Our latest shining lights

August 15, 2005
The Sun-Herald
Kate Beahan.

Kate Beahan.
Photo: Jon Lindsay

Judy, Nic, Naomi and Cate may have come before them and conquered, but do Australia's new wave of leading ladies have what it takes to succeed on the silver screen, Christine Sams asks.

They are the new wave of glamorous Australian women, fuelled by talent and ambition, in the midst of climbing their way to the top of the US film industry. And they'll do anything to make their mark in Hollywood.

"Is it ambition or insanity?" asks actor Kate Beahan, with a laugh.

The Perth-raised Beahan, who lived in Sydney for the past five years before moving to Los Angeles, is refreshingly honest and insightful about what it takes to be one of Australia's hottest new stars in Hollywood.

And there's no doubting her current "it girl" credentials: Beahan was heading to Vancouver to work with Nicolas Cage on The Wicker Man last week when she spoke to S. Her role opposite Cage follows a supporting role in Flightplan starring Jodie Foster (out in Australia later this year) and an appearance with Sarah Michelle Gellar in a yet-to-be-named thriller later this year.

They're the big Hollywood names and large-scale films which make Beahan part of a rising clique of new Australian stars overseas. Think of Radha Mitchell and Rose Byrne - who have already made enormous inroads to success, but haven't quite cracked a big, stand-alone breakthrough role. Or even Melissa George and Isla Fisher - the soapie stars turned serious actors, who are now being considered as "women most likely" by the industry's big league.

Then there are the unknown quantities such as Abbie Cornish from Somersault and 16-year-old Emily Browning (who starred in Jim Carrey's Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events), who may just crack the code to Hollywood superstardom.

Despite their achievements in Australia, many of those women will admit they had stars in their eyes about the prospect of working in the US, plus a steely resolve to find Hollywood success. Mitchell, who has starred alongside Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland and Colin Farrell in Phone Booth, gained early red carpet exposure at the Cannes and Venice film festivals after appearing in the independent Australian film Love And Other Catastrophes. Call it flashbulb fever, but Mitchell candidly admitted, "I became aware of what the potential was - the kind of life you could have.

"I had an objective: to go to America."

Upon arrival in LA, it's obvious there's a formula involved in international success: for every Oscar-winning Nicole Kidman there are about 10,000 women waiting tables, queuing for auditions and generally trying everything possible to find fame. Even the scent of LA is a mixture of car fumes and desperation.

Rose Byrne arrives for the world premiere of Troy in Berlin.

Rose Byrne arrives for the world premiere of Troy in Berlin.

Rose Byrne, who cosied up to Brad Pitt in Troy, was not shy about revealing the reality behind her own first forays into the Hollywood scene. "The worst was the time I spent in Los Angeles, which runs on bullshit and cliches," she said. "But then, it's really easy to diss the place. The physical environment of LA is really beautiful. It's actually kinda fun, too, if you're working. It's just not really fun if you're not working and you don't know anybody."

For Australian actors like Beahan who have scored a big break or two in the past year, the "overnight" success is actually based on a lot of hard graft over several years.

Hard work was something the 30-year-old actor expected, given the competitiveness of the film industry (and the multimillion-dollar rewards at the top of the tree), but even Beahan says the slog went well beyond her expectations.

"I don't think I anticipated quite how hard it would be," she says. "I always expected it would take some hard work, but I couldn't believe it . . . I was just exhausted by the time I got my first job [in Hollywood]. I was mostly relieved that I had gotten a job, because I had auditioned so much and worked so hard."

Of course, now that the rewards are starting to kick in (as with any other big-league career), all the hard work seems worth it. Former Home And Away actor Isla Fisher, who recently returned to Sydney to promote her film The Wedding Crashers with Owen Wilson, was openly thrilled about her entry into the world of big-budget comedy."It's just fun to play a character," she said of her role in the film. "I wouldn't want to do something as myself; I wouldn't feel confident. It is dress-ups, essentially."

But beyond dress-ups, Beahan says for any actor trying to gain a foothold in the industry there is an enormous level of determination involved - something that has given her a new-found respect for the tenacity and behind-the-scenes work ethic of established stars such as Naomi Watts, Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman.

"You have to be made of very tough stuff," she says. "On one hand you're required to develop a very thick skin here and really toughen up. But on the other hand, as actors and creative people our job is to have our emotions available to us and close to the surface. That's a real paradox and I have found that's quite a difficult thing to balance."

Beahan, who appeared with Eric Bana in Chopper and scored a US agent soon afterwards, spent four years auditioning for Hollywood roles and often travelled between Sydney and Los Angeles for auditions.

"There is so little glamour, really," says Beahan. "I always had tremendous respect for the ones who have gone before us because they've made our job easier, for the Australians who are starting to work here now. Naomi [Watts] particularly, because it was such a steep and long climb for her. She's amazing.

"Nicole really pioneered stuff in a way. I think Judy Davis and Greta Scacchi, if we can claim her as our own, plus Nicole . . . they were really were breaking into the market a long time before Australians were in vogue."

While the popularity of "the kangaroo mafia" in Hollywood was a phenomenon in its own right a few years ago, Beahan says it's now a level playing field, where being Australian is not necessarily seen as a bonus or a quirky feature. But the early success of Australian stars has opened the floodgates for everyone else.

"I don't think any longer that it's particularly cool or that people will consciously employ an Australian simply because they're Australian," says Beahan. "The sheen has worn off a bit. It's lost that glamorous edge, because there are so many of us," she says, with a laugh. "I apologise to the ones who went before because now there is just this massive influx of Australians."

The presence of Australian women in big-budget projects is undeniably on the increase, with an impressive array of projects lined up for actors including Beahan, Byrne (who is in Sofia Coppola's new film Marie Antoinette with Judy Davis) and Mitchell. But whether any of the women currently staking their claim in the big league will reach the heights of fame of Kidman, Watts and Blanchett is anybody's guess.

If there's any certainty surrounding our latest batch of talented women gaining attention overseas, it's that they'll continue striving towards the top.

"One has to have a very strong desire to work with the best people [in the world]," says Beahan. "I have always had a strong sense of direction.

"Anyone I admire has not always had hit films throughout their career, but they're kind of inspiring because they keep going."

Beahan says working with established A-list stars such as Jodie Foster and Nicolas Cage means she can continually learn from other actors, especially when it comes to finding longevity within the Hollywood scene.

"I ask them lots of questions - I don't get star struck, I just get on with it," says Beahan. "But that's very Australian. We all just get on with it."
