Travis Fimmel (“Vikings,” “Warcraft”), Simon Baker (“The Mentalist,” “Breath”) and Phoebe Tonkin head the adult cast of “Boy Swallows Universe,” an Australia-set fantasy-drama series. Production has now begun in Brisbane, Queensland.
The eight-part limited series is an adaptation of Trent Dalton’s international best-selling novel “Boy Swallows Universe” and is being produced by Brouhaha Entertainment, together with Anonymous Content and Chapter One, for streaming platform Netflix.
“Boy Swallows Universe” follows working-class Brisbane teenager Eli Bell in a whirlwind story about drug addiction, ex-cons, poverty, violence and the discovery of hope through the power of love. Dalton has pitched the story as involving “a boy who receives a message on a red rotary dial phone in a secret underground room that tells him he must bust into Brisbane’s notorious Boggo Road Prison to save his mum’s life on Christmas Day.”
The roles of the young Eli and Gus Bell will be played by Felix Cameron (“Penguin Bloom”) appearing as Eli Bell, and Lee Tiger Halley (“The Heights,” “Featherweight”) as Gus Bell.
The show’s directors are Bharat Nalluri (“Spooks,” “Hustle,” “Life on Mars”), Jocelyn Moorhouse (“Proof,” “How to Make an American Quilt”) and Kim Mordaunt (“The Rocket,” “Fires,” “Wakefield”). The series is adapted for the screen by writer John Collee (“Master and Commander,” “Happy Feet,” “Hotel Mumbai”).
Executive producers are Troy Lum (“The Water Diviner,” “Saving Mr Banks,” “Mao’s Last Dancer”) and Andrew Mason (“The Matrix,” “The Water Diviner”) on behalf of Brouhaha, Sophie Gardiner (“Howards End,” “Little Women”) for Chapter One, Anonymous Content’s Kerry Kohansky-Roberts (“Foe,” “Boy Erased”), Joel Edgerton (“The Gift,” “Boy Erased”) and Toby Bentley (“Best Interests,” “Kiri”).
Director of photography is Shelly Farthing-Dawe. Production designer is Michelle McGahey. Costume Designer is Kerry Thompson. Hair and makeup designer is Angela Conte. Casting director is Nikki Barrett.
“Boy Swallows Universe” is supported by the Queensland state government through Screen Queensland’s Production Attraction Strategy.