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The Slap torn between choosing its best

The Slap producer Tony Ayres admits he's had a horrid time trying to choose which of his ensemble actors to submit for upcoming awards.

Tony Ayres is understandably torn. As producer of ABC1’s hit drama series The Slap he is being forced to choose his favourites.

Which actor does he prefer the most?

It’s a problem he faces in submitting the cast for consideration in the AACTA Awards, the revamped AFI Awards.

TV drama producers are allowed to submit three episodes for consideration, showcasing 3 lead male and female actors. But unlike many drama series, The Slap has at least 8 lead actors, one for each of its anthology episodes.

“For the Australian awards season we were put in a difficult position because you had to make choices and that’s been tricky,” he says.

“With most TV series the lead actor is the same across the whole series, but for us the lead actor changes with each episode.

“I think it’s really unfortunate.”

But he appreciates that with so many submissions, there have to be ground rules, and the rule doesn’t differ from the former AFI Awards.

“I can understand why they have those rules because the TV awards at the AACTAs are peer-assessed, so you expect a judging panel to watch 22 hours of a TV series. I can understand exactly why they have to do it. In the case of The Slap it’s an unusual situation because most series aren’t anthologised this way.”

Ayres admits some of his principal cast won’t even get considered, but he politely declines to name them.

In the case of upcoming Logies nominations, ABC will be allowed to submit a total of 5 nominees per category from across the broadcaster.

Similarly only three directors can be submitted for the Australian Directors Guild awards. Of the four series director, Ayres himself will be the one who misses out.

But more positively, he is encouraged by the reception to the series, based on the best-seller by Christos Tsolkias.

“The critical response has been amazing and we’re really happy with the numbers. It’s not normally the kind of show that gets those kinds of numbers. It’s a darker show, the morality is very complicated,” he says.

“It’s quite challenging television, which we’re really proud of.

“It feels like it’s become part of a cultural debate. I find myself in situations where I hear people having conversations about The Slap.

“I was standing in a bar and listening to a couple of guys talking about it and they were saying it was some of the best television they’d seen in years. That’s very gratifying.”

There has also been fervent debate about the show’s morality in social media.

“I don’t look at Twitter that much because there’s only so much you can do in a day. But I do look at Facebook and their responses and while they’re not universally positive, but generally very positive. It feels like people have embraced the show in a passionate way.”

While ABC funding has been withdrawn for Top of the Lake miniseries due to a foreign actor playing an Australian, The Slap features UK actress Sophie Okonedo. Writers modified her role from an Indian-Australian role, as depicted in Tsolkias’ novel, to a Mauritian-British national.

But Producers first auditioned Australian-Indian actresses.

“We auditioned a number of fantastic actresses but none of them were exactly right for the role. They all had great qualities but the ‘Aisha’ character is probably one of the most difficult because she is an unusual combination of warm and cool,” he insists.

“We looked for an Indian-UK actress in the UK but we couldn’t find anyone who was right or available to us. So we thought that in the book her Indian background isn’t crucial to her character because she’s much more assimilated than ‘Hector’ is.

“So we decided we could look at other nationalities and opened up the search in both Australia and overseas. Sophie’s name was suggested to us and I’m a huge fan so it went from there.

“We discussed it with Christos all the way along and it wasn’t an easy choice.

“I’m sure there are those who might struggle with it because it’s not exactly the same as the book but for me it was more important to get Aisha the character right than the wrong character who happened to be Indian.”

The episode featuring Okonedo as ‘Aisha’ airs next week. Tonight veteran actor Lex Marinos comes to the fore as ‘Hector’s’ father, ‘Manolis.’ The episode is knee deep in its Greek-Australian themes and clashes between traditional and modern values. Scenes were even filmed at a home belonging to an aunt of Christos Tsolkias.

“We relied a lot on Christos’ contacts and he took us to a Greek Orthodox Church and the priest brought the congregation in an extras and we used the local cafe around the corner to make it as authentic as possible,” says Ayres.

The final episode centres around gay teenager Richie (Blake Davis).

“He’s got a keg of dynamite and you’re waiting for him to let it off.”

The Slap has already been sold to the BBC, the Sundance Channel in Europe and another international sale announcement is imminent.

The Slap airs 8:30pm Thursdays on ABC1.

14 Responses

  1. Typical of Australian television of late. Just like Underbelly Razor – full of needless swearing and tits and bums. Would have been much better had they stopped straying from the topic at hand…which would have meant that the mini-series could have been trimmed to two 2hr episodes…..

  2. I never thought Lex Marinos could act but last night was an amazing, restrained performance from him. The best episode yet. I think Tony Ayres has found his nominee.
    Having read the book I’m still enjoying the show but Lex’s character is the only one that has bettered the books character. My God our comedians can act.

  3. The best thing about The Slap is that it has proven to ABC commissioning how intelligent and responsive their audience is. If you build it – they really will come! After years of soft and sloppy drama like BOR and EofE we finally have a drama series that is challenging and thought provoking and the audience is loving it. It’s a pity they did not have the courage to programme it on Sunday night – but at least they commissioned it. More drama of this calibre please!

  4. Alex Dimitriades is far and away the best performance in this series imho. Lapaglia doesn;t do it for me at all. Essie Davis, Sophie Lowe and Sophie Okonedo
    are all great, Melissa George I just don’t find convincing. Maybe they need to consider relegating some of them to supporting actor/actress – seeing as the AFI, and i presume AACTA will follow it, had the supporting categories unlike Logies, that i have been bleating about for many years that they need to reintroduce. Then perhaps most of the cast gets a shot!

  5. Moanique – that’s not Anthony LaPaglia – it’s Jonathan, his younger brother.

    I think Melissa George’s performance has been extraordinary. I’m really interested to see tonight’s with Manolis – his performance so far has been beautiful in it’s subtlety.

  6. Essie Davis is the standout for me in this show. Her Anouk-centric episode was one of the best hours of Aussie TV I have seen ever (this coming from a fan of shows such as Love My Way and Tangle), and a lot of that was her performance. She was extremely charismatic and in 50 minutes, and probably thanks to writing, got to showcase all different kind of facets to her character.

  7. I’d have to say that I think Melissa George has provided one of the best performances of the show. I still can’t see Anthony LaPaglia in Hector, he must have changed a lot since I last saw him on TV

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