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.”