Welcome to Sydneywood: megastars descend on harbour city

Hooray for Sydneywood!

Natalie Portman is living in Sydney at the moment.Credit: AP

The global pandemic continues to fill the harbour city’s celebrity coffers and right now our town is home to probably the largest number of Hollywood megastars than ever before.

And the locals are loving it. Especially the glamorous young mums in well-heeled Vaucluse who have children the same age as their recently arrived neighbour Natalie Portman.

PS has heard of a few mums angling for a spot on Portman’s coveted play-date schedule, however those arriving with a bottle of bubbles might want to think twice – Portman doesn’t touch the stuff.

Among those who have been dropping by Portman’s Sydney pad have been Sacha Baron Cohen and his Aussie wife Isla Fisher.

PS hears the couple opted to come to Sydney with their children after things got a little heated in the United States over Baron Cohen’s Golden Globe-winning Borat performance that has upset Trump’s nuttiest supporters.

Portman has been in Sydney for three months and is here shooting the new Thor blockbuster alongside Idris Elba, Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon and Chris Pratt, most of whom are currently in town.

PS has already reported on Elba turning up to meet the neighbours with a lovely bottle of vino in Hunters Hill, while Damon has settled into a suite at the new six-star Crown tower.

As for Pratt, who has since returned to Los Angeles, he was a little more difficult to monitor. Apart from a tete a tete with Aussies Joel and Nash Edgerton, he was not seen much outside the Thor set. Perhaps the avowed devotee of the Sydney-based Hillsong church was busy catching up with its celebrity preacher and founder Brian Houston?

Actress Julia Roberts is rumoured to be in Sydney.Credit: AP

Heartthrob Zac Efron has gone back into quarantine at his eastern suburbs home, apparently the price he was willing to pay after jetting off to Dubai for a week. Efron has been well looked after though, with several senior ranking eastern suburbs police officers paying him daily visits.

Comic superstar Melissa McCarthy has managed to fly completely under the radar since relocating from Byron Bay to Sydney for another project she is working on after wrapping filming with Nicole Kidman on Nine Perfect Strangers. Kidman and her husband Keith Urban remain in town with their daughters while she finishes post production on the series.

No doubt “Our Nic” will be able to show her good buddy Julia Roberts around town, with rumours sweeping Sydney that the star has already arrived in town for the Watergate project she is about to shoot with Sean Penn. However verifying Roberts’ movements this week has proven to be a fruitless task – the actor is keeping a much lower profile than the likes of Chris Hemsworth, who along with wife Elsa Pataky has been flooding social media with party shots.

Hemsworth and his brood are renting the Woollahra mansion of James Packer’s former lieutenant Rob Rankin for their stay in Sydney. It’s the same luxury property in which Elton John set up house during his last extended tour of Australia.

Just out of town, Toni Collette’s huge Netflix production has been causing a stir around the Central Coast, not in the least in sleepy holiday hamlet of MacMasters Beach, which was transformed into the Deep South of Belle Island in Georgia last week, replete with American cop cars and plenty of Southern charm.

American style police cars on the “mean streets” of MacMasters Beach.Credit: Andrew Hornery

Though that charm was wearing a little thin when a huge spotlight was illuminated throughout the evening as shooting rolled on, with a few grumbles coming from across Cockrone Lagoon where star-struck locals at neighbouring beachside enclave of Copacabana were literally blinded by the light.

Collette’s production moved on to Umina, where local cocktail bar Margarita Daze was transformed into the Crab Shack, the scene of a bloody massacre.

The chance of being discovered proved too much for some of the locals, with Umina socialite Lisa Masters among those who tried out for an extra’s role. Sadly the vivacious brunette missed out, presumably too lively to play a corpse.

Umina socialite Lisa Masters was unsuccessful in her bid to become an extra in Toni Collette’s Netflix production.

Armytage’s ‘professional kamikaze’

Last Sunday Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage declared to the nation – via the Murdoch press – that breakfast television is “full of sociopaths and narcissists – it can be a dangerous environment, let me tell you.”

She also suggested that as an unwed, childless woman she had been discriminated against, claiming: “Bosses don’t ask as much of you if you’re a wife or mother.”

This came as news to several hard-working wives and mothers at Seven’s Martin Place bunker.

To say her comments went down like a lead balloon would be an understatement, and it was probably a good thing she was unable to attend a star-studded house party hosted by her former bestie, Sunrise producer Michael Pell, on Saturday night.

The Sunrise “family”: Natalie Barr, Samantha Armytage, David Koch, Mark Beretta and Edwina Bartholomew.Credit: Seven

However PS hears she was the topic of much conversation among several guests.

Back at Martin Place one senior Seven executive described Armytage’s comments as “professional kamikaze”, while several other colleagues who spoke to PS were fuming, revealing – on the grounds of anonymity – that working mums had been treated just the same as anyone else.

“Look at Natalie Barr, she regularly drops everything to cover a story with no complaints, and she’s got two teenage boys at home. Sam’s got a dog,” one bluntly informed PS.

None of this bodes well for Armytage’s contract negotiations with Seven, which are being handled by celebrity accountant Anthony Bell. He also looks after fellow Seven star Larry Emdur, and is the latest in a long line of talent agents in Sydney to take charge of Armytage’s career.

Venuti’s birthday extravaganza

It’s been nearly five years since showbiz legend Maria Venuti suffered a catastrophic stroke, but tomorrow some 200 of her nearest and dearest will descend on The Star where she is the guest of honour at her 80th birthday extravaganza.

Sydney cabaret star Trevor Ashley has worked tirelessly to put the celebration together which will double as a fundraiser for the Stroke Foundation. He will take to the stage along with Carlotta, Nathan Foley, Emma Pask and even Pauly from Fat Pizza to pay tribute to the Goddess of Gladesville on her big day.

Bianca Venuti-Hughes and her mum, showbiz legend Maria Venuti.

But tomorrow’s celebrations would not be happening if not for the devotion of Maria’s daughter Bianca Venuti-Hughes, who has navigated the labyrinth of carers, doctors and hospitals who fought tooth and nail to bring her famous mum back from the brink.

“She is such a special woman and still so full of life and energy. There was no way I was going to let that flame go out, no way. I just couldn’t put her in a nursing home ... it wasn’t right,” Bianca tells PS, adding that she now lives with her mother, who has made great progress in her rehabilitation.

While she remains dependent on her leopard-print scooter and has difficulty with her speech, Maria still loves to sing.

“And there is no way we will be able to keep her off that stage on Sunday,” Bianca says. “Look, she might not hit every note but it’s not about that, it’s about getting her back on the stage and in front of the people she loves.”

Luxury on offer, with prices to match

While the freeloaders and social media influencers have been busy hogging the sun beds around the pool at James Packer’s swanky new Crown complex at Barangaroo, there is no denying the gleaming new destination has every luxury conceivable on offer ... and the prices to match (PS spotted a wine by the glass selling at one restaurant for $60).

This week the hotel lobby was a hive of activity, unlike the adjacent high rollers casino that remains shuttered.

Luxury with prices to match: Sydney’s new Crown resort at Barangaroo.Credit: Nick Moir

Spotted on her way to lunch was Amber Symond, wife of millionaire “Aussie” John. So too was Matt Damon’s wife Luciana Barroso, while coming out of the lift Melbourne PR queen Judy Romano looked right at home in the midst of her “reccy”.

And no wonder, the place even smells the same as Crown’s Melbourne outpost.

But it’s not the smell of money that lingers in the air. Rather it’s a special fragrance created for Crown that is pumped into the airconditioning system, which PS will refer to from this day hence forth as the Essence of Packer.