Box Office Bonanza

As if to prove Whispers' point in our last post mentioning a low budget film we are working on, a

perfect example occurs to prove powerful Hollywood film producer Cassian Elwes' belief in the big profits to be made on small films.

And taking the box office by storm the flick also stars two Australian actors. Annabelle: Creation is the tale of a couple who welcome a Nun and six orphaned girls into their California farmhouse. But terror soon strikes the house when one child enters a forbidden room.
Directed by Swede David Sandberg the film stars Miranda Otto and Anthony LaPaglia. It was released in Australia on the 10th August and is a smash hit.
Costing a reasonable $15M , the picture has already taken over $71M at the box office. 
Below is a trailer for the film.
    UPDATE : Worldwide takings for Annabelle: Creation are now:  

$215,080,384

A Night For Awards

the Emmy's kick off this morning in Los Angeles with two Australians up for awards : Nicole Kidman for her portrayal of Martha Gellhorn in the film Hemingway and Gellhorn while the reclusive Judy Davis ('best actress in the world' :Woody Allen) will be attending to see if she picks up the Best Supporting Actress gong in the political drama Page Eight.

Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn with co-star Clive Owen

Trevor Ashley : Diamonds Are For Trevor

In the evening the stars of the Australian stage and local Hollywood types will gather at the Sydney Opera House for the Helpmann Awards. The Shuttle will be on hand to see if the brilliant rising drag star Trevor Ashley picks up an award for his superb show Diamonds Are For Trevor while Tim Minchin is nominated for Best Comedy performance.

Judy Davis' husband Colin Freils may get Best Actor in A Play for Red and no Sydney theatre event is worth it's salt without either Cate Blanchett in attendance or getting a Best Actress Award as she may for her role in Gross Und Klein. And Miranda Otto should be there along with the Otto clan including dad Barry Otto ('best actor in the world' : John Gielgud). Miranda has been nominated in the supporting role in The White Guard.

Bruce Beresford has been nominated for his direction of the opera Mice And Men.
Prince, Kylie Minogue, Foof Fighters, Sade and Keith Urban have all been nominated in various categories.
For the full list go to the Helpmann Awards website and check back at the social shuttle later tonight.

Gatsby Gaff #2, Rupert & Lord Leveson

It was a tremendous relief last month when Rupert Murdoch, after calling former British PM Gordon Brown "unbalanced', informed Robert Jay QC at the Leveson Enquiry in London that :
 "I take a particularly strong pride in the fact that we have never pushed our commercial interests in our newspapers".

far left-"Barry Otto" and centre Leo Di Caprio

It's certainly a mere co-incidence that Sydney's Daily Telegraph (prop: R.Murdoch) has been at the fore-front of some marvellous scoops about the 3D epic Great Gatsby, being filmed right now at Fox Studios (prop : R.Murdoch) and that the flick is largely funded by Fox Studios and former Fox Studios boss Kim Williams has just taken the helm as CEO of News Ltd.

"Barry Otto" & Leo Di Caprio

The Daily Terror has been able to obtain extraordinary access to filming and produced some fantastic picture essays on the 1920s epic through sheer ingenuity.

Jeff Duff

One that featured in our favourite show-biz pages Sydney Confidential scored this fine scoop in November last year with the headline:
Manly man Leonardo DiCaprio unmoved by decadence :"He came, he stood, stared and brooded as a little bit of Manly was transformed into a roaring 1920s Long Island party mansion early yesterday." referring to the magnificent St Paul's Catholic College on the headland at Manly that is standing in as a Long Island mansion.

the acting Ottos: Miranda, Barry & Gracie

So secure is the College that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban chose it for their nuptials, knowing the paparazzi would be kept at bay. Not so the intrepid snappers from News Ltd who brought us a colourful spread of one of Gatsby's legendary parties with the words :

 "The Great Gatsby director Baz Luhrmann conducted the epically decadent scene - ironically in an old Catholic seminary - with a full-force cast including Tobey Maguire and Barry Otto, seen here resplendent in red jacket above Maguire...referring to the above photos.

Alas-actor Barry Otto (once described by Sir John Gielgud as the 'greatest actor in the world') features not. The man resplendent in red jacket is our dear friend singer Jeff Duff , as we exclusively reported in September 2011 who director Baz Luhrman lured to the production to play an eccentric friend of Gatsby's.

Wendi & Rupert at the launch of Fox Studios

They really should, as several London tabloids do, read the Shuttle every day.


## The Shuttle was in the opening crowd at the launch of Fox Studios many moons ago as Hollywood star after star walked the red carpet. When we spied the Greatest Ever Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch with wife Wendi amongst the celebrating guests we approached him for an interview.

"Certainly " said Rupert.."where are you from?". Informing him of our then employer, a rival tabloid amongst the 30% of Australian publications not owned by Murdoch, he said "well f*ck off then!"

Another Day..Another AACTA

a red dog

This is becoming repetitive. Not a week seems to go by without a new film award. Just a few days ago Geoffrey Rush was in Los Angeles helping hand out AACTA gongs to the Gumleaf Mafia and LA locals like Meryl Streep. That was followed by the SAG Awards a few days later.

Cate Blanchett shines

Miranda Kerr

Megan Gale

Last night he looked bright eyed and bushy tailed at the Sydney Opera House handing out more AACTAs to those in the local film industry.
He had some help from colleague Cate Blanchett. Actually that is the Samsung AACTA Awards. It's the re-incarnation of the Australian Film Awards and Samsung have put a hefty sum behind the whole deal hence the media were invited inside to the Opera House instead of being, as is film publicist's wont, bundled into some pen alongside the red carpet out in the elements. So we in the meejah are now very fond of Samsung and almost as happy as actor Simon Baker who keeps popping up on television promoting Samsung products for a reputed $3M a year.

The "Australian equivalent of the Oscars" went off without a hitch and anyone who has done anything in an Aussie film was there including some who haven't like Miranda Kerr. And there was a bar for the media.

The big winner was the film Red Dog judged Best Film. It's a charming feel good movie that was inexpensive to make which should delight the producers as not only has it been a box office success, animals don't get residuals.

The LaPaglia Brothers

And Judy Davis-who Woody Allen reckons is the "best actress in the world" won Best Actress for Eye Of The Storm which is based on the book by the crankiest ever Nobel Prize winner Patrick White. Olivia Newton John, Anthony La Paglia and Magda Szubanski were there as was  Shutle pal Jaqui Weaver who was up for an Oscar last year. She spent a few hours regailing us in the bar and roaring with laughter over some very risque tales of Jacqui's after Oscar party experiences, plus Claudia Karvan who is still having difficult recalling how the Shuttle bounced her on our knee in her dad's bar Athurs in Kings Cross (innocently of course!) when she was seven. Miranda Otto and her sis Gracie Otto and their dad Barry Otto attended. And Barry is the man that Sir John Gielgug once said was the best actor in the world.

SNOWTOWN picked up a gong and qute right too. It's a pretty gruesome true life tale but well made and  based on the shocking serial murders where ten bodies were found dumped in barrels of acid n a disused bank vault in Snowton in South Australia.  Done wonders for the tourism trade I'm told.

The 2011 Robert Helpmann Awards

Marina Prior

So You Think You Can Dance judge Jason Coleman

To the Sydney Opera House for the Helpmann Awards, recognition for local theatre, musical theatre, opera, dance and music.          

Geoffrey Rush at the Helpmanns

Barry Otto adores his daughters-Miranda Otto & Gracie

The new musical Mary Poppins picked up the most awards including best musical, Stephen Mear and Mathew Bourne for best choreography, Richard Eyre and Matthew Bourne-direction, Philip Quast for best supporting actor, best actress for Verity Hunt-Ballard and best actor for Matt Lee.

Our favourite Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush picked up best actor in a play for  The Diary of a Madman which also earned Rush's great pal Neil Armfield the best director award and best original score for Alan John.


Cate Blanchett won best actress in a play for her role in Uncle Vanya produced by the Sydney Theatre Company.

International acts who won awards for their appearances in Australia-Leonard Cohen and Sir Simon Rattle and the

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's for their performances at Sydney Opera House and the Perth Concert Hall.

Rock of Ages cast Melanie Hawkins Michael Falzon and Ellen Sutton

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Aussie actress and model, gorgeous Cheyenne Tozzi (left) was out in New York last week at a screening of  "The Whistleblower" at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, hosted by The Cinema Society and DeLeon.

pic by Patrick McMullan  www.patrickmcmullan.com

The Successful Otto Clan

Gracie

Gracie Otto comes from Australian acting royalty. Her dad is the respected actor Barry Otto (John Gielgud once said he was one of the best actors in the world) and big sis is Miranda Otto who appeared in the Lord of The Rings trilogy.

Miranda

Now Gracie's debut film as a director, Seamstress staring Barry, Julie Forsyth and the leggy Mink Sadowsky will premier at the prestige Palm Springs International Film Festival. Described as detective mystery drama, Seamstress tells the tale of a man ( Otto) who become obsessed with the gorgeous seamstress who lives next door.

Seamstress opens at the Festival on June 21st. The Shuttle would love to be there but we have an appointment that day with Dame Edna Everage at the Black & White charity Women of Achievement event !.

Jack Black

                                      **************************************

Lucy Lui

Kung Fu Panda 2 premiered last night at the Hoyts Complex in George Street, Sydney with Jack Black, Lucy Lui and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg in attendance.

Earth to Fairfax Newspapers....

When a snapper telephones your news desk at around 12.30 am with a pic they believe may be off interest-having your phones diverted to the security office doesn't quite seem de rigeur for a major newspaper.

But who are we to tell accountants how to run a news organisation ?

Whilst the assembled paparazzi and tabloid photographers waited outside to get the snap of the stars of "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the after show party, the Shuttle swept in and here they are:  Cate Blanchett and Joel Edgerton with director Liv Ullmann.

Fortunately the Shuttle's US agent is on hand 24 hours a day and had shifted 12 pics within the hour-even as far as China !

One of the reasons why your 120 year old empire is stumbling is because bean counters don't know how to run newspapers. Perhaps that's why 6 months ago as you let one of your most experienced journalists Annette Sharp sit around twiddling her thumbs when she returned from maternity leave wasting her talent,she was snapped up by the Daily Telegraph's Sydney Confidential.

Sharp pulled off a major coup this week when major  Hollywood box office star Russell Crowe challenged her to a bike ride contest to Bondi complete with cameras and the story has been syndicated to newspapers worldwide.

Sounds like false economy if you won't consider allowing experienced newsmen to call the shots instead of accountants who have presided over a plunge in profits in the last year.

But enough of moi-"A Streetcar Named Desire" is simply amazing and the 2 stars-Blanchett and Edgerton shine. Ullmann's direction is superb. Don't even try to get a seat-it's a sell out. If you want to catch the show you will have to travel to Washington or New York later this year-but book now.

And along tonight to support Blanchett and Edgerton-2 pals building great careers in the USA, the gorgeous  Miranda Otto (above) and Rose Byrne with actors Damian Walshe-Howling & Nash Edgerton.