Hugo finds Logies bogus
DID you know? Hugo doesn’t want to go. It was news to me, I didn’t know.
But apparently this is fact, not fiction. The famous actor is not acting, he is literally not going. Okay, let’s take it from the top. Hugo Weaving has been nominated for a Logie for most outstanding actor for his performance in the ABC drama Seven Types of Ambiguity.
But the stop-press is that Weaving has decided he’s not even going to show up on the night.
That’s how much he values the award.
It’s not unusual for nominees to be “away” or “overseas” on the big night.
There are plenty of nominees who have phoned it in “via satellite”.
But Weaving is making news because he’s not “in transit” or “shooting a sequel”. He’s actually just sitting at home, having a cheeky red and growing his beard.
He’s just not into the whole idea of showing up and having dinner and drinks with every Tom, Dick and Karl of the Australian television industry. Who can blame him?
He didn’t nominate himself. He was in The Matrix. That’s validation.
The Logies on the Gold Coast on July 1 aren’t going to cause him to reevaluate any time soon.
As an actor, Weaving knows he is twice as talented as the entire cast of Big Brother season, one, two and three, Gogglebox and season one of Love Island put together.
Weaving is a serious professional actor. And he still has every right to decide what he’s going to do on his Sunday night.
But as you can imagine, his snubbing of the narcissists’ paradise has put a few nose jobs out of joint.
“He’s a disgrace!” a famous former Gold Logie winner said on morning television.
No, Karl Stefanovic was not happy.
But this strategy hasn’t seemed to convince Weaving to reconsider.
Weaving is of the opinion that the Logies are nothing more than ”a promotional tool for the TV channels themselves”. He’s right. But it’s no wonder Stefanovic has taken offence on behalf of the whole industry. Weaving showing up and sitting on table three for four or five hours would lend the Logies some much-needed credibility.
Stefanovic knows this, but publicly he is proposing the idea that Weaving should realise that being an actor in Australia carries a heavy weight of social media responsibility.
If you get nominated for an award, you show up and you thank your viewers. Otherwise, what are awards shows for?
In this era of Rotten Tomatoes, everybody is a critic.
We vote people off the island on live TV. Why bother watching a show run by a magazine?
Who remembers who won the Logie for best actor last year?
It’s not about the Silver Logie for Best New Talent. It’s not the Logie for Most Popular Factual Program. And it’s not about the Logie for Best Coverage of Bathurst.
It’s actually all about the last award of the night: The Gold Logie, an award for being yourself on TV.
Stefanovic knows the Logies are fun for the people “in the business”.
But the car crashes are the best part.
We may get interested if some famous people get drunk and insult their own industry.
That is quality entertainment. Maybe Hugo Weaving has just beaten them all to the punch. Ross Mueller is a freelance writer and director