by Anthony Frajman
Notwithstanding her stellar debut with Proof (1991), director Jocelyn Moorhouse has been behind some of the most popular Australian shows and films of the last decade. A few of those include The Dressmaker, Stateless and Les Norton. Her latest series, the adaptation of Trent Dalton’s best-selling book Boy Swallows Universe, looks to be no different.
Based on his semi-autobiographical book, inspired partly by Dalton’s own colourful upbringing, Boy Swallows Universe follows Eli Bell (Felix Cameron), a 12-year-old boy forced to navigate Brisbane’s criminal underworld in the 1980s.
Alongside a star making turn from Cameron, an-all-star cast of Aussie talent appear, including Simon Baker, Phoebe Tonkin, Travis Fimmel, Bryan Brown, Anthony LaPaglia and Sophie Wilde.
For Moorhouse, who shares directing duties with Bharat Nalluri and Kim Mordaunt, taking on the series, was a no brainer.
“I’m a big fan of both the book and the script. (Screenwriter) John (Collee) did an amazing job,” Moorhouse tells FilmInk.
For the director, one of the draws of working on the series was the fact that there is both “light and dark” in Dalton’s world.
“I believe life is full of both elements and that’s unavoidable. How a family can stay full of love and bonded to each other through the worst of times. I thought, this is a really moving story because this is about two brothers and their parents, and they go through a hell of a lot of dark things, but what keeps them going is a hope for the future and a love for each other,” she says.
One key character that encapsulates these extremes, is Robert Bell, Eli’s alcoholic father, played by Simon Baker.
“I think it’s really important to be able to see who they are deep down and what they’ve gone through and why they might be suffering, and therefore sort of understand their behaviour, in a very humane way. I had fun with him. His character does some pretty crazy things, but I also thought deep down, he is a very loving father. He’s just had terrible trauma happen to him. And, he has substance abuse issues, which of course is very relatable. A lot of people have those problems. I just saw him as a kind of a broken man, but there’s still potential for him to heal.”
One of Moorhouse’s favourite moments making the series was a crucial scene where a key, long-repressed trauma from the past comes out.
“When the social worker (Deborah Mailman) comes around to talk to Simon Baker’s character, revealing a major ordeal. And the boys had both kind of forgotten about it and Eli thought he was just having weird dreams about floating through space in a car, in the family station wagon and Gus (Eli’s older brother), I think he actually did remember it, but he suppressed it, so it comes out in his pictures, his art. That was a big moment for the series. Deborah Mailman was extraordinary, so was Simon Baker.”
Moorhouse began her career directing features. Her debut film, Proof, which launched her to global acclaim and demand, also helped propel the careers of Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving. Yet in recent years, she has worked prolifically in television series, including on the acclaimed dramas Wakefield and Savage River. She says television has offered a refreshing flexibility and more relaxed schedule.
“Television series, the ones I’ve worked on, are usually either six part or eight parts, the story is divided into 55-minute chunks. On a feature, you have to keep the whole thing in your head. And it could be 90 minutes, it could be two hours. It’s a bigger canvas in terms of what you have to achieve, often in less time, actually.
“Boy Swallows Universe was very generous compared to other TV shows and movies I’ve worked on, we were given just the right amount of time to get everything done. I never like being panicked or rushed. It was a very respectful schedule; things were taken into account… ‘this is gonna take longer … this is gonna be hard…’ So, I never felt like I was freaking out from lack of time.”
Though she now lives in Australia, previously Moorhouse lived in the US with husband PJ Hogan and their family.
During her time in the US, she worked on studio pictures including A Thousand Acres and How to Make an American Quilt, and worked with legendary actors such as Anne Bancroft. She has fond memories of working with The Graduate star.
“Anne was just a wonderful human being, so no nonsense and incredibly motherly on set, really supportive,” she says.
Moorhouse says Australia is home, and she is determined to continue working on home soil.
“I love working in Australia. This is my home. I’m an Australian filmmaker, and I love working with Australian crews. They’re the best in the world, really.”
Currently, Moorhouse is editing her upcoming comedy feature, The Fabulous Four, starring Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon and Megan Mullally, which she gleefully describes as “like Bridesmaids, but for much older women.”
She says working with Midler and Sarandon has been incredibly enjoyable.
“It’s just a piece of fun, really. I’m having a ball working on it, and I loved working with those women there. Bette Midler is just amazing. Susan Sarandon’s one of my heroes, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, who’s hilarious.”
Following The Fabulous Four, Moorhouse is already planning her next project with husband PJ Hogan, a series based on the life of Australia golfer, Jan Stephenson.
“Her story is extraordinary. she was a prodigy in golf in the seventies when she was a young woman and she went over to America, had all these insane adventures, which will be included in the miniseries, made some friends, made quite a few enemies, but helped revolutionise the LPGA. We’re working on that together with some American writers and hoping to get that going,” she says.
Boy Swallows Universe is streaming now
