Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo
| Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo | |
|---|---|
Opening titles
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| Starring |
Asher Keddie Rob Carlton Matt Day Jessica Tovey |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC1 |
| Original release | 17 April – 18 April 2011 |
Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo is a 2011 Australian two part television miniseries about the beginning of Cleo magazine and its creator, Ita Buttrose. The series stars Asher Keddie as Buttrose and Rob Carlton as Kerry Packer.
A miniseries sequel, titled Paper Giants: Magazine Wars was screened on ABC1 on 2 June, and 9 June 2013. It features Rachel Griffiths, Mandy McElhinney, Lucy Holmes and Alexander England, (who played Tony Greig in Howzat) assumes the role of a young James Packer.
The series follows Buttrose as she creates the fashion magazine Cleo, as well the fashion and politics of the period.
Reviews for the show were generally positive. The Sydney Morning Herald said:
Biopics rarely succeed. Invariably, they are thinly veiled hagiographies designed to push an "official" and pared-back version of history, dulled by performances that are merely impersonations. Thankfully, Paper Giants suffers no such problems.
Australian TV blog, TV Tonight rated the series with four stars out of five, and commented:
Whilst Keddie may not be a dead ringer for Buttrose she has the voice down pat: the tone is pitch perfect, complete with the slight Buttrose lisp (we would have expected nothing less). Keddie captures the inner strength of Buttrose, forging a path in a male-dominated world, navigating through pioneer publishing, inspiration and compromise.
The program was the subject of defamation proceedings brought against the ABC by the former husband of Buttrose, Alasdair Macdonald, who objected to how he was portrayed in the series. The action was settled out of court in April 2012 when the ABC apologised for what it agreed was an "untrue" portrayal of Macdonald.
Christopher Lee also won a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award in 2011 for his screenplay.
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