.
The big one of course is watching Trent’s story and this is powerful to watch and can’t imagine at times how all the outcomes come to be of now but this is one story that demonstrates love of family and of hope.
This is no doubt going to be one of the most successful series made and will impact many lives for sure. It sure left me feeling this way and congrats to all in the making of this production. Brisbane should be proud to be the hometown of such an iconic story and to have such a writer as Trent Dalton, who is a great storyteller and a real champion to have in the city of Brisbane which he is now known as a global name. Give the man the key to the city.
Must watch.
Caroline Russo.
Photo credits Netflix
