Archibald Prize Finalist: Vincent Fantauzzo - Brandon
Archibald Prize 2009: Exhibition
7 March - 24 May 2009
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery Road, The Domain, Sydney NSW 2000
Walters was born to parents Janie and Paul and raised in an indigenous community near Broome, Western Australia. He was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of six, but overcame the cancer after spending a year in a Perth hospital in 2003.
Australia director Baz Luhrmann had been searching for a young indigenous boy to fill the role of “Nullah” for over twelve months when one of the film’s casting directors saw Walters with his father at a Broome swimming pool in 2007; he also responded to an Australia-wide radio callout for auditions. He later received a letter from Luhrmann saying that he was “very, very interested” in him. Walters, who had never before left Western Australia, and a group of other boys who had auditioned for the role were flown to Sydney, New South Wales to attend acting workshops at Fox Studios Australia. He and his family went camping with Luhrmann at Broome’s Eighty Mile Beach, which was when Walters decided to take the role and become involved in the film. When he joined the cast, he had never heard of Nicole Kidman or Hugh Jackman, the film’s stars. Walters had only ever seen a few films, but was nevertheless quoted by Luhrmann as having “natural cinematic chemistry”. (more…)
Movie drives publicity boom
Australia as a travel destination generated as a result of Baz Luhrmann’s movie and Tourism Australia’s campaign has reached a combined audience of more than 580 million people.
Australia (the movie) has ranked number 1 in each of the three weeks since opening in Spain, Sweden and Denmark and still ranks near the top of the box office in other key markets including Germany, France, UK and New Zealand.
Key quotes
“In just one case in the USA an Aussie Specialist travel agent took a group of clients to the movie and by the end of the evening had booked a 50 thousand dollar trip to Australia,” Geoff Buckley, Managing Director, Tourism Australia.
“Tens of millions of people around the world have spent their hard-earned dollars to go to a cinema to see a film that showcases the land and the people of Australia. That is a big win for the country,” Geoff Buckley, Managing Director, Tourism Australia.
Main cast of Australia (2008 film)
Nicole Kidman – Lady Sarah Ashley, an English aristocrat who inherits the cattle station Faraway Downs in Australia
Hugh Jackman – an Australian drover who helps Lady Sarah Ashley move the cattle across the property.
David Wenham – Neil Fletcher, a station manager who plans to take Faraway Downs from Lady Sarah Ashley (more…)