A Few Best Men available on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia

Louise Keller and Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cine File, report on

A FEW BEST MEN: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
When English lad David (Xavier Samuel) announces he is getting married to Mia (Laura Brent), an Australian he's just met on a Pacific Island holiday, his hapless London mates are aghast. But of course they wouldn't miss the Blue Mountains wedding - although by the time the big moment arrives David may have wished they had. Along the way, they have a run in with a crazed drug dealer (Steve Le Marquand) and a large Marino sheep, the pride possession of David's father in law, Senator Jim (Jonathan Biggins) as well as nursing their own neuroses.

Review by Louise Keller:
A sheep in drag, a runaway floral arrangement and Olivia Newton John as you've never seen her before are some of the memorable moments of this riotous comedy in which the humour varies from the outrageous to the ridiculous. Scripted by Death at a Funeral's Dean Craig, A Few Best Men cleverly combines its culture clash and buddy themes with a wild tale embracing family secrets, a drug deal gone wrong and a romantic wedding filled with hilarious mishaps.

Directed by Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) with his indefatigable joie de vivre and wicked sense of humour, the film is a sure fix if you need a laugh. It's a perfect marriage of British and Australian humour that fuses into its own form. The refined, the raucous and the rip-roaringly rude collide in 97 minutes of sparkling mayhem.

It all starts with a romantic video clip shot on a Pacific Island, when David (Samuel) and Mia (Brent) decide to get married. The happy couple have only just met while on holidays; he is from England, she is from Australia. Back in London, the news of the impending nuptials in the Blue Mountains bombs with David's three best friends, who are aghast, feeling as though he is deserting them. 'Holiday romances are meant to end at the airport, not the altar', they moan. But of course they wouldn't miss the wedding - although by the time the big moment arrives, David may have wished they had.

Kris Marshall (Death at a Funeral) and Kevin Bishop (The Spanish Apartment), who play Tom and Graham respectively, are the making of the film such is the strength of their presence and hilarious performances. Tom (Marshall), is the outspoken hedonistic bachelor; Graham (Bishop) can't help playing the fool sporting a Hitler-esque moustache ('It's just the way my facial hair grows') and Luke (Draxl) is the love-sick fool, dumped for someone rumoured to be missing an essential piece of the male anatomy.

Surprise, angst and resentment are squeezed into a jumbo jet (with umpteen stopovers) on a single day before the wedding, as the groom-to-be and his best men make the long journey to the federation home situated on the edge of the beautiful Blue Mountains.

Political satirist and comic Jonathan Biggins has plenty of hide (and front) as Jim Ramm, the ambitious politician father of the bride, whose prize Merino sheep Ramsy (a splendid specimen) steals scene after scene - wearing bra, knickers and fire-engine red lipstick or being lowered surreptitiously from a first floor window.

Poor Ramsy is the butt of many jokes, literally as well as physically: I refer to the scene in which Graham gets up to his armpit at Ramsy's other end to recover cocaine-filled condoms unwittingly swallowed by the sheep. Some of it is pretty risqué, but Elliott, Australia's lovable enfant terrible, has a knack of getting away with it all, making everything feel cheeky rather than sordid. He does absurd to perfection.

There are numerous well constructed, funny sequences - like the scene in which Steve Le Marquand's (Underbelly) semi-naked, tattooed drug-dealer Ray takes a shine to Graham or when Graham tries to 'convert' Mia's supposedly lesbian sister Daphne (Rebel Wilson). In an inspired piece of casting, Olivia Newton-John is a knock-out as the (initially) stitched up mother of the bride, who later shows that appearances can be deceiving.

I love the fact that the humour plays like a horn that is honked at both low and high decibels: subtle and not. It's wacky and crass - in equal portions. Every scene is bursting with colourful ideas and each character looks as though they could star in their own movie.

The cast has a whale of a time and the energy is contagious. The film looks a treat and the Blue Mountains setting impresses. Elliott keeps the pace moving and all the production values are excellent. This is a corker of a film with a feel-good guarantee.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
Olivia Newton John is an absolute hoot as mother in law Barbara in this madcap romantic comedy that brings together English and Australian humour in earthy earnest. If you enjoyed The Hangover, you'll get a kick out of A Few Best Men, who are, of course, not at their best for most of the time.

Although true to genre where it matters, the film kicks the can around to keep us entertained with ridiculous antics and robust, sometimes vulgar gags. But they are all carefully planted within the story and/or attached to character. Central to the action are the lovers to be married, nice guy David (Xavier Samuel) and pretty Mia (Laura Brent), daughter of an Australian Senator (Jonathan Biggins). They hardly know each other but a romantic island holiday convinces them they are right for each other.

That's the trigger for the story; the comedy happens all around them, as they battle through several wows before reaching the exchange of vows. It's mostly David, or to be precise, his best friends and best men, who do the struggling, whether with an arm up a sheep's rear end seeking lost cocaine pellets packed in condoms, or fighting the effects of their own stupidity.

Much to director Steph Elliott's credit, he holds the reins tight enough to ground the comedy, and his cast responds admirably. Only Tim Draxl as heartbroken friend Luke and Steve Le Marquand as Ray the paradoxical drug dealer overact, but both play characters for whom these excesses are acceptable. Both characters enjoy satisfying resolutions.

Top acting honours to Kris Marshall as the hedonistic and resolutely single Tom, and Kevin Bishop as the nervy and accident prone Graham, David's other two friends, who create genuine characters and deliver solid performances ... not to be confused with stolid. Ramsy, the magnificent ram, steals every scene he is in, while Rebel Wilson steals our hearts as Daphne, Mia's chubby sister who pretends (in a statement of defiance to her father) to be a lesbian.

Elliott, who has handled a broad range of material from very broad comedy like Welcome to Woop Woop (1997) to the classic thriller genre with Eye of the Beholder (1999) and his signature film, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994), makes it seem deceptively easy to bring home the comic bacon ... or should that be ride on the sheep's back.

He has matured significantly as a filmmaker, seen in the way he crafts and welds scenes together (with help from editor Sue Blainey) and how he directs his well chosen cast. It's also evident in the small touches that deepen the film's sense of veracity; subtle details like wedding guests and staff walking past in the deep background of dialogue-driven two-shots, which many filmmakers wouldn't bother with.

Costume designer Lizzy Gardiner (who worked on Priscilla with Elliott and earned an Oscar for it) and veteran production designer George Liddle contribute greatly to the film's visual appeal and writer Dean Craig (Death at a Funeral) shows he has a great eye and ear for comedy - which Elliott spices up with his unique (and pungently Australian) sense of the ridiculous. Great fun.

Where to order your copy;

videoezy.com.au
jbhifionline.com.au
sanity.com.au

At home in an Alien world

Guy Pearce. Photo: Simon Schluter

Sacha Molitorisz, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports

He may look haggard in Ridley Scott's new film, but Guy Pearce has never been happier as he opens up about Prometheus, Iron Man 3 and the studio system.

Guy Pearce has never looked worse. His skin is wrinkled and blotchy. His hair is grey and thin. His body is frail and vulnerable. It's hard to believe this is the man who, as a teenager, won the Mr Junior Victoria bodybuilding contest.

To play the part of elderly businessman Peter Weyland in Prometheus, Pearce spent hours in the make-up chair each day, having those famous cheekbones hidden beneath prosthetic wrinkles and blemishes. In character, he doesn't look a day under 90.

"Oh, thanks," Pearce says. "I thought the work the make-up team did was fantastic."

Prometheus is one of the most eagerly awaited films in years. Four years in the making, with a rumoured budget of $130 million, the 3D epic stars Charlize Theron, Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender. More significantly, it sees Ridley Scott - director of Alien and Blade Runner - returning to sci-fi for the first time in 30 years. It has generated a buzz the size of Saturn.

"I've never worked on such an anticipated film before," Pearce says. "People are jumping out of their skin. I've been looking online and getting the sense, 'Wow, this is something people are hungry for."'

That's saying something, given Pearce has appeared in several hotly anticipated films in his career, from Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential (1997) to Christopher Nolan's Memento (2000), from Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (2008) to John Hillcoat's The Road (2009). The good news is that Pearce feels much better than he looks in Prometheus. The devil's confusion is when you look great, but feel terrible. Pearce has the opposite: for this role he looks terrible, but he's never felt better.

"I'm far more comfortable in my 40s than I ever was," says the 44-year-old.

Born in Britain, he moved to Australia at age three and was 18 when he took the role of Mike Young on Neighbours.

The year he turned 21, he graduated to that other thespian rite of passage, Home and Away. His breakthrough came in 1994, when he slapped on lippie and slipped into stilettos to become Felicia Jollygoodfellow in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Three years later, he made his Hollywood debut in L.A. Confidential. His performance, and his looks, turned heads.

Critic Anthony Lane described Pearce's character, Ed Exley, as "a model officer, though his real problem is that he's an officer who looks like a model".

At that point, though, Pearce wasn't much interested in Hollywood. He would travel to LA for two-week stints to have meetings and auditions, then retreat to Melbourne. Nonetheless, he was cast in a trio of big budget features: Rules of Engagement (2000), The Time Machine (2002) and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002). He disliked all three, and, against industry protocol, didn't mind saying so.

Since then, there have been fewer roles he's disliked and many more he's enjoyed. He played Andy Warhol in Factory Girl (2006), Harry Houdini in Death Defying Acts (2007) and Edward VIII in The King's Speech (2010). Not to mention a moustached cop in Animal Kingdom (2010).

In 2001, he declared his preference for small films; but he's softened. "I'm more open to the variety of things than I was back in 2000," he says. "I just found the experience of the three studio films I did then were all difficult for me. I was finding a really obvious difference between smaller films and larger films. Whereas now I'm far more comfortable in myself, so I can wander onto any set and I'm fine. And I'm about to go and do Iron Man 3, so that'll be a fairly big world to enter, I'd say."

Pearce is enjoying the big-budget spectaculars, too. In Iron Man 3, he'll play a scientist tinkering with nano technology. In Luc Besson's sci-fi romp Lockout, released in July, he plays a gun-toting "loose cannon". In Prometheus, he is a megalomaniac businessman. "The thing I've come to learn is that what's great about small independent films is the intimacy and the communication that occurs when you're making them," he says.

"And funnily enough, Ridley Scott makes you feel like you're working on a little intimate movie because of his ability to communicate, his respect for the actors and his way of saying to the studio, 'Keep out of my way.""'
Developed in strict secrecy, Prometheus is a prequel to Alien.

So far, only a 12-minute teaser has been screened. Set in the late 21st century, the teaser begins with two archaeologists making a startling prehistoric discovery in Scotland. It then jumps forward to reveal a geriatric Peter Weyland, who has organised a trip deep into space to answer questions about mankind's origins. The film asks big questions about religion, artificial intelligence and men who think they're gods. "My ambition is unlimited," Weyland says in a viral video released to promote the film (see box). "We are the gods now."
Pearce has a much more limited ambition. He doesn't want to bother the gods. A decade ago, he was restless; these days he's happy down here with the humans. And he may not dislike Hollywood as much as he used to - "I've realised the value of the place" - but he still prefers Melbourne.

"The thrill of coming home has never changed."

Prometheus releases nationally on June 7.

Getting shot of Hollywood rulebook

John Seale (centre) working on the 1971-72 TV series Barrier Reef. Photo: Paul Butler

The Sydney Morning Herald reports

The adaptability of local cinematographers has won them much acclaim, writes Garry Maddox.

John Seale is excited about shooting the long-awaited Mad Max: Fury Road in Namibia. "This one I swear won't disappoint," says the Oscar-winning cinematographer of The English Patient, Witness, Rain Man and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. "It's going to be a very deep and meaningful film as well as an astonishing action film. [Director] George Miller has got an amazing concept of an apocalyptic world and the people who live in it."

Shooting in an African nation with virtually no film industry is the latest challenge for the Australian director of photography. Miller was forced to head overseas for a post-apocalyptic landscape when rain made the desert bloom around Broken Hill.

Seale says most of the production support for the fourth Mad Max will come from Cape Town. All the vehicles will be shipped from Sydney. "We've already been into Namibia once on a survey and all the trucks are there with mechanics and panel-beaters shaping them to George's specifications," he says.

The shoot is scheduled to last from July until Christmas, with Tom Hardy taking over the lead role.

"We've got a fair big prep there because there's so many vehicles involved," Seale says. "We need to do of training with stuff – cars and cameras – and get that all in the mix to get what George wants."

Similar challenges have become familiar for Australian cinematographers. As recorded in Martha Ansara's new book The Shadowcatchers: A History of Australian Cinematography, directors of photography have been adapting to limited resources since the silent movie days. While shooting a movie became a separate craft in other countries, the lack of drama production meant Australian cameramen – and they were almost always men until recent decades – continued to be all-round technicians and filmmakers.

The great Australian cinematographers include Frank Hurley, who shot Antarctic expeditions with Mawson and Shackleton; Damien Parer, who filmed the Kokoda campaign during World War II, and war correspondents Neil Davis and David Brill. In Hollywood, the reputation of Australian cinematographers is reflected in Oscar wins for Seale (The English Patient ), Dean Semler (Dances with Wolves ), Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings ), Russell Boyd (Master and Commander ) and Dion Beebe (Memoirs of a Geisha ).

Ansara, who has drawn on thousands of photographs supplied by members of the Australian Cinematographers Society, estimates up to 40 Australians are working on overseas movies, TV shows and commercials at any one time. She believes their early work in multiple genres has helped their careers.

"Everybody has worked in documentary," Ansara says. "Almost everybody has worked in news until recent times. And more than that, they had this rigorous training from people who had learned to work without much equipment, or makeshift equipment.

"Then came the '70s and this cultural confidence – people were quite daring because there wasn't any tradition, especially in drama, to hold them back. Also, they were quite rebellious anyway."

An example of such resourcefulness: Semler and his crew created a device from two torpedo nose cones, called the Ned Kelly, to shoot stunt scenes in the first Mad Max. "They cut a slit in it and put it in a tyre tilted at the right angle with a camera in it for some of the really dangerous shots where nobody could be in the road," Ansara says.

In the 1920s, Reg Edwards saw a crane shot in an overseas film and improvised his own.

"They got a plank and put it in the fork of a tree," Ansara says. "The cameraman sat on the end of the plank, somebody pushed down on the other end and they had a crane shot."

Seale, who began his career at the ABC, believes the Australian attitude of "let's give anything a go" has contributed to the international success of its cinematographers.

"I can remember doing dolly shots in an apple box – a great big wooden box – being pulled along a plank that was lubricated with the lunch olive oil."

Seale believes the Namibian desert will be perfect for Fury Road. "Namibia hasn't got red earth, of course, but there's just nothing there – not a blade of grass for hundreds of kilometres, thousands of kilometres.

"It's very sad George has had to bail out of Australia but that's the movie industry."

The Shadowcatchers: A History of Australian Cinematography (Australian Cinematographers Society, $66) is out today. Details at shadowcatchers.com.au.

Actress Rachael Taylor to be a judge on Channel Ten's new talent show I Will Survive

 

Acting mentor on Channel Ten's talent show .... Actress Rachael Taylor will appear on I Will Survive. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports


The mystery of Rachael Taylor's arrival in Australia this week has been solved, with the former Charlie's Angels star set to round out the judging panel on Ten's upcoming reality talent search I Will Survive.


In a surprising move for the budding actress Taylor - who will act as an "acting mentor" on the show - is rumoured to have accepted the gig after it was turned down by singer-turned-actress Jessica Mauboy.


She will sit alongside judges Jason Donovan and film director Stephan Elliott on the series, which is hosted by Ten's big network poaching Hugh Sheridan and inspired by Elliott's film classic The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert.


Taylor is on location in Dubbo and will film a handful of episodes, though it's not expected she will see out the entire season.


A Network Ten spokesperson said: "I Will Survive is thrilled to have secured Rachael Taylor as a special guest judge for the premiere episodes of our journey in Dubbo.


"We will be announcing a series of other high profile female guest judges who will join the IWS tour as we search for the next 'Hugh Jackman' triple threat performer."


Based on the celebrated road-trip made by three Aussie drag queens in the flick, the show puts 12 would-be performers through their paces before a winner is crowned and featured in a one-off stage performance of the Priscilla musical.


Taylor's addition to the judging panel is certainly a coup for Ten but is an unusual move for the blonde stunner who has enjoyed moderate success in Hollywood, featuring in the first Transformers blockbuster and nabbing a starring role in the (albeit failed) action remake of Charlie's Angels.

Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe face off in first Les Miserables trailer

Anne Hathaway cropped her hair for the role and went on a dramatic crash diet. Picture: Universal Pictures Source: The Daily Telegraph

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

After swapping his mutton chop Wolverine sideburns for the full follicle fizz, Hugh Jackman looks suitably grim in the latest images to be released from the hotly-anticipated film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Les Miserables.

And Russell Crowe appears to be lending considerable heft to the role of Inspector Javert, arch nemesis to Jackman's character Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo's 19th Century classic.

But Anne Hathaway luminous beauty transcends the brutal, sheep shorn haircut she is sporting for the role of Fantine.

The 29-year-old actress sings her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream in the just- released official trailer for the film, directed by Tom Hooper (The King's Speech).

The new movie version of the hit stage musical is scheduled to open on December 14 in the US for maximum awards impact, lining up alongside Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby and Peter Jackson's first Hobbit film.

In Australia, the film is scheduled for a Boxing Day release.

Shot at England's Pinewood Studios, and on location in the UK and France, Les Miserables also stars Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Helena Bonham Carter.

Trampy turn gives Nicole edge

''Booty'' call … Kidman in The Paperboy.

Ed Gibbs, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports

Bouncing back from a string of disappointing films, Nicole Kidman credits her natural instincts - and a willingness to pile on the kilos - for her return to form in The Paperboy.

The 44-year-old actress - who stars opposite John Cusack, Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey, as a trailer-trash bombshell trying to extricate herself from an erratic convicted felon - also admits to being puzzled by talk of a comeback. In a career that has seen all-time highs (an Oscar win, for The Hours) and, last year, an almighty low, with her film Trespass going straight to DVD, strategy did not, she insists, play any part in her taking on the offbeat noir melodrama.

"I don't think in terms of my career," she told The Sun-Herald in Cannes last week, prior to the film's world premiere at the festival. "I don't have a premeditated [agenda], that's just not my nature in life. Both husbands that I've been married to [ex, Tom Cruise, and current, Keith Urban] I married within three, four months. That's just who I am. I choose roles that way, too."

Kidman's performance includes a scene in which she urinates on a fawning Zac Efron, his body mangled by jellyfish. Prior to that, she re-imagines a certain interrogation sequence from Basic Instinct, in which Sharon Stone famously flashed to camera. Critics have been unanimous in their praise of Kidman's risque turn. The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy saluted the star for "tramping it up", while The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw hailed Kidman as "terrifically good … funny, sexy, poignantly vulnerable".

Lee Daniels, who spent 13 years bringing Peter Dexter's swamp thriller to the big screen, admits he pushed Kidman hard. Kidman, who capitulated to her director's demands to add "more booty" to her slender frame, says: "I don't over think things - I live and die on that. It's spontaneous. Lee [Daniels] knows these people - he toughened me up, he put me on the street.

I met with women that have relationships with men in prison. They told me their stories, and I didn't judge.''

The Paperboy is running in the festival's official competition for the top prize, the Palme D'Or.

First trailer for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby makes stylish debut

News.com.au reports

It’s one of the most anticipated cinema events of next year and after months of waiting the trailer for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby is finally here.

The first peek at the epic period drama has debuted online and the reponse so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

Filmed throughout Sydney late last year, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the pivotal character Jay Gatsby in the re-telling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel.

The trailer footage has already been described as "visually stunning" and "quite simply spectacular".

The Great Gatsby stars Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire and Isla Fischer.

While US audiences will get to see the film on Christmas day - just in time to qualify for the Oscars - Aussie audiences will have to wait until January 10, 2013.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban happy and in love at the Cannes Film Festival

The Lavin gown showed off Nicole Kidman's body to perfection. Picture: AP

The Daily Mail reports

The Cannes Film Festival has certainly brought out the romantic side between happily married Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.

The country music star and judge on The Voice came out to support his Hollywood actress wife for the premiere of her new movie, The Paperboy.

Proud Keith embraced the 44-year-old actress several times, showering her with kisses and cuddles.

The doting singer even carried his wife's clutch bag as they shared their amorous public display of affection.

Keith let his wife have her time in the spotlight as she walked the red carpet.

The pair then partied together at popular hotspot Beach Club.

Kidman arrived at the premiere in a rose coloured draped Lavin dress that cutaway to reveal her toned upper body.

Kidman's co-star Zac Efron, 24, looked decidedly dapper in a tuxedo as did fellow stars John Cusack and Matthew McConaughey.

The Paperboy is set in the 1960s, with Efron playing an aspiring writer helping his journalist brother, played by McConaughey, investigate a possible miscarriage of justice.

In the film, Efron's Jack falls for Kidman's sparky but sultry femme fatale, who is in turn obsessed with a death row inmate, played by Cusack.

The cast also includes singer Macy Gray as Jack's family maid and surrogate mother, and British actor David Oyelowo as an ambitious big-city journalist.

Kidman worked hard to create Charlotte Bless, interviewing women who were in love with convicts and putting together the character's bold look.

"I'd been looking as an actor for something raw and something dangerous," Kidman said.

"I may be uncomfortable watching the movie. But that's my job - it's my job to give over to something, not to censor it, not to put my own judgments of how I feel as Nicole playing the character. I am there to portray a truth.

"I don't want to be pigeonholed.

"I'm willing to fail because of that. I just want to try."

Efron, who spends much of the film in his underpants, said he felt uncomfortable filming - but that's the way he wanted it.

"I don't think I was supposed to feel comfortable," the former High School Musical star told Cannes.

"It's like life. This character is supposed to be learning the ways of the world, and that can be very uncomfortable. But it's also exciting."

The Paperboy has drawn mixed response in Cannes, where it is one of 22 films up for the Palme d'Or, to be awarded Sunday.

But the actors seem to have adored the experience.

Efron said working with Kidman had been a dream.

"I've been in love with her for a long time - since Moulin Rouge," Efron said.

"It was the loveliest time in the world for me."

Director Lee's last film, Precious, was a surprise hit that won two Academy Awards in 2010.

His next will be The Butler, the story of a long-serving White House staffer in which McConaughey plays John F. Kennedy and Cusack is Richard Nixon.

Eurovision fans upset over SBS leak

Swedish diva Loreen performs her winning song Euphoria at the grand final of the Eurovision song contest in Baku. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

The Herald Sun reports

Eurovision fanatics are calling for SBS to broadcast the cheesy singing contest live after the results were leaked before the Australian broadcast.

Dozens of fans took to SBS's official site yesterday to complain after the winner - Sweden's Loreen - was announced on SBS World News just before the final from Baku, Azerbaijan, was broadcast.

More than 531,000 watched the show on Sunday - the second-highest audience for the contest since Oztam ratings began.

What happened on TV last night? The Voice and MasterChef reviewed

There was little love between Delta Goodrem and Seal last night on The Voice. Source: Getty Images

Siobahn Duck, The Herald Sun, reports

Sit down Delta.

Those three little words from Seal reignited the anti-Goodrem campaign on Twitter last night.

It’s no secret that Goodrem has her haters. In the early days of The Voice the blonde judge was slagged off for handballing decisions to her co-captain Darren Hayes and for, what many people deemed as, being fake and too perfect.

But I thought we were over that. Clearly not.

The blonde judge was back in the Twitter bad books last night for her daggy dancing, lengthy standing ovations and slightly nonsensical speeches.

Some even suggested that all this brazen behaviour may have been the result of a few too many pre-show drinks.

But things really came to a head when Seal - the man of many ovations - told Goodrem, in no uncertain terms, to sit down after she dared to intervene in one of his lengthy post-performance pep talks with her contestant, Craig Cunningham.

The incident followed an awkward moment when Goodrem busted Seal and fellow judge Joel Madden questioning her choice of Smells Like Teen Spirit for Viktoria Bolonina.

Clearly, no-one is allowed to steal Seal’s thunder when it comes to rocking out the bad dance moves or giving overly-long standing ovations.

God help Delta if she starts inappropriately manhandling contestants too. That is Seal’s domain and we all know it.

The only one to upstage Seal and Delta’s spat was Keith Urban and he wasn’t even in the studio.

Appearing via satellite from America (where he was making-good on a concert he’d committed to do before signing on for The Voice), Urban inadvertently gave us a peep at his undies.

It didn’t take long for #Keithsundies to start trending and to become an official handle.

It joins #deltasglasses and #joelstoothpick.

I wonder if Seal is miffed that his glirt (the weird shirt that morphed into gloves that he wore last week) has failed to make the grade so far.

You’ve got to admire Urban’s commitment to the show. It was 2am in the states, it’s a wonder he didn’t nod off mid-sentence.

He must have been praying that Tricky Business started on time.

First up, were the eliminations. Urban lost Jimmy Cupples and Tang Paa. Joel lost Laura “crazy-eyes” Bunting.

Hardly surprising, Bunting was the bookies’ favourite to get booted off the show after she murdered Goyte on stage last week.

Bunting blamed her refusal to get a tattoo with the rest of Team Joel for her ousting.

The rest of us blame her terrifying performance.

“I’m glad the other judges are there to hug them and let them know I love them,” Keith said as his axed contestants left the stage.

And you just knew he was talking about Seal. That man loves to hug, and touch faces, and star longingly into people’s eyes. And that’s just at the bank.

Leading the live performances was Chris Sebastian. He did alright - though his hair was a tad Fuhrer-esque for my liking.

Do yourself a favour Chris, follow your brother’s lead and go the fro. Loose the deep side part.

Next was Dani. She was also sporting a new hairstyle and had left the wind machine in Delta’s garage. She wanted to show she was cooler than her last performance.

Instead she showed us she’d make a pretty good Vanessa Amorosi impersonator.

Delta explained that Dani comes from a “moving background” and wanted to show that by dancing a bit? Huh, don’t we all?

Seal chose a sultry Bacharach number for his beautiful young protégée, Emma Birdsall.

The pretty, 20 year-old was the woman who made Seal leap to his feet and dance in the audition rounds. It wasn’t pretty.

I suspect he’s choosing slow, sexy numbers for her to sing because he doesn’t trust himself to stay in his seat if she does something up tempo. Dance is his Achilles heel.

Post-performance, poor Birdsall was again seized by her touchy-feely mentor.

Trapped in a steel-like hip-grip (a new move, that has seen the face-grasp phased out from the repertoire) while he looked deep into her eyes to tell her she had moved him.

“I felt it. I believed in you,” he whispered. Yes, Seal speaks in song lyrics.

As expected, Fatai, Karise and Rachael Leachar all drew praise for their efforts.

All three manage to sound convincing singing songs that are usually performed by women with far more life experience and maturity than any one of them.

But not every performance was stellar. The Russian, aka Viktoria, appeared to have stolen Prinnie’s dress backstage, also donning green sequins for her performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

I’m no grunge lover - by any stretch - but to take Nirvana and give it whimsy, a saucy edge and sequins seemed a huge mistake to me. Kurt Cobain never struck me as a musical theatre man.

“You’ll either love it or hate it,” Viktoria said of the controversial reworking of a classic. Well, I’m in the latter camp. I hated it. Sorry Viktoria.

Last night the poor contestants were also made to perform their coaches’ greatest hits with the coaches themselves.

For Delta’s group it was Born to Try. Obviously.

She sang it better than all of them. And she played piano. And wore a sparkled headdress. What else would you expect?

Seal, meanwhile, wheeled out Kiss From a Rose. Again. How many more times are we going to have to endure this song from 20 years ago? It didn’t make sense then and it doesn’t make sense now.

Surely it’s time to get some new material. Maybe he could use some of the words from his pep talks as inspiration? I believe in you, Seal. Just an idea.

Over on MasterChef Australia, Kath (the loud slurper) was sent home for committing the ultimate crime against cakes - a soggy, raw middle.

Last night, Kath, vest-loving Andrew and dessert queen Julia were challenged to cook Maggie Beer’s grape cake, wafer biscuit and ice-cream in just 90 minutes.

It was always going to be a tough ask for seafood specialist, Kath who is an instinctual whirling dervish in the kitchen not someone who likes to measure and mix by the book like Julia.

Things got off to a bad start for the amiable, noisy eater when she neglected to put the sugar syrup in her ice cream until her fellow contestants pointed out her mistake.

“Let’s hope this is my only misstep for the day,” she said, as she merrily added said syrup.

Alas, no. Worse was to come, like when Beer pointed out her cake was still raw. Really raw. Despite the fact that she was the first to get hers in the oven. I’m not sure how she managed that.

Kath’s wasn’t the only soggy cake. Vest-loving Andrew was also having a nightmare with his baking efforts. Time let him down.

His cake collapsed - oozed even - in the middle, but he was saved by his caramel and the fact that his cake was slightly more cooked.

Andrew was showing the signs of stress, visibly shaking as he served his undercooked cake to the judges.

It’s a shame because Andrew really went above and beyond to be a team-player.

A hairdresser by trade, Andrew decided to “show his support for the other contestants by straightening their hair.”

I wonder if athletes do that for each other at the Olympics before a race. If so, that suddenly makes organised sport sound way more appealing to me.

Though I can’t imagine there’d be much call for that kind of “support” the swimmers’ village.

Russell Crowe and Toni Collette's ode to Sydney getting sued for idea theft

Toni Collette was to make her directorial debut with Sydney Unplugged. Source: Supplied

Maria Lewis, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Russell Crowe and Toni Collette were to direct segments in it, but now a film about Sydney is getting sued for copyright infringement.

The film - Sydney Unplugged - was supposed to be an ode to the city of Sydney and consist of a series of short films directed by A-list names such as Crowe, Collette, Naomi Watts' partner Live Schreiber and Anthony LaPaglia.

But French producer Emmanuel Benbihy is suing the production - headed by Tropfest founder John Polson and producer Gary Hamilton - claiming copyright infringement on his Cities Of Love franchise.

Benbihy's franchise is best known for the films Paris, Je'Taime and New York, I Love You, which he claims Sydney Unplugged is trying to copy.

"I can’t believe that people with such film experience have decided to illustrate the image of a wonderful city with so little concern for their actions and such an unethical manner," he said in a press release.

"They will be embarrassing a lot of people including Australian film institutions and sponsors."

The Marseille Court of Justice issued a court order for a number of documents relating to Polson's project to be seized.

Benbihy's franchise has extended to several other countries around the world with tie-ins Shanghai (I Love You), Jerusalem (I Love You) and Rio (Eu the Amo).

Producer Gary Hamilton of Archlight Films told Film Business Asia that there was "no story" to Benbihy's claims.

"Our film is entirely different from the I Love You series of films," he said.

"It has nothing to do with the cities of love, but instead is a vibrant story of one of the world's great cities, showcasing Australia's leading talent over one year and four seasons in Sydney.

"Does Emmanuel (Benbihy) have copyright over any film with a multiple-story line set in a city? I would be interested to know what exactly Emmanuel (Benbihy) is claiming copyright over."

Several big-name Australian directors were also attached to Sydney Unplugged, including Alex Proyas (The Crow), David Michod (Animal Kingdom), Ivan Sen (Toomelah), Ray Lawrence (Lantana), John Curran (The Painted Veil), Kieran Darcy-Smith (Wish You Were Here) and Rachel Ward (Beautiful Kate).

Benbihy said he was taking legal action now because Archlight were selling the film at Cannes.

Filming on the project was scheduled to begin in Sydney later this year.

Snow White and the Huntsman star Chris Hemsworth told to learn Spanish language to talk to his new born daughter India

Told to learn Spanish language .... Actor Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky says she will teach her newborn daughter to learn her native language. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

Bang Showbiz reports

Actor Chris Hemsworth has been told to watch his language.

Or, more to the point, to improve his Spanish.

The 28-year-old actor, who starred in Thor, The Avengers and his latest movie Snow White and the Huntsman - he and Kristen Stewart will be in Sydney next month - has been given the order by his Madrid-born wife Elsa Pataky.

She has vowed to only speak to their baby daughter India - who was born earlier this month - in her native language, so thinks her husband should work harder at his linguistic skills so he doesn't get left behind.

"I'm only going to speak to the baby in Spanish, I already told my husband, 'Get ready fast with Spanish because if not, you're not going to be able to understand what we say!" she joked.

Despite the language problem, Elsa previously revealed she was very confident her husband would be a good father.

"He's the person I feel closest to and we understand each other very well. And then I see him as a great dad - it's important to know if the person you're with will be good at parenthood," she said..

"Chris is very good with kids. His older brother has two little girls and a third on the way. We always spend our holidays together and it's lovely to watch him with his nieces. I was mesmerised by it. He's going to make a great dad."

Jason Donovan returns to Australia to search for a drag queen for Channel Ten's I Will Survive

Returning to a singing career ... Jason Donovan was a finalist on BBC's 'Strictly Come Dancing'.. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph reports

Jason Donovan returned to Australia yesterday to begin filming I Will Survive, with the one-time '80s pop icon set to act as a judge on Channel 10's upcoming "search for a drag star".

But while 43-year-old Donovan told Confidential it was good to be back in the Ten stable (after his three-year stint on Neighbours between 1986 and 1989), he hasn't fielded any offers to reprise his role as Scott Robinson on the show.

"I haven't and that is probably a good thing," Donovan said yesterday, chuckling.

"I look at that role like an old pair of shoes.

"They were great once but a lot of time has passed since then and they're just a bit too worn now."

Donovan will appear as a judge alongside The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert director Stephan Elliott and host Hugh Sheridan on the Ten talent sing-off that will travel around Central Australia in search of a performer to play the role of Hugo Weaving's "Tick" in a stage production of the Aussie film classic.

Donovan filled the role for 14 months on London's West End.

Star Tom Hardy says Mad Max: Fury Road start date still uncertain

Tom Hardy set tongues wagging at Cannes with rumours that his newly grown facial hair was for his role in Mad Max: Fury Road. Source: Getty Images

Maria Lewis, The Daily Telegraph, reports

It was supposed to begin filming last month, but Tom Hardy says a start date for the fourth Mad Max film is still uncertain.

The Inception star is taking over from Mel Gibson as the lead in Australian director George Miller's next Mad Max film, Fury Road.

At Cannes promoting Lawless, a film with another Australian director - John Hillcoat - Hardy spoke to Empire magazine about the troubled project.

“We keep moving that around, you know?" he said.

"I’ve been on stand-by for two years…"

Hardy went on to joke: “It was going to be a year of filming, then six months, and now we’re supposed to be doing it in six days. It’s a musical – we’re going to go around shopping centres in a little wagon and sing songs. People were expecting big, but we’re going to give them small. It’ll be a live, free-running musical and it’s coming to a place near you soon."

Mad Max: Fury Road was originally supposed to begin filming in Australia back in 2009 but had to shift locations due to flooding and budget issues.

The $130 million production was then moved to Africa where filming was to begin last month, but the project is yet to get underway with supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley even auditioning for a part in Sydney as late as this week.

Fellow model Abbey Lee Kershaw has also snagged a role in the project.

Teresa Palmer was attached to the film, but pulled out due to the delays.

Supernatural star Misha Collins ready to meet and greet his Aussie fans

Supernatural star Misha Collins is in Sydney to meet and greet fans. Source: Supplied

 


Neala Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

At first, Supernatural actor Misha Collins thought fan conventions would be "creepy".

But when you’re a breakout cult figure on a cult sci-fi TV show - as Collins has become playing angel Castiel in the past four seasons of Supernatural - you’re almost obligated to attend such gatherings.

And that’s just what Collins is doing in Sydney on Saturday, joining Supernatural co-stars Jim Beaver (Bobby), Richard Speight Jr (Gabriel/The Trickster), Traci Dinwiddie (psychic Pamela) and Corin Nemec (Christian Campbell) at the All Hell Breaks Loose III event in Sydney and Melbourne.

“Originally the profession of acting was a very interactive one where you would get up in front of a live audience and you would have an immediate and gratifying response,” said Collins, in a state of near-delirium after logging some serious air-miles attending fan-cons around the world in the past few weeks.

“Now, most of the work I do is on television and in movies and you don’t have an audience that is responding to you personally, you don’t actually get to feel that.

"It feels kind of missing, at times.

"So being on a popular sci-fi show that has fan conventions where you get to go actually meet fans is actually much more rewarding than I ever anticipated, for exactly that reason.

“I thought that it was gonna be really creepy and that it was just gonna be a bunch of weirdos who lived in their basement, and it isn’t that at all.

"It’s actually a very warm and welcoming and gratifying experience.

"Plus, you have the added benefit of for a weekend you feel like a real rock star, which is nice.”

That Collins quickly built a devoted audience (he has almost 450,000 followers on Twitter and has mobilised these fans to help out his charitable organisation therandomact.org) is surprising in some ways, given Supernatural is already top heavy with, erm, hotties.

You would think wise-cracking, demon-killing brothers Sam and Dean (played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) might be enough.

But when Castiel popped up Season 4 as an uber-serious angel of the Lord, fans were smitten.

“On the face of it, there’s these two underwear model-looking actors playing brothers, and frankly I am shocked that there’s any room for anyone else on the show that is a moderately good-looking guy,” Collins says.

“I don’t think that anyone really could predict how that all works out.

"I know that the network in Season 3 wanted to bring some women on the show and they mandated that the writers add two regular female characters.

"For whatever reason, the fans just didn’t go for it. It’s a men-only kind of environment, for whatever reason.”

In such an environment, it’s no surprise to hear that the set of Supernatural is at times riddled with boys’ locker room pranks.

“The biggest challenge for me working on Supernatural is not laughing while we’re filming.

"There’s a lot of harassment that goes on.

"Jared in particular likes to handicap me in whatever way he can while we’re filming,” says Collins.

“It’s not at all uncommon that just below the frame I’m confronted with someone trying to pull my pants down or something like that.

“Castiel has to be straight-faced most of the time. Unfortunately Misha is not very good at that, so I have probably ruined a hundred hours of film by breakout out laughing.”

Some fans were disappointed that Castiel went largely M.I.A in the first half of Supernatural’s latest season (the show’s seventh), but when the angel did come back, Collins was gifted some whacky scenes to play out.

“It was a fun return and a surprise to me, I certainly didn’t expect them to do it in that manner,” he says.

“Yes … Cas is crazy.”

With Season 7 just finished airing in the US, Collins is now waiting to see what might confront crazy Castiel in Season 8.

All he knows is that it will be … different.

“What I like about working on Supernatural is that it is always trying to break the mould.

"The characters are always going through epic changes, so as an actor you don’t have to do the same thing every day and that is a gift. It makes it interesting and fun to come to work,” the 37-year-old says.

“I think I would probably be bored to death if I was working on a procedural cop show where every week you’re interviewing Perp No.2 at the precinct house.

"It’s always something different with Supernatural, so it’s a lot of fun to work on the show.”

Hell Breaks Loose III is on at Sir John Clancy Auditorium, UNSW, High St, Kensington; Saturday May 26, 9am-6pm, $150, www.thehubproductions.com