Cinescapade - invasion from down under

THE INVASION FROM DOWN UNDER - A Xmas blowout, the year in review and other tales

From Russell Crowe's Oscar consecration to TV's Survivor II: The Australian Outback to the first installment of the Lord Of The Rings, America is having a major Down Under craze.

American audiences are familiar with Down Under's actors, be it on screen or in tabloids. In recent years, Aussie actors have taken the Hollywood scene by storm. With their rugged good looks and magnetic personalities they have snatched lead roles, dated Hollywood's golden stars, and received Academy Award Nominations. Just take a quick look back at 2001. Nicole Kidman seduced audiences across the country with Aussie director Baz Luhrmann's hit Moulin Rouge. On the independent front, Guy Pearce was leading with the thriller Memento, closely followed by new sensation Eric Bana in the nerve-racking Chopper. Screen veteran Frances O'Connor was thrust into the spotlight as Haley Joel Osment's mother in A.I., while Hugh Jackman has steadily been building up an impressive number of lead roles, from Someone Like You to Swordfish. To top it all, heartthrob Russell Crowe snagged an Oscar from under Tom Hanks' and Ed Harris' noses, casually decimating the ranks of American actresses with his love affairs in the meantime.

So what is it about this land and its actors that so fascinates America? "Australian actors have a mix of the exotic and the accessible," says Aussie entertainment writer Mark Juddery. The larrikin, an enduring Aussie myth described by Juddery as "the honest, friendly, easy-going guy with a healthy disregard for authority", perpetuates this idea. "It's a character that other nations find attractive," says Juddery, "which explains the success of the Crocodile Dundee films. The most popular Australian actors, particularly the males, all seem to have that character." If it is the roughhewn charm that works for the actors, the combination of radiance and strength is what is often perceived in Aussie actresses.

Now more newcomers are on their way from Down Under, like Mulholland Drive's revelation Naomi Watts. But the real launch will come in December. Christmas will be an Aussie/Kiwi season this year, starting with The Fellowship of the Ring. The month's breakdown shows us Nicole Kidman shining as Virginia Woolf alongside fellow-Aussie, fellow-actress Toni Collette in The Hours. The 1960's sci-fi flick remake The Time Machine will mark Guy Pearce's third 2001 screen appearance. Cate Blanchett stars in LOTR as well as two other movies: WWII affair Charlotte Grey and Lasse Hallström's The Shipping News.

And finally, viewers and critics are biding their time, waiting to see what Crowe will make of his schizophrenic/mathematical genius role in Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind. At this rate, you better get cured if you are allergic to Aussies, or you'll soon be unable to go to the movies.