Hemsworth, Rebel Wilson walk the red carpet in Sydney for the AACTA awards
Chris Hemsworth has been honoured with a top accolade at the AACTA Awards, Australian film and television’s premier awards night. See all the winners and red carpet pictures.
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Australia most definitely punches above its weight in Hollywood. That was the feeling as our biggest stars of film and television walked the red carpet for the annual AACTA Awards.
Chris Hemsworth thanked his fans and the Aussie industry for allowing him to “live out this childhood dream” after taking home the Trailblazer trophy at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.
“It is very special, absolutely,” the former Home and Away actor turned Hollywood superstar told The Daily Telegraph.
“I started on Home and Away and now to be here 15 years later working and very thankful and excited for the opportunity and to be able to live out this childhood dream is wonderful. I am really very honoured.”
Hemsworth walked the red carpet with actor wife Elsa Pataky, who said she felt like she had been “adopted” by the Australian industry.
“I am proud of him.” she said. “It is something amazing to have this award in his country with the people that love him. It makes me really proud. He is really excited and thankful for everything.”
Catherine Martin received is the recipient of the 2022 Longford Lyell lifetime achievement award. Director husband Baz Luhrmann zoomed in to the ceremony with their film Elvis the most nominated of the night.
“It is absolutely thrilling,” Martin said, wearing Aussie designer Romance Was Born.
“You want to be amongst your peers. You want your peers to appreciate what you do and so many of these people we have worked with or want to work with.”
The multiple Academy Award winner continued: “We are celebrating an industry that is really starting to make very important advances in advances in diversity, seeing so many first nations faces, so many women, so many people of culture, so many different cultures. It is a rainbow landscape and I just want to celebrate but at the same time we have got to remember that all of these advances are fragile and we have got to keep advocating for diversity and equality and above all, art, and people’s canvas to tell their stories on.”
It comes after a star-studded red carpet got underway on Wednesday afternoon for Aussie TV and film’s biggest night, the annual Australian Academy of Cinema, Television, Arts (AACTA) Awards.
Stars hit the red carpet at 1:30pm sharp, with a mixture of attendees either going for classic and sophisticated black, white and grey, or bright pops of colour to match the summertime heat.
Olivia De Jonge appeared in Gucci, Catherine Martin in Romance Was Born, Elsa Pataky in J’Aton, Leah Purcell in Paul McCann, and 2022’s Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Brooke Satchwell in Farage. Local and international designers were on show on the red carpet at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.
Of her colourful dress, Sissy and The Bold Type actor Aisha Dee said: “A unicorn threw up on me and now I am here”.
More seriously, Dee wore a dress from Aussie designer Erik Yvon.
While some Hollywood stars have been critical of media asking about what stars wearing on a red carpet, Dee believes it is a compliment to the designer.
“Well, I actually think it is great, especially if you are wearing a small fashion house,” she said. “It is cool to shout them out and say thank you.”
Host of multiple shows, including The Voice and Big Brother, Sonia Kruger, opted for an all-white ensemble from close mate, designer Alex Perry.
“I feel a little bit like an imposter, I am not sure what I am doing here but I’m not working so I’m here to have a good time,” she said.
“Alex (Perry) just does such a great red carpet frock and it is actually really comfortable.”
The Living Room star Amanda Keller wore a black Velani by Nicky gown and joked that she was wearing her own undies.
“I am wearing my own holding in underpants, I haven’t borrowed those from anybody thank you,” she said. “Tonight when I get undressed, it will be like unfurling a zodiac, but in the meantime I am trying to hold it all together.”
Of his suit, TV host Rove McManus said: “Look, in the days post Zoom awards (online ceremonies), we are all wearing pants and lets just take that as a win.”
Mark Coles Smith, who won Best Lead Actor in a TV Drama presented by Foxtel for Mystery Road: Origin, wore head to toe Givenchy.
“I am feeling very powerful, very comfortable,” he said. “These trousers almost feel like something between suit pant and wetsuit diving gear, they are really stretchy, really supple, so I think I will be really comfortable while I am wining and dining and having my hors d’oeuvres.”
Brooke Satchwell won Best Supporting Actress in a TV drama for Foxtel and BINGE series, The Twelve, with the show also winning Best Miniseries.
Satchwell is a veteran of 27 years in the industry.
“This has been a really interesting 18 months for me,” she said. “Getting into your 40s is bloody brilliant, I love it, providing the knees keep working. It really is stepping into a chapter of life, feeling supported, empowered, liberated and being able to choose as we all are now, being a little more conscious of where we direct our energy and really engaging in things that feed us and are important to us and recognising the value of our own energy rather than giving it away willy nilly.”
Hollywood superstar and President of the AACTA Russell Crowe skipped the red carpet but arrived in time to introduce the awards ceremony.
“George Ogilvy once explained to me that the only expectation of someone who’s decided to live creatively is that you give…your skills, you intellect, whatever it takes,” Crowe said.
“That sounds simple, but that is a glamorous perception. The idea that there’s always a stage, always an audience. As a lot of you in the room know, the perception of glamour is merely a creative marketing tool that we take advantage of when it suits us.”
The audience chuckled knowingly in response.
Crowe continued that the reality of the acting industry is “crippling imposter syndrome” and “a gig economy”.
He gave the example of award-winning costume designer Catherine Martin “plucking cat s..t out of a sink in what was supposed to be Nicole Kidman’s dressing room.”
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It comes as Russell Crowe earlier touched down in Sydney to lead the pack of Hollywood stars up the red carpet for Australian film and television’s biggest night.
The Oscar winner will present the Trailblazer Award at the annual AACTA’s to Thor star Chris Hemsworth.
“It’s a huge honour to accept the AACTA Trailblazer Award tonight from someone I have always looked up to and who also has paved the way for so many of us overseas,” Hemsworth said.
“The career I have enjoyed up until now has been so rewarding and I don’t take for granted the start the Australian screen industry gave me. I’ll do whatever I can to champion our incredible crews and creatives to the rest of the world and encourage big productions to head down under. I’m looking forward to celebrating this lovely acknowledgment tonight with my family and friends.”
Crowe flew by private jet from his Nana Glen property, just outside of Coffs Harbour, to attend the awards. He is President of the AACTA board.
Held at the Hordern Pavilion, the awards are separated across film and television.
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is up for 15 awards, including Best Film.
Others in that category include Sissy, The Drove’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, The Stranger and Here Out West.
Best Lead Actor in Film nominees are Austin Butler (Elvis), Rob Collins (The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson), Joel Edgerton (The Stranger), Idris Elba (Three Thousand Years of Longing) and Damon Herriman (Nude Tuesday). Best Lead Actress in a Film nominees are Aisha Dee (Sissy), Leah Purcell (The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson), Julia Savage (Blaze), Tilda Swinton (Three Thousand Years of Longing) and Jackie van Beek (Nude Tuesday).
In the TV categories, BINGE hit Love Me leads the list of nominations in the Best Drama Series category, alongside Heartbreak High, Wolf Like Me, Mystery Road: Origin, Bump and The Tourist.
Love Me’s Bojana Novakovic is up against Isla Fisher, Claudia Karvan, Tuuli Narkle, Kate Mulvany for Best Lead Actress in a TV Drama.
“I am actually most looking forward to sitting down and having a drink and a gossip with all of the other nominees in my category,” Novakovic told The Daily Telegraph.
“I have to be honest, being among the works nominated, not just me but also our show, is a real thrill.”
Novakovic’s Love Me co-star Hugo Weaving is up for Best Lead Actor alongside Mark Coles Smith, Jamie Dornan, James Majoos and Sam Neill.
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