Hugh Jackman joins Tropfest

Hugh Jackman joins the Tropfest team. Photo: Edwina Pickles.

Scott Ellis, The Age, reports

Hugh Jackman, one of Australia's most-succesful film actors, has been named the New York host of Tropfest, one of our most succesful film festivals.

To be held three weeks after the official Sydney Tropfest in June this year, the New York Tropfest will be a weekend-long event including short film screenings, musical performances, and a filmmaker symposium called “Roughcut,” before the finale event at New York's Bryant Park, where finalists will be screened and judged live by a panel of celebrities and industry experts led by Jackman.

"Knowing that Tropfest has opened doors for brilliant filmmakers, actors and others for the past 20 years, I'm proud to be a part of the festival as it expands its reach to the U.S. and brings its competition to New York,” said Jackman. “As a mecca of the arts, New York is a perfect host for a festival that empowers creative minds to try their hand at filmmaking."

This year mark's Tropfest's 20th birthday, from the night director John Polson (Hide & Seek, Tenderness) showed a six-minute film he made for under $100 at his local café in Sydney, for 200 guests.

Now the annual festival in Sydney receives thousands of submissions and is attended by more than 150,000 people and watched live via satellite by hundreds of thousands more.

“Hugh has been a great supporter of Tropfest and we could not be more delighted to have him on board,” said Polson. “He is one of the greatest talents on stage and screen today and he embodies the type of creativity and passion we hope the competition will inspire.”

For details on how to submit check the Topfest website at: www.tropfest.com/newyork.

Jacki's long engagement

Jacki Weaver stars in The Five-Year Engagement (second from right), one of the many Hollywood offers since her Oscar nomination.

Liza Power, The Age, reports

Jacki Weaver says she's never been the kind of actor to bemoan a lack of interesting roles for women in their 50s. Last year, the sixtysomething star was nominated for an Oscar for her turn as Janine ''Smurf'' Cody, the matriarch of a brutal Melbourne crime family, in Animal Kingdom.

In the 18 months that followed filming she performed in six plays, including the Sydney Theatre Company's critically acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya, a role she'll reprise when the production tours to New York's Lincoln Centre Festival in July after its rave season in Washington last year.

In between, she's juggled her pick of the 20-odd film offers she's received in the aftermath of her Oscar nomination, a situation she describes as ''very bewildering and hard to believe. But fantastic.'' It's not that she doubted she would still be acting in her 60s. More that ''it feels amazing to be in another country doing it. There's still plenty of work to be doing here at home, but to be doing it in a foreign country and speaking in different accents … is something else.''

Weaver was in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards when Nicholas Stoller (director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek) stopped by her hotel room with a script for The Five-Year Engagement, which stars Jason Segel and Emily Blunt. Soon after came scripts for Stoker with Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska, and The Silver Linings Playbook with Robert De Niro. This year her schedule includes four films and an HBO pilot. The offers have been so fast and furious that she's considered relocating to the US.

''I've wanted to live in the East Village in New York since the early '70s. But when I told my manager he said New York was so far from LA I might as well stay in bloody Australia! They talk about getting jet lag between New York and LA, you know. They're so sweet!''

Weaver won her first Australian Film Institute Award in 1971 and has been a mainstay in Australian theatre and television for decades. This year marks her 50th as an actor; she made her stage debut in Cinderella at age 15. Her film debut was Tim Burstall's Stork as the diminutive but sexy Anna. The film's phenomenal success prompted a renaissance in the Australian film industry, with co-star Graeme Blundell later saying: ''Stork proved the commercial validity of Australian film and she was the face of it.'' Weaver has since appeared in such iconic Australian films as Alvin Purple, Storm Boy and Picnic at Hanging Rock.

A ''national treasure'' to many, and a ''national relic'' to the self-deprecating Weaver, her turn in The Five-Year Engagement is being hailed as her ''Hollywood break'', even if she sees it a bit differently. ''To be fair, my Hollywood break was the Oscar nomination. We tend to take awards in Australia with a grain of salt but they take them very seriously in America. It's understandable. I mean, in Australia the film industry is, let's face it, a cottage industry. But over there it's a multimillion-dollar business that employs millions of people. They take awards seriously because it can mean millions at the box office.''

Weaver saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall in Melbourne before heading to the US last February, so when her agent told her Stoller wanted to meet her she was chuffed. ''He came to see me at my hotel in Beverly Hills and he was such a lovely young man. I thought, 'Who could resist?''' She plays Blunt's prim English mother in The Five-Year Engagement, the polar opposite of the maternal figure she played in Animal Kingdom. ''They're both bitches, but completely different,'' she laughs. ''But I was really fortunate I wasn't typecast. I had a lot of offers to play evil women.''

Stoker was filmed in Nashville and Weaver says she loved exploring co-star Kidman's adopted home town and marvelling at the innate theatricality of the Tennessee accent. She's a great admirer of Kidman: ''She's such a beautiful person, not just to look at, and a fantastic actress. I don't think she gets enough credit in Australia.'' Most Australian actors don't, she adds. ''It's great [so many Australian actors are thriving in the US]. No one seems to take the industry seriously over here. They think it's some frivolous hobby … We regard the performance industry with suspicion.''

Filmed in Philadelphia, The Silver Linings Playbook required Weaver to work with a dialect coach to master the local accent. She says actors never stop refining their skills and learning, but the process is more appealing when you're on set with De Niro, among others. ''I had to pinch myself. I couldn't believe it.''

Finding herself suddenly in the star-littered orbit of the Hollywood constellation hasn't, however, left Weaver wishing she'd made a bid for an overseas career decades ago. ''I was always perfectly satisfied and content with the career I had in Australia.'' Nowadays, she says, every ''young kid out of drama school goes straight over for the pilot season. But that was something that happened the generation after mine. Going to the US just was never on my agenda.''

And while there might be advantages to arriving in Tinseltown as a mature star, she wouldn't overstate them. Age is no insurance policy against the perils of stardom: ''I think it's possible [to lose your head] in this industry, in any country at any age, if you're too impressionable. [Acting] is a world of rejection and cruelty. It can have huge triumphs and huge lows. Both can be deleterious to your mental health.''

Starting afresh in a new country doesn't mean you begin with a clean slate, either. Weaver arrived in the US to find people as well versed in her acting accomplishments as her private life. ''On the first film I worked on the director kept saying to people: 'Do you know how many times she's been married?' There's no secrets in America. I keep bumping into people on crews who've read my book. I'd have to go to another planet for my life to be secret.''

Not that she minds. She's being pestered by her publisher to write a follow-up to Much Love, Jac, her first memoir, which details her four marriages, three de facto relationships and wickedly endearing life philosophy: ''I believe in sex on the first date. Otherwise, how do you know if a second date is worth the effort?'' she writes.

''Well, the book came out in 2005 and an awful lot has happened since then,'' Weaver says.

In the next instalment she might dwell on the roles she hasn't had the chance to play. ''I love all the old ones. I always wanted to play Viola in Twelfth Night because I haven't done a lot of Shakespeare. And I always wanted to play Nora in a A Doll's House because I think Ibsen is one of the greatest dramatists that ever lived. I thought I'd make a great Eliza because I'm a good transforming actor that can start out really down and out and ugly and can improve a lot, which you can't do if you're too beautiful.''

That would be a brief chapter because ''it's neurotic to regret things you can't change''. A larger section might detail the virtues of enjoying the moment: ''if it all evaporates tomorrow, it doesn't matter; I'm having the best time''.

The Five-Year Engagement opens May 3.

Slim chance of landing a role with Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman is set to star with Colin Firth in The Railway Man, being filmed on the Gold Coast. Picture: AP

Felicity Caldwell, mX, reports

Landing a paid role in a film alongside big-name Hollywood actors may be as easy as surfing the net.

Paid extra work is being advertised on Gumtree, with an ad posted this week for The Railway Man, starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth.

The movie, due for release next year, needs Caucasian men who are very thin to play prisoners of war and Japanese/ Korean men to play soldiers.

The job pays $20-25 per hour, with filming on the Gold Coast in June and July.

V Management's Tiffany Fon-Lowe said men aged 18 to 35 interested in The Railway Man should email through photos today, for casting auditions for tomorrow.

Fon-Lowe said it was an opportunity to get six weeks of work and it was "possible'' they could meet Kidman.

Don't despair if you don't fit this bill, talent agents say there's work available for many different types of looks.

New Farm talent agency Ego Management manager Gillian Samuels said producers need a range of looks for extra work.

"Extras are meant to be background people and not meant to be recognisable so they're not featuring them in any way,'' Samuels said.

"There's no criteria about what you look like to be an extra. It's about creating a crowd scene.''

She said potential extras should be mature, have professional headshots and be flexible with their availability.

For more info, email brisbanebookings@vmanage ment.com.au.

Human Nature on home run

 

Human Nature will play in Melbourne later in the year. Source: Getty Images

Luke Dennehy, The Sunday Herald Sun, reports

Human Nature wowed crowds in the US last week, thanks to an appearance on Dancing with the Stars in front of more than 10 million viewers.

But after a few years in the US, the boys are coming home.

They will play a series of concerts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra later in the year, expected to be at the renovated Hamer Hall.

The boys have been based in Las Vegas performing their Motown-themed stage show.

They have been together for 22 years, which is quite incredible in boy band terms.

Delta Goodrem becomes a Swisse miss

Delta Goodrem is the new face of Swisse skincare. Picture: Swisse Source: Supplied

Luke Dennehy, The Sunday Herald Sun, reports

Delta Goodrem is the face of Swisse's new skin care range.

Goodrem, who is back on screens as a coach on Channel 9's The Voice, filmed a TV commercial for Swisse at a private house in Mornington last week.

As well as the advertising campaign that will be launched during The Voice, Goodrem will be officially launched as the face of the brand at a function in Sydney on May 17.

Goodrem is preparing for the live shows of The Voice, which will start next month.

She was in Adelaide this week visiting her brother Trent.

She also had breakfast with the singer who has captured the most attention on The Voice - visually impaired South Australian Rachael Leahcar.

Working holiday on Aussie thriller Wish You Were Here

Team effort: Joel Edgerton, Felicity Price, Teresa Palmer and Antony Starr in a scene from Wish You Were Here. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Even for a passion project, the story behind Sundance-selected thriller Wish You Were Here is unusually intense.

"People ask us: 'Didn't you fight?' says actress Felicity Price, who co-wrote the screenplay for the haunting, low-budget thriller with her husband, actor-turned-director Kieran Darcy-Smith.

"But it was the opposite of that. It was the creation of something."

Not only did they take their work home, the couple lived and breathed their story about a group of friends whose lives implode after one of their party disappears during a holiday in Cambodia.

"We never stopped talking about it," says Price, who plays Joel Edgerton’s wife in the finished project.

Teresa Palmer plays her sister, alongside New Zealand actor Antony Starr.

"In the car on our way to a family barbecue, we'd talk about a problem we couldn't solve," Price says. Darcy-Smith adds: "We'd talk about it while changing nappies. In the shower. While cooking dinner."

By integrating Darcy-Smith's all-important debut as a feature film director, not to mention Price's first lead film role, so successfully into their lives, the couple has put a whole new spin on the idea of a family film.

"We had two kids while we were doing it," says the director.

It's not entirely surprising, then, that when it came to the Cambodian shoot, two-and-a-half-year-old Levi had heard so much about the country, he wasn't going to be left behind.

At just seven months, Sunny was simply too young not to accompany the rest of her family.

"Our whole world shifted together," says Darcy-Smith.

Price admits that things might have been a bit easier if her second child had been just a little bit older.

"But when your film gets financed, you almost don't have a choice. And we wanted it for our lives to happen then."

As it turned out, the children adapted well to their new surrounds.

"They were the only ones who didn't get sick," says Price, who managed not to let the lack of sleep caused by breastfeeding and constant visits to the bathroom hamper her breakthrough performance.

"You learn you have such reserves," she says.

Darcy-Smith admits to having some reservations about directing his wife in his feature film debut.

"I'll be honest. In the beginning - because Felicity was always attached, there was no question she was going to play the role - I was anxious. She is a formidable actress and she has proven herself in incredible theatre shows over many years, and has done great supporting roles in movies and TV, but that's a vastly different thing to carrying a movie."

When he saw the first few days' rushes, Darcy-Smith breathed out.

The screen chemistry between Price and Edgerton, Darcy-Smith's co-founder of Blue Tongue Films, along with Edgerton's brother Nash, was clear.

"She's a helluva woman. It was pretty challenging - she's in almost every scene in the movie - but she was particularly graceful in the way she handled it."

While conditions in Cambodia were difficult - Darcy-Smith fell neck-deep into an open sewer on the first day of shooting - the director never felt he had bitten off more than he could chew.

"I can get quite overwhelmed by silly little things. But my experience of directing a movie, where there is genuine pressure, is that it's a bit like giving Ritalin to a hyperactive kid. It has a paradoxical effect. That pressure focuses me. Everything becomes crystal clear."

Wish You Were Here (MA15+), in cinemas now

Channel Nine's shock exit of David Hasselhoff from Celebrity Apprentice was in fact a staged three-week arrangement

Use-by date agreed: David Hasselhoff with fellow Celebrity Apprentices (from left) Nathan Joliffe, Jason Akermanis, Vince Sorrenti, Ben Dark and Ian 'Dicko' Dickson. Picture: Channel 9 Source: Supplied

The Daily Telegraph reports

His departure was billed as a "shock" but evidence is building that David Hasselhoff's stint on Channel 9's "Celebrity Apprentice" was a staged, three-week arrangement.

The former Baywatch and Knight Rider star reportedly "floored" contestants when he announced that he had to quit the reality show this week due to family commitments in the US.

However, spies say Hasselhoff, who shot his brief appearance on the show in the last three weeks of January, had a series of pre-scheduled commitments in both Germany and the US in early February, and that Nine was made aware of this at the start of shooting.

"It was always a three-week deal," a show insider told Confidential. "His departure was all completely staged and choreographed and was, in reality, a shock to no one."

What's more, Hasselhoff's work schedule had been on view to the public on his personal blog, giving the game away to anyone who bothered to take a squizz.

However, the 59-year-old's departure was packaged as a shock exit and described by Nine as "unfortunate and unavoidable".

A Nine statement confirmed that the network was "aware that there was a possibility David might get called away, as he had flagged this other personal obligation which could emerge during our schedule".

Asked yesterday why Hasselhoff was billed as a legitimate Celebrity Apprentice contender and not a "cameo", as appears to be the case, a spokesman replied: "You have the statement. 'Possibility' is the key word." Cute.

Meanwhile, the Celebrity Apprentice "boss" Mark Bouris continued with the charade yesterday, telling Triple M that, had Hasselhoff not left the series voluntarily, he would have "fired him anyway".

"I would have fired him that night - he was the weakest out of the team," he raged.

Lara Bingle returns to Sydney from Los Angeles to continue shooting her Network Ten reality show Being Lara Bingle

"Hello to my new home," tweets Lara Bingle from her unit overlooking Bondi Beach. Picture: Instagram Source: Supplied

The Daily Telegraph reports

Budding reality TV starlet Lara Bingle returned to Sydney from LA this week to continue shooting her new Channel 10 series, Being Lara Bingle.

Having moved out of her modest Darling Point one-bedder and into a rented clifftop abode in Bondi, the spunky blonde is believed to have journeyed to California to shoot the opening montage of the day-in-the-life-of show, including snippets depicting her cavorting on a beach and a rumoured appearance at the Coachella music festival.

While the docu-drama will also capture Bingle's travels to India - where her celebrity status is surprisingly high thanks to her cricket WAG past - next week her cameras will be on overdrive for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia.

Circular Quay snoops say, at the very least, Bingle is working on something with US reality star-turned designer Whitney Port, who will launch her label Whitney Eve on Monday.

Queer Sydney’s cinema locations

The Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, filming location for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Here is an article I wrote for The Star Observer that was published yesterday (26 April 2012)

Although gay Australians are generally aware of local queer cinema, few Aussies, not to mention inbound travellers, realise just how often Sydney has appeared as a backdrop on the little and big screens.

From Number 96, The Sum of Us and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to Muriel’s Wedding and Strictly Ballroom, the city is teeming with locations featured in gay or camp movies and television shows.

Australian gay cinema truly began with director Frank Brittain’s drama The Set. Shot in Sydney in 1970, the cult classic was the first movie to tackle homosexuality as a main theme.

Another trailblazer was television’s Number 96, the first soap opera to feature a regular gay character. Launched in the early 1970s, the series’ opening credits were filmed at Moncur Flats, 83 Moncur St, Paddington.

The 2012 comedy, A Few Best Men, takes a lighter, more tongue-in-cheek approach to homosexuality. The script describes Daphne (Rebel Wilson) as being 13 percent lesbian.

Director Stephan Elliott’s movie tells the story of a young English lad’s unusual wedding in Australia that goes from bad to worse thanks to his unruly mates. Much of the action takes place at the Yester Grange estate in the Blue Mountains.

In the 1990s, Elliott directed worldwide hit The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Two drag queens and a transsexual cross the Outback in a bus on their way to a cabaret gig.

Elliott’s ‘road movie in a frock’ kicks off with a tragedy when Bernadette (Terence Stamp) loses her partner, Trumpet, to peroxide fumes — he asphyxiates while dyeing his hair!

Trumpet’s funeral scene was filmed in Camperdown Cemetery on Church St, Newtown.

A stone’s throw from Camperdown, at 35 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville, is the Imperial Hotel, the setting for the send-off scene in Priscilla. This is where Adam (Guy Pearce) christens the bus ‘Priscilla’ by smashing a bottle of champagne over the roo bar, before he, Bernadette and Tick (Hugo Weaving) set off for Alice Springs.

The blow-up doll tied to a kite you see crashing in China at the end of the movie was filmed at the Chinese Garden of Friendship in Darling Harbour.

The date scene in The Sum of Us where Harry (Jack Thompson) proposes to Joyce (Deborah Kennedy) was shot near Darling Harbour’s Harbourside Shopping Centre.

The Sum of Us depicts a father and son’s close bond and their individual struggles to find love. The movie filmed in Rushcutters Bay Park, the setting of the footy game, and in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Jeff and his father, Harry, live on Campbell St, Balmain.

Although much of P J Hogan’s colourful ABBA campfest, Muriel’s Wedding, is set in Queensland, principal photography was done in New South Wales. After leaving Porpoise Spit, Muriel (Toni Collette) gets a job at Videodrama, a video store that originally operated at 135 Oxford St, Darlinghurst. Her roommate, Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths), works at Euro Star Dry Cleaning & Laundry opposite, at 100 Oxford St.

The scenes featuring Muriel trying on wedding dresses were shot at the House of Jean Fox at 48 Macquarie St, Parramatta. The store has since moved.

Grotta Capri, at 97-101 Anzac Pde, Kensington, is the restaurant where Muriel slurps her Orgasm cocktail while her bitchy friends reveal plans to holiday without her on Hibiscus Island. 

The Sea World Resort on the Gold Coast stood in as Hibiscus Island though some scenes were filmed in Sydney at Le Beach Hut, 179 Russell Ave, Dolls Point.

One of the highlights of Muriel’s Wedding is, of course, the wedding. This took place in St Mark’s Anglican Church at the corner of Darling Point Rd and Greenoaks Ave, Darling Point.

Another ‘camp as Christmas’ hit of the 1990s is Baz Luhrmann’s glittery dance comedy and directorial debut, Strictly Ballroom. The movie looks at the backstage backstabbing that occurs in the world of competitive ballroom dancing.

The dance sequences were shot in venues including the Kogarah RSL Club, 254 Railway Pde, Kogarah, and Petersham Town Hall, 107 Crystal St, Petersham.

The dance school run by Les Kendall (Peter Whitford) was a set built on a soundstage in Mentmore Studios, Rosebery. The rooftop sequence featuring Scott (Paul Mercurio) and Fran (Tara Morice) dancing to Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time was filmed above a business at the corner of Victoria and Marrickville Rds, Marrickville.

The scene where Fran’s family teaches Scott how to dance the paso doble was shot near the railway tracks in the Pyrmont Goods Yard. The tracks and sets were torn up shortly after filming was completed, making way for the Star Casino complex.

On the night the paso doble number was filmed, two government officials showed up for an inspection.

One of them pointed towards the milk licence vendor number painted on the milk bar set and said accusingly, “That vendor number doesn’t exist!”

“Neither does the milk bar,” a crew member replied glibly.

By LUKE BRIGHTY

INFO: www.sydneyonscreen.blogspot.com

Asher Keddie set to spread her wings

 

Asher Keddie and Matthew Le Nevez play Nina and Patrick on Offspring. Picture: Channel 10 / Source: Supplied

Colin Vickery, The Herald Sun, reports

Asher Keddie is ready to take on the world.

The Logie award winning actor has conquered Australia as Nina Proudman in Offspring and Ita Buttrose in Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo.

Now it is time for Keddie to spread her wings.

Producing her next TV project is one option. Taking on an overseas acting role - most likely in the UK or US - is another possibility.

Keddie has seen peers Claudia Karvan (Spirited) and Lisa McCune (Reef Doctors) kickstart their own TV projects.

She has also seen Aussie actors Jessica Marais, Brett Tucker and Jessica McNamee score major US TV roles in recent times - in Magic City, Mistresses and Scruples.

Up until now, Keddie has been content to stay local. Why wouldn't you when you have a string of top-notch credits that include Blanche d'Alpuget in Hawke and Julia Jackson in Love My Way.

Keddie reckons the time is ripe to take a chance, make a brave choice and challenge herself.

"I'm open to anything at the moment," Keddie says. "I'm just waiting for something to pique my interest which is different from Nina.

"I enjoy working here (in Australia) but if America or any other country comes into play and there is an opportunity to work overseas, I will heartily embrace it, if I feel the project is right and it excites me."

"Producing is something I'm thinking about, too. I'm interested in the whole filmmaking process. I've worked with such generous producers over the past few years who have valued my creative input."

Maybe life is imitating art. Making brave choices is the theme of the third series of Offspring.

Nina is rapturously in love with medico Dr Patrick Reid (Matthew Le Nevez). That is a landmark for a character well known for her roller-coaster romantic life.

Nina ended her relationship with paediatrician Chris Havel (Don Hany) at the end of series two. Keddie reveals that a third series of Offspring was no certainty until a discussion took place with executive producers John Edwards and Imogen Banks.

"We did speak after the second series," Keddie says. "I guess what we all felt was that if we were going into a third (series) it was important that Nina evolves.

"We knew we had to push ourselves harder otherwise let's not do it. I really wanted to see Nina stay in a relationship. That was a tricky thing because the series was developed on the basis of a woman who has a fabulously messy love life.

"That was the boldest thing to do as opposed to keeping her single and jumping from guy to guy.

"I'm thrilled they (Edwards and Banks) felt the same way. She can still have a fabulously messy love life if she stays put in a relationship and learns to trust someone, however complex that might be."

Dr Patrick Reid is no pushover. He is enigmatic, wry and moody and a former drug addict. The passionate relationship with Nina tests them both emotionally.

"Patrick was the difficult choice - one Nina really had to fight for," Keddie says.

"Dr Chris was a fantasy man and it was a fantasy relationship. Patrick is the complete opposite. He is very complex, difficult to be around, grates on her, and pushes every emotional and physical button she has. I felt it was a brave choice for her to settle into a relationship with him.

"Nina's also brave enough to acknowledge that she's no easy walk in the park either.

"They are mirroring each other. She is taking a deep breath and saying 'I want to grow with this person'."

In the series three debut, Nina also learns that Darcy Proudman (John Waters) isn't her biological father. That will have ramifications.

Offspring fans will be glad to know that Keddie won't abandon the show to pursue other projects. She believes they can work in tandem.

"I think the way series three has evolved has been really interesting," Keddie says.

"There is still plenty of material (for another series). I love this character (Nina)."

Offspring, Channel 10, Wednesday, 8.30pm



Want to know more about Asher Keddie? Keep reading

When Asher Keddie isn't producing award-winning TV performances you will find her on the back of a horse. The 37-year-old is more than happy to get away from the demands of stardom by escaping to the property in country Victoria she shares with actor/musician husband Jay Bowen.

Keddie loves the peace and quiet and the anonymity.

"It (country life) allows me to stop and still my mind," Keddie says. "It is important for all artistic people, particularly actors, to get out of their own bubbles once in a while.

"I have an amazing network of people in the country who couldn't care less what I do for a living.

"I'm just the girl who loves horses and a bonfire on a Saturday night."

Zac Efron film The Lucky One debuts at No.1 at Australian box office

Zac Efron in Australia promoting his new film The Lucky One. Picture: Adam Ward /

Neala Johnson, The Herald Sun, reports

The Australian box office was down 25 per cent overall on the weekend, the second consecutive drop after an Easter high.

Zac Efron’s The Lucky One was the only new entry to dent the Top 10.

Streetdance 2 landed at No.12 and the Aung San Suu Kyi biopic The Lady (showing on 23 screens) came in at No.15.

TOP 10 FILMS AT THE AUSSIE BOX OFFICE:

1. THE LUCKY ONE (M)

$2,280,613

Zac Efron promo trip leads to a bigger opening than fellow Nicholas Sparks adaptations Dear John ($1.7 million), The Notebook ($1.6 million) and Nights in Rodanthe ($1.4 million). The Lucky One enters at No.2 in the US with $21.8 million, the second best debut there for a Sparks movie behind Dear John.

2. BATTLESHIP (M)

$2,159,005

Barmy blockbuster drops 45 per cent on second weekend, but still does decent figures. Total up to $7.6 million; $125.7 million worldwide. Opens in the US on May 18.

3. AMERICAN PIE: REUNION (MA15+)

$1,516,242

About to pass $50 million in US. Here, is heading towards $13 million – by far the film’s best territory outside the US. Russia is next with $9.3 million.

4. THE HUNGER GAMES (M)

$1,469,485

Aussie gross is $28.4 million after five weeks; that’s $1.2 million ahead of the most recent Twilight film at the same stage of release. Worldwide total sits at $555 million.

5. DR SEUSS’ THE LORAX (G)

$1,448,939

Holiday hit lost 94 screens once the kids went back to school. Next big animations coming our way include a 3D do-over of Beauty and the Beast on May 3 and Pixar’s Brave on June 21.

6. THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (PG)

$1,174,892

A small 23 per cent drop (compared to the 30 and 40 per cent falls elsewhere in the Top 10). Comparable title Salmon Fishing in the Yemen drops 21 per cent – but that much smaller release (93 screens compared to 263 for Best Exotic) has slipped out of the Top 10 after three weeks.

7. TITANIC 3D (M)

$976,260

Re-release took a staggering $65 million in its first week in China.

8. PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS (G)

$844,318

A long seven years after their last stop-motion animation film Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were Rabbit, Aardman still prove a big draw. Pirates! doesn’t have the built-in audience of Wallace & Gromit. After three weeks in 2005, that film had taken $7.4 million. Pirates! is up to $5.6 million.

9. MIRROR MIRROR (PG)

$595,308

Julia Roberts’ last “big” film Eat Pray Love grossed just under $12 million in late 2010. Mirror Mirror is on its way out with $5.7 million.

10. 21 JUMP STREET (MA15+)

$417,840

Sony Pictures in Australia deliver big figures ($14.4 million) for another mid-range title. They’ve also done well with The Vow and Friends with Benefits in recent times.

Eric Bana no longer attached to film Elvis & Nixon

Eric Bana says he is no longer involved with making the film Elvis & Nixon. Picture: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Heineken/AFP Source: AFP

The Herald Sun reports

Eric Bana has confirmed he won't be whipping out his blue suede shoes to play Elvis in a coming bio-pic.

The Aussie heart-throb lined up last October to play the rock and roll king in movie Elvis & Nixon.

But Bana told The Hollywood Reporter he was no longer involved.

"I'm not doing that. I was attached for a while, but I'm no longer attached," he said at the Tribeca Film Festival screening of his latest movie Deadfall.

The story focuses on a meeting between Elvis and US President Richard Nixon at the White House in 1970.

David Hasselhoff has made a shock exit from Celebrity Apprentice Australia

David Hasselhoff turned businessman for Celebrity Apprentice. Picture: Craig Greenhill Source: Herald Sun

Colin Vickery, The Herald Sun, reports

David Hasselhoff has made a shock exit from Celebrity Apprentice Australia.

The former Baywatch star floored contestants when he quit the Channel 9 reality show because of a family commitment in the US.

The Hoff filmed only three episodes of Celebrity Apprentice Australia before walking out.

His departure followed a secret meeting with CAA host Mark Bouris.

Hasselhoff's teammates, including former AFL star Jason Akermanis and talent judge Ian "Dicko" Dickson, were stunned.

"It is a personal commitment I made to my family and it involves honour. This just came up last night," Hasselhoff said.

He has two daughters, Taylor-Ann and Hayley, from his marriage to actor Pamela Bach.

Nine said Hasselhoff's exit was "unavoidable".

"David revealed to Mr Bouris and the other contestants that he had made a promise of a personal nature and had been called on to honour it," a Nine spokesperson said.

"Although it turned out The Hoff could only participate in the series for three challenges, he made an enormous contribution to the money raised for charity helping to raise in excess of $500,000."

But Akermanis couldn't hide his anger.

"I can't tell you my disgust when he said 'Hey guys, I'm out'."

Zac Efron said filimg sex sessions with Nicole Kidman in movie Paperboy was highlight of his life

Teenage obsession: Zac Efron said playing sex scenes with Nicole Kidman in Paperboy is his life's highlight. Source: Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph reports

Zac Efron believes filming sex scenes with Nicole Kidman for forthcoming movie "Paperboy" was the highlight of his life so far.

The 24-year-old former High School Musical heartthrob gets down and dirty with the 44-year-old married mother-of-four in the new sexual thriller, and admits it was a dream come true because he has always had a crush on her.

"Nicole is so gorgeous," Zac, who is starring in movie Lucky One, told UK television show Daybreak.

"It was everything you dreamed of. She was such a lovely person. I pinched myself every day, especially after doing love scenes with Nicole Kidman.

"It was the highlight of my life."

And it isn't just the Rabbit Hole star's looks he admires. Speaking about their time on set, he continued: "Nicole was something else and was always in character. She didn't get weird method, like some actors do, but I have never seen anyone so centred."

But with Nicole already spoken for, Zac - who previously dated Vanessa Hudgens and was recently linked to Mirror Mirror star Lily Collins - has a good idea about the kind of woman he would like to settle down with one day.

"[My wife will have] a sense of ambition and a sense of freedom, which is a careful mix. You have to balance those two. I haven't exactly found it yet," he said.

Kneel at the altar of Joss Whedon's superhero mash-up The Avengers

Tension: Chris Evans as Captain America and Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man in The Avengers. Source: The Daily Telegraph

Maria Lewis, The Daily Telegraph, reports

The Avengers is the greatest action movie since Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Need further proof?

How about hundreds of fans embracing each other on George St at 3am in the morning after attending midnight screenings?

For the hardcore geeks out there - myself included – The Avengers is the accumulation of some of pop culture’s greatest superheroes. Together. In one movie.

It connects the crumbs and clues Marvel Studios have been leaving in their films since Iron Man and it doesn’t disappoint.

When a source of unlimited power is stolen by the embodiment of an emo in Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), S.H.I.E.L.D commander Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is forced to assemble a team of people with “unique abilities” to combat the rising global threat.

The team is made up by Marvel’s tent-pole superheroes; Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and master assassins Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

But really, the specific story details are irrelevant because the main goal is to get all of the characters together - as a team - fighting against a common evil. Which it does.

It’s a film in three parts, with the first and second parts being there simply because they have to be; they introduce each of the individual characters, build sufficient tension and throw in the appropriate amount of witty banter.

Essentially it lays the groundwork for the final third which takes The Avengers from amazing to a-freaking-mazing.

It's Buffy creator and geek demi-god Joss Whedon’s baby from the get go.

Whedon conceived the story, wrote the screenplay and directed the film. It shows what can happen when you hand someone who isn’t Michael Bay $200M to make a blockbuster flick - magic.

On the way out of the midnight screening I heard a fan in front of me proclaim “Marvel have found their Nolan in Joss Whedon, man.”

He was of course referring to British comic book lover turned genius filmmaker Christopher Nolan who - at the helm of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight - has elevated what the superhero movie is in our collective consciousness.

I’d argue Marvel have found their Joss Whedon in Joss Whedon.

The filmmaker seamlessly brings The Avengers into the Whedonverse - adding biting wit, hilarious dialogue, physical gags, and emotional draw.

And action. Almost two hours of pure, glorious, perfectly choreographed action.

The cast too is perfect, no surprises there. Downey Jr’s Tony Stark/Iron Man is just as flawless as it was the first time he played him in 2008.

Mark Ruffalo manages to do what Eric Bana and Edward Norton both failed to do on screen and that’s make The Hulk interesting.

Also, Scarlett Johansson’s behind in that latex catsuit deserves its own spin off movie.

Brit Tom Hiddleston and his barely street legal cheekbones make for an enchanting villain, someone you can rally behind to hate.

Yet what is it that makes The Avengers so, so, SO much greater than the legion of superhero movies that have come before it?

Sure, Whedon’s talents have reached such a worshipable level I’m about ready to jump up and down on Oprah’s couch proclaiming my undying love for him.

It’s more than that.

Perhaps it’s because - as Hiddleston suggests - the tales of superheroes have become our form of modern mythology.

In a recent phone interview from London, he adds: “Most mythologies - Greek, Roman, Indian - they’re all highlighting very human ideological battles.

“Human beings have to project their neurosis’ on to those great figures.

“I think that’s what Marvel is now. Comics and superheroes and super villains, it’s the modern version of mythology.”

One thing is certain: despite the weight of fan expectation and pressure of juggling so many pop culture identities, it’s worth kneeling at the altar of The Avengers.

Picture of the month: April

York Street – Superman Returns

Greg Ham found dead in house

Men at Work in 1983: Greg Ham, John Rees, Colin Hay, Roy Strykert and Jerry Spicer.

Paul Millar and Henrietta Cook, The Sydney Morning Herald, report

The body of Men at Work flautist Greg Ham has been found in a house in Melbourne’s inner-north.

Police were called to a home in Canning Street, North Carlton, soon after midday and are trying to determine the cause of the man's death.

They were notified of the body after a friend turned up at the house to check on the man's welfare.

The area has been cordoned off with police tape and there is a large number of police at the scene.

Police would not confirm the identity of the man as relatives still had to be notified, but said he was a 58-year-old who lived at the house alone.

Detective Senior Sergeant Shane O’Connell said there were several unexplained circumstances surrounding the death but would not go into detail.

"There are a number of issues we are trying to resolve as to how the male died", Sgt O'Connell, of the homicide squad, said.

The body was found by a friend after he went to the house and there was no answer at the door. He then returned with another friend and found the body in the front of the house.

A close neighbour said he had only moved into the street recently, and although he was a bit of a recluse he had attended a barbeque recently .

"He looked like he'd done it hard," Linda Phypers said.

"He had lived just a bit further around the corner, and I think Men at Work had their first recording there."

Ms Phypers said that Ham had been renovating the corner house and was always pleasant to everyone in the street, although he had obvious health issues.

"He talked about that riff and he was still pretty upset about that", she said.

"But he was a good guy. He used to walk the streets a bit and looked a bit daggy."

A post mortem will be held to determine the cause of death.

Forensic detectives are at the scene and pathologists will attend later today.

A neighbour said the well-known musician had moved into the house a few months ago. He had moved from another house just around the corner where it is believed Men at Work rehearsed.

A section of Fenwick Street near the house, a converted shop front, has been fenced off with police tape.