Isla Fisher says she feared she would drown during stunt for new film Now You See Me

Isla Fisher in a scene from the film Now You See Me. Picture: AP/Summit Entertainment, LLC, Barry Wetcher, SMPSP

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Actress Isla Fisher says she feared for her life when a stunt went ''horribly'' wrong on the set of her latest movie.

The 37-year-old plays a glamorous escapologist in Now You See Me - which starts with dramatic shots of her freeing herself from shackles while submerged in a tank of water.

The scene demanded she bang desperately on the glass walls to give the impression of being in distress . . . but when her chains became entangled, she revealed that she started to panic for real, the Daily Mail reports.

Fisher - who is married to Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen - said she was unable to reach a safety button that would have drained the thousands of gallons of water in seconds, while a safety diver with a canister of oxygen was too far away too reach her.

The former Home And Away actress, who also stars in Baz Luhrmann's new version of The Great Gatsby, said she got into trouble after being submerged for two-and-a-half minutes.

''They had a guy who was off camera, but he was a long way away with a can of oxygen,'' she said.

''By the time I realised I couldn't get up and beckoned for him, I realised that I had run out of air.''

Fisher said she knew there was a ''kill switch'' nearby that would have drained the tank in 70 seconds, but she couldn't reach it.

However, she added: ''Luckily, I managed to get free and stay level-headed and got out before it went even more horribly wrong.''

She also said that in her moment of panic she thought: ''Not in a swimming costume. No one wants to go in a swimming costume.''

However, Fisher, a mother of two, said: ''I don't see myself as particularly brave. I rely on gut instinct to accept a role. If something terrifies me I am going to do it. The director (The Incredible Hulk's Louis Leterrier) said to me, 'Wow. I've worked with so many actors on big action movies, and you're the only one who's done all their own stunts'.

''I said I didn't know I had a choice. I thought you just had to get on with it. It's the Australian way.''

Fisher, who grew up in Australia, spent days submerged in the tank of water in a sequinned swimming costume and high heels for her role as Henley, a female Houdini.

But she has previously said she isn't afraid of letting her glamorous mask slip for the sake of a movie, telling one interviewer: ''I'm willing to pull a bad face, and to sweat a bit.''

Now You See Me, which tells of a group of magicians who use their skills to rob banks, opens in America next month. It also stars Morgan Freeman and Sir Michael Caine.

Leonardo Di Caprio coming to Great Gatsby Australian premiere

Actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan in a scene from the film 'The Great Gatsby'. Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Leonardo DiCaprio will join his Great Gatsby co-stars Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Elizabeth Debicki at the Australian premiere of the film in Sydney on May 22.

The cast, along with director Baz Luhrmann, will walk the red carpet at Hoyts at Fox Studios after the world premiere of the film in New York on May 1, and after attending the Cannes Film Festival, where it is the festival opener, on May 15.

The film's other Aussie star Isla Fisher will not be attending the local premiere.

The film, which was shot in Sydney, opens in Australia on May 30.

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.

New city slum created for The Great Gatsby in Sydney is magnificent

In costume ... Tobey Maguire on set of The Great Gatsby / Pic: Brad Hunter Source: The Daily Telegraph

 

The Daily Telegraph’s Joel Christie reports

THE slums of New York and Hollywood's finest have found their way to Sydney's inner-west - and the result is more work for locals.

In a major day of filming of The Great Gatsby yesterday, cast and crew worked through the rain on an elaborate set built on the grounds of Rozelle's abandoned White Bay power station, which has been recreated to resemble a barren wasteland on the fringes of 1920s New York.

The backdrop - realised through the sketches of production designer Catherine Martin, the wife of director Baz Luhrmann - has come out of the film's $88 million production budget.

It's a setting Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald called Valley of the Ashes in his 1925 literary classic.

In his novel he described the Valley of the Ashes as a "a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens".

It's also the place where Isla Fisher’s character, Myrtle Wilson, is killed.

Being shot in 3D, the movie is expected to inject more than $120 million into the NSW economy over the fourth-month shoot.

A total 1300 people will work on the film, including 275 full-time crew and 150 in post-production. Extras, assistants, engineers, carpenters, drivers and caterers will all play essential roles.

Luhrmann has a lot riding on the controversial Great Gatsby adaption following the critical panning of his last film Australia in 2008.

The release date he has set for Gatsby - Boxing Day 2012 - suggests a scale that is nothing short of blockbuster.

Boxing Day is traditionally reserved for highly-anticipated instalments of Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter, and last year featured box office smashes The King's Speech and The Social Network.

The timing of course also allows the film to compete in the Oscars race.

Industry observers have also questioned shooting the flick in expensive and problematic 3D technology.

But Aussie actor Joel Edgerton - who plays abusive know-it-all Tom Buchanan - defended Luhrmann's decision, saying the effect will be more about feeling immersed in the roaring 20s and the rich sets rather than experiencing an Avatar-style pop-out.

It's understood the Rozelle set will only be standing for about a week before being torn down.

While most of the movie is being shot inside the lots at Fox Studios, the main set that is yet to be seen is the mansion of mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

The house is pivotal to the plot as the venue for the wild, rollicking parties that defined America at that time - a place of post World War I prosperity and excess.

From the catwalk to Catherine for Gemma Ward

Glamazon Gemma Ward  will return to the silver screen in Baz Luhrmann’s production of The Great Gatsby. She received critical praise for her performance in The Black Balloon in 2008.

Jenna Clarke of The Age reports

Gemma Ward will be transformed into a "slender, worldly girl of about 30" for her role in the upcoming film The Great Gatsby.

According to film database IMDb, the Perth-born model-turned actress has officially been cast to play Catherine in the latest film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel which is being shot on location at Fox Studios in Sydney.

There has been much speculation about what role the former supermodel and budding actress would play in Baz Luhrman's biggest film project since Australia in 2008.

"Ooo (sic) lots of congratulations for me... role has to stay disclosed for now though sorry guys, will keep you posted!" Ward tweeted in early September.

Although the character of Catherine only appears eight times in the novel, this latest role for Ward is another impressive cameo for the 24-year-old retired catwalk star and Vogue covergirl.

Catherine is introduced in the second chapter of the novel and shows an uncanny likeness to Ward thanks to her alabaster complexion.

It is not known if the natural-honey blonde will be required to cut and dye her hair to resemble Catherine's "solid, sticky bob of red hair," to match her "complexion powdered milky white," as Fitzgerald penned in the early 1920s.

Ward's on screen alter ego is the sister of Myrtle Wilson who is being played by fellow Australian born actress Isla Fisher.

Fellow home grown talents including Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Debicki and Jason Clarke have also been cast in supporting roles alongside Leonardo DiCaprio's Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan played by Carey Mulligan for the $120 million 3D film.

Former Australia's Next Top Model winner Alice Burdeu has also been cast as an extra in the period drama set in the era of flapper fashion.

Ward disappeared from the international catwalks and social scene in 2008 following the death of her rumoured boyfriend, fellow Perth actor Heath Ledger.

She received critical praise for her role in the 2008 Australian drama The Black Balloon.

Ward made her stage debut earlier this year in her hometown for the Perth Theatre Company's production of The Ugly One.

She also landed a small role in this year's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth instalment of the successful film franchise.

MTV have since earmarked her as one of the Breakout Stars to Watch for 2011.

While Ward learns her lines, Luhrmann and his costume designer wife Catherine Martin have announced a special partnership with jeweller Tiffany & Co for the film.

The jeweller, where Fitzgerald was a regular customer at the flagship 5^th Avenue boutique in the '20s, will produce a pair of platinum-set earrings and pearls to be worn by Mulligan on screen.

Tiffany & Co china, accessories and sterling silver table will also feature in scenes with DiCaprio.

The Great Gatsby is slated for a Christmas Day release.

No Borat at lunch for Baron Cohen's birthday

Family day ... Isla Fisher and husband Sacha Baron Cohen on Sydney Harbour / Pic: Splash Source: The Daily Telegraph

Article in The Daily Telegraph

HE rodeoed as Kazakastani Borat and attended sex parties as Austrian fashionista Bruno, but a quiet, alter ego-free family affair was served up for the 40th birthday of Sacha Baron Cohen this week.

The enigmatic funnyman celebrated the landmark occasion on Thursday with wife Isla Fisher and daughters Olive, 3, and Elula, 1, over lunch at Catalina in Rose Bay after arriving in Sydney at the weekend.

Afterwards the foursome headed out for a yacht trip around Sydney Harbour, albeit in overcast weather.

Safety first, the children were strapped into life vests before setting off and Fisher – back to shoot The Great Gatsby - even helped push the boat off the sand.

Cohen has been concentrating on acting of late as opposed to creating a new controversial character.

He will play Freddie Mercury in a Queen biopic A Kind of Magic and he's got a role in the new Martin Scorcese project, Hugo.

Isla Fisher arrives in Sydney with hubby Sacha Baron Cohen and their brood

The Sunday Telegraph reports

ISLA Fisher and her brood arrived in Sydney this week, with the actress getting set to begin work on The Great Gatsby.

The flame-haired Australian star was joined by husband Sacha Baron Cohen and their two daughters Olive and Elula at Sydney Airport, having said goodbye to their LA home while Fisher works on the Baz Luhrmann period film currently being shot at Fox Studios.

Dressed in colourful PJs and clutching a bright teddy bear, three-year-old Olive was carried through the arrivals terminal by Cohen, who has been busy filming his new movie The Dictator since June.

Fisher, who will play Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby, seemed just as reluctant to be photographed as her shy co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire as she rushed to a waiting car wearing oversized sunglasses and carrying one-year-old Elula.

The family will be busy with birthday celebrations over the next two weeks, with Baron Cohen turning 40 this Thursday and Olive celebrating her fourth birthday a week later.

The Great Gatsby shoot underway in Sydney

Story from The Daily Telegraph

Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, the movie has attracted a host of Hollywood and Australian stars.

The cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio who plays mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway and Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan.

Aussie actors Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jack Thompson and Gemma Ward have also signed onto the 3-D movie.

Luhrmann said bringing Fitzgerald's story to life was a challenge and adventure.

"Fitzgerald loved the movies and was a passionate believer in the power of cinema," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The vision and the goal of our remarkable cast and creatives is to do justice to the deftness of Fitzgerald's telling, and illuminate its big ideas and humanity."

Although the story is set in New York in 1922, filming is taking place in Sydney.

"The opportunity to make the film in Australia with the Bazmark creative team is very important to us; the assistance from Screen Australia and the NSW Government has made that possible," Luhrmann said.