Australia's Oscars - the AACTAs -move to a prime time screening on Channel Ten

AACTA President Geoffrey Rush with Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe at the 2013 AACTA Awards. Source: News Limited

 

 

 Neala Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

The AACTA Awards are moving to prime time.

The AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards have in past years struggled to find a broadcast home worthy of their place as Australia's answer to the Oscars, but today it was announced that Network Ten would broadcast the third AACTAs ceremony at 8.30pm on Thursday, January 30.

Announcing the partnership in Sydney today, AACTA President Geoffrey Rush said, "The reception and ongoing support of AACTA and the AACTA Awards activities both here and abroad over the past two years has been magnificent. I look forward to the continued opportunity to elevate and celebrate Australian screen achievements."

Ten was also the telecast partner for the awards in January of this year, but did not broadcast the event, hosted by Russell Crowe, until 9.30pm.

The big movie winners in 2013 were The Sapphires and Wish You Were Here, while Howzat! and Puberty Blues dominated the TV categories. Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman also attended the event.

Fourteen feature films are currently in competition for the 2014 AACTAs, with screenings to begin today so member voters can whittle the field down to the final nominees.

Next year's AACTAs will again be split over two days at Sydney's Star Event Centre, with an Awards Luncheon on January 28 focusing on more technical categories followed by the glitzy Awards Ceremony on January 30.

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

 

 

 

Jonathon Moran, The Daily Telegraph, reports

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.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman tops the 'which-famous-person-would-you-invite-to-dinner' list

Hungry Hugh? Jackman has been chosen as the celebrity we'd most like to have dinner with. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph reports

It is the question that pops up constantly (even if it's just in your imagination) - when planning a dinner party, who is the most fabulously famous person one could invite over?

And, as it turns out, Australians are after a mix of good looks, witty banter and talent, which explains why triple threat Hugh Jackman has topped a new survey endeavouring to find the nation's most loved and engaging star.

The list, called the Australian Celebrity Report and set to be released today, has been compiled by Southern Cross Austereo and Nine Rewards over two years.

While Nicole Kidman and - surprisingly - Delta Goodrem came close, Jackman says he was chuffed to claim the inaugural title.

"Just to be clear ... is this as a guest or the waiter?" Jackman joked.

"As an actor the idea of lots of great food thrills me to no end."

Kidman's hubby Keith Urban, actor Russell Crowe and model Miranda Kerr are also hot property at the dinner table according to the 40,000 Australians surveyed.

The report also featured a separate list of our favourite comedians, naming Hamish Blake, Adam Hills, Andy Lee and Rebel Wilson, as well as sporting stars, with Shane Warne, Eddie McGuire, Mark Webber and Ricky Ponting making the cut.

Australia's Top 10 dinner party guests:

1. Hugh Jackman 2. Nicole Kidman 3. Delta Goodrem 4. Kylie Minogue 5. Miranda Kerr 6. Russell Crowe 7. Hamish Blake 8. Keith Urban 9. Jennifer Hawkins 10. Adam Hills

Russell Crowe tweets love for Greece island Mykonos

Russell Crowe goes for a swim at Mykonos in the Greek Islands. Picture: Mykonos LiveTV.com

Annette Sharp, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Russell Crowe created a stir when he plunged into the sea off the Greek tourist destination of Mykonos on Tuesday, his coastal dip exciting locals who couldn’t help but admire his manly form.

Currently on a world trip to promote his latest film Man of Steel, Russell Crowe, who plays Superman’s father in the movie, set down in Mykonos during a Mediterranean cruise.

On Tuesday he tweeted: “How is it that I've lived 49 years on this planet but never been to the Greek Islands before. So beautiful. Yassou Mykonos I will return.”

A local film crew shot Crowe breast-stroking in the Mediterranean: “Russell Crowe shows (sic) to go through one of the best periods of his life and in a good shape, though with a few extra pounds excess.”

Crowe is seen chatting to two beautiful young women on a Mykonos beach, overheard telling them he finds the water "cold”.

Crowe started his week in Rome and is now cruising the Aegean as he heads north for Man of Steel promotional commitments.

On Wednesday he posted: “Cruising through the night ... the wine dark Aegean as they say ... dawn will come and I will be somewhere of great spiritual significance.”

And he was.

By Thursday he was in Gallipoli.

"In 1915 we would have been in ear shot of the Turk guns for the last hour. Lest we forget,” he wrote noting that the Turking coastline was "beautiful”.

Later he took time out to ponder and post a photo of Hell’s Spit.

"Brighton Beach, Lone Pine on the right at the top of the hill, looking north to Hell's Spit,” he wrote.

Russell Crowe reveals he's a fan of Daniel Day-Lewis

Russell Crowe listed Day-Lewis as his favourite living actor. Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Russell Crowe has given a generous shout-out to multiple Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis, describing the Lincoln star as his favourite thespian.

Penning a column for Britain's Daily Mail, Crowe says that while his favourite actor of all time is Marlon Brando, Day-Lewis is: "The living actor I admire most."

He also named Papillion - the 1973 penal colony saga - as the movie which changed the way he saw acting.

"When I was 12 I got into a Saturday-morning screening of Papillion," Crowe wrote.

"It was in a seedy theatre at the back of Bondi Junction in Sydney, and there's no way I should have been allowed in, but at that time of day the staff couldn't give a rat's behind," he said, adding; "I watched it again a year ago, and the movie, which stars Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen, still stands tall; until Papillion I didn't know how actors could transport you."

Danielle Spencer set for acting return after split with Russell Crowe

Danielle Spencer hits the red carpet. Source: Supplied

Annette Sharp, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Thirteen years after she abandoned her acting career to reconcile with an old famous boyfriend, Danielle Spencer has started having talks with producers about returning to the screen.

It is the latest move by mother-of-two Spencer to reclaim her life after separating from husband of nine years Russell Crowe last year.

Eight months after she and Crowe were last photographed together, Spencer is moving ahead with her reclamation project.

There are not only acting plans in the wind but also plans to resume her musical career.

Last week sources said the change in Spencer since Crowe left Australia for the US and the glory of the Academy Awards season two weeks ago is complete and obvious.

She is no longer withdrawn, inaccessible and looking stressed, her expression pinched as she powers through the eastern suburbs on her weekday morning walk.

To neighbours who have been watching her for the past 12 months - since she moved her two young sons Charlie, 9, and Tennyson, 7, out of a Woolloomooloo Wharf apartment and into the $10 million Rose Bay home her husband didn't want - the 43-year-old appears finally to have found her smile.

She now cuts a cheerful figure as she strides through the neighbourhood, waving and smiling to those who once regarded her as "aloof".

She has actually started laughing on the streets, they report excitedly.

A close friend said that in private and public, Spencer is cracking jokes again: "She was always a natural comedienne, but we haven't seen that side for such a long time. Now she's back in top form.

"She has what she needs and is happy."

For Spencer it seems the burden of being married to one of the world's biggest film stars was always going to be too great for a woman who prized her own independence.

Now buoyant following the couple's official separation - a subject which neither has yet discussed on the record since it was first disclosed in October - the silver-maned singer-songwriter with the fiercely proud bearing is looking for new opportunities and adventure. As well she should. She can, say those who know, afford them.

Despite speculation that Spencer signed a pre-nup before their 2003 wedding, guaranteeing her a minimum $15 million payout, there is no such binding financial agreement.

Without a pre-nup she is, by rights, entitled to 50 to 60 per cent of Crowe's fortune which, if estimates are to be believed, is worth a conservative $80 million, putting Spencer in a powerful negotiating position.

But Spencer, we're informed, is not greedy.

"Dani doesn't want to be defined as being someone's wife," a friend said. "She really is her own person and knows Russell will look after her and the boys, so she doesn't have her hand out for a lot."Divorce is a "work in progress", the friend added last week.

Crowe, who zealously shoots down all rumoured new attachments - the latest to Natalie Imbruglia, with whom he was photographed in the States last month - is possibly still holding out for a reconciliation. Spencer is not.

Her boys remain her highest priority and she is said to be hopeful the estranged couple will continue to share custody of their two sons.

Crowe is expected back in Australia shortly to continue work on the development of a locally produced film which promises to keep him closer to home this year. His long absences in 2011 and last year due to film work are believed to have contributed to the breakdown of the couple's marriage.

However, now liberated, Spencer has much to celebrate. She has her life back, her town back, her privacy restored, and even, for the time being, her two sons back under her roof 24/7.

She has long been regarded as a gifted actress and so a return to the screen now fills her with excitement.

Spencer became a household name in Australia after joining the cast of popular TV series The Flying Doctors in 1989. She worked steadily as an actress until 2000, when she appeared in TV series All Saints and Beastmaster.

But when Crowe, whom she'd dated from 1989 to 1992, swept her off her feet in 2001, Spencer appeared to cut her ties with her profession.

Russell Crowe in row with Pizza man

Russell Crowe. Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

The Star casino has confirmed it is investigating an incident at the AACTA Awards after an actor claimed he was ejected from the after-party on the orders of host Russell Crowe.

Alex Haddad, best known for his work on the Fat Pizza TV series, claims he was standing in the open-air area of Marquee nightclub inside the casino when he saw Crowe waiting nearby.

Asking for a photo with the Oscar winner, Haddad claimed Crowe "rudely declined and started to get abusive".

Haddad said he was then approached by security, taken out of the club and allegedly told to stay away from the Les Miserables star, who had earlier hosted the awards.

But once back inside, Haddad claims security told him to leave for good.

"I wasn't drinking as I don't have more than three drinks because of my liver transplant. I wasn't fighting, and I definitely wasn't harassing Russell," Haddad said. "Security told me Russell had asked for me to be removed."

Haddad said he paid $300 for his ticket to the awards and after-party and that he planned to take legal action.

Crowe, who arrived late at the party, stayed until the wee hours.

A spokesman for Crowe last night flatly denied the Hollywood star had anything to do with Haddad's removal, refuting claims he ordered security guards to order him from the after-party. Yesterday, a spokeswoman for The Star said CCTV footage from Marquee was being reviewed.

"We are investigating the matter,'' she said referring to the alleged incident.

 

Actor Alex Haddad. Picture: Bob Barker Source: The Daily Telegraph

Legends lend valuable muscle to Aussie awards

Robert DeNiro and Russell Crowe attend the Australian Academy Of Cinema And Television Arts' 2nd AACTA International Awards at Soho House. Picture: Getty Images Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Living legend Robert DeNiro and director du jour Quentin Tarantino last night lent some valuable Hollywood muscle to the first round of the 2013 "Aussie Oscars", the second annual AACTA awards.

While the Sydney festivities will start at a luncheon today and culminate with a red carpet ball on Wednesday night, it was LA's turn to kick off the proceedings at the weekend, hosting a gala at Soho House that recognised international films and their cast and crew.

Hosted by Russell Crowe, the gongs were well-attended, with Natalie Imbruglia, Jacki Weaver and Grant Bowler and his girlfriend Kate Buckwald all frocking up for the event.

Hugh Sheridan was also a surprise show-up, after supposedly pulling out of hosting the Sydney awards, for which Rusty then miraculously put his hand up.

Weaver, who stars alongside DeNiro playing Bradley Cooper's parents in drama The Silver Linings Playbook, accepted the best actress accolade on behalf of her co-star Jennifer Lawrence, who has pneumonia.

"Poor Jen is really sick. She really is sick," Weaver said at the podium.

Both Weaver and DeNiro won in the best supporting actress/actor categories.

Tarantino too, of course, walked away with a statuette for Django Unchained.

Crowe is due to head home to join Nicole Kidman, Geoffrey Rush and Cate Blanchett at Wednesday's extravaganza at The Star casino.

Russell Crowe is being a big tease

Russell Crowe is strangely silent on rumours of a relationship with burlesque queen Dita Von Teese. Source: PerthNow

The Daily Telegraph reports

The last time he was linked to a new woman he shut down the reports as "harmful and cruel".

But just three weeks after making a mercy dash to Sydney to allegedly save his marriage to Danielle Spencer, Russell Crowe has been strangely quiet about talk he is now dating burlesque queen (and ex-wife of Marilyn Manson) Dita Von Teese.

In fact the Gladiator star only fuelled talk yesterday by posting a music video featuring Von Teese on his Twitter feed.

The out-of-character gesture follows reports out of the US that Crowe and the raven-haired entertainer were spotted holed up at the Four Seasons Hotel in December, and they even got a romantic couple's massage together at 6.30am.

And a quick glance at their respective Twitter feeds shows Crowe and Von Teese have been flirting with each other for a while.

Last year, Crowe retweeted her posting: "Dressage. Was measured for bespoke blk patent boots w/my name stamped on the heel ... But under whose bed did I leave my Hermes riding crop?"

Around the same time, he also retweeted her message: "Giving airport security a lesson in garter belts this morning."

Von Teese is not the first woman Crowe has been linked to since his split with his wife, with the New York Post claiming he was spotted cozying up to Billy Joel's ex-wife Katie Lee - a report he later denied on Twitter: "As soon as I finish this job & can get home, my priority is to try to bring my family back together. These latest reports are false & cruel."

The Les Miserables actor is currently in New York filming his new flick Winter's Tale and was a notable no-show at the Golden Globe awards, where he failed to garner a nomination for his turn as Javert in the French rebellion musical.

Les Mis ready for its close-up

Les Miserables at the Theatre Royal 25 September 1987. Standing Ovation: The Cast of Les Miserables after their triumph. It was a night of emotion, of the anticipation and fear, of nervousness, excitement and finally relief. Photo: Paul Mathews

Giles Hardie, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports

How will it compare to the original? This is the question many will be asking as they walk in to the cinema in the coming weeks to see Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe in Les Miserables.

While there is a great history of adapting beloved works for the big screen - arguably Les Miserables' greatest competition at the box office is Peter Jackson's first film in the Hobbit trilogy - many will walk in hoping to revisit the show they adored so many years before.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who has produced every professional production of Les Miserables to date, as well as the movie, remembers the first Australian production well.

“We were lucky,” says Mackintosh. “We sort of brought together what became the next generation of stars with Anthony Warlow, Marina Prior, Simon Burke. An amazing cast of people that have gone on to all be the leading players in Australia.”

Burke, who played Marius for the Sydney premiere in November 1987, remembers the show fondly. “It was a very emotional experience for me to see the film. Les Mis was a huge turning point in my career and I am forever grateful to Cameron and [Theatre, film and TV director] Trevor Nunn for taking a punt on a young actor who had never been in a big musical before.

“The bar that this musical sets for a performer is and always has been incredibly high - it demands complete emotional truth and absolute commitment to every beautiful note of Claude-Michel's [Claude-Michel Schonberg] score, and the movie is even more so. Watching Hugh and co rise to the challenges was completely thrilling.”

The movie is much more than a mere recording of a star-studded cast performing the stage show. The creative team behind the movie describe the process as stripping the show down to its parts and building something entirely new. The music has been recomposed by Schonberg, including the addition of a new song. That work was based on the 25th anniversary production which already contained changes, such as a reworking of Gavroche's Little People. Indeed, Gavroche is a changed character again in the movie, with Daniel Huttlestone taking a more prominent role and the high parts in a reworked version of Drink with Me.

The film almost contained a far more significant shift, as the initial decision to include dialogue in the film (the stage show is sung through) was rejected by director Tom Hooper.

“The very first draft of the screenplay that Bill Nicholson wrote was dialogue interspersed with songs,” Hooper explains. “I thought a lot about it and I thought the difficulty with going from dialogue to singing and back is gear changes. The reality like ours and the reality where I sing to you. I felt the gear shifts in this case wouldn't help the musical. This is a world like ours but where people's primary form of communication is singing. We're just going to commit to that and be brave about that.”

The transition to the big screen has also involved many stylistic decisions. Hooper has adopted lengthy close-ups on actors who would on stage have received spotlights. “The challenge I laid down to the cast was 'can you find a way of telling the stories of these songs in the medium of the close up?'” he says. “They found brilliant ways to do it. I honoured that by staying close and meditating on the face and meditating on the emotions.”

“You can get behind the eyes of an actor and the emotion that you simply can't do on the stage,” says Mackintosh. “You can show what's going through the actor's mind. The trio of Cosette, Eponine and Marius I think works even stronger in the movie. It's wonderfully cast in the movie but you seem to understand that fated love trio even more, it's more powerful because of the medium of cinema.”

Hooper actually found the wide shots more challenging to justify. “A single person singing close-up you can say it's like a prayer, it's like a soliloquy in a play,” he explains. “It's not that unreal. Whereas 100 people singing in unison felt like a harder thing for the audience to accept.”

That need for justifying the songs lies at the heart of a film that seeks far more realism than the show. Jackman feels it came from Hooper's never having worked with musicals before. “He very much approaches it as 'sometimes I get embarrassed watching it, I feel uncomfortable,' so he did it in a way where I think it feels very accessible. He took some bold choices. It has a very muscular, real feel the way he shot it."

Says Hooper: “I felt that the whole thing was a tightrope walk between gritty realism and a kind of magical realism, a heightened reality... The gritty realism anchors singing in a very visceral way that I felt would help me, at the same time the heightened style allows you to take the audience into an extraordinary world for this story.”

Australian actor Silvie Paladino certainly knows the show, having played Eponine in Australia for two years from 1989 then Fantine on the West End in the late nineties. She found the movie “very emotional” but felt that gritty realism had slightly skewed the musical.

“There were some strange interpretations to the songs," she says. "Schonberg wrote songs that mix a positive with a negative, in the film they played with the negative not the positive. It works better on stage. I thought it was wonderful on screen, but extraordinary on stage.”

For Burke, those who loved the stage show have no option. “If you have seen the musical and loved it as millions around the world have, then you don't have a choice - you have to see it!”

Mackintosh feels the movie is a unique amalgam of cinema and stage: “Everyone is saying how cinematic it is, yet in the cinema people are applauding it as if it is a stage show.”

He even has a solution for those who fall in love with Les Miserables for the first time on the big screen, as he plans to start all over again by bringing his 25th anniversary stage production to Australia “to find a while new raft of talent which I'm looking forward to doing next year”.

A family day for Russell Crowe and his boys

Russell Crowe and Danielle Spencer in happier times / Pic: Richard Dobson. Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Putting their young sons first, Russell Crowe and Danielle Spencer put their marriage breakdown to one side to break bread together on Christmas Day at the Rose Bay sanctuary Spencer and her sons now call home.

Recognising the importance of the day to his youngsters after his latest three-month absence, Crowe abandoned plans to whisk the boys out of Sydney to his farm at Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour, acquiescing to Spencer's wishes to remain in Sydney.

Despite having tweeted his hopes of reconciling his family, Crowe, it would seem, has come to terms with the fact that his estranged wife has no desire to revisit the past.

Crowe and the boys - Charlie, 9, and Tennyson, 6 - were planning to head to Nana Glen this weekend before Crowe returns to New York.

Despite back-to-back film shoots keeping him in Britain, Iceland and the US this year, Crowe slipped home for a few days with his boys in June, August and September, while Spencer took them to him in LA in July. The couple confirmed their separation in October after nine years of marriage.

Can Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman stop a Shire thing

Russell Crowe in a scene from the film, Les Miserables. Source: The Daily Telegraph

Neala Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Boxing Day king Peter Jackson returns to Middle Earth to ward off the challenge to his throne from Aussie heavyweights Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe.

Last year, the Jackson-produced The Adventures Of Tintin lorded over its rivals on Australian cinemas' biggest day and the Kiwi director looks set to repeat the dose with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a 169-minute 3D epic that has already topped box office charts in New Zealand, the US and across Europe.

The Lord Of The Rings prequel's only competition will come from the movie version of stage musical Les Miserables, which had its claims boosted by Jackman and Crowe appearing at the red carpet premiere in Sydney last week.

Filling the Boxing Day family comedy slot -- dominated in recent years by Ben Stiller's Fockers franchise -- is Parental Guidance. It stars old-schoolers Billy Crystal and Bette Midler and serves up enough inter-generational chaos to appeal to everyone from grandma down.

Disney's feel-good 3D animation Wreck-it Ralph -- about a video game character who jumps into different games -- may be aimed at kids, but with plenty of 1980s video arcade references (and guest stars such as Pacman and Sonic the Hedgehog), grown-ups will have plenty to dig, too.

For The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel set there is Quartet, Dustin Hoffman's directing debut about a retirement home for British opera singers. It stars Maggie Smith and Billy Connolly.

Those in a "bah humbug" frame of mind should head to the arthouse for British black comedy Sightseers. It's about a caravanning couple who visit museums and kill litterbugs.

Village Cinemas CEO Kirk Edwards believes the chain is "on course for its biggest ever Christmas period".

"The magic of the movies is still alive," he said. "There has been unprecedented demand for tickets to see The Hobbit, Les Mis and all the other major blockbusters."

Stars light out of LA for home Christmas

Hugh Jackman is expected to arrive home for Christmas this week. Source: Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph reports

The great annual LA-to-Sydney pilgrimage got into full swing over the weekend as US-based celebs began returning home for Christmas.

Saturday night saw the return of Animal Kingdom star Sullivan Stapleton, who was a surprise guest at the Christmas bash thrown by his talent stable United Management at the Royal Hotel at Paddington.

Fresh from wrapping his star turn in the 300 sequel 300: Rise Of An Empire, Stapleton - who also has a role in the star-packed Ryan Gosling vehicle Gangster Squad - is understood to have been in quite the festive mood at the bash.

And he was spotted leading the kick-on to nearby watering hole Goodgod.

Also seen bending an elbow at the United soiree: Dan Wyllie, Kick Gurry (taking a break from filming All You Need Is Kill in the UK with Tom Cruise), Isabelle Cornish, filmmaker Gillian Armstrong and Pia Miranda.

The Christmas homecoming continues this week with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe slated to arrive back in Sydney in readiness for Friday night's Les Miserables premiere at the State Theatre.

Crowe will then head to his farm near Coffs Harbour, where he and Danielle Spencer will continue attempts to rebuild their marriage.

Nicole Kidman gets boost to Oscar hopes

Nicole Kidman plays against type in The Paperboy. Picture with her are Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey. Picture: Lionsgate Source: Supplied

Peter Mitchell, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Nicole Kidman's Oscar campaign has received a major boost after scoring a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Kidman was nominated for her sexed-up performance in The Paperboy but also for her role as war correspondent Martha Gelhorn in TV movie Hemingway & Gellhorn.

She will have plenty of mates at the January 27 SAG ceremony, with Naomi Watts and Hugh Jackman also receiving SAG nominations in Los Angeles.

The SAG Awards are one of the major pre-Oscar award ceremonies, with a nomination keeping Oscar campaigns alive, while SAG snubs can torpedo hopes.

Russell Crowe (Les Miserables), Toni Collette (Hitchcock) and Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) were snubbed by SAG voters.

Jackman, for his leading performance in Les Miserables, is one of the frontrunners for the best acting Oscar and his SAG best actor nomination continues his journey to a possible Academy Award statuette.

Watts, for the tsunami survivor film The Impossible, is also a great shot at an Oscar nomination after winning over SAG voters.

Kidman's nomination for The Paperboy, based on Peter Dexter's book, was one of the big shocks of the SAG nomination ceremony as the Aussie redhead has received little crecognition for the role.

With Kidman also receiving the nod in the TV category for Hemingway & Gellhorn, her Oscar chances have received a major boost.

Kidman, Jackman, Watts, Crowe, Weaver and Collette have another chance to boost their Academy Award hopes on Friday (AEDT) when the Golden Globes nominations are announced - another major pre-Oscar bellwether.

The Oscar nominations will be revealed on January 10 while the Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for February 24.

Along with Les Miserables, The Civil War saga Lincoln and comic drama Silver Linings Playbook boosted their Academy Awards prospects with four nominations apiece for the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

All three films were nominated for overall performance by their casts. Also nominated for best ensemble cast were the Iran hostage-crisis thriller Argo and the British retiree adventure The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, Lincoln also scored individual nominations for Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role as best actor, Sally Field for supporting actress as Mary Todd Lincoln and Tommy Lee Jones for supporting actor as abolitionist firebrand Thaddeus Stevens.

Silver Linings Playbook, made by The Fighter director David O. Russell, also had lead-acting nominations for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence as lost souls who find a second chance at love and Robert De Niro for supporting actor as a gridiron-obsessed dad.

Besides Watts and Lawrence, best-actress nominees are Jessica Chastain as a CIA analyst pursuing Osama bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty; Marion Cotillard as a woman who finds romance after tragedy in Rust and Bone; Helen Mirren as Alfred Hitchcock's strong-willed wife in Hitchcock.

Joining Cooper, Day-Lewis and Jackman in the best-actor field are John Hawkes as a polio victim aiming to lose his virginity in The Sessions and Denzel Washington as a boozy airline pilot in Flight.

One of the year's most-acclaimed films, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, earned only one nomination, supporting actor for Philip Seymour Hoffman as a mesmerising cult leader. The film was snubbed on nominations for ensemble, lead actor Joaquin Phoenix and supporting actress Amy Adams.

Other individual performances overlooked by SAG voters include Anthony Hopkins in the title role of Hitchcock, Keira Knightley in the title role of Anna Karenina, Bill Murray as Franklin Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson and Argo director Ben Affleck, who also starred in the film.

Actor Maggie Smith had four individual and ensemble nominations. Along with sharing the ensemble honor for Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Smith joined the cast of Downton Abbey among TV ensemble contenders and had nominations for supporting film actress as a cranky retiree in Marigold Hotel and TV drama actress for Downton Abbey.

Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston had three overall nominations, as best actor in a TV drama for Breaking Bad, an ensemble honour for Breaking Bad and a film ensemble honour for Argo.

Along with Breaking Bad and Downton Abbey, best TV drama ensemble contenders are Boardwalk Empire, Homeland and Mad Men. TV comedy ensemble nominees are 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory, Glee, Modern Family, Nurse Jackie and The Office.