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Dannii Minogue reunites with sister Kylie Minogue for X Factor TV special
The
Minogue sisters, Dannii and Kylie, are joining forces on the X Factor. Source: Supplied
Cameron Adams, The Sunday Telegraph, reports
This year's X Factor has scored a major pop culture coup - reuniting Dannii and Kylie Minogue on screen.
It is the first time the musical sisters have worked together on Australian TV since a Young Talent Time concert in 1987.
"I don't even want to think of how long ago that was," Kylie said. "My hair was bigger, my waist was smaller ... good times."
Dannii, one of the judges on this year's X Factor, recruited sister Kylie to mentor her contestants on the reality TV hit.
The sisterly episode was filmed in New York last week, where Kylie is working on her new album.
It will air later this year on Channel 7.
It is Dannii's first time as a judge on the Australian X Factor, after finding success on the British show.
While the pair are no strangers to passing comment on singers on reality TV shows, until now it's been at home in private.
"Usually we're in pyjamas and ugg boots," Dannii said. "So this is a change. Kylie is a huge X Factor fan."
Older sister Kylie was Dannii's first choice as mentor, a role she performed on the UK X Factor four years ago.
"Dannii is so good at this, I'm just along for the ride," Kylie said. "It's really fun to do something together, so it was a done deal when she asked me.
"This feels normal for us. This kind of show is one of Dannii's natural habitats, but I do feel at home on a TV set and being with my sister. If you've grown up being a tennis player you're comfortable on a tennis court, we're both comfortable in this environment."
Kylie said she is unsure whether she would audition for The X Factor if she was starting out in the industry.
"I have questioned that myself. I don't know. I'm sure I wouldn't make it through. I really am."
Kylie will release a 'buzz' single from her 12th album, Skirt, shortly.
Movie review: Satellite Boy
Cameron
Wallaby and David Gulpilil in Satellite Boy. Source:
Supplied
Leigh Paatsch, The Daily Telegraph, reports
Movie review: A quiet, unhurried and graceful Australian drama, Satellite Boy is going to experience much hardship finding an audience during a limited release in coming weeks.
Not only is the marketplace less than receptive to homegrown product at the moment, there are just too many bigger, brighter and better-promoted titles elsewhere for a little flick like this to get itself noticed.
Sadly, it is just the way things happen to be in 2013.
The film takes place in the far northern reaches of Western Australia, where a young Aboriginal boy and his grandfather face eviction from the unusual place they call home.
The pair live at the site of an abandoned drive-in cinema, which has been marked for demolition by a local mining company.
Incensed by the news, 11-year-old Pete (Cameron Wallaby) and his trouble-making best friend Kalmain (Joseph Pedley) take off for the big smoke to see if he can change some corporate minds.
Along the way, Pete and Kalmain - who are travelling by BMX bicycle - wander off the main road and find themselves hopelessly lost.
To get everything back on track, Pete is going to have to call on some of the ancient bush wisdom always being imparted by his grumpy grandpa (David Gulpilil). There's just one problem: Pete has rarely paid attention when he should have.
The film could be construed as a bit slow and airy for some tastes. Nevertheless, Satellite Boy's insightful fascination with a fading way of life in the outback (and a people determined to keep living it as vividly as they can) is a small triumph.
--
Satellite Boy [PG]
Rating: 3/5
Director: Catriona McKenzie (feature debut)
Starring: Cameron Wallaby, David Gulpilil, Joseph Pedley, Rohana Angus.
"In through the outback door"
Diana star Naomi Watts is starting to turn heads with her highly developed style and glamour
Naomi
Watts (as Diana, Princess of Wales) visits Australia in a scene from film
Diana.
Briana Domjen, The Sunday Telegraph, reports
Once a fashion wallflower, Naomi Watts used to fade into the background alongside more established style-setters like Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman.
But, as the King Kong actor's star power has risen in Hollywood, so has her sense of style. Adopting more daring looks for the ruby rug, fashion commentators agree Watts has revamped her style and is quickly emerging as a fashion favourite.
"Whatever the reason, Naomi has seriously turned up her glamour wattage on the red carpet," GQ Australia editor Nick Smith says.
Smith believes her impressive style evolution has something to do with her recent stint as the world's most adored princess in the highly-anticipated flick Diana.
"Perhaps it's the pressure of playing Princess Diana in the upcoming biopic," he says.
"Surely playing one of the world's most memorable style icons would have you taking stock of your own style.
"Looks to me like
she's following one tried and tested rule of fashion: the one of less
is definitely more."
Following her Oscar nomination for the Thai tsunami drama The Impossible, Watts has come into her own on the fashion front.
But it's not just her stunning style that has come to life, Watts also seems to be paying more attention to her blonde locks. Gone are her schoolgirl-style ponytails in favour of neatly coiffed hair.
The mother of two has come a long way since her 2011 faux pas when she was critiqued for wearing an unflattering cream parachute dress at the 25th annual Israeli Film Festival VIP reception.
These days, the multiple award-winning actress is impeccably dressed in high-end labels including Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana and Alexander McQueen.
During the recent 3rd Annual Summer Party On The Highline, Watts looked perfectly polished in a button-down See by Chloe shirt dress and at the Up2Us Gala at Tribeca Rooftop in New York City this month, Watts turned heads in Burberry.
However her biggest fashion feat yet was the ultra-glam lace Stella McCartney jumpsuit she wore to the designer's Spring 2014 Collection Presentation in New York this month.
"The one-shouldered lace Stella McCartney jumpsuit looks so sexy and chic on Naomi," designer Jayson Brunsdon says. "With sleek black accessories and smooth hair she looks spectacular but so effortless."
Having known Watts for more than 20 years, Brunsdon has watched the movie star's style develop.
"Naomi's style has evolved into a super chic, clean and sexy minimalist approach that suits her personality perfectly," he says.
"Naomi possesses a minimal, clean and sexy approach to fashion that perfectly complements her personality and body type.
"She's never afraid to embrace something new but she makes it all look effortless and chic."
Miranda Kerr stalker arrested in Los Angeles
A
US man has been arrested with threatening to kill Aussie supermodel Miranda
Kerr. Picture: AFP
Source: AFP
The Daily Telegraph reports
A US man has been arrested after allegedly threatening to kill Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr.
Steven C Swanson from East Sandwich, Massachusetts, was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged after he called the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to tell them he was planning to travel to California to shoot and kill the 30-year-old model, reports local publication the Cape Cod Times.
According to CapeCodOnline.com, police records show Swanson, 52, threatened to turn Kerr's LA home ''upside down''.
He also reportedly referred to the model as his ''soul mate''.
A search of Swanson's house reportedly found photographs of Kerr on his refrigerator, microwave and bookshelf, however no weapons were found.
Swanson pleaded not guilty to a charge of making a threat concerning a firearm at the Barnstable District Court on Wednesday.
Judge Robert Welsh III ordered Swanson be committed for psychiatric evaluation.
Bail was set at $US8000 ($A8725).
Swanson is due back in court on July 19.
Kerr shares a home in Los Angeles with her husband, actor Orlando Bloom, and their two-year-old son, Flynn.
In April, Kerr said the whole family was moving to New York where Bloom will star in the new Broadway theatre production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
The Voice host Darren McMullen packs his bags for new National Geographic show
The
Voice host Darren McMullen has scored a travel series. Picture: Anthony
Reginato Source:
The Sunday Telegraph
Less than a week after wrapping The Voice, Darren McMullen has landed his next big TV gig.
The affable host will begin shooting a travel series for National Geographic globally.
He's taking inspiration from one of his great heroes, English broadcaster Louis Theroux, who is known for his TV series, Weird Weekends.
"We will be based out of Europe for season one," McMullen said. "We are going to visit very strange sub-cultures."
It is another major coup for McMullen, 31, who has had a string of hits internationally over the past few years while maintaining his work in Australia. In the US, he fronted primetime reality show Love In The Wild while in the UK he hosted Minute To Win It and The Magicians.
"It is serendipitous really because I've been trying to get a travel show off the ground for years and nobody was very forthcoming in making one," he said.
"I think people thought the concept was quite stale and luckily Ricky Gervais decided to do The Idiot Abroad and because it was such a success, pretty much overnight every production company was screaming for the next travel show."
McMullen finished shooting the last series of The Voice on Monday night and flew to Japan on Friday for a holiday.
Due to begin filming his next show at the end of July, he's yet to sign on for the third series of The Voice.
"I would love to do another series," he said.
Pink arrives in Australia for Truth About Love tour
Pink has arrived in Australia for
her latest tour. Picture: Macpherson Sony/andrew Source: Supplied
Amy Harris, The Sunday Telegraph, reports
When Pink first rocked the stage 13 years ago, her hair dyed to match her name, few would have predicted the impact she would have on the music industry.
Now a fully-fledged global pop phenomenon, Pink - aka Alecia Beth Moore - arrived in Australia this weekend to begin a record-breaking tour which is set to generate $100 million. Only four years ago, her Funhouse concerts racked up $90 million.
Her nine-week Truth About Love tour, which kicks off in Perth on Tuesday night, has already sold 500,000 tickets and will feature 46 arena-sized shows.
According to Billboard, no other solo artist in the history of Australia's touring business can boast such figures.
The logistical figures are just as vast:
a 747 charter plane, 380 tonnes of equipment, 19 semi-trailers, a stage that requires five hours to construct in every city, and an 80-strong crew including Pink, husband Carey Hart and daughter Willow, who are all due to arrive in Sydney today.
"Since her debut in 2000, Pink has released seven albums and sold more than 40 million albums and 65 million singles," tour promoters Pink Inc said.
"Pink's sales exceed well over one million DVDs worldwide and, to date, 15 of Pink's singles have reached No.1 in at least one or more countries, including
12 singles in the Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
"In Australia, three-time Grammy winner Pink has sold more than 6.5 million albums."
The singer made headlines earlier this year when an 18th additional show was added to her Melbourne leg of the tour - to manage the "sustained unrelenting demand", according to promoters Live Nation - which ultimately broke a venue capacity record for the city.
But while it is a record-breaking production, it still cannot better her Funhouse tour of 2009, which crossed the country for 58 arena dates and sold more than 650,000 tickets, surpassing John Farnham's Whispering Jack tour with the most shows in Australia.
In Sydney, Pink performed 12 shows, 10 of which were performed at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.
She performed for nearly 110,000 spectators at the SEC.
Man of Steel star Russell Crowe announced as director of Gallipoli drama
Russell
Crowe spends time with the fans at the "Man of Steel" (El Hombre de
Acero) premiere in Madrid. Picture: Getty Images Source:
Getty Images
Russell Crowe will make his feature directorial debut, taking his turn behind the camera to helm and star in The Water Diviner.
The film is to be set in 1919 and will tell the story of an Australian father who travels to Turkey to find his two sons who are missing after the battle of Gallipoli.
The film would seem to be an ideal project for Crowe, who will also star, if the project's official blurb is anything to go by: "It's 1919, and as the stench of cordite that has engulfed the world thins, an Australian father arrives at Gallipoli to recover the bodies of his sons, only to find hope where he thought there was none. "
The project is the latest in a long line of Australian films on Gallipoli which began with The Hero of the Dardanelles in 1915 and culminated with Peter Weir's 1981 masterpiece Gallipoli, which starred a young Mel Gibson and Mark Lee.
The Water Diviner has been co-written by Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios and will be shot in Turkey and Australia later this year. Hopscotch Films’ Troy Lum is producing the project with further casting details to be announced in the coming months.
Crowe is currently enjoying international box office success thanks to the latest Superman installment, Man Of Steel, which took nearly $200 million at opening last weekend.
Man of Steel stars British hunk Henry Cavill as the legendary superhero and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.
Crowe plays Superman’s biological dad.
Having only appeared in films with adult content, Man of Steel is the first movie Crowe has allowed his sons to see, but the boys were less than impressed due to the minimal number of scenes their dad appears in.
"I have a six-year-old and nine-year-old and I have to be honest that came into play in making my decision (to accept the role) so they could see one movie I did,'' Crowe told UK talkshow host Graham Norton.
"Gladiator is way too violent and Les Miserables has prostitution. So they have never been able to see a film of mine and now they have. I'm hardly in it so when they did see it they said: What's the big deal?''
Crowe, Cavill and director Zack Snyder will be at Monday's Australian premiere.
Huffington Post says Americans need to dress like Australians
Cate Blanchett playing it cool in wool and
sequins - and somehow managing to look chic. Picture: AFP
Source: News Limited
Source:
Getty Images
Source: Getty Images
Source:
Supplied
But Naomi Watts shows how perfectly groomed hair and porcelain, natural looking skin can win any day.
Source: Getty Images
Source: Supplied
Source: News Limited
Soap idol Johnny Ruffo under the knife after appendicitis
Actor/singer Johnny Ruffo at the The
Childrens Hospital, Westmead earlier this year / Pic: Supplied Source:
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph reports
Adolescent idol Johnny Ruffo was a no-show on the set of Home & Away yesterday after being rushed to hospital with a serious case of appendicitis.
The pop singer, who made a name for himself after appearing on The X
Factor, then by winning Dancing With The Stars, was taken to
hospital to have his appendix removed after experiencing excruciating stomach
pains on Sunday evening.
The 25-year-old newbie actor, who plays Chris Harrington on the soapie,
told Confidential he has been forced to take time off from the show
following the operation.
"I'm fine, I'll be back at work in a couple of days," Ruffo
said from his hospital bed.
A Channel 7 spokeswoman said Ruffo was in good hands and will be back on
the Summer Bay set shortly.
"Johnny is recovering well and we look forward to having him back
on set," she said.
Despite being cooped up in hospital, Ruffo still managed to keep his
fans up to date on the release of his latest single.
"Not long now #untouchable can be pre-ordered on the 21st of June
on iTunes," he posted from his Twitter account yesterday.
His latest hospital visit is the second in as many months.
Ruffo was a recent visitor to Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick in
the city's eastern suburbs to spend time with 10-year-old patient Jamieson
Leeson, who had undergone spinal surgery.
Grease at 35: We look at where the film's stars are now
Olivia
Newton-John, John Travolta and co-stars in the 1978 hit Grease. Picture:
Supplied Source: Supplied
Before Glee deconstructed Madonna, before Chicago wiped the floor with the Oscars, Grease was the word.
The popular 50s musical might not have bagged any major awards when it
was released on June 16, 1978.
But right from the beginning, the surprisingly raunchy John
Travolta/Olivia Newton-John star vehicle was a bona fide crowd-pleaser.
Made for just $6 million, Randal Kleiser's film has taken almost $400
million at the international box office.
In the US, it sang and danced its way to a staggering $188 million,
making it the highest grossing musical of all time. (Les Miserables, by
comparison, took $148 million. And Mamma Mia, $144 million.)
Unlike many of its contemporaries, Grease has exhibited extraordinary
staying power - spawning its own special barbie doll collection, which is still
available online, a singalong version and countless stage revivals over the
last three decades.
Rehearsals start on a new Australian production, which will see former
Idol contestant Rob Mills don the leather T-Birds jacket, in July.
The soundtrack featured two Billboard number-one hits - Grease, written
by Barry Gibb and sung by Frankie Valli, who had no other connection to the
film, and You're the One That I Want, sung by Travolta and Newton-John.
The Academy Award-nominated Hopelessly Devoted to You made it to No 3.
Source: Supplied
Then and now: Stockard Channing who played Rizzo in the 1978 film and
won an Emmy in 2002 for her role as Abbey Bartlett in The West Wing. Pictures:
AP
Stockard Channing
When the three-time Emmy winner lost the role of Lois Lane to Margot
Kidder in the 1978 version of Superman, starring Christopher Reeve, it
turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Grease, the fifth most
profitable movie of all time, was released the same year. Channing, who was 33
when she was cast as the sharp-tongued Betty Rizzo, might have been the world's
oldest teenager, but that didn't stop her stealing every scene she appeared in.
More than 20 years after that career-making performance, the actor - born Susan
Stockard - made a similarly indelible impression as First Lady Abbey Bartlet in
The West Wing. Channing, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in
the Fred Schepisi film Six Degrees of Separation, can currently be seen
as Julianna Margulies' wayward mother in The Good Wife.
Source: Supplied
Jeff Conaway starred as T-Bird bad boy Kenickie in the 1978 film. Pictures:
Supplied
Jeff Conaway
Conaway, who played bad boy T-Bird Kenickie in the film, died in May
2011. According to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, his death was
caused by a number of conditions, including coronary artery disease and
pneumonia. The actor's struggle with drug and alcohol addiction was documented
in the US reality television series Celebrity Rehab (2008). Also known
for his role as a struggling actor in Taxi, Conaway was part of the
original cast of the Broadway production of Grease, eventually stepping
into the lead role of Danny Zuko. Travolta later joined the show as a chorus
member. The pecking order was reversed on screen. The filmmakers asked 1.87m
Conaway to stoop so that the 1.88m Travolta would appear taller. And in the stage
version, the song Greased Lightning was sung by Kenickie. Travolta used
his clout to have Zuko sing it in the film.
Source: Supplied
Didi Conn as a beauty school dropout and more recently in 2010.
Pictures:Supplied/Getty
Didi Conn
The beauty school dropout's distinctive, childlike voice is one of her
trademarks - Conn was the voice of Raggedy Ann in the 1977 animated feature, Raggedy
Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure. The Brooklyn native lives outside New
York City with her second husband, Broadway and film composer David Shire. Conn
considers Grease and Grease 2 to be personal high-water marks.
She named her son after leading man Danny Zuko. He was diagnosed with autism as
a toddler. Later Conn became a celebrity spokesman for advocacy organisation
Autism Speaks. To coincide with the 20th anniversary re-release of Grease
in 1998, she published a memoir, Frenchy's Grease Scrapbook. "I
hired two secretaries, went to Radio Shack and got a tape recorder," she
says. "I got to reconnect with everybody. It was like no time had gone
by." Most recently, Conn has appeared as a nurse on Law & Order:
Special Victims Unit.
Source: Supplied
Pink Lady Jamie Donnelly seen in the film in 1978 and pictured with her
family in 1998. Pictures: Supplied/Getty
Jamie Donnelly
Donnelly also played the role of Pink Lady Jan on Broadway. And she
originated The Rocky Horror Show's Magenta/Usherette on stage with Tim
Curry and Meat Loaf. Donnelly recently appeared in the Duplass Brothers comedy Cyrus
with John C Reilly, Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei. She also had a small role in
the TV series Monk.
Source: Supplied
Annette Cardona, credited as Annette Charles played Danny zuko's ex in
the film. Pictures: Supplied/Getty
Annette Cardona
Credited as Annette Charles, Cardona was the only performer who could
match John Travolta on the dance floor. In the electric, bad girl role of Cha
Cha DiGregorio, Danny Zucko's ex from the rival high school, the
Mexican-Sicilian performer had all the right moves. A seasoned dancer, singer
and actor, Cardona appeared in a number of iconic 70s and 80s TV series,
including The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk and Magnum PI,
before retraining to become a professor of speech communications at California
State University, Northridge. Although she was not a smoker, Cardona died of
lung cancer in 2011.
Source: Supplied
Olivia Newton-John as last year named a National Living Treasure.
Pictures:Supplied/Getty
Olivia Newton-John
Livvie was offered the role of Sandy Olsson after meeting producer Allan
Carr at a dinner party at Helen Reddy's home. Worried that she was too old to
play a high school senior (she turned 29 during filming), the four-time Grammy
winner insisted on a screen test with co-star John Travolta, who was almost six
years her junior. Newton-John had to be sewn into the trousers she wears in the
final sequence in which she is transformed from circular skirt-wearing
goody-two-shoes into a lycra-clad vamp. Most recently, the singer-turned-actor
revealed considerable comedic chops as the cocaine-snorting, champagne swilling
mother of the bride in Stephan Elliot's broad Aussie comedy A Few Best Men,
co-starring Xavier Samuel and Kris Marshall. Last year, she and Travolta
reunited for a new album, This Christmas. The singer, a breast cancer
survivor herself, postponed a planned Las Vegas residency in April when her
late sister, Rona, was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour.
Source: Supplied
John Travolta then with Olivia Newton-John and now with wife Kelly
Preston. Pictures: Supplied/AFP
John Travolta
Travolta, a high school dropout himself, successfully swaggered his way
through the 70s in a string of custom-made roles - Welcome Back, Kotter's
Vinnie Barbarino, Saturday Night Fever's Tony Manero and Grease's
Danny Zuko. He lost his mojo in the 1980s, which saw him struggle through a
forgettable run of light comedies and telemovies. But with the help of Quentin
Tarantino's groundbreaking 1994 crime drama Pulp Fiction, Travolta made
the comeback of all comebacks as sympathetic hitman Vincent Vega. Since then,
he has created a string of memorable characters, such as Hairspray's
Edna Turnblad, and Get Shorty's Chili Palmer, for which he won a Golden
Globe. Travolta recently finished filming the action thriller Killing Season
with Robert De Niro. Next, he will play mobster John Gotti. Real-life partner
Kelly Preston has been cast as on-screen wife Victoria.
Fevered Oscars dream spurred Australian comic actress Rebel Wilson on
Rebel Wilson on cover of
Glamour Magazine. Picture: Twitter Source: Twitter
Briana Domjen, The Daily Telegraph, reports
A near-death experience was what made Rebel
Wilson pursue a career as an actress.
The in-demand comic said an incident which caused her to hallucinate
that she was an award-winning actress was the catalyst behind her pursuing a
career on the big screen.
"I was a youth ambassador for Australia and got to travel to rural
Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique, but while I was there I contracted malaria,''
she told Glamour magazine.
"They put me in intensive care, gave me a huge concoction of drugs
and I started hallucinating that I was an actress at the Academy Awards and
won.
"I got up and made an acceptance rap and the crowds loved it. It
was so vivid and real, when I recovered I knew I had to get back to Australia
and start acting training.
"I did my law degree by day and studied acting at night, but people
still thought my brain had been destroyed by malaria and that I was nuts!''
In the glamorous spread, the actress appears in a pink dress with a
matching towel around her head and a bottle of champagne in her hand.
FIRST LOOK: Naomi Watts stuns as Princess Di in Diana biopic
Check out Naomi Watts as the late
Princess Diana in the trailer for the new film, Diana. Source: Supplied
The Daily Telegraph reports
The first teaser trailer for Diana, the 2013 biopic focusing on the last years of Princess Diana's life has been released online.
In the compelling clip, Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts bears a striking resemblance to the late Princess of Wales, complete with her signature cropped hairstyle and iconic wardrobe.
The minute-long preview promises one thing: "The legend is never the whole story."
The biopic will highlight Diana's humanitarian work, her constant battle with the paparazzi and her highly publicised relationship with Dr. Hasnat Khan, played by Naveen Andrews.
Told from the point of view of her bodyguard, Diana was directed by German filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel.
The long-awaited biopic doesn't have an official release date yet but is slated to open in the UK in September.
Awards hype is already in full swing about Watts's performance, saying she's sure to get some nods during next year's awards season.
How do you think Watts measures up as The People's Princess? Let us know in the comments below.
Check out the trailer here: http://video.dailytelegraph.com.au/2391005744/Trailer---Diana
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