golden girl

Photo: Photolibrary/Clinton

With major film roles lined up back-to-back, Abbie Cornish’s star is burning bright

WORDS CATHERINE CAINES

The natural beauty of the
country girl shines through
Photo: Tobby zerna/
Rex FeatureAlthough Abbie Cornish plays a lady-in-waiting in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, it seems her wait to become Hollywood’s next leading lady is over.

When she arrived at the Toronto Film Festival in September, all eyes were on Cornish. She dominated both the public and international film industry’s attention at The Golden Age’s international premiere.

In the much-anticipated sequel to 1998’s Elizabeth, Cornish plays the role of Elizabeth “Bess” Throckmorton, one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting and Sir Walter Raleigh’s (Clive Owen) young wife. Her character is entangled in a love triangle fighting for Raleigh’s affections against Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett).

Sharing the screen with Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush, the 25-year-old delivers an impressive performance that holds its own against these Academy Award-winning actors. In fact, so compelling is Cornish’s performance that she’s tipped to be a serious contender during awards season.

Cornish is proving to have an inbuilt metal-detector when it comes to working with Oscar-winning and nominated actors; she has previously co-starred with Geoffrey Rush and Heath Ledger in Candy and Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott’s A Good Year. These two films, along with Somersault, placed Cornish on the international film radar after she won the AFI (Australian Film Industry) and IF (Inside Film) awards for Best Actress in 2004.

In character with Clive Owen in The Golden Age
Photo: Laurie Sparham Copyright: © 2006 Universal Studios.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Now, with the double impact of The Golden Age and the announcement of her new film Last Battle Dreamer, Cornish’s reputation is cemented as Australia’s most exciting breakthrough talent since Blanchett.

Cornish as Bess
Photo: Laurie Sparham
Copyright: © 2006 Universal Studios.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Asked about the experience of filming The Golden Age with such acclaimed actors, Cornish says: “Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush were just wonderful to work alongside.” However, she describes working with the unconventional director Shekhar Kapur as “at times very scary.”

“I constantly had the feeling that I was at the edge of a cliff and he [Kapur] would just push me over it, yet I was safe in knowing that he would catch me,” she says. “To work with a director where you feel you can take that dive and fly is really incredible.

“To take risks and to have the freedom to take those risks… I feel that working with Shekhar, I really threw myself into some of his chaos. At times it was very scary, but I felt safe.”

Despite these risks, Cornish says she was thrilled to have won the role of Bess whose character she could identify with.

“I found Bess’ journey to be a very simple one, but yet it is the great journey of life,” she says. “I think that Bess’ wants and needs are an almost dream-like state of feeling there is something else outside, something more, and that comes in the form of Sir Walter Raleigh. And the journey is also about love, which I guess is one of the driving forces of life. So that simple journey of wanting love, of wanting something outside of these [society’s] restraints, was how I perceived Bess was feeling on all levels.”

Aside from the emotional constraints Bess was experiencing, Cornish also had to contend with her character’s close-fitting period costumes. Nevertheless, wearing an Elizabethan corset during the 12-week shoot didn’t stifle Cornish’s enthusiasm for the role.

“At first, I felt claustrophobic about the costumes and corsets, but ultimately they lead towards a character. To do a film which is so out of today is exciting, because everything is so different. The way your character sees is different and the way you act for that time is different, so that was interesting,” she says.

Much of the Toronto Film Festival’s paparazzi coverage also focused on Cornish because of her rumoured involvement with Ryan Phillippe – who recently split from his wife, actress Reese Witherspoon – during the production of the upcoming Iraq war drama Stop Loss.

When the young Hollywood golden couple separated, speculation erupted that Phillippe had become involved with Cornish while on location in Austin, Texas.

Laid-back charm
Photo: Photolibrary/Clinton

Speculation has heightened since the announcement she will reunite with Phillippe in the upcoming US$20 million Viking epic Last Battle Dreamer.

Despite this new creative commitment, Cornish will only confirm that she and Phillippe are “good friends”. However, she was much more vocal about the issues Stop Loss exposes.

“The thing about Stop Loss which is amazing is it’s very relevant for today.

[It’s] about soldiers that come back from the war in Iraq. For me and my generation, this is our war. I remember saying to a friend when I was 14 years old, ‘we haven’t seen a big war yet’ and then all of sudden September 11th happened and the ramifications of that. This film concentrates on what it’s like for the soldiers and their families, because they’re the people who’ve gone and involved themselves in the war.”

As an actress who turns her emotional world inside out to create believable characters, it makes sense that Cornish has no patience for playing the paparazzi princess.

What’s more incredible is how a girl from Lochinvar, a rural town in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley, would grow up to become such a force of nature.

Perhaps fate had something to do with it. As a 13-year-old, Cornish won a magazine competition to attend the MTV awards in the US and had the good fortune to meet veteran actor Martin Landau.

Photo: Photolibrary/Clinton

Cornish relates the story: “He said to me, ‘Are you an actor?’ and I said, ‘No, I’m not, but I’d like to be.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’m going to see you again one day and you’re going to be famous and amazing. Never give up.’”

Inspired by this chance meeting, Cornish took Landau’s prediction to heart and travelled for three hours each day from Lochinvar to attend weekend classes at Sydney’s Australian Theatre for Young People.

By her 21st birthday, Cornish had already appeared in feature films such as Monkey’s Mask, Horseplay and One Perfect Day, but it was the combined impact of Somersault and Candy that jettisoned her into the international spotlight.

Cornish acknowledges she is facing another busy year of professional commitments with her next major role in Bright Star (to be directed by Jane Campion and Jan Chapman), which sees her play Fanny Brawne, the lover of 19th-century poet John Keats.

Despite her demanding schedule, Cornish says all the travel and time away from home has been worth it.

“I’m excited about the films I’m involved with, because they are so different. The Golden Age is a period piece and then you have Stop Loss which is completely contemporary.”

While rumours continue to swirl over her private life, Cornish is busy getting on with the job of acting.

“It’s all a journey of exploration for me,” she says of her ability to jump from one period film to the next. “I find that each character, or each film, tends to lead me on a different journey. I guess when I act I don’t really think aboutit. Which is maybe why there’s a freedom within it.”

Catherine Caines says:
I’ve covered Abbie’s career since her breakthrough role in the award-winning feature film Somersault and each time she proves to be more and more the opposite of a movie-star diva. Think typical twenty-something – she’d rather skip the paparazzi and play in a rock ’n’ roll band. That’s right, actors always want to be lead singers.