Overdose on Cartier

Naomi Watts looked sensational at the dinner to launch the Cartier exhibition in Canberra at the NGA.

The National Gallery of Australia’s next extraordinary exhibition featuring many of the world’s greatest jewels opens in Canberra on 30 March. Cartier: The Exhibition includes the tiara loaned to Catherine Middleton on her wedding day , a necklace worn by Her Majesty The Queen, Grace Kelly’s engagement ring and Elizabeth Taylor’s ruby and diamond necklace, along with some of the most exquisite pieces from the stunning Cartier Collection.

Below: at the Cartier dinner in Canberra: to launch the exhibition: Countess Zofia Krasicka v. Siecin, Lady Potter AC and Countess Primose Krasicka v. Siecin
For the uninitiated Countess Primose Krasicka is the former Primrose "Pitty Pat" Dunlop who featured in the madcap adventure in Venice when she and her fiance Prince Lorenzo Montesini arrived with the cream of Melbourne society in tow for the pair's expected marriage. At the very last minute Prince Lorenzo got cold feet and ran off with his best man and "life partner" Robert Straub. Straub and Montesini had met whilst doing their National Service during the Vietnam War.
You can read more of Primrose's adventures here.

A 15 year old Murdoch and the groom who eloped with his best man in Venice

Cartier fans and some of their jewels:
The Countess of Cambridge * HM The Queen* Elizabeth Taylor*Grace Kelly*Duchess of Windsor* Dame Nellie Melba

G'day USA

It's that time of the year when the Gum Leaf Mafia gather in Los Angeles for a series of Australian themed events, fashion shows and so on. Last night it was the gala dinner and of course, another opportunity for casino billionaire James Packer to show off his fiancee Mariah Carey, and of course that ring. Here are a couple of short films from the events. And aren't the LA paparazzi just delightful?



And an Only In Australia moment : 2 Weeks ago he was in Washington meeting with US president Barack Obama...just yesterday our newly minted Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull was in Melbourne catching a tram. No police, flashing lights or bodyguards. And no-one noticed.

Naomi Watts & Liev Schreiber host party to save endangered turtles

  Aussie superstar Naomi Watts is currently gracing our TV screens as the face of online Presto in a campaign titled "Demand More", where she embraces the more 'demanding' side of her personality playing an over-the-top version of herself. Her runoured salary is said to be just over $2M

But in New York Naomi and husband Liev Schreiber are giving back to the community. They have just hosted their annual Turtle Ball to aid the Turtle Conservancy which protects threatened turtles and tortoises and their habitats worldwide.
left : Naomi & Liev
And they found support when a host of Hollywood & show biz greats turned up to help raise a whopping $800,000 as our exclusive pics from the event at the  Bowery Hotel show.
 Photographs : Patrick McMullan (c) www.patrickmcmullan.com

Ted Danson                    Helena Christensen                      Bruce Webber                           Richard Branson

Graydon Carter * Griffin Dunne          Shauna Robertson * Edward Norton              Susan Rockefeller *Anna Scott

Robert Kennedy Jnr                              Gina Gershon * Cheryl Hines                       Lynn Goldsmith * Patti Smith

 

When Aussie Stars Arrive

Have you ever been to Cannes. Whispers has several times. During Summer the lovely town is the ideal French resort. Meanwhile the Cannes Film Festival is an experience everyone should have at least once. The whole town is in a party mood and every day is an adventure.

The Cannes Festival may not have invented publicity stunts but producers and publicists sure refined the art at this movie festival where just about anything no matter how outrageous will garner precious column inches throughout the world and in the hundreds of European glossy gossip mags. Here are a selection of two Aussie stars Miranda Kerr and Naomi Watts snapped at several events and this is just the beginning!. On the right is former Oz soapie star Simon Baker arriving at Cannes Airport.
(pics :AgenceFrancaisTele)

Nice Set of Wheels

New York got Daniel Craig when the new Range Rover Evoque was launched earlier this year but we got someone far prettier and a tad taller Jennifer Hawkins who did the honours at a rather swell party at the Overseas Terminal.

On the wharf  with a view directly opposite the Opera House it was the perfect evening. Other 'ambassadors' were on hand-George Gregan and Heidi Middleton who joined 250 guests including Skye Leckie, Tom Waterhouse, Magdalena Roze,  Peter Overton & Jessica Rowe for a cocktail party. You really have to sit in one these cars to appreciate them- pure heaven!

Peter Overton, Jessica Rowe, Heidi Middleton & pal, David Novak-Piper, Neale Whittaker, Magdalene Roze, Darren Robertson

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Here is promotional pic from the new film Diana based upon the last turbulent years of the late Princess Diana.  

Naomi Watts plays Diana and bears an uncanny resemblance to the fated royal as the Shuttle's own snap shows taken on Diana's last visit to Australia in 1996.

Jack Vidgen Grows Up

Jack Vidgen at 16 has survived puberty and still has his voice and amazingly, can still hit those high notes. The then 14 year old whose success on Australia's Got Talent  was sealed with a kiss on the cheek from macho Irishman Brian McFadden is still capitalising on his win and has been working non-stop for the last 2 years,
He still has a little trouble with his hand movements though but he's well on the way to becoming an Oz version of Wayne Newton. Las Vegas beckons.

Here he is at the gala G'Day USA dinner in Los Angeles last week where he sang the Star Spangled Banner for an audience of top Aussies like Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban, Rose Byrne, Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, Paul Hogan, models Elle McPherson and Miranda Kerr , Hugh Jackman, our favourite Qantas pilot John Travolta.

Here's Jack singing in our exclusive video from the event :


 

Vale James Miller.
Popular publican and man about town James Miller has been found dead by friends from a suspected overdose at the young age of 38.
Miller owned some of Sydney's most popular inner-city pubs : The Norfolk in Surry Hills and The Santa Barbara in Kings Cross.
Handsome, outgoing and friendly, Miller was named last year in Fairfax Media's Sydney Magazine as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People.

Our Jackie Does it Again !

She's one of our favourite actors and a friendly sight around Sydney. No airs or graces, down to earth and always happy for a chat :
 Jackie Weaver has done it again and been nominated for an Academy Award for her 'performance by an actress in a supporting role' in Silver Linings Playbook.
Jackie appears opposite heartthrob Bradley Cooper and the legendary Robert Di Niro. 

Hugh Jackman has been nominated for best actor in  "Les Misérables" and Naomi Watts as best actress in "The Impossible".

Kitsch Week in LA

Those social scribes still holding down a job on a tabloid will be heading for Sydney Airport on Monday for one of the best freebies in town- the annual gala week in Los Angeles known as G'Day USA.
It's a government sponsored promotional week where everything Oz gets shown around LA- local fashion designers, wine tastings, tourism events and err, a discussion on the carbon pricing.

The big do of the week is the LA Black Tie Gala dinner where a few Aussies who have done well in the USA get inducted into some sort of Hall of Fame- this year it's Paul Hogan and Rose Byrne and Qantas pilot John Travolta. Guests include usually every actor in LA that week - Guy Pearce, Naomi Watts, Eric Bana, Toni Collette and it wouldn't be a party without Olivia Newton John. Chef for the night is Curtis Stone.

But wait-there's more : also flying to Los Angeles is the World's Richest Woman and the Aussie version of Christina Onassis, Gina Rinehart and her daughter Ginia Rinehart who is the apple of her mum's eye.

Ryan Johnson  * Gina Rinehart  * Ginia Rinehart

Ginia will wed her long time boyfriend in LA- Ryan Johnson who is the son of the legendary Beach Boys' Bruce Johnson.
On the wedding guest list :  Canadian hamburger king Jack Cowin, John Singleton and Barnaby Joyce MP.  Not invited : Gina's estranged children Hope, Bianca and John.

Toronto Film Festival

   Two homegrown talents shine on the red carpet at the Toronto Film Festival. Naomi Watts was there to promote her new flick The Impossible while Abbie Cornish attended the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Toronto International Film Festival Party.
 




Meanwhile in New York , Tasmanian born actress Rachael Taylor attended the Mercedes Fashion Week.

exclusive: Naomi Watts channels Grace Kelly in China

Naomi Watts (wearing Montblanc Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco Fine Jewelry), CEO of Montblanc Lutz Bethge, Nicolas Cage and Jessica Alba

Shuttle pal, the gorgeous actress Naomi Watts attended a party in Shanghai this week and our Chinese operative has sent us some pics of the shindig.

Amber Heard

The Chinese economy is going gangbusters so upmarket label MontBlanc have opened it's largest store in the world in the ritzy Sanlitum area and they bussed in a few Hollywood pals to do the honours including Naomi, Nicholas Cage, Jessica Alba, Amber Heard and assorted Chinese stars including actress Maggie Cheung.

Four sumptuous floors carry all manner of goods like the brand's famous writing pieces, clocks, leather goods and fine jewellery and a range of beautiful watches dedicated to Grace Kelly- the Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco.

Patina Lin Jia-qi

Bianca Bai

 

: Zhang Liang & Patina Lin Jia-qi

Maggie Cheung

Rock Gi & Shatina Chen

Bonnie Chen

 

Aussies Shine At Cannes Film Festival

Brad Pitt with Australian director Scott McNairy & actor Ben Mendelsohn at the Killing Me Softly premiere

Mia Wasikowska at VF

Jean-David Blanc & Melissa George

Li BingBing & Wendi Murdoch at the Vanity Fair party

Naomi Watts at VF

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Naomi Watts Boots Nicole Off Top Spot

Actress Naomi Watts is top of BRW's Young Rich List this
year having been paid $19M for two movies this year which include J.Edgar which opened to poor takings in the US.

Nicole Kidman took a paltry $18.6M by comparison but both ladies beat Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman despite Jackman's box office record breaking run on Broadway. Last year's winners-ACDC received only $9M compared to their whopping $131M takings during their world tour in 2010.

 

And Aussie dinosaurs are still winner Walking With Dinosaurs-the Arena Spectacular took $62M while the radio announcer who many says has dinosaur like views Kyle Sandilands made $3M despite losing millions of dollars in sponsors after his recent outbursts.

Naomi Watts at The NYC Ballet

                               With photographs by Patrick McMullan www.patrickmcmullan.com

When actors Attack! Naomi Watts & Sarah Jessica Parker go for each other's throats

WHILE  her co-star from the film Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio is winning hearts and minds in Sydney on the set of The Great Gatsby, Aussie actress Naomi Watts has been hitting the social circuit in New York. Last week she attended the world premiere of Paul McCartney's Ocean Kingdom for the New York City Ballet 2012 Fall Gala, McCartney's first original orchestral score for dance.

Stella McCartney, Naomi Watts, Sarah Jessica ParkerJessica Seinfeld

Apart from Edgar ( a surety for Oscar nominations ) due for release in 2012, Watts has two films due around the same time -The Impossible and Movie 43 a comedy with Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Uma Thurmann.

Critics haven't been too kind to McCartney with his first ballet score. The Huff Post says it's "a ballet not much worth cheering" and of the A-List opening night crowd "Every single person in that theater ... is there for one reason -- not for the ballet, because of Paul ".

Paul McCartney & Nancy Shevell

The New York Time's says “Ocean’s Kingdom,” is in no way an important addition to the corpus of ballet music, but it deserves a better staging than the one it’s been given by New York City Ballet."

The New York Observer says : "Ocean’s Kingdom is a fairy story with no subtext, no resonance—it’s not about anything except its water-logged plot. " Ouch!. 

James McCartney & Lorne Michaels

Still, the after party was great fun from all reports and that's what matters to us here on the Shuttle.

Dylan Lauren, Ralph Lauren, Ricky Lauren, David Lauren

The event was a family affair with Paul's kids  Stella McCartney and James there to cheer on their dad's show as was soon-to-be bride Nancy Shevell.
 Also on hand, a host of Laurens with the newly married David Lauren and his dad Ralph Lauren.

Paul McCartney takes a bow at the opening night of Ocean Kingdom

All photographs by Patrick McMullan (C) www.patrickmcmullan.com