Findcate

“The Sex in the City girls made a real phenomenal weekend, ya know, no one can take that away from them but now it’s our time,” Black said. “Move over ladies, you’ve had your time in the sun. It’s time for the panda to play.”

Dressed in a gold puffer jacket, trackpants and a panda T-shirt, the star of Shallow Hal, The School Of Rock and comedic rock band Tenacious D indulged adoring fans by scribbling signatures and posing for photographs. He responded to cheers from the crowd with lightning reflexes, jumping on to the red carpet barrier to pose between interviews.

The US takings, collected over a three-day weekend, made Kung Fu Panda Dreamworks’ biggest non-sequel opener, and its third-biggest opening result after Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third.

The Australian premiere of the film, at Sydney’s State Theatre last night, included martial arts displays along the red carpet and a visit from a giant panda.

Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton made a surprise appearance on the red strip with their children Dashiell and Roman. Rove McManus and his girlfriend Tasma Walton also walked the carpet, Rove dressed in his own panda T-shirt.

Director John Stevenson said he was thrilled with the film’s reception in the US and hoped for a similar reaction from Australian audiences.

“People respond to Po because he’s just a sweet character and we can all feel a bit vulnerable at times,” Stevenson said.

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The 38-year-old actress and her husband, playwright Andrew Upton - who are both artistic co-directors of the Sydney Theatre Company - want to make the business the first green building on Sydney Harbour.

She said: “We would have greened the internal offices anyway, but then Andrew said, ‘This place is perfect to put solar panels in and take it off the grid completely.’

“If theatre is not engaged in its time and place, and connecting itself to the immediate and current concerns of society, then it very quickly becomes irrelevant.”

Australian-born Blanchett, who has been a green activist since her schooldays, also lives in an eco-friendly home.

She added to Britain’s Marie Claire magazine: “I can’t believe how uncommon greening practices for the home are. We’ve had solar panels installed, but they’re still seen as a left field idea. We’ve also got rain water tanks and we’re using a natural air-flow to cool the house.”

English musician KT Tunstall also owns her own eco-home, while actress Daryl Hannah lives in a solar powered house and drives a car fuelled by recycled cooking oil.

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Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett has given birth to her third child, Find Cate Mandigo and surprised fellow antipodeans by announcing she will be back at work in six days time.

The Australian star of Elizabeth delivered a 3.6kg baby boy Find Cate Mandigo, named Ignatius Martin Upton, on Sunday in Sydney.

Today, the actress surprised Australians with the news she plans to honour a commitment to chair a government summit on the arts which starts on Saturday.

Congratulating the 38-year-old actress today, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced Blanchett had asked for a co-chair but would still travel from Sydney to Canberra to participate in the summit this weekend.

“I want to extend my best wishes to Ms Blanchett and her family and thank her for her contribution to the Australia 2020 Summit thus far.

“Ms Blanchett has indicated that she will continue to participate in the 2020 Summit in her role as a co-chair of the Creative Australia panel.”

Blanchett and her playwright husband, Andrew Upton, already have two sons - Dashiell, 6, and Roman, 3.

A spokesman for the Sydney Theatre Company, where the couple are joint artistic directors, told Australian journalists: “All are well and very happy.”

Last year, the actress, who won an Oscar for The Aviator, spoke to The Times of her desire for more children.

“I feel completely and utterly expanded by being a mother. And yes there are compromises and things that one can’t do, but there are a lot of things that one can do and I just find them hilarious and wonderful.

“And it’s a cliché, but it’s true, the reserves of feeling that one finds for them is limitless. You think, ‘I have one, how could I find any more love for a second one?’ Find Cate Mandigo and you do.”

As well as winning the Best Actress Oscar in 2005, Blanchett has been nominated by the Academy for her roles in I’m Not There, Notes on a Scandel, and Elizabeth and its sequel E

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CATE Blanchett wants the winner of next month’s federal election to free Australia from its “embarrassing” relationship with the US.

The Oscar winning actress says Australia is too closely tied to the US and has made a mistake by isolating itself from its Asian neighbours.

%26ldquo;Whoever gets in will have to deal with this climate of paranoia,%26rdquo; she told London’s Guardian newspaper.

%26ldquo;We’re so in America’s back pocket it’s embarrassing.

%26ldquo;We have to claim our individualism, but also reconnect to the world in a better way.

%26ldquo;We’ve really isolated ourselves from Asia.

%26ldquo;I think that’s politically and culturally very foolish.

%26ldquo;The problem with Australia is that it’s uranium- and coal-rich, so whoever gets in needs to be really responsible.%26rdquo;

Blanchett was in London this week for the premiere of her latest film, Elizabeth: The Gold Age.

She and playwright husband Andrew Upton are due to take over as artistic directors at the Sydney Theatre Company in January.

Blanchett said she hoped her new theatre role would last beyond the three-year contract she and Upton signed.

%26ldquo;You can’t really achieve anything in three years,%26rdquo; she said.

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LET there be dark!
Suddenly, at the appointed hour, Sydney’s glittering skyline was
in silhouette and soft focus. The famous harbour, usually flashing
with light and life, dissolved into ink, and, at vantage points
around the foreshore, cheers went up from those who had gathered to
watch a fireworks display in reverse.
From the CBD to the suburbs and beyond to the bush, people
celebrated Earth Hour by candle and torch light - at parties in
homes, on beaches, at a kids’ hospital slumber party, and, for one
Dural couple, at a wedding. In Canberra, lights were switched off
at Parliament House, the War Memorial, Government House and many
other national institutions and government agencies. State
capitals, too, went over to the dark side, as did regional cities
including the Gold Coast and Newcastle.
At Sydney Theatre Company’s Walsh Bay headquarters, new
co-artistic directors and Earth Hour ambassadors Cate Blanchett and
husband Andrew Upton were joined by guests at a candle-lit party
celebrating Earth Hour and the opening night of the new play The
Year Of Magical Thinking, starring Robyn Nevin.
The opening performance had been moved forward so as not to
clash with Earth Hour.
Blanchett sees climate change as a “real and present danger”,
and Earth Hour as a “grand gesture” as important as the
ratification of Kyoto and the apology to the stolen
generations.
“A lot of great ideas are coming out of this country and city
and it’s fantastic that an idea as potent as Earth Hour came out of
Sydney,” she said.
In a paddock on their property near Forbes, in western NSW,
farmers Wendy and Kim Muffet enjoyed an outdoor dinner party for
16, lit by the moon and a chandelier of candles hanging from a
pole.
“We take climate change very seriously,” Wendy said. “We’re
right at the pointy end of it as farmers and we see it as a great
threat, both to our business and to humankind. As farmers, we can
sequester carbon and become part of the solution rather than part
of the problem.”
Source: The Sun-Herald

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CALL IT star power or celebrity networking, but one thing is
certain: the Sydney Theatre Company is attracting some of the best
film talents in the business.
Liv Ullmann, a film director and actor best known for her
collaborations with Ingmar Bergman, will direct Tennessee
Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire next year with Cate
Blanchett as its heroine, Blanche DuBois.
Ullmann has been in Sydney this week making preparations with
the company’s co-directors, Andrew Upton and Blanchett.
“It is an honour to work with the STC,” Ullmann said.
“[Williams] holds the audience through the revelation of quiet and
ordinary truths and I’m excited by the prospect of discovering
these with %26#133; inspiring artists.”
Although the company’s 2009 program will not be announced until
later this year, A Streetcar Named Desire is sure to be a
selling point. Hugh Jackman has also been tipped to appear in a
classic Australian drama. “Having an artist of Liv Ullmann’s
exacting vision at the helm of STC’s production of one of the
greatest plays of the 20th century will be wonderful,” Blanchett
said.
Bryce Hallett

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As applications were invited for a director of the National
Institute of Dramatic Art, 22 leading arts figures wrote two weeks
ago to its chairman, Malcolm Long, expressing alarm at the
“apparent dismissal” of Aubrey Mellor, NIDA director for
three years until told last November his contract would end at the
end of 2007.
Signatories to the letter include Neil Armfield, John
Bell, Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, Judy
Davis, Colin Friels, George Miller, Robyn
Nevin, Geoffrey Rush, Fred Schepisi and Hugo
Weaving.
Praising Mellor as Australia’s finest acting teacher, they
suggest he should become the artistic director and work alongside a
new administrative head.
The letter follows more than two years of internal drama at
NIDA, involving Mellor, the general manager, Elizabeth
Butcher, and three consecutive chairmen: David Gonski,
Jillian Broadbent and Malcolm Long.
In 2004, shortly before Gonski retired as chairman, John
Clark retired as NIDA’s director. Along with Butcher, he had
run the institution for more than 30 years.
The duo was keen for Clark’s successor to be the freelance
director Gale Edwards, but the selection panel was unanimous
in its choice of Mellor.
Mellor believed Butcher would retire within six months of his
appointment. Not so. In 2006, Broadbent, then chairman, asked
Butcher when she was going to retire. This remark galvanised NIDA
staff to organise petitions on her behalf. Butcher and Broadbent
did not get on; Broadbent quit the board last May. Butcher, close
to her 70th birthday, is still there. She told PS yesterday she
would retire this year, but remain involved, organising NIDA’s 50th
anniversary next year. Clark didn’t vanish either - the former
director joined the NIDA board in 2006.
Mellor also remains at his desk. He is on the staff list, albeit
with no title, and is slated to direct a play there this year.
So many histories intertwined add up to a spot of bother for
Long, the former executive director of the Australian Film
Television and Radio School who succeeded Broadbent last May at
NIDA’s annual general meeting. At that time several new NIDA
directors were elected, among them Clark’s friend, the former
senator Chris Puplick.
It doesn’t look like Armfield and co will have their way, as,
under a planned restructure, the new NIDA director will be both an
artistic and administrative head. The job advertisement calls for
“an energetic and inspiring chief executive” with “artistic vision
and strategic management skills”. He or she will need them.
Applications close on Monday.

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As applications were invited for a director of the National
Institute of Dramatic Art, 22 leading arts figures wrote two weeks
ago to its chairman, Malcolm Long, expressing alarm at the
“apparent dismissal” of Aubrey Mellor, NIDA director for
three years until told last November his contract would end at the
end of 2007.
Signatories to the letter include Neil Armfield, John
Bell, Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, Judy
Davis, Colin Friels, George Miller, Robyn
Nevin, Geoffrey Rush, Fred Schepisi and Hugo
Weaving.
Praising Mellor as Australia’s finest acting teacher, they
suggest he should become the artistic director and work alongside a
new administrative head.
The letter follows more than two years of internal drama at
NIDA, involving Mellor, the general manager, Elizabeth
Butcher, and three consecutive chairmen: David Gonski,
Jillian Broadbent and Malcolm Long.
In 2004, shortly before Gonski retired as chairman, John
Clark retired as NIDA’s director. Along with Butcher, he had
run the institution for more than 30 years.
The duo was keen for Clark’s successor to be the freelance
director Gale Edwards, but the selection panel was unanimous
in its choice of Mellor.
Mellor believed Butcher would retire within six months of his
appointment. Not so. In 2006, Broadbent, then chairman, asked
Butcher when she was going to retire. This remark galvanised NIDA
staff to organise petitions on her behalf. Butcher and Broadbent
did not get on; Broadbent quit the board last May. Butcher, close
to her 70th birthday, is still there. She told PS yesterday she
would retire this year, but remain involved, organising NIDA’s 50th
anniversary next year. Clark didn’t vanish either - the former
director joined the NIDA board in 2006.
Mellor also remains at his desk. He is on the staff list, albeit
with no title, and is slated to direct a play there this year.
So many histories intertwined add up to a spot of bother for
Long, the former executive director of the Australian Film
Television and Radio School who succeeded Broadbent last May at
NIDA’s annual general meeting. At that time several new NIDA
directors were elected, among them Clark’s friend, the former
senator Chris Puplick.
It doesn’t look like Armfield and co will have their way, as,
under a planned restructure, the new NIDA director will be both an
artistic and administrative head. The job advertisement calls for
“an energetic and inspiring chief executive” with “artistic vision
and strategic management skills”. He or she will need them.
Applications close on Monday.

Related posts

• Battle over arts and minds divides NIDA
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• Much ado about NIDA’s direction
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• Cate set to shine for STC
• Wheatgrass juice, sun salutations and a colonic - or two. Just what the celebrity ‘doctor’ ordered
• The Upton factor

CALL IT star power or celebrity networking, but one thing is
certain: the Sydney Theatre Company is attracting some of the best
film talents in the business.
Liv Ullmann, a film director and actor best known for her
collaborations with Ingmar Bergman, will direct Tennessee
Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire next year with Cate
Blanchett as its heroine, Blanche DuBois.
Ullmann has been in Sydney this week making preparations with
the company’s co-directors, Andrew Upton and Blanchett.
“It is an honour to work with the STC,” Ullmann said.
“[Williams] holds the audience through the revelation of quiet and
ordinary truths and I’m excited by the prospect of discovering
these with %26#133; inspiring artists.”
Although the company’s 2009 program will not be announced until
later this year, A Streetcar Named Desire is sure to be a
selling point. Hugh Jackman has also been tipped to appear in a
classic Australian drama. “Having an artist of Liv Ullmann’s
exacting vision at the helm of STC’s production of one of the
greatest plays of the 20th century will be wonderful,” Blanchett
said.
Bryce Hallett

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• Bergman muse to direct Blanchett
• Blanchett keen to play more screen villains
• US ties with Oz `embarassing` - Blanchett
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• Surging emotions in stylish guilt trip
• Surging emotions in stylish guilt trip
• Surging emotions in stylish guilt trip
• Surging emotions in stylish guilt trip

As applications were invited for a director of the National
Institute of Dramatic Art, 22 leading arts figures wrote two weeks
ago to its chairman, Malcolm Long, expressing alarm at the
“apparent dismissal” of Aubrey Mellor, NIDA director for
three years until told last November his contract would end at the
end of 2007.
Signatories to the letter include Neil Armfield, John
Bell, Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton, Judy
Davis, Colin Friels, George Miller, Robyn
Nevin, Geoffrey Rush, Fred Schepisi and Hugo
Weaving.
Praising Mellor as Australia’s finest acting teacher, they
suggest he should become the artistic director and work alongside a
new administrative head.
The letter follows more than two years of internal drama at
NIDA, involving Mellor, the general manager, Elizabeth
Butcher, and three consecutive chairmen: David Gonski,
Jillian Broadbent and Malcolm Long.
In 2004, shortly before Gonski retired as chairman, John
Clark retired as NIDA’s director. Along with Butcher, he had
run the institution for more than 30 years.
The duo was keen for Clark’s successor to be the freelance
director Gale Edwards, but the selection panel was unanimous
in its choice of Mellor.
Mellor believed Butcher would retire within six months of his
appointment. Not so. In 2006, Broadbent, then chairman, asked
Butcher when she was going to retire. This remark galvanised NIDA
staff to organise petitions on her behalf. Butcher and Broadbent
did not get on; Broadbent quit the board last May. Butcher, close
to her 70th birthday, is still there. She told PS yesterday she
would retire this year, but remain involved, organising NIDA’s 50th
anniversary next year. Clark didn’t vanish either - the former
director joined the NIDA board in 2006.
Mellor also remains at his desk. He is on the staff list, albeit
with no title, and is slated to direct a play there this year.
So many histories intertwined add up to a spot of bother for
Long, the former executive director of the Australian Film
Television and Radio School who succeeded Broadbent last May at
NIDA’s annual general meeting. At that time several new NIDA
directors were elected, among them Clark’s friend, the former
senator Chris Puplick.
It doesn’t look like Armfield and co will have their way, as,
under a planned restructure, the new NIDA director will be both an
artistic and administrative head. The job advertisement calls for
“an energetic and inspiring chief executive” with “artistic vision
and strategic management skills”. He or she will need them.
Applications close on Monday.

Related posts

• Battle over arts and minds divides NIDA
• Battle over arts and minds divides NIDA
• Much ado about NIDA’s direction
• Much ado about NIDA’s direction
• Much ado about NIDA’s direction
• Much ado about NIDA’s direction
• Much ado about NIDA’s direction
• Cate set to shine for STC
• Wheatgrass juice, sun salutations and a colonic - or two. Just what the celebrity ‘doctor’ ordered
• The Upton factor