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

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.”

Peirce is in Sydney for the Australian premiere of Stop-Loss, which tells the story of a young American soldier (Phillippe) who is ordered to return to Iraq as part of the military’s controversial Stop-Loss policy, but opts instead to go AWOL.

Cornish and Phillippe’s romance reportedly blossomed on the set of the film, following the 33-year-old actor’s split from Reese Witherspoon.

Last week the couple appeared together at the Australians in Film 2008 Breakthrough Awards in Los Angeles, where Cornish accepted a gong for her Stop-Loss role.

Cornish was not able to join Peirce on the red carpet at tonight’s Sydney Film Festival premiere at the State Theatre as she’s filming overseas.

But Peirce was more than happy to sing the praises of her film’s leading lady.

“I just think she is extraordinarily beautiful and talented,” Peirce said of Cornish.

“Whether there were a tonne of people in the scene, or there was dialogue or no dialogue, she was the centre of attention.

“The other actors had to watch out because she’s so charismatic.”

Peirce revealed she was a big fan of Australian actors and filmmakers in general, naming Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Russell Crowe and director Peter Weir as some of her favourites.

“I have to ask, what are you guys doing that are making your actors so interesting and so full of life?” she said.

“I mean, something about the lifestyle here is making them more complicated, more interesting.

“There’s a kind of lived in quality.”

Stop-Loss opens nationally on August 14.

Source: LiveNews

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.

Abbie Cornish, the Australian-born actress who has given such powerful performances in movies as diverse as Somersault and Stop-Loss, portrays Fanny. She said that she read Campion’s script once, and it was ‘burned into her imagination’.

Ben Whishaw, whose Trevor Nunn directed Hamlet at the Old Vic is indelibly seared in the memories of those who saw it - and who, by the way, re-defines Sebastian in the new film version of Brideshead Revisited - takes on the role of Keats.

Paul Schneider plays Charles Armitage Brown and Kerry Fox plays Fanny’s mother. Ms Fox starred in Campion’s early film An Angel At My Table 20 years ago. Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Edie Martin, both young and, clearly, stars of the future, play Fanny’s younger siblings.

The main set has been in deepest Bedfordshire - a remote farming estate with a pond standing in for Hampstead Heath.

Campion has shaped her screenplay through her own researches and using information from Andrew Motion’s biography of Keats.

Jan Chapman, Campion’s long-time producer and a major force in cinema in her own right, told me that the director has used nature and seasons a lot as a kind of emotional tone, although during filming, the weather didn’t always play along.

The movie - a joint British-Australian production - is essentially told from Fanny’s point of view. Chapman said: ‘There are a lot of letters from Keats, but there’s hardly anything written from Fanny, so Jane’s had to create her whole character, really. These are Jane’s views of an 18-year-old girl full of intense feelings and extreme emotional expression.’

Over 13 weeks of rehearsals and filming, the actors seem to have put life on hold to fully embrace their characters. ‘I think sometimes the balance isn’t always what it should be,’ Ben told me, with a rueful laugh. ‘ Sometimes the work I’m doing feels more real than my life. It just sort of happens; the character takes over.’

Indeed, Chapman noted that it was spine-tingling, watching the actor ‘almost channelling Keats’.

Ben said he was struck at how death looms large over Keats’s story, and added that Fanny’s role in Keats’ poetry was vital. ‘He wrote all the poetry he’s remembered for now in the space of a year, and that was the year she came into his life,’ he said.

Ironically, the strict social conventions of the time, which kept Keats and Fanny apart, also played a part in inspiring his work, Ben added. ‘Because Keats had little money, he wasn’t able to marry Fanny. It was social etiquette that got in the way.

‘There’s something really beautiful about those restrictions placed on a relationship because you have to express your love in different ways. I think that’s another reason why the poetry and letters by Keats are so extraordinary.

‘You couldn’t just snog and have sex - there’s beauty in that innocence.’

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

The Heath Ledger Scholarship is named in honor of Ledger who was an Ambassador for AiF before his untimely death in January 2008 and has the full support of the Heath Ledger family.

“Australians in Film is pleased to recognize the efforts and talents of Australia’s newest faces who are already proving they are on their way to join the ranks of the high-profile Australian talent working in Hollywood,” comments Dobson. “We are also thrilled that we will be able to assist burgeoning Australian talent launch their career in the States to become potential future recipients of a Breakthrough Award.”

The Breakthrough Awards’ exclusive invitation-only evening will again be held poolside at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills and will be attended by 150 of Hollywood’s elite. The Master of Ceremonies will be Showtime Australia’s award-winning, Hollywood-based entertainment correspondent, Andrew Warne.

Each of the 2008 Breakthrough Award recipients will be presented with AiF’s Golden Boomerang award as an acknowledgment of their achievements as Australia’s brightest young talents emerging in Hollywood.

Abbie Cornish was first recognized in the U.S. for her award-winning starring role in the independent Australian film Somersault (2004) with Sam Worthington followed by Candy (2006) opposite Heath Ledger. Most recently Cornish was seen in Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth: the Golden Age with Cate Blanchett, Kimberly Peirce’s Stop Loss opposite Ryan Philippe and will soon be seen in Jane Campion’s upcoming Bright Star.

Mia Wasikowska first appeared in the Australian hit television series All Saints before appearing as a regular in the HBO psychotherapist drama In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne. Wasikowska will soon be seen in Edward Zwick’s Defiance alongside Daniel Craig, Liev Shreiber and Jamie Bell and is currently filming Mira Nair’s Amelia with Hilary Swank and Richard Gere.

About Australians in Film

Founded in May 2001, to celebrate and support the work of Australian film and TV makers, Los Angeles based Australians in Film has held nearly 100 screenings, premieres and special events and currently has over 500 members. Australians in Film Ambassadors include Australian Oscar-winning actors Cate Blanchett (The Aviator 2005), Nicole Kidman (The Hours, 2002), Russell Crowe (Gladiator, 2000) and Geoffrey Rush (Shine, 1996), Oscar-winning director Mel Gibson (Braveheart 1995, The Passion of the Christ, 2004) and 30 other internationally known stars and film-makers including Hugh Jackman, Fred Schepisi and Naomi Watts.

Australians in Film is proud to have the support of the Australian Government and to receive the support of Gold sponsors Avid, MacCorkindale Alonso & Holton, Tourism Australia, Qantas and Stacey Testro International. Silver sponsors are AUSFILM, Austrade, Cooronbong, Stage & Screen Travel Services and Tourism Queensland. Bronze sponsors are Loeb & Loeb, Penfolds and Rosemount Estate. AiF’s media partner is Getty Images. For further information please visit www.australiansinfilm.org.

Source: Business Wire

Update:
Extras will include: “Commentary by Director Kimberly Peirce and Co-Writer Mark Richard,” “The Making Of Stop-Loss,” “A Day In Boot Camp” featurette, and 11 “Additional Scenes.”

Source: DVDTown.com

Great things are expected of Jane Campion (the only woman to have won the Palme d’Or), who is shooting Bright Star in the UK, the story of poet John Keats’s love affair with Fanny Brawne, starring Ben Whishaw and Australia’s Abbie Cornish. I heard a couple of executives discussing it after a trip to the set, where the word is that Ben is superb but that “everyone will be bowled over when they see Abbie’s Fanny.”

I personally can’t wait!

Being “green”, living healthy, embracing compassion and looking fabulous are all the rage in Tinseltown right now, with more and more celebrities finally figuring out that the best way to make all these things a part of their daily lives is by going vegetarian.

Whether they chose to go veg to improve their health, to help end global warming, or to avoid contributing to the inexcusable cruelty to animals on factory farms and in slaughterhouses, one thing is for sure – all these vegetarian celebrities have won our hearts and the hearts of animals.

We think they’re all sexy and couldn’t possibly pick just one favourite compassionate Hollywood hottie. We need your help! Cast your vote today for the World’s Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity, and stay tuned for the winners.

GALLERY LINKS:
- Movies: Last Uploads

The Abbie news drought unfortunately continues. Our girl is busy filming right now so it’s all to quiet. And while there hasn’t been any real updates from us in a while I thought I might as well post about this one even though it’s not ‘major’ at all.

I have added two Stop-Loss related scans, some reviews and articles. Like I said nothing major, but fans of the film might enjoy and atleast it’s something to gander at.

By the way, If you’re ‘bored’ waiting on Abbie news feel free to stop on by Mine and Riikka’s newest fansite tributes; Amy Adams Fan and Megan Fox Daily.

GALLERY LINKS:
- Magazines: Clippings from 2008

She loves working with Aussies and the perfect flick would have her starring alongside the nation’s best.

“I’d love to work with Cate Blanchett. To me, she’s as good as it gets. She really is absolutely amazing,” Bosworth says.

“I’ve only met her a few times but she’s lovely. Naomi I know a lot better. I love her, she’s so down to earth and great. I’d love to work with her. I admire both of them and their work.

“If I was to have the good fortune of having a career like either of them I’d be a lucky girl. Abbie Cornish as well. She’s amazing too. I’d like to work with her. People kind of think when you get that question of who you want to work with next you can’t say people. It’s absurd. I’d say, ‘Yeah, I’d love to work with them or Natalie Portman’. I’m not competitive that way.”

Also, some of you asked what happened to the Bright Star set pictures. The site was recently hacked and we lost some recent updates when recovering a clean back up. I do, however, still have the photos and they will be added on my next update. I’ve just been really swamped recently and have not had the chance to update the gallery yet. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Pathé announces that principal photography has begun on Bright Star. Written and directed by Oscar® Winner Jane Campion (The Piano, In the Cut), Bright Star will star Abbie Cornish (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Candy, Somersault) as Fanny Brawne, the muse of the romantic English poet John Keats, who will be played by Ben Whishaw (Brideshead Revisited, I’m not There, Perfume). The film will also feature Paul Schneider (The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) as Keats’ best friend, Mr Brown, and Kerry Fox (Shallow Grave, Welcome to Sarajevo) as Fanny’s mother, Mrs Brawne. The Producers are Jan Chapman (The Piano, Lantana) and Caroline Hewitt (Mr Bean’s Holiday, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).

London 1818: a secret love affair begins between 23 year old English poet, John Keats, and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, an outspoken student of high fashion.

This unlikely pair began at odds, he thinking her a stylish minx, while she was unimpressed not only by his poetry but also by literature in general.

However, when Fanny heard that Keats was nursing his seriously ill younger brother, her efforts to help touched Keats and when she asked him to teach her about poetry, he agreed. The poetry soon became a romantic remedy that worked not only to sort their differences but also to fuel an impassioned love affair.

When Fanny’s alarmed mother and Keats’ best friend finally awoke to their attachment, the relationship already had an unstoppable momentum. Intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other, the young lovers were swept deeply in to powerful new sensations, “I have the feeling as if I were dissolving”, Keats wrote to her. Together they rode a wave of romantic obsession that only deepened as their troubles mounted.

When Keats fell ill a year later, the two young lovers faced not marriage but separation and a painfully frustrated love. In Keats’ own poignant words, “forever panting and forever young”.

Bright Star is a Pathe, Film Finance Corporation Australia, BBC Films and the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund presentation, in association with the New South Wales Film and Television Office and Hopscotch International, of a Jan Chapman Production, in association with Caroline Hewitt.

Pathé will release the film theatrically in the UK and France, Hopscotch in Australia and Pathé International will handle international sales.

Shooting began on location in the UK on 31st March 2008.

Bright Star is an ill-fated romance toplining Ben Whishaw as Keats and Aussie thesp Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne, the poet’s muse. The passionate relationship was cut short when Keats died aged just 25.

Schneider will play Keats’ best friend, Charles Armitage Brown, and Fox will play Fanny’s mother.

Schneider recently turned heads in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Lars and the Real Girl. He was named as one of Variety’s 10 actors to watch in October 2007.

Fox has appeared in Shallow Grave and Welcome to Sarajevo.

Jan Chapman and Caroline Hewitt produce the pic, which is shooting on location in the UK.

Pic is backed by Pathe, Film Finance Corporation Australia, BBC Films, the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund, the New South Wales Film and Television Office, and Hopscotch International.

Pathe will release the film theatrically in the UK and France, with Hopscotch handling the Oz release. Pathe International is handling international sales.

Source: Variety

GALLERY LINKS:
- Photoshoot: Sunday Life

GALLERY LINKS:
- Photoshoot: Unknown - Set #004

GALLERY LINKS:
- Magazine Scans: Details - April 2008

1.) 21 - $23,700,000
2.) Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who - $17,425,000
3.) Superhero Movie - $9,510,000
4.) Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns - $7,760,000
5.) Drillbit Taylor - $5,800,000
… 8.) Stop-Loss - $4.5 million

Source: ComingSoon