Teresa Palmer connects with Melbourne Cup winning jockey Michelle Payne in new film
ACTOR Teresa Palmer has revealed the “magical” bond she’s forged with jockey Michelle Payne after the two met on the set of the upcoming film about Payne’s life.
Entertainment
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ACTOR Teresa Palmer has revealed the “magical” bond she’s forged with jockey Michelle Payne, the woman she will portray on the big screen.
Palmer said she felt an immediate connection with the Melbourne Cup-winning hoop and her brother Stevie, who plays himself in the film Ride Like A Girl, directed by Rachel Griffiths.
“It’s funny because I’ve been rehearsing with Stevie and he keeps telling me, ‘You’re just the same height as Michelle’,’’ Palmer said.
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“I love him. I have such fondness for Stevie. They’re actually going to come over and we’re doing a little gathering of all the brothers and sisters in the film and all the real brothers and sisters and we’re all hanging out together. They can have a sleepover at our house and all go out for dinner.
“It’s incredibly special and I’ve fallen in love with that whole family. I’ve been up to hang out with Stevie and Michelle and Paddy. I’ve gone up to their farm and it’s a magical place and no one loves horses like they do.”
Palmer has returned from LA with filmmaker husband Mark Webber and their two children Bodhi, 4, and Forest, 1, to play the role of a lifetime.
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She will shoot here until June, with the family dividing their time between their Adelaide Hills property and LA.
“When I first met Michelle we got to sneak away and really connect and we just really got each other immediately,’’ said Palmer, who, like the jockey, is 32.
“I feel so proud of her and asked her a bunch of questions and just the way she loves her family ... her mother died when she was six months old, she has had so many accidents. She had to learn to walk again and she had to learn to speak again.
“It’s one of the only sports where men and women are competing against each other, she came out and she won. It’s just beautiful. And there are so many elements of this story that feel like a fairytale.”
Palmer and Webber will step out in Melbourne as special guests at the inaugural GQ Gentlemen’s Ball this Saturday. The black-tie event is a new initiative that celebrates the next generation of Australian men striving for positive change.
Along with GQ’s editorial director Edwina McCann and other celebrities they will discuss the HeforShe movement and encouraging the next generation of men and women to create more gender equity in society.
Webber said it was a great opportunity. “Just given the current climate of the world and I guess GQ being a men’s brand, it’s an opportunity for them to honour and support and amplify that there’s men who are doing positive things in the world. That will be the basis,’’ he said.
“It’s been necessary, the shake-up.
“You can feel it on sets too, there’s a lot more of an awareness of what’s appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. We work on a television show in the States and there are 1-800 anonymous lines you can call for any sexual harassment. It’s pretty cool.”
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