Logies 2012: Random Acts of Carpet-ness

Once again TV Tonight chats to the stars on the Red Carpet at the Logie Awards.

It was the craziest it has ever been on the carpet, but amid the screams from teenage girls, Mal Walden snapping pics of One Direction, and Lincoln Lewis starstruck by Seal, I managed to pose some questions to celebs.

Here in no particular order are some of their thoughts on current and future projects, and life in the media spotlight. Enjoy!

ADAM ZWAR on Agony Aunts and Lowdown:

“The girls are taking it really seriously. They are like an elite team when it comes to relationships. The guys (on Agony Uncles) treat it like a bit of a joke. Whereas the girls, even though they’re hilarious, take it very seriously.

“There might also be a little Christmas thing for Agony. I won’t know until next week.

“And this time Lowdown is more satirical, we’ve gone for stories that happened quite recently in Australian media.”

PETER MADDISON (pictured, top) on bonding with the families in Grand Designs Australia:

“We get very close to our people and become good friends. Dominic and Sue with their very small house, the concrete one in the first series, are good friends. Chris Clarke with the bushfire house, I keep in touch with him regularly. There’s probably a handful of people I have an affinity with so it’s lovely to still keep up. I’m travelling so much but if I’m in the area I’ll drop in.

“We’re still filming Series Two even though the first episode has gone to air. I’ve got two reveals this week and I’m on a plane at 6:30am tomorrow morning.

“The third season will go to air in October.”

ANDREW WINTER from Selling Houses Australia on the next season:

“We’re filming in July so when it will go to air I don’t know.”

SHAYNNA BLAZE on the differences between filming The Block and  Selling Houses Australia:

“The difference is I don’t have to actually have to do anything! I do all the hard work on Selling Houses. The Block is easy for me, but behind the scenes the difference isn’t that great at all.”

CHARLOTTE DAWSON on what’s required for Celebrity Apprentice:

“I try to tell the story as it happens. That’s what I was there for. It was tough, it was challenging but it was very enjoyable. You felt like a sense of achievement, especially at the end of it when you raise a lot of money for charity.”

And on Australia’s Next Top Model:

“I don’t know if it’s coming back this year. I think it’s a ‘Stay Tuned.'”

DON HANY on upcoming ABC telemovie Devil’s Dust:

“I’m working with Ewan Leslie and Anthony Hayes. We’re almost halfway through shooting. I play a fictional character who, for want of a better word, is the P.R. guy for Hardie’s. He’s one of the team who spins the perception of the company as such that they were able to relocate and take all their money.

Hinting at more to come he added, “ABC is doing a lot of stuff this year which I’m really excited to be a part of…..”

SHANNAN PONTON on why The Biggest Loser still works:

“Our contestants are accountable for what they do all week. They’re not going to eat junk food and stuff when they have to weigh in every week.

“The Switzerland week is mind-blowing. The best one we’ve ever done.”

The team from Underbelly: Razor on recent and upcoming projects:

FELIX WILLIAMSON: “I’ve been working on my tan, The Great Gatsby and Hansom Cab.”

JOHN BATCHELOR: “I did The Great Mint Swindle in Perth. It’s been busy. Red Dog that I did 2 years ago came out about the same time as Underbelly. So it seems busy screen-wise but my life has been quite normal. Khan (Chittenden) are doing Devil’s Dust for the ABC. I’m playing Chris, the younger brother of Bernie Banton. It’s directed by Jessica Hobbs who was behind two episodes of The Slap.”

HAMISH and ANDY on Hamish and Andy’s Euro Gap Year and what they will be filming:

ANDY LEE: “I think we’re going to Sweden first.”

HAMISH BLAKE: “We’re basically attacking Europe in a polite, pleasant way and then the show will be on in a short while after that.”

ANDY LEE: “I’d like to find something from the Russian military that’s been leftover from their heyday.”

HAMISH BLAKE: “Our parents’ generation has a genuine fear of the Russians so now it would be nice to go over and play with their gear.”

HUGO JOHNSTONE-BURT on the reaction to Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries:

“I’ve had one email from our Producer, but I haven’t seen any of the ratings or the numbers, but I hear it’s going well!

“I love the show so much. I’ve missed the last couple of episodes but I think Essie (Davis) is just phenomenal. She’s my favourite actress out of anyone.”

MANU FEILDEL on being a paparazzi celebrity:

“I’m at peace with it because obviously there’s nothing you can do about it. If you get angry about it, it’s not going to change anything. At the beginning it was really annoying, being followed and all of that. Now I just smile at them, and they will write whatever they want to write. I just don’t read it anymore.”

YALDA HAKIM on breaking an international story about Afghanistan for Dateline:

“I found it quite disappointing that the international press were all over it and the Australian media didn’t even rate a mention. But these things happen. We’re quite far away from the rest of the world, so maybe that’s why our ‘care factor’ is so low.

“But it was nice to get that recognition from you and The Australian picked it up a few days later.”

ANTON ENUS: “The amazing thing at SBS is we do the quality reporting irrespective of what the numbers are. We’re not the boyband of the television industry but we’ve got the substance!”

VINCE COLOSIMO on whether tears were expected when filming Who Do You Think You Are?

“You did feel like it, so that’s why I did it. I hate being told what to do.”

LUKE AND WYATT on visiting the Kid’s Choice Awards (US):

“We have lots more fans. The kids are way more intense here.”

And on Camp Orange:

“We start filming next week. Boys vs Girls. And there are some big surprises this year which officially we can’t say anything about, but it will be massive.”

JAMES MASON on his gay character in Neighbours:

“We’re trying to downplay the kiss and the relationship a little bit, and just make it like any other relationship and blend it into Australian television, because that’s what it deserves. It doesn’t deserve the hype of being something outrageous.

“The more we can blend society and media together, because at this point they’re so far apart, then it’s about closing that gap and making television a little bit more realistic.”

ADAM HILLS on the limitations of his campaigning:

“If Hamish wins, ABC viewers won’t like that. A young upstart winning! I think that will fire them up a little bit, so I’m hoping Hamish wins and then next year my whole campaign will be: ‘Do you want Hamish to win again?’

“We’re allowed to promote the (voting website) because that doesn’t cost money, but we’re not allowed to directly put the number up on screen and say ‘Call this number!’

“But the joy of the ABC is I had a Nobel Prize winning physicist and I have Bindi Irwin on next week. You can’t do that on a commercial network.”

CHAS LICCIARDELLO on doing Red Carpet interviews:

“I have a very strict rule on Logies night. Only obscure radio stations from country towns. I try to do every single one of them! But I’ll make the exception for you.”

On the Chaser boys potentially hosting a Logies night:

“I would say when every other possible person gets gassed to death.”

On Planet America:

“It’s a fairly painless way to spend your holidays. The other day I actually met someone who watched it, so that spooked me out a little bit.”

Underbelly: Razor girls on upcoming projects:

DANIELLE CORMACK: “I’m doing the second series of Rake for the ABC, playing Scarlett.”

CHELSIE PRESTON-CRAYFORD: “I’m doing a project in Melbourne for the next six weeks. But I don’t know what I’m allowed to say, sorry. A murder mystery.”

ALEX DIMITRIADES on life after The Slap:

“I’m just looking after me for the minute.

“I’m enjoying a bit of home time and catching up with being ‘me’ again because I’m heading back over to the States really soon.

“The Slap was screening over there when I was there in March and it’s screened in the UK, so it’s done well.”

ANNA McGAHAN on playwriting:

“I write plays and I’m producing my first play at the moment in Queensland, so that’s been taking up a lot of my time. There’s a few things later in the year but I can’t talk about them yet. I just finished a film in Adelaide called A Hundred Bloody Acres which is my first professional feature. It’s a comedy which is a bit of a departure.”

CARRIE BICKMORE on the best advice she was given for the big night:

“To smile, win or lose. I’m pretty good at smiling permanently on The Project whether the jokes are funny or not. I’m used to having a smile, so I will keep the face on. The TV stuff doesn’t bother me. It’s the photos that stress me out. I’m a movement person, I’m not used to standing and looking elegant! This is the craziest Red Carpet I’ve been to.”