Showcards: Viviens Model Management (women) - MBFWA SS 13/14

courtney eaton via viviens model management

Abbey Lee Kershaw has been MIA on the runways since taking some time off after shooting George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road in Namibia last year. But one of her Mad Max co-stars will be at MBFWA next month: Courtney Eaton, who heads up the womens’ show pack from Sydney agency Viviens Model Management.

MGM/Columbia/Sony and Tom Ford take product placement to a new level at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony

machdwallpapers.com via skyfall official/sony pictures

The pièce de résistance of the just-wrapped, Danny Boyle-directed London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony was undoubtedly the pre-taped scene in which British actor Daniel Craig, in character as James Bond 007, got to live out his 'On her Majesty's secret service' mandate by meeting real-life Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. After a few corgi cameos, the  duo then embarked on an amusing, mocked-up chopper ride and paraglider "drop" into the Olympic stadium. This time, of course, it wasn't quite so secret, with the ceremony watched by an estimated one billion. Craig looked ultra sharp, in an impeccably–tailored tuxedo (below) that would have been a fabulous plug for one of Britain's greatest sartorial exports – bespoke Savile Row tailoring. But was it British tailoring – or American?

Girls on film: Abbey Lee Kershaw on the set of Mad Max 4

newscom via TFS

Not much came from the might-be-working-with-Steven Spielberg Chinese whisper, but the speculation wasn't too far from the truth: Abbey Lee Kershaw has joined the cast of Mad Max 4: Fury Road. Following months of anonymous tip offs, Kershaw's Australian modelling agency Chic Management has confirmed to frockwriter that she has indeed been cast in the film and is currently on set in Namibia's Dorob National Park. And now the first photographic evidence.

The Great Gatsby - the trailer

atthecinema.net

Five months after the release of the first official stills from Baz Lurhmann's latest extravaganza The Great Gatsby - a US$127million 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's jazz age classic - comes the first trailer (below). Shot in Sydney at Fox Studios, the film stars Leonardo di Caprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire, alongside a swag of Aussies, from Joel Edgerton to Isla Fisher, Vince Colosimo, Barry Otto, Max Cullen and model-turned-thesp Gemma Ward. The countdown to the Christmas release is now on. 

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides trailer

screen cap/pirates of the caribbean: on stranger tides trailer/disney

Minutes ago, the much-awaited Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides trailer was released online, offering not only the first proper look at the fourth instalment of Disney's swashbuckling pirate franchise, but a glimpse at Australian model-turned-actor Gemma Ward in her fourth film role, as a mermaid. In fact it offers two glimpses of Ward. And she looks a little cranky in one of them. We'll have to wait until May 20 2011 to see the rest. Amusingly, Yahoo's much-touted "world premier" of the clip was beaten by a mystery YouTube channel (possibly connected to Disney), after Yahoo's trailer failed to fire at 8.00am AEDT. Here is the trailer:

Girls (and boys) on film

OK so as already mentioned, the Cycle 6 launch of Australia’s Next Top Model is tonight at 7.30pm on Fox 8. In what is shaping up to be a jam-packed model doco/film fortnight, 7.00pm tonight also sees a Sydney screening of the 2009 film Tiger, from the Sydney Beaufort collective that is (also as previously reported) headed up by Sydney actor/producer/comedian James McFay. Check the Facebook page for details - or watch this live stream, above. The film, a love story about two models in Tokyo, has had a number of screenings already, including one in LA, with a DVD launch in Sydney in March. This time it's being presented in collaboration with Anina Trepte’s 360 Fashion network. Then on the 23rd and 28th of July, the Melbourne International Film Festival will present two screenings of Picture Me (trailer below), made by model Sara Ziff and her partner Ole Schell.

A breast man: Tom Ford on "becoming post-human" and "hard" beauty

steven klein for w/tfs

On Tuesday, Tom Ford’s directorial debut, A Single Man, was released on DVD. Although critically-acclaimed, the film made just US$9million at the domestic box office – and, seemed virtually impossible to find on download at the time of release, due to an apparent lack of geek interest. Miramax hopes it will now find its audience. To celebrate the DVD launch, yesterday NPR radio re-broadcast an interview Ford did with NPR’s Fresh Air host Terry Gross back on December 14 last year. Perhaps the original became subsumed by the deluge of publicity Ford did at the time of the film's theatrical release, because this iv does not appear to have travelled far afield. Below is an MP3 of the full 20 minute interview.

Tiah Eckhardt ties the knot, confirms Eres, auditions for X Men

tim bret-day for agent provocateur

Frockwriter must admit that we did a double take when we saw the shots rolling in of last night's Christian Dior Fall/Winter 2009/2010 haute couture show in Paris, which was staged in the grounds of the Rodin Museum. One model appeared to be a dead ringer for Australia's Tiah Eckhardt. The model in question was, in fact, Sweden's Frida Gustavsson (number 24 in this Style.com pic gallery of the show). As it turns out, Eckhardt was otherwise occupied yesterday, and coincidentally in her own garden of earthly delights: marrying her babydaddy Patrick Delaney in front of a small group of friends in the Rose Garden at Centennial Park. The bride wore? Not Dior haute couture, but a vintage strapless white leather minidress. The happy couple may soon be about to celebrate some other very exciting news. No, not another baby - Eckhardt revealed to frockwriter that she has just auditioned for one of (numerous) upcoming instalments of the X Men film franchise.

Gemma Ward, action star?

mario sorrenti/vogue italia via dusty burrito

Well after last week's news that Gemma Ward has signed to play a small role as a mermaid in Pirates of the Caribbean 4, comes word that she may have been in Sydney this week auditioning for another action quadrilogy: Mad Max 4: Fury Road, which is due to be filmed in Australia. Ward’s Sydney model agency, Viviens, confirmed to frockwriter that Ward did indeed fly to Sydney this week to do a Mad Max “workshop” for two days at Fox Studios. Has she already been cast? Viviens was not sure and Ward's other agents were unreachable. The film’s cast already includes Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer and Zoe Kravitz. Ward was of course an actress before she became the world’s number one ranked model on models.com, just 14 when she appeared in Elissa Down’s 2001 feature Pink Pyjamas. Ward then co-starred in Down’s critically-acclaimed 2008 feature, The Black Balloon, before moving on to the small role of ‘Dollface’ in Bryan Bertino’s 2008 thriller The Strangers.

Coincidentally, Ward lookalike Amanda Seyfried, now 25, was also 14 when she made her acting debut: playing Lucy Montgomery in the tv soap As The World Turns.

Seyfriend now has a ten year body of work behind her, including Mean Girls, Mama Mia!, Jennifer's Body and the tv series Big Love.

Ward hasn’t been twiddling her thumbs in the profile stakes – just not in Hollywood.

And a breakthrough role might well be just one casting call away.

Gemma Ward proves her moment is far from "over" by snagging a role in Pirates of the Caribbean 4

steven meisel via trendnista

Yesterday's lead story in The Sunday Telegraph's gossip pages reported that Gemma Ward is about to embark on her fourth film role, having scored a small speaking role as a mermaid in Pirates of The Caribbean 4. No source was cited beyond a “friend” – who was not actually quoted confirming the role, just stating that "Gemma's focus is definitely on acting. She's spent the past year studying the craft full time in New York." In spite of the fact that neither IMDB’s Pirates of the Caribbean 4 nor Gemma Ward pages had any reference, the story whipped across the net. Not that frockwriter would presume to cast aspersions on The Sunday Telegraph's sources (well, apart from perhaps those involved in the Pauline Hanson photo debacle), but we did want to make an effort to check things out before putting digit to keyboard. And an extremely well-placed business associate (who we can’t name either unfortunately) confirmed it's true - Ward has definitely signed on for a role in the film.

The Pirates of the Caribbean news follows four months after a source at Ward’s US model agency IMG told The New York Post "Her moment's over. She's not coming back".

The comments were made in A Supermodel Betrayed , an extensive feature which recounted the story of Ward’s rise and fall in the fashion business, following weight gain (the latter of course being prominently documented by The Sunday Telegraph in a front page story last year).

Nutbush City Limits: Romance Was Born's "granular" film collab with Kris Moyes

Last night in Sydney, Romance Was Born's Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales unveiled City Limits, a short film directed by Kris Moyes. Shot over one day in Sydney and starring local model Tanja Gacic, it's a fantastic - and hilariously camp - little collaboration that was designed to showcase RWB's Autumn/Winter 2010 Nightmare on Wall Street collection (but which will now be shopped to the film festival circuit by production company Revolver Films). A little less Freddy Krueger than you might anticipate - and a little more Blade Runner-meets-Kill Bill-meets-The Rocky Horror Picture Show - City Limits portrays Gacic as a DayGlo Spandex-clad corporate assassin who goes postal at a cocktail party. Best moment: Gacic clubbing Guy Pearce-lookalike Matthew Charleston with a decapitated head. The impressive crew includes cinematographer Danny Ruhlmann (Little Fish) and 1st AD Deb Antoniou (Where The Wind Things Are). Below are a few screen caps. But click here to see frockwriter's Posterous pic gallery of location shots (images courtesy Kris Moyes/Revolver). And click here to watch the film itself.

Sarah Jessica Parker gets down to Bassike

splash via popsugar.com

Sarah Jessica Parker gave a boost to the early careers of sass & bide’s Heidi Middleton and Sarah Jane Clarke by sporting some of their clothing on Sex And The City. Her latest Australian fave is apparently Sydney eco label Bassike. Fashion kingmaker Parker would quite obviously have her pick of clothes to wear on and off the big and small screens, with designers throwing their collections at her. Parker is currently on the promo trail for Sex And The City 2 and did a press conference in New York yesterday. And here she is off duty in New York on Saturday in Bassike’s ‘Dot’ logo T. Bassike’s Sydney PR, Emma van Haandel, is very good at getting clothes on visiting celebrities downunder – remember Sienna Miller in another EVH stablemate, Scanlan & Theodore, last year? Just how did the clothes get to SJP? According to a Bassike spokeswoman, the T-shirt was gifted by a mystery “friend” of the brand in the US, where it had its official launch one month ago at Barneys.

But not only did Parker wear the T-shirt, she personally called the Bassike HQ at 4pm yesterday.

According to EVH, Parker rang to say how much she loved the clothes and ask could she "place an order"?

"Yes, it was a surprise" the Bassike staffer who took the call told frockwriter. The call was then passed onto sales manager Jono Alder – who apparently initially thought it was a joke.

En route to Parker now are two pairs of Bassike’s Slimrise jeans, some scoop Ts, one opal print T, the lightweight crew sweatshirt, a denim jacket, a jersey tank, the Galah print trench from the SS1011 collection and some swimwear. No credit card was needed according to EVH.

Launched by Deborah Sams and Mary Lou Ryan in 2006 as a capsule collection of organic cotton jersey T-shirts, pants and dresses, Bassike has grown into a cool little collection of basics, denim and tailoring. The SS1011 show included printed swimwear, some great jackets - two cases in point, the Galah trench and a funnel-necked utility parka – in addition to acid wash-look, high-waisted jeans and some striking striped knits and open-weave sweaters and tunics.

Here is frockwriter’s Posterous pic gallery – only managed to get a few decent shots of that particular show. It’s one of several that I did not get a chance to blog during the week.

You can see the full collection on the Bassike website.

RJ Cutler is shooting Rag & Bone at Fashion Week

getty via zimbio.com

Just got off a conference call with The September Issue director RJ Cutler and 10 other bloggers. It was organised by Lionsgate, in connection with the release the DVD version on February 23. Over the course of the call - which I will add as an MP3 file once it's emailed - Cutler revealed a few interesting morsels of information. One of which was that over the next three days he will be shooting a behind-the-scenes of the New York Fashion Week preparations of Rag & Bone designers Marcus Wainright and David Neville. Another documentary perhaps? Kinda. Cutler is shooting "short vignettes" which will appear, he says, on Starbucks website and Facebook page. Ah the commercial realities of indie design - and filmmaking.