Tony Abbott in danger of copping savage red-head revenge from US comedian Kathy Griffin

Comedian Kathy Griffin. Source: Supplied

Maria Lewis, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Comedian Kathy Griffin has one target firmly in her sights when she touches down in Australia this week, and that target is Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

"If you think I'm not going to go political in a foreign country, think again," she told Confidential.

"It's going to be all Tony Abbott, all the time.

"Being a ranga myself I'd like to talk about Julia Gillard's departure."

An outspoken LBGT activist, the US funny woman said it's only right that she brings up gay marriage given it affects at least half of her audience.

"How can I not poke fun at a conservative movement for trying to stop a gay wedding?

"Gay weddings are fabulous and fabulousness is a train that cannot be derailed.

"What I love about the lesbian and gay community is that they'll just go and get married anyway, without your permission.

"We've just gone through legalising it state-by-state here and when it comes to gays and marriage it's like decorating a house.

"They're going to do it whether you like it or not, so you may as well just get on with it."

The 52-year old arrives Down Under for the Just For Laughs festival and plays at the Sydney Opera House on Friday evening.

Never one to shy away from controversy, Griffin said she has been bouncing around a few ideas about how to make a dramatic stage entrance.

"I would like to do a Hugh Jackman and come flying down only to face plant in front of Oprah.

"Or I could enter naked on a wrecking ball like Miley Cyrus - I might be the first one to do that at the Opera House."

Rachel Griffiths pipped for PM cameo

 

Actress Rachel Griffiths at the QT Hotel, Sydney / Picture: Picture: Bradley Hunter Source: News Limited

 

 

Jonathon Moran, The Daily Telegraph, reports

She has been one of our most successful acting exports and last night Rachel Griffiths threw her weight behind the new Royal Randwick grandstand.

The Academy Award- nominated actress was among a legion of A-listers, including international model Nicole Trunfio, who rolled out to open the Australian Turf Club's $150 million jewel with a ritzy gala dinner and horse show.

Tipped to cost $500,000, the extravagant party celebrated the official opening of the five-level venue, designed by Fitzpatrick + Partners.

Griffiths' appearance at the social occasion of the season comes amid rumours that she may be playing former prime minister Julia Gillard in a biopic.

Going by the actress's coy reaction to Confidential's questions, a script may already be in the works.

"No comment," she said, raising her eyebrow before adding: "I'd find it interesting to play someone that is so liked by those close to her but such a controversial figure as you get further away and to try and bridge those things I would find fascinating."

Pulling off Gillard's trademark twang may require some work: "The accent would be a challenge."

Based in Melbourne, Griffiths has been in town this week to promote her first horror film, Patrick, a remake of the 1978 classic. It is in cinemas on October 17

Gillard should back gay marriage, says mother of Big Brother winner Benjamin Norris

"I just share my life with her,'' says Big Brother winner Benjamin Norris of his mother Jane. Picture: Norm Oorloff

Andrew Fenton, News Limited Network, reports

Most mums probably wouldn't think it was "fabulous'' if their son completely ignored their advice but Jane Needham does.

That's because she advised her son, Big Brother winner Benjamin Norris, to stop applying to be a housemate after his fourth failed attempt in a row.

"I said: 'Promise me you won't do that again' because he was always so disappointed he didn't get in,'' the 59-year-old teacher said with a chuckle.

"This time he didn't tell me until the last minute when he was sure he got in and it's just been fabulous!''

Needham, from the Melbourne suburb of Templestowe, was the first person let inside the Big Brother house on Wednesday night to congratulate her boy on winning $250,000 and a new car.

As she let out a squeal and embraced him, he attributed his win to her. "You taught me really good things,'' he said, but she replied: "You've done all this yourself.''

Norris, 32, admits to being a "bit of a mummy's boy'' as a kid, but added they'd grown even closer since the age of 19 when she'd stopped mothering him and became a close confidant instead.

"I just share my life with her,'' the Toorak accounts manager said.

"People think it's odd that I'd pick up the phone and ring her no matter what I'd done, whether good or bad and say 'why would you tell your mum that?''

"But I continue to share my life with my mum because I love what she has to say and she continues to have these amazing values.''

The pair's bond only grew stronger during a horror 2006 when Norris' father Graeme committed suicide (his parents divorced when he was two) and Needham was diagnosed with cancer of the salivary glands. While she fully recovered, the events sent Norris into a major depression and he needed his mother more than ever. She made sure to pop around regularly and arrange lunches and dinners to make sure he was alright.

"It makes things a lot better if you can share them with your family,'' she said.

Needham said she'd known for years her son was gay before he came out and it didn't change a thing. And she said his surprise marriage proposal to Ben Williams, 27, at the end of the finale set a good example for kids struggling with their sexuality, to see "there are people who probably felt the same way they did at school who can go on to have a fantastic life.''

"I think Julia Gillard should be on the bandwagon for gay marriage,'' she said.

Hollywood and Australian politics collide on Wolverine set

Julia Gillard and Hugh Jackman this morning.

Garry Maddox, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports

As he prepares to shoot a new comic book movie in Sydney, Hugh Jackman has joined the movie world's dismay over the Colorado shootings during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises.

"All I can echo is just the sorrow I feel for the families, for the community, for everybody," he said from the set of The Wolverine. "It's an issue that goes obviously way beyond acting, beyond film, beyond anything like that.

"This is just a tragedy on a level that we have experienced in Australia many years ago, in Tasmania, and it's just devestating."

Jackman was talking at Fox Studios during a visit by the prime minister, Julia Gillard, to the set of the superhero movie that starts shooting in a week.

Ms Gillard said the federal government had contributed $12.8 million to secure the shoot for Australia and create more than 2000 jobs. The movie had been scheduled to shoot in Japan until last year's earthquake and tsunami.

Jackman, who previously shot X-Men Origins: Wolverine in Sydney, said the new movie would bring more than $80 million to the country and keep industry skills at a world class level.

He described Wolverine, the character he first played in 2000's X-Men as a late replacement for Dougray Scott, as the backbone of his career.

"I still love the character," he said. "I had no choice at the time - I was going to take anything that came along - but I happen to have walked into probably the most interesting and complex of the superhero characters."

Director James Mangold, whose movies have included Kate & Leopold with Jackman and Walk The Line, said the movie was based on a series of comic books about Wolverine's journey to Japan.

"It speaks to the incredible craftsmanship [here] that we can make so much of Japan - feudal Japan, urban Japan, sets - all here on our soundstages in Australia," he said.

Geoffrey Rush gets Australia's top honour

Seven News reports

Sydney, Jan 25, 2012 (AFP) - - Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush was on Wednesday named the 2012 Australian of the Year, the highest award bestowed in his native country, in recognition of a lifetime of achievement in the arts.

Rush, 60, beat a former military chief and a host of other well-known Australians to the award, which was presented to him in Canberra on Wednesday evening by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

He won an Academy Award for his compelling portrayal of troubled pianist David Helfgott in the 1996 film "Shine", an achievement which saw him eventually take the coveted 'Triple Crown' of acting: an Oscar, Tony and Emmy.

"Shine" turned the late-blooming Rush from theatre mainstay to Hollywood star, opening the door to roles including "The King's Speech", which earned him his fourth Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nod.

The craggy, versatile Australian also earned critical acclaim in "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers", "Quills" and "Elizabeth", as well as hamming it up in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series and "Finding Nemo".

He said the award was a tribute to the growth of Australia's arts scene from "a relative wasteland into a unique species of native tree that only the soil of this rich country can cultivate."

"We are the plucky country," he said.

"I know that hard-wired into every Australian from every background we love acting the goat, taking the mickey, cracking a joke, spinning a yarn."