From:The Courier Mail
Date:17jan05
By Nick Papps
AUSTRALIA'S biggest movie stars Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman, and country star Keith Urban, have been honoured at a star-studded Hollywood night.
The bash, just 24 hours before the Golden Globe awards, was the second annual Penfolds Black Tie Gala, organised to honour Gibson, Kidman and Urban for their international achievements.
The gala was the glitzy opener for Australia Week – a week-long festival in Los Angeles to put the spotlight on Australian entertainers, business, art, food, wine and other Australian endeavours.
The event, at the Los Angeles Century Plaza Hotel, was a sell-out with all 1200 tickets snapped up, with tickets being sold on Internet auction site eBay for a $1300 each.
Kidman, a best actress nominee at the Globes for her role in Birth, said: "It's just nice to get together with a lot of Australians and celebrate our country."
Gibson, whose blockbuster movie The Passion of the Christ was snubbed by the Golden Globes, said he was "chuffed" at the night.
"Hey, I feel pretty chuffed that you come to an event like this and you get to see people that you have worked with in the past, who you know of that perhaps you haven't worked with and really I just think it's an excuse to have a bit of fun," he said.
"I think it's just an excuse for everyone to get just a little bit hammered and see what other boat people made it here. I came to the one last year and it was a hoot."
Asked about the movie industry, which turned on him because of the so-called anti-Semitism of The Passion, Gibson simply said: "I think the industry is what you make of it. I can exist in it."
Geoffrey Rush, who honoured Gibson's achievements with a tribute speech at the dinner, said: "I was preparing the speech and it sort of scared me a bit because I suddenly thought God we worked together in 1979, that's a quarter of a century ago in the theatre in Sydney."
This afternoon (Queensland time) Rush will find out if he has won best actor in a television movie at the Golden Globes – for The Life and Death of Peter Sellers – but last night he said it was "pretty damn good" just to be nominated.
Kidman, who said she didn't give herself a chance at all of winning a Golden Globe, said she was cheering for Cate Blanchett, who is the favourite for the best supporting actress in The Aviator.
"I don't give myself much of a chance," Kidman said. "I really hope Cate wins. I think she will."
Australia's other Golden Globe hope Julian McMahon also was at the dinner.
McMahon is up for best actor in a television drama.
Urban, who was named the Country Music Association's male artist of the year, said he was looking forward to spending more time in Australia.
"I'd like to get to the point where I could spend my time more evenly between Australia and the US, I haven't been able to do that," the Queenslander said. "I really only get home for Christmas."
The Australian contingent also included Delta Goodrem, Holly Valance, Simon Baker, Kimberly Joseph and Peta Wilson.
Other guests were News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch and Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer.
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