Annette Sharp: William Shatner to head celeb reality show Mission Control in Australia

Hollywood star William Shatner is headed Down Under to film a new reality TV show pitting celebrities against each other in a “Martian” landscape.

The red dust of the Australian desert will double as a Martian landscape for a new US reality series Stars on Mars which will be fronted by Hollywood star William Shatner.

A host of Hollywood stars are Australia-bound for the project which casts Shatner, 92, as the anchor for the unscripted reality program.

Stars on Mars is similar in concept to I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here, but will feature celebrities living in a “Martian” colony.

The red dust of Alice Springs is expected to serve as terra firma for the project, which comes from Fremantle Eureka’s production house.

The concept will air on Fox in the upcoming US summer, with a June 5 broadcast date slated.

William Shatner is heading Down Under to film a new reality TV show, and (inset) as Captain James T. Kirk.

While Shatner’s casting and the program’s title was dropped to Hollywood industry site Variety on Thursday, the location for the forthcoming shoot has, until now, been a tightly kept secret

A group of “celebronauts” will live in a “space station” and compete to be the last entrant standing. Star Trek actor Shatner — attired, we expect, in a snug space suit — will task the celebrity contestants from “Mission Control”.

It’s rumoured that Lisa Rinna has signed on to Stars on Mars.

An international, predominantly American, cast is ­expected to feature, with Melrose Place star Lisa Rinna understood to be among the first to have booked a spot.

Fox’s unscripted programming president Allison Wallach described the program as “bold”, “big” and “outlandish”.

“Watching celebrities take giant leaps out of their comfort zone and step into the unexpected will no doubt be truly transformational and comical,” Wallach said.

“Throughout, we will learn a lot about these stars, and when you factor in William Shatner leading the charge from Mission Control, we have the makings of a show that’s ready for blast off.”

A synopsis explains the premise: “During their stay, they will be faced with authentic conditions that simulate life on Mars, and they must use their brains and brawn — or maybe just their stellar social skills — to outlast the competition.”

Australia’s own Eden Gaha is a producer on the project.

Gaha, who formerly starred in A Country Practice, Home And Away, and Police Rescue, is now based in LA.

Despite his age, Shatner, Hollywood’s original Captain James T. Kirk, proved he’s still up for a challenge in 2020 when the then-90-year-old boarded Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin New Shepard rocket ship and became the oldest human to go into space.

LATE OLSEN’S ART HAS VALUERS CIRCLING

As the Australian art community mourns the death of revered Australian artist John Olsen, purveyors of fine art and investors begin to ponder the value of the Olsen artwork hanging on their loungeroom walls.

As one of the most prolific painters of his generation, Olsen’s art — vivid, wild, and amoeba-like — has seeped into the national consciousness along with his effigy as the eternally bereted cherubic elderly artiste.

John Olsen in his home and studio in 2016. Picture: Art Gallery of NSW

Olsen’s highly sought after work is everywhere today — in national galleries, arts institutions, civic buildings, private homes, even on restaurant menus and wine lists.

Yet despite Olsen’s popularity, it is highly prized by both seasoned collectors and amateurs alike.

The top price for a work by Olsen was achieved in 2006 when his oil on canvas, Love in the Kitchen, sold for $1,075,500.

In 2019, Geoffrey Smith, art specialist and former owner of Sotheby’s Australia, now Smith and Singer, sold Olsen’s Seafood Paella for $1,037,000.

That remains the top price for an Olsen artwork after Love in the Kitchen was resold, post GFC in 2009, for just $576,000.

On Friday, Smith said it was too soon to know how quickly Olsen’s art might appreciate following the artist’s death at 95.

“It will be tested on a continual basis, but we’re the first auction house to be bringing his work to auction (following his death) on May 2,” Smith said.

He indicated the art world would have a better idea after that auction.

One of two works, Frog and Pond, a watercolour, has a catalogue estimate of $35,000 to $45,000. A second, an oil, Life on the Edge of the Pond 2003, has an estimate of $250,000-$350,000.

Would-be collectors should not be discouraged by these figures. There is an Olsen for all budgets, Smith assured.

“You can acquire an Olsen for under $1000,” he said.

Being so prolific, one question remains: How many John Olsen originals are out there?

It’s a question that would be answered soon enough, Smith said, when Olsen’s assistant Kylie Norton, in conjunction with his family, finish cataloguing a complete record of the artists’s work.

PEACOCK REVS UP ROMANCE

Recently retired Crown Melbourne PR woman Ann Peacock — one of Melbourne’s best-connected celebrity wranglers — has finally come clean about her love affair with Collingwood’s new president Jeff Browne.

Collingwood Football Club President Jeff Browne and Ann Peacock this week. Picture: Morgan Sette

Peacock, the daughter of Liberal Party politician Andrew Peacock and his first wife Susan Rossiter, later Lady Susan Renouf, on Friday posted a shot of Browne and her enjoying a pit-stop cuddle during a drive outside Melbourne.

Uncharacteristically Peacock was travelling in a Ford XA GT Falcon and not a (European brand) luxe vehicle.

It came as a huge shock to many — the vehicle, not the beau.

The popular Peacock captioned the image: “He says ‘I’m wrestling a 57-year-old beast and driving a 50-year-old car’ haha … wish him luck.”

The couple went public with their relationship at a party to farewell Peacock from Crown in February at which she revealed she and her one-time playboy boyfriend, and Eddie McGuire’s longtime manager, originally hooked up 27 years ago.

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]