Xavier Rudd, Torquay’s roots music superstar, and Hollywood starlet Abbie Cornish are Australia’s sexiest vegetarians.

The pair won their crowns in a fierce month-long battle among voters at PETAAsiaPacific.com for celebrities who exude passion and compassion.

Australian actor Abbie Cornish impressed more than boyfriend Ryan Phillippe on the set of her new film Stop-Loss.

The 25-year-old star of local films such as Somersault and Candy was director Kimberly Peirce’s first choice to play a Texan soldier’s girlfriend because of her duality - being “one of the guys” and, at the same time, the woman they all fantasise about.

Peirce said that combination of qualities was impossible to find in American starlets vying for the role.

“When we were writing the character we knew we needed a Texan girl who, if you got a flat tyre on your truck she’d go change it, if you needed a gun shot she’d shoot it, and if you got in trouble and you needed to be bailed out, she’d do it,” Peirce said.

“She was one of the guys, and yet she was totally a woman. She was the one they would all fantasise about.

“You don’t find that in American actresses - I mean you really don’t - so she was my top choice.”

I have loaded up 39 HQs as well as six portrait photos of Miss Abbie Cornish at the Australians in Film 2008 “Breakthrough Awards”, which were held yesterday in Los Angeles. This is actually her first outing this year! She is wearing a cute black dress and is sporting the black hair, which she dyed for Bright Star. Abbie is photographed with other honoree Mia Wasikowska, Stop-Loss director Kimberly Piece and Ryan Phillippe. I think it is nice to see Abbie and Ryan photographed together and they make a cute couple. Enjoy the photos and, once again, congrats to Abbie Cornish!

GALLERY LINKS:
- Events: Australians in Film 2008 “Breakthrough Awards”
- Photoshoots: Australians in Film 2008

Be sure to go and check out the official Bright Star website, now live! And read on for an article regarding the film, courtesy of Mail on Sunday. The article also comes with the very first production still of Abbie as Fanny. She looks absolutely radiant and stunning! I truly cannot wait to see Bright Star!

Jane Champion comes bounding down a gravel path and, suddenly, her body goes into karate mode.

She’s only kidding - one of the assistants on Bright Star, her film about the intense relationship between the poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, the young woman he met in the last two years of his life, happens to be a martial arts champion and she’s just having a laugh with her.

All the same, it’s good to see this most passionate of directors having fun on a film that lingers on the subject of death (there’s romance as well, I hasten to add).

For me, it marked a marvellous contrast: going from the craziness of the Cannes Film Festival to contemplating Keats in the quiet of the English countryside.

Bright Star (the title of a Keats poem about Fanny) ends its nine-week shooting of principal photography today, and has brought together two of the most exciting up-and-coming stars working in cinema.

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As earlier reported, Abbie Cornish was honored at yesterday’s AiF 2008 Breakthrough Awards.

One of the night’s honorees, Abbie Cornish, also paid tribute to Ledger, her costar in 2006’s Candy. “Heath’s a magical guy,” she told People. “Really incredible in every way – as a human being and as an artist.”

Source: People