Rachel Griffiths relishes new role in remake of Aussie cult film Patrick

Rachel Griffiths says the original Patrick was "probably the scariest movie I've ever seen".

 

Neala Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Rachel Griffiths doesn't reckon too much has changed for Aussie actors in the 20 years since she jetted off to the US.

"I mean, I grew up when Judy was nailing it, and Bryan, Jack and Mel ... The fundamental difference," says the 44-year-old Melburnian, "is that I went over on Muriel's Wedding, on a movie that had grossed millions worldwide. That opened doors and it gave me a confidence.

"These younger actors - Sharni Vinson's a good example, or a Poppy Montgomery - that go over with a dream and a hope and a lot of f---king balls ... I really love them for that."

With Six Feet Under then Brothers & Sisters wrapping Griffiths up in American TV land for a decade, she has made the last couple of years "about doing everything different".

"I did Broadway, I played Dulcie Boling (in ABC TV's Magazine Wars) which is really out of my repertoire, I did Rob Connolly's Assange movie (Underground) ..."

One offer Griffiths received during this time during this time was so out of her repertoire, her agent almost didn't tell her. It was a part in a remake of cult 1978 Aussie horror film Patrick, about a coma patient with telekinetic powers and a dangerous crush.

"My agent said, 'Oh you don't really want to do that do you?'," Griffiths recalls. "I grew up watching this movie - my cousins and I would watch it when at my Aunt Mary's house and we'd always scream." It's probably the scariest movie I've ever seen because after Patrick I couldn't watch scary movies."

In the new Patrick, the nurse is played by Vinson and the creepy doctor by Charles Dance. As the matron, Griffiths was thrilled to meet a "gruesome end".

Different again for Griffiths last year was shooting a role in Saving Mr Banks, about Walt Disney's attempts to convince Australian author P.L. Travers to let him turn Mary Poppins into a movie. Starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, and with an Oscar-friendly January release date, it's a big deal movie.

But for Griffiths it was just "a small, drop-in role".

"I'm playing a fragment of a memory of an idea of a notion of a child's view of the past. So it was nice to be part of it, but it wasn't a big deal for me."

Between acting gigs, she's also been developing two TV ideas she hopes will find a home on the US cable networks: "They're very American, quite paranoid, convoluted propositions."

Sharni Vinson eyes more action in Hollywood

Aussie actress Sharni Vinson / Pic: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

With physical roles in Step Up 3D, Blue Crush 2 and Bait already on her CV, stunt-loving starlet Sharni Vinson has a well-thought-out career plan to be Hollywood's next action heroine.

The first step is You're Next, a gritty home invasion flick already dubbed the horror movie of the year ahead of its August release that has the Shire-raised beach babe playing an axe and knife-wielding survivalist.

"Action for me is like second nature," Vinson told Confidential. "I was an athlete growing up and then acting took over. And when I shot Step Up, it was a five and half month period of intense activity.

"It gave me a really clear vision of where I want to go in this business. I do see a gap right now for the next female action star because, you have Angelina (Jolie) and Kate Beckinsale and Jennifer Garner, but they're mums now, so there is a gap for someone younger to come through."s and that's where I'm hoping to go. That's my niche."

Herculean effort from Twilight star Kellan Lutz

Kellan Lutz with Sharni Vinson. Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Honorary Sydneysider and Twilight hunk Kellan Lutz has landed a breakout role, nabbing the lead in the upcoming multimillion-dollar action epic Hercules 3D.

Lutz, the long-time boyfriend of Shire gal Sharni Vinson, beat out a slew of other actors for the role.

Director Renny Harlin will begin filming the $70 million flick in Bulgaria next month.

"It takes more than a good physique to portray the most legendary, mythological personality in history, and Kellan has exactly that: personality," Harlin told The Hollywood Reporter.

Vinson recently completed the Aussie horror flick Patrick opposite Rachel Griffiths.

Animated films a hit at the box office, but Gold Coast-made Bait slow to lure audiences

Lincoln Lewis stars as a shark-averter in Bait 3D. Picture: Courtesy of Arclight Films Source: news.com.au

Neala Johnson, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Sharks in a supermarket thriller Bait has put a dampener on Australia's run of locally-made, widely-released movie hits.

After The Sapphires enjoyed a bonzer $2.3 million opening weekend off 279 screens nationwide in August, Kath & Kimderella followed up earlier this month by topping the box office chart with $2 million off 285 screens.

Bait’s opening weekend has landed it at No.10 with $365,187 off 283 screens, at a lacklustre average of $1290 per screen. (In comparison, new release kids’ title Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Dog Days took an average of $4132 off 236 screens for a total gross of $975,087.)

Bait, shot in 3D on the Gold Coast, stars rising young Aussies Xavier Samuel, Sharni Vinson, Lincoln Lewis and Phoebe Tonkin, all of whom have career heat in Hollywood.

The high-concept movie had some heat of its own, being selected to premiere at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.

Queenslander Lewis was on ground to promote Bait at several pre-release Q&A screenings, but leading man Samuel was unavailable to local distributor Paramount for promotion, busy on set in the US filming Plush with Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke.

The next Aussie film to open wide will be Mental on October 4.

The comedy, which reunites Muriel’s Wedding writer-director PJ Hogan with star Toni Collette, is expected to open on nearly 230 screens.

School holiday flicks ruled this past weekend at the cinemas, with Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted holding on to top spot with $2.6 million and Adam Sandler’s animated comedy Hotel Transylvania opening at No.2 with $1.3 million.

The Sapphires is finally falling after seven weeks of release, down to No.8 with a $441,029 weekend. It has grossed $12.7 million.

Kath & Kimderella also fell, down 49 per cent to take $558,184 on its third weekend, for a total of $4.8 million.

Rachel Griffiths lets her hair down at home

Rachael Griffiths at the South Pacific Opening Night. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis, Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

Moving home appears to be agreeing with Rachel Griffiths.

The Brothers & Sisters favourite was one hot mamma on Saturday night, rocking the red carpet at the season opening of South Pacific in Melbourne with a new look and noticeably longer tresses.

Having relocated her family from the US last year after 10 years abroad and following the axing of family favourite Brothers & Sisters, the 43-year-old has been settling in down south, appearing in the well-received The Julian Assange Story, currently filming Paper Giants: Magazine Wars and soon to start work on remake Patrick with Sharni Vinson.

"It's nice to be Australian again," Griffiths said recently.

And it's working for her, too.

But the Six Feet Under star said strutting the red carpet was one of the most least-favourite things to do.

"I don't know any actor who does (like the red carpet)," she said. "It's an assault, those flashbulbs, you're hoping you're not sweating. What I do as an actor is inhabit people and hopefully express quite delicate human states, and that doesn't have a lot to do with red carpet. But I've always enjoyed being pregnant on the red carpet because you have a free pass!"

Sharni's Twilight hunk Kellan Lutz on his way

Loved up: Sharni Vinson and Kellan Lutz are expected to jet into Sydney this week. Picture: Splash Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The Sunday Telegraph reports

Things are heating up between Twilight hunk Kellan Lutz and his Aussie actor girlfriend Sharni Vinson.

The LA-based pair are expected to jet into Sydney to catch up with her family and attend the opening of The Star's Marquee nightclub tonight.

It will be Lutz's second visit here with Vinson, the last being over Christmas when they celebrated the festive season with her family in Cronulla.

"I've never seen Sharni happier," a friend said of Vinson, who played Cassie Turner on Home And Away for nearly four years before trying her luck in Tinseltown.

She and Lutz, famous for playing vampire Emmett Cullen in the Twilight series of films, have been together for almost a year.

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.

Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker touches down in Melbourne

The Daily Telegraph reports

AN international airline crisis couldn't keep Sarah Jessica Parker away from visiting Australia for the first time.

The Sex And The City superstar touched down in Melbourne this morning after her flight was changed from Qantas to Emirates at the eleventh hour last night.

The 46-year-old, who is travelling without her family, arrived with a personal entourage of seven and headed straight to her suite at Crown Casino.

She will skip the Cup tomorrow to attend at a press conference for her new romcom I Don't Know How She Does It before attending Oaks Day on Thursday.

The fashion icon was looking decidedly un-Carrie upon arrival as she climbed from her plane and into a waiting limo wearing a black and white long-sleeved cotton T-shirt, lumpy grey woollen wrap and loose hair.

With her world-class fashion entourage at hand, we can expect a major transformation before her press conference tomorrow.

The Qantas shutdown also stranded a slew of other celebrities due to touch down in Australia this week.

But thanks to some quick-thinking tour managers and publicists - not to mention corporate credit cards capable of taking a $25,000 first class airfare - most of them made it into the air at last.

This is how the flight schedule for the big stars en route to Oz is faring:

Kim and Khloe Kardashian

Not due to leave New York until tonight, the ubiquitous reality TV sisters are on standby, with organisers of their Sydney trip hoping Qantas will revoke its flight freeze in time.

A "plan B'' is ready to be put into action.

The pair are to attend a party at Hugo's in Kings Cross on Wednesday night.

Joan Collins

The Golden Globe winner is due to appear at Melbourne Town Hall on Wednesday night for her A Night With Joan sell-out show, which is an intimate and anecdotal retelling of her life.

"Everything is on track,'' a source said yesterday. She will appear at Oaks Day on Thursday and in Sydney next Tuesday.

Sharni Vinson

The former Home And Away star is one lucky gal, having flown in from her LA home early to visit family. She was renegotiating her Qantas flight to Melbourne from Brisbane to attend the Swisse Marquee at tomorrow's Melbourne Cup.

Kings of Leon

Stranded in South Africa last night, where they were touring, the Tennessee rockers were hoping to get into Sydney early for a few days off before their first of nine Australian tour kicks off on Friday night at Allphones Arena.

The tour was originally slated for March but was pushed back after drummer Nathan Followill had surgery on a torn bicep, so a second postponement would be disastrous for fans.