Archibald Prize Finalist: Vincent Fantauzzo - Brandon

Archibald Prize 2009: Exhibition

7 March - 24 May 2009
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney NSW 2000

Walters was born to parents Janie and Paul and raised in an indigenous community near Broome, Western Australia. He was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of six, but overcame the cancer after spending a year in a Perth hospital in 2003.

Australia director Baz Luhrmann had been searching for a young indigenous boy to fill the role of “Nullah” for over twelve months when one of the film’s casting directors saw Walters with his father at a Broome swimming pool in 2007; he also responded to an Australia-wide radio callout for auditions. He later received a letter from Luhrmann saying that he was “very, very interested” in him. Walters, who had never before left Western Australia, and a group of other boys who had auditioned for the role were flown to Sydney, New South Wales to attend acting workshops at Fox Studios Australia. He and his family went camping with Luhrmann at Broome’s Eighty Mile Beach, which was when Walters decided to take the role and become involved in the film. When he joined the cast, he had never heard of Nicole Kidman or Hugh Jackman, the film’s stars. Walters had only ever seen a few films, but was nevertheless quoted by Luhrmann as having “natural cinematic chemistry”. Though Kidman and Walters were shy upon their first meeting with each other, she said that they bonded on the set of the film and “I feel very protective of him … [and] if the film does really well he’s going to need a lot of protection”; reportedly, Kidman and Luhrmann set up a trust fund for Walters to secure his future.

Luhrmann, who also cast Walters in a Tourism Australia advertising campaign, claimed, “Our next leading man is about four-foot high, [with] long, sort of gold hair, and is an Aboriginal boy.” For his performance as Nullah, Walters won a Satellite Award for New Talent and received nominations for Best Young Actor at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards and Most Promising Performer at the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards.

Source: Brandon Walters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia