GDAY LA

Australians out in force in LA
January 17, 2005

G'Day Los Angeles

Australian star power has invaded the heart of Los Angeles, with Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Delta Goodrem, Julian McMahon and Holly Valance coming together to celebrate the launch of Australia Week.
"I think it's really just an excuse to get loaded," Gibson said with a wink as he chatted on the red carpet, sandwiched in between two other Australian Academy Award winners - Kidman and Rush.
It was a night of glamour and good old gossip.
Would Kidman turn up with reported new boyfriend, millionaire Hollywood producer Steve Bing?
No she did not. Her sister Antonia was her official date.
Would Goodrem bring her reported new beau, Irish singer Bryan McFadden.
No. But what's going on? Is there romance with the Irishman?
Goodrem, who reportedly just came back from a holiday with McFadden and is launching a music career in the US, hinted there could be something to the rumours.
When asked if there was a romance with McFadden she cryptically said: "We're very good friends and it's just very early days."
There were whispers on the red carpet of another scandal with Goodrem.
Would Goodrem and Valance, caught up earlier this year in the Mark Philippoussis-Paris Hilton scandal, come face-to-face at the event?
Sure. But it was all pleasant between the former Neighbours co-stars.
"I can't wait to have a drink with her," Valance said.
The bash was the second annual Penfolds Black Tie Gala, organised to honour Gibson, Kidman and Australian country music star Keith Urban for their achievements on the international stage.
The gala was the glitzy opener for Australia Week - a week-long festival in Los Angeles to put the spotlight on Australian entertainers, business, art, food, wine and other Australian-made endeavours.
The event at the LA's Century Plaza Hotel was a sell-out. All 1200 tickets were snapped up, with tickets being sold on internet auction site eBay for a $US1000 ($1300) each.
The 48-year-old New York-born Gibson, who cemented his spot as one of the most powerful men in Hollywood with his controversial box office hit film The Passion of The Christ, said he still carried an Australian passport and considered himself an Aussie.
"My formative years were there," said Gibson, who spent most of his youth growing up in Australia.
"I was educated there and I went to drama there and my artistic endeavour developed there."
Kidman was also waving an Australian flag.
Although honoured to receive the award on Saturday night, Kidman had her mind on a trip to tsunami-ravaged Indonesia as part of her role as an ambassador for UNICEF.
She leaves next Tuesday with Antonia. The visit will include a tour of the most devastated areas of Indonesia.
"We are going to the places that need the most help and then [in] Jakarta we will be doing a press conference after that," Kidman said.
"This is what UNICEF asked me to do. I'm their ambassador and I am very passionate about children and my sister is too and so you feel like it is your duty.
"That's what I'll be talking about in my speech at the gala. It's not a self congratulatory thing.
"It's more about all of us as group and feeling proud to be Australian.

"I think what's so amazing about Australians is that we were the highest donators in terms of per person, which is amazing and something we should all be proud of."
Kidman is nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress in a drama for Birth, but she does not give herself a chance at all.
The red-haired actress is cheering for another Australian, Cate Blanchett, who is the favourite for the best supporting actress in The Aviator.
"I don't give myself much of a chance," she said.
"I really hope Cate wins. I think she will."

Urban, a country and western sensation, with more than five million album sales internationally, was starstruck.

"It just goes to show how much talent comes from Australia," said Urban, recently nominated for two Grammy Awards.

"You just have to look down the red carpet."

Australian wine ran freely throughout the night and the guests ate food prepared by Australia's celebrity chef Neil Perry.

Other notable guests were billionaire businessman Rupert Murdoch, Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer, Australian screenwriter of Collateral, Stuart Beattie, Hollywood legend James Garner and a long list of Australian identities including Olivia Newton-John, Melissa George, Cameron Daddo and Simon Baker.

AAP

Our stars shine to fly the flag
Nick Papps
Los Angeles
17jan05

AUSSIE movie stars Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman and country music legend Keith Urban have been honoured at a star-studded Hollywood night.

Less than 24 hours before the Golden Globes, the cream of Aussie acting partied including all our Golden Globe nominees.

Heading the pack was Nicole Kidman, who said she was thrilled to let her hair down with fellow Aussies at the dinner aimed at publicising Australia.

"It's just nice to get together with a lot of Australians and celebrate our country. It's not about me, it's about our country, it's about celebrating our country," she said.

Gibson, whose blockbuster movie The Passion of The Christ was snubbed by the Golden Globes, said he was delighted at the night, which was part of the annual Australia Week promotion in Los Angeles.

"Hey, I feel pretty chuffed that you come to an event like this and you get to see people that you have worked with in the past, who you know of, that perhaps you haven't worked with, and really I just think it's an excuse to have a bit of fun," Gibson said.

"I think it's just an excuse for everyone to get just a little bit hammered and see what other boat people made it here. I came to the one last year and it was a hoot."

Asked about the movie industry, which turned on him because of the so-called anti-Semitism of The Passion, Gibson said: "I think the industry is what you make of it. I can exist in it."

Geoffrey Rush said he found it tough preparing his speech for the night.

"I was preparing the tribute speech and it sort of scared me a bit because I suddenly thought, 'God we (he and Gibson) worked together in 1979 -- that's a quarter of a century ago -- in the theatre in Sydney," he said.

Tonight, Rush will find out if he has won best actor in a television movie at the Golden Globes, but last night he said it was pretty good just to be nominated.

Australia's other two Golden Globe hopes, Cate Blanchett and Julian McMahon, were also at the dinner.

Blanchett has been nominated for best supporting actress for The Aviator and McMahon is up for best actor in a television drama.

Other guests included Delta Goodrem, Holly Valance, Simon Baker, Kimberly Joseph, News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch and Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer.

Keith Urban, who was named the Country Music Association's male artist of the year, said he was looking forward to spending more time at home.

"I'd like to get to the point where I could spend my time more evenly between Australia and the US, I haven't been able to do that," he said.

"I really only get home for Christmas. We are going back to tour Australia in February, our first headline tour in about 10 years."

Among the other big names at last night's dinner were several of Gibson's co-stars including James Garner from Maverick, Joely Richardson from The Patriot, Gary Busey from Lethal Weapon, Dennis Farina from Paparazzi and Sam Elliot from We Were Soldiers.

The black tie dinner was sponsored by the Australian Government as part of its Australia Week program to promote Australia to the United States.