By Terry Keefe
“I walked in on my mom shooting up heroin and then my mom’s boyfriend jumped up and hit me with a baseball bat and told me to get out of the house…and I went flying down the beach and found [my brother] Sunny. And Sunny just gave me a big hug and said, ‘Look, we’ve got our own family of friends.’ From that forward, I think that made me realize that the family life at home can finish at any time, but the boys will never die and will always be there for you.”
That’s surf star Koby Abberton talking about one of the most pivotal days of his youth growing up in Maroubra Beach, a low-income suburb of Sydney, Australia and home of numerous government housing projects. Abberton is at the center of the documentary Bra Boys, directed by his brother Sunny, and the film also features the stories of his other brothers Jai and Dakota, all of whom are surfers. The Bra Boys are a closely-knit group from Maroubra, joined by the communal ties of the beach, surfing, and similar family backgrounds, and refer to their group as a brotherhood, whereas some of the police in Sydney consider them a gang. What Koby Abberton undoubtedly considers them is a major factor in saving him from a life of ruin. Tattooed across his chest is “My Brother’s Keeper” and a big focus of the film is how the family, and surrogate family, provided by the group was all the Abbertons needed to catapult themselves into a better life, with Koby becoming one of the world’s premiere surfers and a spokesman for Oakley eyewear.
But the ties that bind can also drag one down, and the Abberton family faces its biggest challenge when Jai is accused of the murder of a notorious local character named Anthony Hines, while Koby is shortly thereafter charged as an accessory. Both Abberton brothers eventually beat the charges, although the stress of the trials is considerable. Simultaneously, though, it made the Abbertons and the Bra Boys more famous than ever at home, and Bra Boys has gone on to be the highest-grossing documentary in the history of Australia. None other than Russell Crowe provides the narration for the film, and Crowe is now reportedly attempting to adapt the Bra Boys story into a narrative feature with which he will make his directorial debut.
Bra Boys opens a window into a fascinating subculture built around the beaches of Australia. Whether you want to call the Bra Boys a gang or not, the film contains a lot of the same elements that make such stories so engaging: struggles of brotherhood and family, violence, drugs, etc. But Bra Boys takes place in a setting within which we’ve never seen such a story depicted. Gorgeous beaches, good-looking surfers, charming Australian accents...and guns. If you were to take the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello surf movies and cross-breed them with City of God and Quadrophenia, Bra Boys might be the end result. The film also contains can’t-look-away footage of huge brawls from the neighborhood, as well as equally astonishing clips from Maroubra celebrations, such as one in which a man actually lights himself on fire and jumps off a cliff into the ocean as his friends cheer. My quibble with the film is that it could use a few counterpoint voices to the Bra Boys story, as they unquestionably have numerous detractors. You can’t call the film impartial, but at the same time, that’s not where its appeal comes from anyway. The Robert Evans doc The Kid Stays in the Picture wasn’t exactly unbiased either, but, like the Evans film, Bra Boys introduces us to fascinating characters unlike any we’ve known before, telling their story as they see it, which is enough for one film.
As to the name “Bra Boys,” it has to be pointed out that we here in the States might initially laugh at the name of any group which includes the shorthand for a female undergarment, although likely not to the face of any of these guys. I neglected to get a confirmation from Koby on this, but Wikipedia says that the term comes from the “bra” in “Maroubra,” which makes sense until I hear otherwise.
The Hollywood Interview had the chance to speak with Koby Abberton a few days before the April 11th opening of Bra Boys in the United States.
Was the idea for doing the documentary something your brother Sunny brought to the rest of you?
Koby Abberton: Actually, Sunny was doing a documentary on a different family [from Maroubra] at first. It was on a family of boxers, professional boxers and no-rules fighting, where the dad had been in jail. And then, a lot of the things started to happen where our own family really started getting into the spotlight. Sunny said, “It’ll look like we’re trying to hide something if we do this other family as the documentary.”
How much did Sunny show you of the film as he was shooting and editing it?
He’d just show us like 10 minutes now and then. Every couple of months. He’d show it to us, and our friends, and everyone would have a little bit of an opinion. When he showed us footage, he’d say to us, “Don’t lie to me.” And then he’d promise to change something [if we didn’t like it], but he never would [laughs].
“I walked in on my mom shooting up heroin and then my mom’s boyfriend jumped up and hit me with a baseball bat and told me to get out of the house…and I went flying down the beach and found [my brother] Sunny. And Sunny just gave me a big hug and said, ‘Look, we’ve got our own family of friends.’ From that forward, I think that made me realize that the family life at home can finish at any time, but the boys will never die and will always be there for you.”
That’s surf star Koby Abberton talking about one of the most pivotal days of his youth growing up in Maroubra Beach, a low-income suburb of Sydney, Australia and home of numerous government housing projects. Abberton is at the center of the documentary Bra Boys, directed by his brother Sunny, and the film also features the stories of his other brothers Jai and Dakota, all of whom are surfers. The Bra Boys are a closely-knit group from Maroubra, joined by the communal ties of the beach, surfing, and similar family backgrounds, and refer to their group as a brotherhood, whereas some of the police in Sydney consider them a gang. What Koby Abberton undoubtedly considers them is a major factor in saving him from a life of ruin. Tattooed across his chest is “My Brother’s Keeper” and a big focus of the film is how the family, and surrogate family, provided by the group was all the Abbertons needed to catapult themselves into a better life, with Koby becoming one of the world’s premiere surfers and a spokesman for Oakley eyewear.
But the ties that bind can also drag one down, and the Abberton family faces its biggest challenge when Jai is accused of the murder of a notorious local character named Anthony Hines, while Koby is shortly thereafter charged as an accessory. Both Abberton brothers eventually beat the charges, although the stress of the trials is considerable. Simultaneously, though, it made the Abbertons and the Bra Boys more famous than ever at home, and Bra Boys has gone on to be the highest-grossing documentary in the history of Australia. None other than Russell Crowe provides the narration for the film, and Crowe is now reportedly attempting to adapt the Bra Boys story into a narrative feature with which he will make his directorial debut.
Bra Boys opens a window into a fascinating subculture built around the beaches of Australia. Whether you want to call the Bra Boys a gang or not, the film contains a lot of the same elements that make such stories so engaging: struggles of brotherhood and family, violence, drugs, etc. But Bra Boys takes place in a setting within which we’ve never seen such a story depicted. Gorgeous beaches, good-looking surfers, charming Australian accents...and guns. If you were to take the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello surf movies and cross-breed them with City of God and Quadrophenia, Bra Boys might be the end result. The film also contains can’t-look-away footage of huge brawls from the neighborhood, as well as equally astonishing clips from Maroubra celebrations, such as one in which a man actually lights himself on fire and jumps off a cliff into the ocean as his friends cheer. My quibble with the film is that it could use a few counterpoint voices to the Bra Boys story, as they unquestionably have numerous detractors. You can’t call the film impartial, but at the same time, that’s not where its appeal comes from anyway. The Robert Evans doc The Kid Stays in the Picture wasn’t exactly unbiased either, but, like the Evans film, Bra Boys introduces us to fascinating characters unlike any we’ve known before, telling their story as they see it, which is enough for one film.
As to the name “Bra Boys,” it has to be pointed out that we here in the States might initially laugh at the name of any group which includes the shorthand for a female undergarment, although likely not to the face of any of these guys. I neglected to get a confirmation from Koby on this, but Wikipedia says that the term comes from the “bra” in “Maroubra,” which makes sense until I hear otherwise.
The Hollywood Interview had the chance to speak with Koby Abberton a few days before the April 11th opening of Bra Boys in the United States.
Was the idea for doing the documentary something your brother Sunny brought to the rest of you?
Koby Abberton: Actually, Sunny was doing a documentary on a different family [from Maroubra] at first. It was on a family of boxers, professional boxers and no-rules fighting, where the dad had been in jail. And then, a lot of the things started to happen where our own family really started getting into the spotlight. Sunny said, “It’ll look like we’re trying to hide something if we do this other family as the documentary.”
How much did Sunny show you of the film as he was shooting and editing it?
He’d just show us like 10 minutes now and then. Every couple of months. He’d show it to us, and our friends, and everyone would have a little bit of an opinion. When he showed us footage, he’d say to us, “Don’t lie to me.” And then he’d promise to change something [if we didn’t like it], but he never would [laughs].
Although it was your brother who was directing the project, did you nonetheless have any concerns about making the film?
We’re a pretty close family, but we wanted to tell the story the way it really happened. Not any other way. That was our main concern. As long as Sunny was making it, we knew that’s how it would be. We didn’t make the movie for people to like us or not like us. Actually, one of the main reasons we made the film was to help out kids who might be growing up in a similar situation, and who could relate to our story and take something from it.
What message would you want those types of kids to take away from the film?
I want the message to be that you don’t need parents to make something of yourself. It’s your friends you have around you that can be your family. Whatever circumstances a kid is in, I’ve likely been in it already and survived. If you’ve got a dream, you can reach it if you keep trying.
How similar is Maroubra Beach today to the neighborhood you grew up in?
It’s similar. But, right now, there’s a lot more presence of police. Partially because of the movie. They want to make it look worse than it is. They’ve always been picking on us. But now they’ve got police on horses walking the beaches. Walking with dogs. They say that you can’t hang out with each other, because they say it’s a gang if you do.
What type of outreach have you done in conjunction with the film to kids from troubled backgrounds?
We’ve done screenings in schools in Sydney for local kids who couldn’t afford to go to the movie in theaters. And I’ve done lots of talks too. Hopefully, we’ll do a screening here in L.A., and in New York. Maybe the Bronx, and a high school on Long Island.
How did Russell Crowe become involved in the film?
Russell is owner of a big football team in Sydney, “the Red and Green,” [the rugby team South Sydney] and the whole area where I’m from are fans. Some Bra Boys play for his team. And Russell heard that we were doing a film on the Bra Boys. Russell is very involved with his team. He gives speeches and takes them out to dinner. John Sutton is one of his players and he gave Russell my number. Russell called me and I told him to go away. I thought it was one of my friends playing a game [laughs]. Then John Sutton told me that Russell Crowe was trying to call me [laughs]. My friends are always playing stupid games so I didn’t know who it was at first.
And now there’s talk about Russell directing a narrative film based on the Bra Boys story?
Yeah, although I’m not sure how that all works [laughs]. I’ve met with [producer] Brian Grazer and Russell about it. Again, the main thing is that we want it to be truthful about our lives and keep it real.
We’re a pretty close family, but we wanted to tell the story the way it really happened. Not any other way. That was our main concern. As long as Sunny was making it, we knew that’s how it would be. We didn’t make the movie for people to like us or not like us. Actually, one of the main reasons we made the film was to help out kids who might be growing up in a similar situation, and who could relate to our story and take something from it.
What message would you want those types of kids to take away from the film?
I want the message to be that you don’t need parents to make something of yourself. It’s your friends you have around you that can be your family. Whatever circumstances a kid is in, I’ve likely been in it already and survived. If you’ve got a dream, you can reach it if you keep trying.
How similar is Maroubra Beach today to the neighborhood you grew up in?
It’s similar. But, right now, there’s a lot more presence of police. Partially because of the movie. They want to make it look worse than it is. They’ve always been picking on us. But now they’ve got police on horses walking the beaches. Walking with dogs. They say that you can’t hang out with each other, because they say it’s a gang if you do.
What type of outreach have you done in conjunction with the film to kids from troubled backgrounds?
We’ve done screenings in schools in Sydney for local kids who couldn’t afford to go to the movie in theaters. And I’ve done lots of talks too. Hopefully, we’ll do a screening here in L.A., and in New York. Maybe the Bronx, and a high school on Long Island.
How did Russell Crowe become involved in the film?
Russell is owner of a big football team in Sydney, “the Red and Green,” [the rugby team South Sydney] and the whole area where I’m from are fans. Some Bra Boys play for his team. And Russell heard that we were doing a film on the Bra Boys. Russell is very involved with his team. He gives speeches and takes them out to dinner. John Sutton is one of his players and he gave Russell my number. Russell called me and I told him to go away. I thought it was one of my friends playing a game [laughs]. Then John Sutton told me that Russell Crowe was trying to call me [laughs]. My friends are always playing stupid games so I didn’t know who it was at first.
And now there’s talk about Russell directing a narrative film based on the Bra Boys story?
Yeah, although I’m not sure how that all works [laughs]. I’ve met with [producer] Brian Grazer and Russell about it. Again, the main thing is that we want it to be truthful about our lives and keep it real.
Check out the Trailer for Bra Boys:
The Bra Boys official website also contains a short preview of the film.
The Bra Boys official website also contains a short preview of the film.
millwall bushwackers wouldn't even have them on the team......
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