Sam Worthington confirms he and Lara Bingle are an item with racy first picture on Instagram

Lara Bingle and Sam Worthington shopping together at Bondi Junction Westfield on Saturday. Picture: Source: INF

 

The Daily Telegraph reports

Aussie Hollywood star Sam Worthington has debuted on Instagram with a racy selfie of himself and new squeeze Lara Bingle.

Both the photo, which appears to have been taken by Lara, and Worthington seem to be focusing on some of the model's most eye-catching assets.

It is the first confirmation from the Avatar star himself that he and Bingle are an item.

Bingle had herself already blown their cover on social media and Sydney's paparazzi have been eager to fill in the blanks since they got together in the Harbour City late last week.

The pair first hooked up in New York just over a fortnight ago.

On September 28 they attended the Cotton On Foundation's Global Citizen Concert in New York's Central Park, headlined by Bono, Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys and Stevie Wonder.

Bingle picked up Worthington shortly after he arrived in Sydney last week and they spent the afternoon together driving around Sydney running errands and drinking juice.

Worthington is also understood to have watched Bingle during a photo shoot at Luxe Studios in Darlinghurst.

Aussie actors like Sam Worthington, Chris Hemsworth, Hugh Jackman and Jai Courtney could have been the new Batman

Chris Hemsworth has the action credentials to take on the role of Batman. Picture: AP Source: AP

 

Jonathon Moran, The Sunday Telegraph, reports

As outrage continues online over the announcement of Ben Affleck's casting as Batman in the next superhero flick, Confidential feels our Aussie actors have been overlooked for the role of the caped crusader.

So we've put together a list of locals who would have been perfect for the Gotham City job.

There's the obvious Sam Worthington, who is one of the most in-demand actors thanks to roles in Avatar and Terminator Salvation.

Chris Hemsworth has the commanding presence and proved he's got the superhero x factor as Thor in The Avengers. And then there's Hugh Jackman, who would easily pull off the gig.

Jai Courtney may not yet be a household name but he could also be a contender, given his recent run in Jack Reacher and A Good Day To Die Hard.

A dark horse would have been Josh Lawson, who has forged an impressive career in Hollywood with roles in films including The Campaign and Anchorman.

Russell Crowe didn't make our list. That would be strange given he played Superman's dad in the most recent blockbuster, Man of Steel.

Affleck's casting in the yet-to-be titled film, to be directed by Zack Snyder, was announced on Friday and instantly caused ripples across social media with critics calling for Warner Bros to revoke the decision.

Sam Worthington 'tailor-made for role in Phillip Noyce action-thriller 'For the Dogs'

Film director Phillip Noyce. Picture: Carly Earl

Briana Domjen, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Aussie movie star Sam Worthington is set to star in Phillip Noyce's action-thriller For the Dogs.

The rugged Avatar actor will star alongside Hailee Steinfeld who has also been signed to the movie which is based on Kevin Wignall's novel about a solitary assassin who helps a college girl take revenge against the people responsible for the murder of her parents and brother.

Fellow producer Navid Mcilhargey said he is excited to be working with such a talented team.

"I have been friends with Sam, John, Mike and Paul for some time now and watched them grow their production company," Mr Mcilhargey said.

"They are very talented producers with commercial instincts who led us to this terrific thriller, with a character that seems to be tailor made for Sam."

Sam Worthington admits: I was a jerk for fight outside restaurant

Sam Worthington admits he was at fault for a fight outside a restaurant in Atlanta. The Aussie star is now concentrating on his next role. File picture: AP Source: AP

Neala Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Sam Worthington has admitted he was "a jerk" for instigating an incident that ended in his arrest for disorderly conduct in Atlanta, Georgia last year.

The Aussie joined the celebrity mug shot gang after getting into a fight outside a restaurant in November while he was shooting a movie in the city.

"I was a jerk. It was my fault," Worthington told News Limited.

"I've admitted it. I was a jerk, I was in the wrong. Move on. That's it."

Asked if alcohol played a part in the fracas, the actor gave no excuses.

"No, I was an ass!"

Worthington reportedly screamed he was a DEA agent after he was pepper-sprayed outside Vortex Bar and Grill.

He allegedly threatened the doorman who sprayed him, screaming: "I'm a DEA agent! You f***ed up now!"

Police told TMZ that staff said Worthington was intoxicated and unable to provide valid identification.

A witness told authorities that he pushed doorman Jerry Link twice. Mr Link allegedly responded by pepper-spraying the actor and putting him in handcuffs until police arrived.

Worthington, whose new Aussie movie Drift opens on May 2, is on standby for an Avatar sequel.

"Jim (Cameron, director) is still writing it," he said.

"Supposedly end of the year, but they said that last year, so it’s up to the boss. Whenever Jim says, 'Let's go', we're gonna go."

Worthington, 36, is contracted for two more Avatar films and calls the mega franchise his "safety net" as he hunts for a more challenging career path.

Ten, the action thriller he shot in Atlanta with Arnold Schwarzenegger, sees the star transform into a bald, bearded tough guy.

Schwarzenegger last week praised his young co-star for his determination: "He likes to do all his own stunts, he is a go-getter and a great actor," said Arnie, apparently anointing the Australian as a worthy action hero successor.

"Arnold's very nice to say that," Worthington responded. "I got on very well with that guy.

"He's an icon and you shake every day when you see him, because you grew up watching his movies, and going from pumping iron to controlling one of the biggest economies in the world.

"That guy has set out and conquered everything he’s ever wanted to do. So any kind of compliment from Arnold, I'm completely humbled by it."

Single-minded Sam Worthington

Australian actor Sam Worthington is our next big action star, according to Arnie. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Aussie Sam Worthington was spied back in Sydney yesterday and turned heads when he was spotted dining out with fellow thespian Rachael Taylor.

The single actor and his similarly single date had tongues wagging as they dined at Manta in Woolloomooloo though reps for both refused to comment on whether the pair are more than pals.

It comes a day after Worthington was anointed the "next big action star" by none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"He is very determined, he likes to do all his own stunts, he is a real go-getter and a great actor," The Terminator star said.

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon 2 inspired Sam Worthington's acting career

Australian actor Sam Worthington pictured at a Tropfest event. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Sam Worthington last night revealed the unlikely source that got him into showbiz while supporting the world's largest short film festival, Tropfest.

Walking the black carpet in Sydney's The Domain last night, the Hawaii-based actor told Confidential it was Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon 2 that first infected him with the acting bug.

"I remember seeing it and watching these two guys having so much fun and I just thought, wow, they're getting paid to do this. How can I get a job like that?" he said.

While the annual event was focused on finding film industry up-and-comers, the question we most wanted to know was when the cameras will start rolling on Avatar 2.

"Honestly your guess is as good as mine," Wortho shrugged. "All I know is that when (director James Cameron) is ready his guys will come and get me and we'll all get started."

"I am really looking forward to returning to that role though. Filming that was the most amazing two years of my life."

Blockbuster Aussies making home movies

On set during shooting of the film 'The Great Gatsby' at White Bay in Sydney. Picture: Stephen Cooper Source: The Daily Telegraph

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Cashed-up Australian film makers are enticing a growing number of our A-list exports back home to work, according to production figures released yesterday by Screen Australia that reveal a bumper year for the local industry.

Toni Collette, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Sam Worthington and Xavier Samuel all made $8-$30 million films in Australia in the last financial year.

When the two big studio-funded blockbusters - Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby and Stuart Beattie's I, Frankenstein - are included in the mix, Australian feature production totalled $296 million in 2011/12, the second highest figure on record.

And the trend looks set to continue in 2012/2013 with Rachel Griffiths, Joel Edgerton, Mia Wasikowska and Guy Pearce all confirmed to appear in projects green-lit for the coming months, alongside high profile international imports such as Robert Pattinson and Ewan McGregor.

"This is not a coincidence. This is a pattern," said Screen Australia's chief executive Ruth Harley.

"And it's because the films are of sufficent scale to attract this major talent."

The increased budgets are also luring our established filmmakers back home.

Before shooting Mental with Collette in Queensland last year, PJ Hogan (Peter Pan, Confessions of A Shopaholic) hadn't made a film in Australia since Muriel's Wedding (1994).

And honorary Australian John Curran, who began work on the Robyn Davidson story Tracks in SA earlier this month with Wasikowska in the lead role, hadn't worked here since Praise (1998).

After the international success of his crime thriller Animal Kingdom, director David Michod could have shot his follow up anywhere in the world. He has opted to shoot his futuristic Western The Rover, with Pearce and Pattinson, in SA early next year.

In the past five years, the number of Australian features being made for between $8 and $30 million has more than doubled (to an average of seven per year), according to figures provided by Screen Australia to complement their annual drama report released today (Friday).

This coincides directly with the introduction of the Federal Government's Producer's Offset scheme.

"It's not that everybody is putting more money in their pocket. These are ambitious films," said Harley

The actual number of films (28) produced in 2011/12, however, was significantly down on the five year average (34).

Harley identified this as a shift from quantity to quality.

There were parallels in television where 2011/2102 also saw a strong performance in high-end adult dramas such as Underground: The Julian Assange Story , Howzat and Puberty Blues.

"The trend again is towards higher production values, higher budgets," said Harley.

"There are fewer hours and more money spent. This is resulting in fantastic, quality drama."

Most powerful players in Australian film

Joel Edgerton, Actor Photo: Anthony Johnson AWJ

The Sydney Morning Herald reports

Winning awards, financing movies or scoring magazine covers is no longer enough to be a major player in the Australian film industry. Rob Lowing crunched the numbers to discover who the real heavy-hitters are.


1 SAM WORTHINGTON (actor, 3796 points)

Avatar is just the gift that keeps giving. Sam doesn't set the photo agencies alight and his Clash of the Titans was undermined by a ballyhooed sequel Wrath of the Titans and a Raspberry Award nomination for worst ripoff. But solid dramas The Debt and Man on a Ledge helped. And no one seethes as cinematically as our Sam …
Year ahead: steady

2 CHRIS HEMSWORTH (actor, 2540 points)

The 29-year-old went stratospheric because of his roles in 2012's top-grossing film (so far), The Avengers, and also Thor and Snow White and the Huntsman.
Year ahead: up (thanks to sequels to the above).

3 GEOFFREY RUSH (actor, 1540 points)

Rush's combination of box-office gold (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; The King's Speech) is boosted by a willingness to return home for local gems (Bran Nue Dae; Eye of the Storm).
Year ahead: steady

4 MIA WASIKOWSKA (actor, 1145 points)

The 23-year-old has barely been seen home recently, moving steadily from blockbusters such as Alice in Wonderland to smaller dramas such as Jane Eyre, Albert Nobbs and The Kids are All Right. She's back for the lead in Tracks.
Year ahead: up

5 STUART BEATTIE (writer, director, 1086 points)

The internationally renowned scriptwriter (the man behind the characters in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) made his directorial debut with the AFI Award-winning Tomorrow, When the War Began. Pity about that Razzie for Beattie's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra script.
Year ahead: up

6 LIAM HEMSWORTH (actor, 823 points)

Chris's little brother scored his own lucrative franchise (The Hunger Games), was anointed into the action-man club (The Expendables 2) and rated ''hotter'' than his brother (photo-agency-wise) thanks to his high-profile romance with Miley Cyrus.
Year ahead: up

7 GUY PEARCE (actor, 621 points)

Film critics like him more than the photographers but Pearce's consummate acting skills shone in Hollywood sci-fi (Prometheus) and Oscar winners (The Hurt Locker,The King's Speech). But he was happy to come home for juicy supporting roles (Animal Kingdom). His latest, Lawless, has already racked up $48 million overseas.
Year ahead: steady

8 ROSE BYRNE (actor, 517 points)

Byrne has barely been home since her Two Hands break-out success and she doesn't rate with most local photo agencies. But she had a monster hit with Hollywood's Bridesmaids and her trashy pop star stole Get Him to the Greek.
Year ahead: steady

9 EMILE SHERMAN (producer, 468 points)

Wins at the Oscars and the BAFTAs (and that worldwide box-office) made the The King's Speech producer our biggest behind-scenes player. He also produced Oranges and Sunshine and his coming projects include the adaptation of Robyn Davidson's desert memoir, Tracks.
Year ahead: up

10 CATE BLANCHETT (actor, 412 points)

No local movies for Cate (but sterling theatre contributions). Her Robin Hood box-office and ''warm'' photo rating keeps her a point above co-star Russell Crowe.
Year ahead: steady

11 RUSSELL CROWE (actor, 411 points)

Just two outings in the past three years (The Next Three Days, Robin Hood) mean Crowe missed the top 10. A lead role (singing?!) in the coming Les Miserables could change that.
Year ahead: up

12 HUGH JACKMAN (actor, 314 points)

Maybe Australia (the movie, not the country) soured photographers' favourite Hugh on coming home. He's spent recent years hosting the Oscars (and rappelling in to help Oprah) and on US fodder such as Real Steel. Next up: Les Miserables and that Wolverine sequel.
Year ahead: steady

13 NICOLE KIDMAN (actor, 284 points)

What the god of movies giveth, he taketh away: Kidman earned big box-office for the woeful Adam Sandler comedy Just Go With It but copped a Razzie nomination. Rabbit Hole's Oscar nomination soothed the pain of another Razzie nom (worst screen couple, alongside Nicolas Cage in Trespass) and iffy box-office for Nine.
Year ahead: steady

14 ABBIE CORNISH (actor, 283 points)

Bright Star earned her raves, that relationship with Ryan Phillippe got her into the mags. Reviled Sucker Punch and Madonna's tepidly received W.E. couldn't dim the lustre of Limitless's worldwide take.
Year ahead: steady

15 JAMES WAN (director-producer) 258 points)

Wan and long-time collaborator Leigh Whannell's Saw movies were (dis)credited with starting the recent glut of torture-porn flicks. Wan clawed back some creative respect with Insidious. The world waits to judge Wan's next, The Conjuring.
Year ahead: down

16 LEIGH WHANNELL (actor-writer 256 points)

Yes, it's true. Thanks to the combination of co-executive producing the Saw franchise, and scripting and acting in housebound horror hit Insidious (starring Rose Byrne), the 35-year-old vaults past better-known peers.
Year ahead: down

17 TERESA PALMER (actor, 239 points)

Solid global box-office for I am Number Four was backed up by a great turn in local flick Wish You Were Here. Now to prove she's not just another pretty blonde …
Year ahead: steady

18 GEORGE MILLER (writer-director, 186 points)

The Happy Feet Two maestro also produced via his renowned company Kennedy Miller Mitchell and both it (and he) stays firmly based in Sydney. If that Mad Max sequel, with The Dark Knight Rises star Tom Hardy, finally unreels …
Year ahead: up

19 NAOMI WATTS (actor, 161 points)

The only name to earn an unequivocal ''hot'' from the photo agencies (especially for pics with husband Liev Schreiber and kids), Watts enjoyed steady returns (and great leading men) with J. Edgar and Fair Game.
Year ahead: up

20 JOEL EDGERTON (actor, 139 points)

The hard-working drama star has had a dream run, with local hits Animal Kingdom and Wish You Were Here, and Hollywood outings Warrior and The Thing. His The Odd Life of Timothy Green just opened to $50 million in the US. Next up: Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby adaptation.
Year ahead: up

THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY …

Baz Luhrmann has been quiet, preparing to unleash The Great Gatsby - so expect him to figure in this list again soon. Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver and Hanna star Eric Bana got pipped at the post, as did up-and-comer Bojana Novakovic (Devil and Burning Man) and Rango voice-star Isla Fisher. And after a few bad years (box-office and press-wise), Mel Gibson scored less than also-rans such as Sanctum's Richard Roxburgh.

HOW WE RATED THEM

We collated our master list of films made and/or released January 2010 to October 2012 from the Screen Australia, Box Office Mojo, Urban Cinefile and IMDb databases, cross-referencing releases with Empire and FilmInk magazines.

For the films' producer(s), director, writer, and five top-billed actors (and we began with a list of 422 names), we awarded two points each per $1 million earned at the Australian box office; one point for each $1 million earned elsewhere in the world (global box office was the telling factor); plus points were also given for major award wins (including Oscars, BAFTAs, AACTAs), major festival appearance and/or prizes (including the Sydney, Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, Venice and Toronto festivals), and magazine covers (sampled 2011-2012 from Who, New Weekly, Empire, FilmInk and so on). Voice animation work also counted.

We asked Sydney photo agencies, including Jamie Fawcett's PhotoNews, to rate our top 40 (hello, Naomi Watts). We awarded bonus points to internationally known ''names'' who returned home (good on you, Guy Pearce) and deducted points for Golden Raspberry Award mentions (sorry, Nicole).

Worthington to produce TV series about Gallipoli

Sam Worthington is getting ready to produce a TV series about Gallipoli. Source: AP

The Herald Sun reports

Avatar star Sam Worthington is returning home from Hollywood to lend his own stamp to the events surrounding the WWI Gallipoli campaign, it has been reported.

Worthington has told The Australian his production company, Full Clip, will be developing a six-part series based on Gallipoli in the lead-up to its 100th anniversary.

He told the paper he hasn't yet decided if he will take an acting role in the as-yet unnamed series, noting that getting taken seriously as a producer hasn't come easily to him.

"A lot of people look at me and you're judged on the type of movies that you do," the Wrath of the Titans star said.

Sam Worthington in Clash of the Titans. Picture: Supplied

"I tend to do these blockbusters with massive special effects that aren't necessarily as heartfelt as you strive for in your own creative impulses."

The series will be based around the experiences of a number of Australian and British journalists who covered Gallipoli from the front lines, including Charles Bean, Keith Murdoch and Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett.

Worthington told the paper it will give the series a different insight into the conflict.

"We wanted to explore the whole campaign in quite a different way and the truth of what went down in Gallipoli, not just what the soldiers went through," he said.

The series will be developed with Matchbox Pictures, who were behind the critically-acclaimed series The Slap, and will be screened in Australia on Foxtel.

Penny Chapman from Matchbox told the paper viewing the war from the journalists' point of view allows the series to explore their characters.

"Each of these guys gives us a different facet of the war, which is not what you get if you do a story on the soldiers," she said.

Half god, half Aussie

Ancient bed-head … Sam Worthington as reluctant hero Perseus.

Greg Truman, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports

Sam Worthington is armed with 'daggy' humour as Perseus in Wrath of the Titans.

Sam Worthington's performance in the Australian drama Somersault may seem an odd template for his latest swashbuckling Hollywood role as a monster-slaying, ancient Greek demigod but Wrath of the Titans is better for it.

Director Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles, Darkness Falls) is an unabashed fan of the actor in the 2004 Aussie indie film and urged Worthington to bring some of the intensity he brought to that dramatic role when it came to reprising the mythical character Perseus in the sequel to commercial blockbuster Clash of the Titans.

''He was so good in [Somersault],'' says Liebesman, a 35-year-old South African. ''He has a … quieter strength in that movie than other stuff. So we were trying to get him to embrace what he was good at.''

Worthington, whose global fame has been generated by his starring roles in Avatar, Terminator Salvation and 2010's Clash of the Titans, was pleased to bring a degree of complexity to Wrath.

Breaking the Hollywood mold, he had been publicly disparaging about his own performance in the hugely successful hit. Perth-raised Worthington was focused on ensuring he would add layers to the character for the sequel.

''I wanted [Perseus] to be a retired gunslinger,'' he says. ''He hasn't picked up his weapon for a while and he's rusty - he's going to get beat up.''

While the primary strength of the 3D version of Wrath is its thrillingly detailed computer-generated monsters, there is an effort to embellish the sometimes raucous fantasy with a more character-focused plot. In Wrath, Perseus, having defeated his evil grandfather, Kronos, is content with his life as a fisherman and father to 10-year-old Helius.

But Kronos is threatening to rise again, forcing Perseus into action to save his father, Zeus (Liam Neeson), and combat the threat of the demonic underworld. Amid the swordplay and impossible athleticism, Wrath also uses humour - ''daggy'' humour, Worthington says.

The actor's undisguised Australian accent, and the English dialects of co-stars Toby Kebbell (Agenor) and Bill Nighy (Hephaestus), may make some of the largely improvised gags difficult for American audiences to grasp but the levity is a welcome addition to the carnage.

''It lets the audience breathe,'' Worthington says.

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.''

Once more from the top

Sam Worthington, work in progress. Photo: Getty Images

Steve Dow, The Sydney Morning Herald, reports

Sam Worthington is somehow different. It's mid-afternoon in a hotel room on a stunning blue day and this is the last in a day of interviews. ''It must be beer o'clock,'' the 35-year-old star of the world's highest-grossing film, Avatar, says, wearing a T-shirt, jeans and a couple of days' ginger stubble.

It's the sort of thing you can imagine the English-born, Perth-raised former brickie saying on a building site. That's it: Sam Worthington went to Hollywood and has returned more relaxed.

I last interviewed him in 2006, when he was still calling Australia home - the year after he'd flown to London to screen test as James Bond. He'd come across as blokey and friendly then, too, but his approach seemed more intense. Much.

On the day in 2005 that he appeared at Pinewood studios to test for 007 director Martin Campbell, for instance, Worthington, having been asked if he was enjoying London, brusquely replied: ''No, I'm not. I'm here to do the job.

''Here's the thing: you say Bond's smart, sophisticated and suave and he's trained to be a killer. I've read all the [Ian Fleming] books now and watched all the movies. And he's not.''

Whether Worthington's forthright theory that Bond was first and foremost a thug trained to be debonair held sway we'll never know because Daniel Craig was cast in Casino Royale. Worthington went on to play Macbeth, with Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy recast in Melbourne's gangland wars, for which he insisted the Scottish king be not the ditherer of lore but hold himself as honourable. Yet Worthington had prophesied the critical toil and trouble: ''I reckon we're gonna get crucified,'' he said back then, ''a bunch of convicts doin' the Bard's words.''

I tell Worthington I've got some perspective on his career trajectory thanks to his old Macbeth interview. ''Me too,'' he laughs heartily. ''You brought up that dog, thanks.''

Perhaps one reason he's laughing now is that last year, he settled in Hawaii after four gypsy years around Los Angeles. Now he can swim and surf with his new girlfriend close by.

Although he won't name her, it seems London's Daily Mail was right with its speculative paparazzi photo captions of the couple together after he split from film stylist Natalie Mark last January after three years.

Undoubtedly, Worthington's life changed when director James Cameron cast him in Avatar - the tale of a race of tall blue people - and a fantasy action hero was born, advancing with confidence in Terminator Salvation and Clash of the Titans.

But before Hollywood could change him, Worthington changed himself. Months after the Macbeth interview, aged 30, Worthington took to heart the poem If by Rudyard Kipling, which was given to him by a friend, producer John Schwarz.

The poem reads in part: If you can make one heap of all your winnings/And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss/And lose, and start again at your beginnings … Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it/And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son.

''I didn't like the person that I was,'' Worthington now says. ''I had a great career, I just didn't like me - how I interacted with people, who I was becoming.''

He was selfish? ''Yeah, a lot of stuff like that. And you're crossing 30. In your 20s, you think you've got it figured out, you think you know who you're becoming, and you get to 30 and you go, 'This is it, warts and all.' It's going to be hard to change who you are by that time. I didn't like it. I don't know, there was something about the person I was I didn't like. It's hard to describe.''

He sold his possessions and spent months living out of a car or on friends' couches - including the sofa he'd sold to a mate.

''Everything in my house reminded me of something - you remember where you bought your jeans from; you remember where you and your ex-girlfriend bought the flat-screen TV. Every time I looked at something, it reminded me of things I didn't want to be reminded of. So I just got rid of it.''

Amid this early midlife crisis, James Cameron called, having seen an audition tape. Worthington's great second act was born. Next, he'll begin filming Avatar 2, this time set under water, for which he will have scuba-diving lessons.

In the meantime, Worthington's latest movie is Man on a Ledge, a taut, nail-biter directed by Asger Leth. The film is pure popcorn but nonetheless brilliantly made, not least because Worthington, playing a former cop trying to clear his name, spends most of it literally standing on a 35-centimetre window ledge on a specially built floor on top of the Roosevelt Hotel 60 metres above New York, his lifeline harness not visible thanks to CGI.

Worthington is determined to give moviegoers value for the price of their tickets. He told David Letterman that Australians come to Hollywood to work ''and we don't want to waste your time'', an ethic born of growing up in an industrial town on the West Australian coast, where his dad worked in an aluminium refinery.

''My dad had to work for everything in his life, so did my mum; she cleaned people's houses and looked after old people.

''You can be complacent and sit on the couch and complain about the dreams that you missed. Get off the couch!''

■Man on a Ledge is now screening.