Like a female James Bond

“It’s non-stop at the OK Corral here,” enthuses Essie Davis in the few minutes she has spare to talk while shooting season two of the Australian smash-hit drama Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. So hectic has been her schedule that finding a time for a chat with the Tasmanian actress has proved to be a major challenge

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Crowe plans to direct Gallipoli film

New Zealand born actor Russell Crowe has confirmed plans to make an overdue directorial debut with World War I drama The Water Diviner, after two previous efforts were scuppered by the media – but only if he can do it on his own terms. ”It was probably time [to direct] 10 years ago, but if you’re engaged in making movies as a career then you have to work within cycles that come up,” Crowe explains while promoting new film Man of Steel

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Te Awamutu old boy set to fly in sci-fi film

What’s a guy from Te Awamutu doing battling giant Nazi robot spiders and flying saucers 50,000 years in the future For air force pilot-turned-actor Jak Wyld, it was just another day on the job. Wyld stars in The 25th Reich, in which he plays one of a team of American GIs sent to the Australian outback in World War II who end up in the distant future.

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Hosts in the machine

A lot will happen in the tiny Australian tablelands town of Wee Waa next weekend when Daft Punk ”launch” their new album, Random Access Memories, at the Wee Waa Show. But, for now, we can confirm that Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, the French disco-meets-philosophy brains behind Daft Punk, are nowhere near country New South Wales as we speak

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Album review: The Bitter Sea – Nina McSweeney

THE BITTER SEA Nina McSweeney (FMR) Don’t be fooled by the Massive Attack approach of the opening track on Nina McSweeney’s debut album. There’s a lot more depth and substance to the Kiwi songwriter, who has featured on the Concord Dawn tracks Easy Life and The River, than the sound-alike single Lost In Translation might suggest.

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Going Native Affairs

This week journalist Mihingarangi Forbes will start a new gig as presenter of Native Affairs, Maori Television’s flagship current affairs show. Forbes is an award-winning journalist who honed her skills with stints at TVNZ and TV3 (including seven years at Campbell Live) before joining Maori Television last year as a producer for Te Kaea, the channel’s daily news bulletin.

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