Josh Lawson casts brothers Jordan and Ben in new film The Little Death

Actors Jordan, Josh and Ben Lawson from the film The Little Death. Picture: Attila Szilvasi Source: DailyTelegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

It’s a united front of Lawson brothers. Actor Josh Lawson has cast brothers Jordan and Ben in his first directorial gig with all three to appear on the big screen in The Little Death which begins production in Sydney this week.

The full cast boasts a who's who of Aussie talent including Lisa McCune, Bojana Novakovic, Kate Mulvaney, Damon Herriman, Kim Gyngell, Alan Dukes and Lachy Hulme. "I can safely say I got everyone I wanted," said Josh Lawson, 32, who studied at NIDA.

The Little Death is produced by Ticket To Ride and will be distributed by Hopscotch/One Entertainment. It tells the story of five couples and the various sexual fetishes that make them different.

Shooting begins across Sydney today, including in Lane Cove, Artarmon, Parramatta and Redfern.

Ben Lawson, 33, is also a NIDA graduate while for Jordan, 28, it is his first acting job.

"I don't think I'm in any scene long enough to ruin anything so I think I will be fine," Jordan said.

To follow the progress of the film, the Lawson brothers and cast will Tweet throughout the production from @TheLittle-Death.

Crisis star Rachael Taylor is a hopeless romantic

A face-off in one of Rachael Taylor's romantic short films. Picture: Arc Factory Source: Supplied



Jonathan Moran, The Sunday Telegraph, reports

Anyone wanting to know about Rachael Taylor's love life needn't look too far.

The New York-based actor has written, directed and stars in a trilogy of romantic comedy short films she says reflect her own love life.

"I'm a hopeless, hopeless romantic so there's those references to Bridget Jones' Diary, Pretty Woman and even some Woody Allen stuff," said Taylor.

"Part of it is me. I really love that genre. I have this theory that people in LA are looking for fame and fortune and people in New York are after love and money."

Taylor, 28, created the work as part of her ambassadorship for Bonds.

The actor who most recently dated fellow actor Josh Lawson and before that troubled Matthew Newton said she was in a happy place.

Professionally she is gaining prominence after landing a lead role in Crisis, alongside Gillian Anderson.

Actor Josh Lawson in roller-coaster ride since moving to LA

Actor Josh Lawson says he is still close with his former girlfriend Rachael Taylor. Picture: Michael Buckner/Getty Images Source: Getty Images

The Herald Sun reports

Actor Josh Lawson admits it has been a roller-coaster time since moving to LA.

The Any Questions for Ben star recently split with fellow actor and co-star Rachael Taylor, but said they remained close.

Lawson, about to start season two of House of Lies alongside Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell, was snapped in LA this week by Melbourne photographer Anthony Licuria for Covet magazine, out next month.

"I have had some brilliant jobs over here, for which I am extremely grateful, but there have been just as many, probably more, tough times," he said.

"There is always that fear that nothing will last and you won't be able to pay the rent next month."

Gum leaf mafia spreads its branches

Red Dog star ... Rachael Taylor shines. Photo: Getty Images

Michael Idato, The Age, reports

In the corridors of power in Los Angeles they call it, jokingly, Aussiewood. But the invasion of the film and television industry's Mecca by Australian actors is a very serious business.

First there was Mel, Nicole, Russell, Hugh and Cate. Then the LaPaglia brothers, Heath Ledger, Miranda Otto, Guy Pearce and Julian McMahon. To that we add Melissa George, Eric Bana, Rachel Griffiths, Matt Passmore, Sam Worthington, Ryan Kwanten and Josh Lawson. For the 2012 television ''pilot'' season we can add almost a dozen more names, some well known, some still emerging, who form the vanguard of Australia's biggest Hollywood invasion in recent memory.

Almost 100 pilots will be filmed during the pilot season, for the US broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the CW, and leading cable channels such as FX, HBO and Showtime. Not all survive but for emerging Hollywood talent they are a toehold on the entertainment industry's main game.

Of those pilots, easily the most Australian is Americana in which Anthony LaPaglia will play a fashion industry titan and Natalie Mendoza will play a ''beautiful 30-something bitch''. To rub a little more Australian salt into the wound, Rabbit-Proof Fence director Phil Noyce will co-produce and direct the pilot.

Other pilots featuring Australians include the futuristic military thriller Last Resort, which stars Dichen Lachman, Daisy Betts and Daniel Lissing, a more traditional firehouse drama Chicago Fire with former House star Jesse Spencer and a supernatural thriller 666 Park Avenue, which will star Rachael Taylor.

There are no fewer than two iterations of the Beauty and the Beast tale in development as pilots and both feature Australians in lead roles. Chris Egan and Meegan Warner will star in a version that remains true to the Disney fairytale for the US network ABC, and Jay Ryan will star in a contemporary take on the story for the CW.

American television industry analyst Nellie Andreeva last week described casting non-American actors as leads for US television shows ''a growing trend over the past decade''. Notable examples include Welsh-born Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) and Ioan Gruffudd (Ringer), English-born Damian Lewis (Homeland) and Hugh Laurie (House) and New Zealand-born Martin Henderson (Off the Map).

Australian casting director Faith Martin says the trend is in part due to a more ''universal'' process in American casting and producers who are more mindful that overseas program sales are a bigger part of the balance sheet.

''They are choosing people who will speak to a more universal audience,'' Martin says. ''Equally, a lot of our actors are well trained, they have a basic training that is a little more thorough.''

Martin also said US casting directors were drawn to the ''natural beauty'' of Australian actors. ''There is a naturalness here that I think they find very attractive … underneath that is solid training and the ability to do the job.''

The former Seinfeld star Jason Alexander framed it in much simpler terms on Twitter. ''Amazing preponderance of Brit and Aussie actors in US TV and films,'' he wrote. ''Conclusion: we must really suck.''

Not just a pretty face

 Charmed life ... Rachael Taylor.

Gary Maddox, The Age, reports

Rachael Taylor sets her ideals high in Any Questions for Ben?

"I do like a movie movie,'' Rachael Taylor says.

The Australian actress is talking about her two most recent Australian films, the feel-good hit Red Dog and now the comic romance Any Questions For Ben?

''I think all different types of films have a place but it's just nice to be part of two films that are Australian and warm,'' she says. ''Warm is a very important quality to me.''

The Los Angeles-based Taylor, who has appeared on US TV in the medical drama Grey's Anatomy and the short-lived series Charlie's Angels, is back in Australia for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards and the Any Questions launch.

In a return to cinemas for the Working Dog team, she plays a dedicated human rights lawyer, Alex, who is based in the Middle East.

Any Questions centres on Ben (played by Josh Lawson), a 27-year-old who seems to have the perfect life - good looks, career success, plenty of friends and a love life that includes flings with a leading tennis player and a vodka model.

But when he goes back to his old school to talk about his achievements, the students only want to know about Alex and her work in Yemen. The quiet girl from university has blossomed into something he isn't - an adult who is making a difference.

The film also features Daniel Henshall as one Josh's best friends, a very different role from playing a serial killer in Snowtown; comic Felicity Ward (Thank God You're Here); Lachy Hulme (Offspring, Let's Get Skase); and Christian Clark (Neighbours, Home and Away), with comic cameos from the likes of Alan Brough, Rob Carlton and Ed Kavalee. ''The thing I love most about the character of Alex is that this is a woman with standards,'' Taylor says. ''From the moment I read the script, I just went, 'Man, this is a girl who has very high standards for herself and how she expects to be treated.' She has this kind of self-respect and she believes in love but she only wants it if it's going to work for her.''

A former teenage model who had a role in the first Transformers movie, Taylor has done some growing up since the time she tended to be offered ''eye candy'' roles. ''I remember when I started out at 18, 19, 20 and when I was in Los Angeles at 21, the idea of the ingenue was something that fit a little better,'' she says. ''But this really exciting thing is happening in the last couple of years where I'm appropriate for roles that have a bit more depth, probably because I've developed my own natural depth. As you get older, you tend to.''

As her career has built, Taylor's personal life has settled as well. After a high-profile split with troubled actor Matthew Newton, she is now dating Lawson and, not surprisingly, warmly praises his performance in Any Questions.

''The first thing I noticed was that he is so professional and such a gentleman,'' she says. ''Really, he's one of those young actors that is capable of leading and carrying a film and that's quite a rare quality. It's a difficult task to be in every scene of a movie and be able to build a performance that has a beginning, a middle and an end. And Josh is capable five times of doing that.''

While it's a comedy, Taylor likes that the film deals with the complexities of being in your 20s.

''Young adults in their late 20s are confronted by so many choices - there are so many different paths to choose,'' she says.

''Sometimes I think we just fill our lives with stuff so we don't really make any choice at all, which is certainly incredibly luxurious. This idea of how to choose the path that's right for you as a person is a very moving and complicated subject matter for a movie.''

The Working Dog team, whose successful TV shows have included current affairs satire Frontline, chat show The Panel and improv comedy Thank God You're Here, has a two-hits-from-two-films record with The Castle and The Dish.

On Any Questions, Rob Sitch directed, with Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner co-writing the script with him and Jane Kennedy handling casting and music.

Taylor found them an impressive bunch. From first reading the script, she wanted to be involved in the film.

''It's just such impressive writing - and refreshing writing as well - for an actress at my level to be given an opportunity to play a young woman like that,'' she says. ''It's very easy to oversimplify female journeys, particularly when they could be seen as playing the girlfriend. But with Alex, they just hit a really good note with her. She's vulnerable and she has integrity but it was her sense of standards that really impressed me most.''

ANY QUESTIONS FOR BEN?

GENRE Comic romance.

BUZZ The makers of The Castle and The Dish are back with a film about a 27-year-old with a charmed life who questions what he has achieved.

STARS Josh Lawson, Rachael Taylor.

DIRECTOR Rob Sitch.

RATED M.

RELEASED Thursday.

'Charlie's Angels' Rachael Taylor: 'I will always do Australian films'

© Rex Features

Rebecca Davies, Digital Spy, reports

Rachael Taylor has revealed that she will "always" support the Australian film industry.

The Charlie's Angels actress, who recently starred in AACTA Award-winning movie Red Dog, said that she doesn't see why films from her home country can't appeal to international viewers.

Taylor told The Daily Telegraph: "I will always come back to do Australian films. I've done four over the busiest five years of my career and I would like to keep it that way, because I am so passionate about the Australian film industry. I think it matters.

"I think we can make films that people go and see. And I don't think it's too much to ask that films in this country make a profit and that we embrace them. There's a place for all different types of films, but it was so great to see Australian audiences passionately get behind something [with Red Dog].

Taylor, who lives in Los Angeles, is currently visiting Australia to promote her latest film Any Questions for Ben?, in which she stars opposite real-life boyfriend Josh Lawson.

She also attended the AACTA Awards ceremony in Sydney on Tuesday (January 31) and said that she enjoys "red carpet moments for what they are", adding: "Every girl likes a fab outfit."

Olivia Newton-John: I'd Play Sandy's Mom or Grandma in a "Grease" Remake!

Toofab reports

Hollywood's been on the remake trend lately with last year's Footloose and an update version of Dirty Dancing planned.

If Grease is ever remade, at least one cast member of the original 1978 is on board. Toofab caught up with Olivia Newton-John aka "Sandy" at Qantas Airline's Spirit of Australia party in Hollywood last night.

The 63-year-old singer/actress (who looked fabulous) joked she would play Sandy's mom or even her grandmother. As for who should play the sassy blonde, Olivia already has someone in mind: her daughter!

Also at the fete was longtime Qantas ambassador (and Olivia's costar) John Travolta, new ambassador Miranda Kerr, and Australian heartthrobs Ryan Kwanten and Chris Hemsworth. Check out all the photos by Glen McCurtayne, below!

Olivia Newton-John / John Travolta (above), Miranda Kerr / Ryan Kwanten (below)

Josh Lawson & Rachael Taylor / Chris Hemsworth (below)

Trailer for new Aussie movie Any Questions for Ben? starring Rachael Taylor and Josh Lawson

Love conquers Alex O'Loughlin's fear

Lucky in love ... Alex O'Loughlin and his girlfriend, professional surfer Malia Jones. Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

A NEAR-death experience in the water as a child has kept him high and dry, but Alex O'Loughlin's blooming romance with professional surfer Malia Jones will soon send him into the waves once more. 

The Hawaii Five-0 hottie showed off the new love of his life at Tuesday’s GQ awards, saying they are madly in love.

"I have fallen for a beautiful Hawaiian woman," he told Confidential.

"I'm a very lucky guy and very happy at the moment. She's amazing."

Glamazon Jones - once named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" - said she is on the brink of giving O'Loughlin his first surf lesson in Honolulu, where they are both based.

Jones is a divorcee. In 2007 she married fellow pro surfer Aussie Luke Stedman, with whom she has a son, two-year-old Spike.

O'Loughlin, who used to date Holly Valance, also has a son, Saxon, 15.

IN a thinly veiled speech, Rachael Taylor took aim at her abusive ex-boyfriend Matthew Newton while accepting her award for GQ Woman of the Year.

One day after Newton's teary TV tell-all - in which he admitted that he almost killed himself after assaulting his then-fiancee in Rome last year - Taylor used the GQ gongs as a platform to fire a retaliatory shot at the fallen actor.

"I am a huge supporter of good men," she said at the podium, her "Matthew" tattoo still visible on her right wrist.

"Men that know how to honour a woman and how to applaud her and celebrate her. And I think that is the very gesture that GQ magazine is doing tonight. I'm so humbled. Truly this is not lost on me at all."

Meanwhile, the Red Dog star, in a chic Dion Lee dress, inadvertently gave away some of her diet tips.

While boyfriend Josh Lawson tucked into the three-course meal, Taylor ate nothing but a bread roll all night washed down with soda water.

Who would turn down a meal prepared by Dave Evans, really?

Not Lawson, who ate his own and his girlfriend's. Yesterday the busy couple flew to Melbourne for commitments there.

ALSO from the skinny minnie department, Sharni Vinson went where no woman had gone before.

The Step Up 3D starlet poured herself into a super-tight dress by Alex Perry, who said she was the only one to ever fit into the frock.

"Apparently it's been sitting there and no one has been small enough to wear it," Vinson shrugged.

Clearly Perry - who often courts controversy due to his constant fat-bashing - has a new muse.

More wins for The Wedding Party but no local distribution

Colin Delaney, Encore Magazine, reports

Actors Josh Lawson and Isabel Lucas have been named Best Hollywood Newcomers at the Beverly Hills Film, TV and New Media Festival for their roles in an Australian film which is yet to get distribution two years after being made.

Despite gaining recognition at a number of festivals, it now looks like The Wedding Party will not get a release this year.

Directed by Amanda Jane and produced by Nicole Minchin, the romantic comedy opened MIFF last year.

In late May, Minchin told Encore: “We are looking forward to a local release in the second half of this year with an announcement in the coming weeks.”

However, she today told Encore: “The thing is, we haven’t struggled to get distribution, it’s about finding the best distribution plan. It’s an audience film, as our MIFF win shows, so it’s only spurred us on to make sure it gets seen in cinemas.”

“We’re planning on releasing it early next year. I can’t say who’s distributing it. We’re currently finalising the distribution agreement.”