Stars align for awards
The AACTAs are a chance to celebrate what has been a tough time for the arts, writes Siobhan Duck
TWO years without social gatherings – let alone red carpets – and the stage is set for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTAs). And the brightest stars on our screens are ready to celebrate in style. It’s one of the only opportunities they’ll get to do so after the 2021 Logies ceremony was cancelled for the second year running due to Covid.
For Bernard Curry, this year’s AACTAs will be much more than a night to honour TV and film; the ceremony will double as a long-overdue wrap party for the cast of prison drama Wentworth.
Curry, who is hosting Foxtel’s new annual entertainment special Inside The AACTA Studio, starred in the popular series for five years.
“I can’t wait to catch up with my Wentworth family,” he says.
“We shot the entire last season under the strictest Melbourne lockdown, so we didn’t get a chance to have a wrap party. Well, this is it.”
While the show has accrued many AACTAs, Curry himself has yet to claim his own prize. “If I did, it would take pride of place alongside my Victorian Air Guitar Champion Trophy and Grade 5 athletics ‘Tried Hard’ ribbon.”
Miranda Otto keeps the AACTA she won for 2015’s The Daughter on her office bookshelf wrapped in a little red blanket “to keep it cosy”. The actor, who is nominated for her role in the ABC drama Fires, can’t attend so will watch from home.
As will Love It Or List It Australia’s Andrew Winter, thanks to border restrictions. The realestate guru has picked up a Gold Logie nomination and several AACTAs for his past work on Selling Houses Australia.
The AACTAs, he says, have pride of place in his home. As to where they are located… “I’m not prepared to disclose that due to strict security guidelines,” Winter jokes, adding that skipping the ceremony would at least spare him from listening to his Love It Or List It co-star Neale Whitaker talk “fabrics and table lamps”.
And while Whitaker is looking forward to dusting off his tux for the ceremony at the Sydney Opera House, Kate Box says getting gussied up is the part she enjoys least.
“The thing I love most about the AACTAs is catching up with people, definitely not the discomfort of a tight pant,” the Wentworth star says with a laugh.
Veteran actor Noni Hazlehurst, who is nominated for her film June Again and the miniseries The End, can’t wait to catch up with friends at the after-party.
“I’m looking forward to the fact that we can have a proper ceremony with more than a handful of people,” she says.
“The effects of the pandemic have been incredibly tough for the workers in our industry, so this year’s ceremony will be a great celebration of resilience.” INSIDE THE AACTA STUDIO
7.30PM, SATURDAY, FOXTEL
THE AACTA AWARDS 7.30PM, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 10