Walking in the steps of giants: Christopher Chung is the latest Aussie star to take on an iconic role

In 1979, an Australian film called My Brilliant Career was released. It was based on the 1901 novel by Miles Franklin and went on to become an Australian classic, launching the careers of both Judy Davis and the late, great Sam Neill.

Now, 47 years later, two new Aussie actors have taken on the iconic roles of Sybylla and Harry, well aware of the monumental task of walking in the footsteps of Davis and Neill.

Phillipa Northeast stars in the series as Sybylla, and Christopher Chung takes on the role of Harry.

Speaking with nine.com.au, Chung says that while there was a certain level of anxiety that comes with remaking such a beloved classic, he couldn’t concern himself with living up to Neill’s performance.

“I never felt a need to fill the shoes because Sam treads such huge steps, and I have such small feet by comparison to him,” he says.

“I got his blessing on the role through Kate Mulvany, who he worked with on The Twelve. So, she said that he was very excited for me to take on the part. I think in that sense, I knew that I didn’t have to appease anyone.

Read more

Two Paddocks and famous farm friends: Sam Neill’s parallel life away from Hollywood

“I didn’t have to, I guess, honour what he had done because I think if you’re reinventing something, or if you’re re-doing a piece of iconic text, you don’t need to do the same thing again. There’s no point, you’ve already got a perfect example of it already.”

He didn’t accept the role lightly, noting the anxiety surrounding people’s comparisons. But he never for a second doubted the project, explaining that he was “all in” from the very start.

“When I read the breakdown I had gotten from my agent about the part, I was first surprised because I thought, ‘Oh, how could there be an East Asian period character that I have no reference for, and I grew up in Australia?’ But then I realised that this had adapted [the original] to kind of build out the world in 1900s Australia,” he recalls.

“That’s the kind of work that I want to do as an actor and help to start that conversation that was there.”

The show tells the story of a 17-year-old girl named Sybylla in early 20th-century Australia, with aspirations of making her own way in the world as a famous writer.

Chung describes the show as rambunctious, gritty and Swoon-worthy, explaining that while the show features him caught in a love triangle, the real story is about Sybylla’s decision to put herself and her career before love.

“It is her story pushing everything forward and her realising that her greatest love is her passion for writing,” he explains.

“I think for young women to watch that, I think about my nieces watching this show and what they can take away from it.

“And I think it’s the kind of unwavering ability to choose what you want in the world and not conforming to what everybody else expects you to do ... So I think in that way, it’s kind of form-breaking.”

Based on an Australian story and featuring a stacked cast of Australian talent, My Brilliant Career was also filmed in Tasmania with an Australian crew.

While he was born and raised in Victoria, Chung eventually left the country to pursue a career in acting in the UK.

He explains that while he’s of course grateful for the strides he made in his career overseas, working on such an Australian-centric project was everything he had hoped for and more.

“It has been absolutely wonderful and joyous for me to be able to experience that in my own country,” he says.

“You just have a common vernacular with one another. You have a shared experience of growing up here, I don’t have that kind of commonality with people back in the UK, which they do with one another. So, I’m like, ‘Oh, I guess I’ve been missing out on this in some capacity’.”

When it comes to what international audiences can learn about Australia from this show, Chung says that, having lived overseas, he’s come to terms with the misconception that the country is all “spiders and Crocodile Dundee”. He sees this show as an opportunity to change that.

“I think this gives a whole new level to what a global audience can see Australia to be, which is a beautiful country with a lot of history, which I don’t think has been told on a global stage before,” he says.

“So, knowing about, Federation and First Nations stories, I can’t think of anything – any one piece of media, whether it be film or television – that has really elevated a First Nations story in a way that My Brilliant Career does, which I think is just extraordinary that we get to do that with this show.”