The long list of former Home and Away stars who have made their name in Hollywood includes Chris Hemsworth, Naomi Watts, Guy Pearce, Heath Ledger, Simon Baker, Isla Fisher and Melissa George. Now Jessica McNamee has landed a starring role opposite Jason Statham in a big Warner Bros shark thriller, Meg, about a giant ancient species called the Megalodon that has supposedly survived deep in the ocean. The movie centres on an international underwater observation team, led by Chinese scientists, which has a deep-sea submersible attacked at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Variety reports it is being directed by Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) and is the latest of many recent collaborations between Hollywood and China. McNamee, who has also been in Packed to the Rafters and the American TV comedy series Sirens, recently played Margaret Court in the coming movie Battle of the Sexes, about the famous 1970s tennis match between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell). She's also in the action comedy CHiPs.
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And in more news from Australian film ...
Literary role for Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson is to star in The Professor and the Madman. Photo: Rocket K Weijers
With the Australian-American war movie Hacksaw Ridge having a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival next month, Mel Gibson has a new acting role. With his directing duties almost over, he is due to star with Sean Penn in The Professor and the Madman, about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gibson has been developing the movie since snapping up the film rights to a book by Simon Winchester way back in 1998. He will play Professor James Murray, who set about compiling the dictionary in 1857, with Penn as Dr W. C. Minor, who submitted more than 10,000 entries while in an asylum for the criminally insane. The film will be directed by writer Farhad Safinia (Apocalypto). Hacksaw Ridge, which stars Andrew Garfield as a conscientious objector who became a World War II hero, was shot in Sydney with a cast that included Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Sam Worthington and Vince Vaughn. Gibson was at the Sydney Film Festival in June for the premiere of the thriller Blood Father, which opens on September 1.
Change of pace for Forsythe
With the black comedy Down Under headed for a gala screening at Melbourne International Film Festival on Saturday then opening next week, director Abe Forsythe has been working on a new script. "It would be so hard to make but it would be so much fun," he tells Short Cuts. "It involves a kindergarten class so there are 10 children in a genre you wouldn't normally see kids in because you'd be worried about their safety. But it's a comedy." While keeping further details to himself about two scripts he is considering shooting next, Forsythe figures he needs a break from hot button issues after Down Under, which tackles racism with a story that takes place the day after Sydney's infamous Cronulla riots in 2005.
Thor supports Indigenous talent
Taika Waititi is directing Thor: Ragnarok in Queensland. Jason Bpoui
Kiwi director Taika Waititi, whose Hunt for the Wilderpeople has now cracked $10 million in Australian cinemas, has impressed with his enthusiasm for taking on Indigenous attachments for the Thor: Ragnarok shoot in Queensland. "Being Maori, it's extremely important to me to have native presence on any film," he says. "We're bringing a huge Hollywood production to this country and it's only right that we make an effort to include Indigenous filmmakers on the journey." With Chris Hemsworth returning as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk and Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Screen Australia's Indigenous department says the movie has Cornel Ozies and The Sapphires' Shari Sebbens as director's attachments, Kodie Bedford in stunts, Mitchell Stanley in set decorating and four other Indigenous attachments.
Whiplash star takes Greek odyssey
J.K. Simmons and Maria Kavoyianni in Worlds Apart.
In a very different role from his brutal music teacher in Whiplash, a new film starring Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons will open the Greek Film Festival in October. He features in one of three love stories between a Greek and a foreigner in the romantic drama Worlds Apart from actor-director Christopher Papakaliatis, who had a hit in Greece with 2012's What If. In Sydney, the festival is at Palace Norton Street from October 11 to 23. In Melbourne, it's at Palace Cinema Como from October 12 to 23.
Jason Bourne really is back
While the reviews have been mixed, the latest Bourne movie has had a strong opening in Australian cinemas. After a promotional tour by stars Matt Damon and Alicia Vikander, Jason Bourne took $7.7 million on the weekend, with an impressive average of almost $14,000 a cinema. Violinist and conductor Andre Rieu was also a drawcard, with his 2016 Maastricht Concert taking $1.4 million, almost as much as Star Trek Beyond's $1.7 million on its second weekend. Finding Dory reached $47.6 million, which puts it on the verge of overtaking Crocodile Dundee's $47.7 million to become the 10th highest grossing movie in this country. And as it widened from 41 to 62 cinemas, Australian outback drama Goldstone reached $726,000.
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